How and Why to Listen to the Wisdom of Your Body

Have you been told you are too emotional? Feel too much? Are too sensitive? Shouldn’t trust your gut? If so, you have been sold cultural conditioning that is wholly untrue. Our culture teaches us to rely solely on thought for decion making and acquistion of knowledge, while disregarding our emotions as a useful source of wisdom. As a result, we overemphasize the value of our thoughts and ignore listening to the wisdom of our bodies, which is expressed as emotion. Relying too heavily on thought disconnects us with our bodies and increases rumination, anxiety, and depression (1). When we need to come to our senses, our best path is, literally, to come to our physical senses by connecting with our present moment, bodily experience.

Research supports the notion that our bodies are highly intelligent, such as a study that found the human body sends 11 million bits per second to the brain for processing, while the mind only processes about 50 bits per second (2). We can imagine this speed of information processing by recalling a time we accidentally touched our hand to a hot pan, immediately pulling back before we could even have the thought, “Wow, this pan is hot.” Science continues to elaborate on the intelligence of the unconscious, sensory body experience, such as research that shows the memory of scent can be passed through DNA. The experiment paired a scent with a shock to a generation of mice. Successive generations of the shocked mice continued to react fearfully to the scent without ever experiencing the shock themselves (3).

Through research and lived experience we can see our body is our present moment feedback machine, giving us up-to-date information on our current experience without mental filters that can slow and distort the information we receive. These mental filters initially develop to help and protect us, but typically end up becoming unnecessary and even harmful. As a result, what we feel is never wrong, but our interpretation of the feeling may be inaccurate. Learning to listen to our body while keeping our judgements and bias in check can help us access and utilize this inner wisdom.

Let’s break down listening to our body into three steps:

1. Recognize

   As usual, awareness is the first step of the process. Become acquainted with the experience of checking in with your body’s sensations. What sensations are you experiencing when sad? angry? joyful? at the grocery store? drinking a cup of coffee? If you struggle noticing your body’s sensations, that is OK. Start with routine sensory experiencse, such as noticing how a cold drink feels in your hands and on or how warm water in the shower feels on your back. Notice where you feel safety in your body and alternate between exploring new sensory experiences while returning back to the space of safety in your body.

   Then, if possible, label the sensations you feel with an emotion word. You can reference a feelings wheel for help (4). Does despair feel like a lump in your throat and tightness in your chest? Are the tingles on your chest and down your arms anxiety or elation? Labeling our emotional experience is valuable in communicating our emotions to others and ourselves. Sometimes, however, the sensations we feel in our body are beyond description; that is OK, too, just take note of those feelings and move to the next step.

2. Allow

   Our emotions are like passing visitors with information. Allowing ourselves to experience our emotions helps us receive messages we need and, in turn, decreases the intensity of the emotional experience. Emotions arise in us naturally, spontaneously, and outside of our control. We can stop a wave of sadness from coming as much as we can stop a sneeze or a blink. While we may try to resist our emotions, this only prolongs our emotional experience.

   You can use mantras to assist in allowing. Example mantras: it is OK to feel what I feel, my emotions are not too much, I will allow myself to feel these emotions and eventually they will pass, I will make space for these emotions because they are here to help me.

3. Get curious

   Finally, get curious with your emotions. Asking ourselves loving, nonjudgemental questions helps us figure out what our emotions might be telling us about what we need. Some questions can include: Where might this emotion be coming from? What might this emotion be telling me about what I need? How is this emotion trying to serve me?

   Also, anytime we experience discomfort and unpleasant emotional experiences, we should immediately ask ourselves self-compassionate questions, such as: What is the most loving thing I can do for myself right now? What comfort and soothing can I offer myself in this time of difficulty? What are some kind things I can say or do for myself right now?

If relating to your emotions in this way is a new experience, be easy on yourself. New patterns take time. You likely have formed unhelpful, inaccurate beliefs about emotions from culture that need to be unlearned. Notice those beliefs as they arise and curiously, lovingly question their accuracy. Even a teeny tiny shift in how we approach our emotions can result in impactful change.

References

1. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0193000

2. https://www.britannica.com/science/information-theory/Physiology

3. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fearful-memories-passed-down/

4. https://feelingswheel.com/