A Mindful Perspective
Welcome to my podcast! I'm Nick Levesque, and I'm on a mission to help you navigate life's challenges with a mindful perspective. Join me every week as I dive deep into the realms of mindset, spirituality, and personal growth. Drawing from my own experiences, I want to provide you with tools, strategies, insights, and inspiring stories that will help you go from where you are now, to where you want to be.
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A Mindful Perspective
How to Listen to and Connect with Your Body
Have you ever paused to consider the stories your body is trying to tell you? On my path of mindfulness, I've discovered that our physical selves hold profound insights into our overall well-being. In today's episode, we dive into understanding how stress and emotions can physically manifest and what happens when we ignore the wisdom of our bodies. I'll share a chapter of my life where an injury taught me the critical lesson of honoring my need for healing—it's a journey of learning to balance ambition with the necessity of rest.
Embracing mindfulness is about more than just recognizing pain or fatigue; it's about finding joy in the every day and connecting with the present moment, whether you're savoring a meal or simply playing with your pets. I'll share how I've infused routine activities, like my gym workouts, with a deeper sense of awareness, transforming them into something far more fulfilling. We'll also talk about the pitfalls of chasing an ideal body image and how it can lead us to neglect our true needs. Plus, I'll offer some handy tips on how to make daily self-check-ins a natural part of your life.
In our final exploration, we turn to practices that create a symbiotic relationship between you and your body. From the grounding experience of a body scan to the simple act of eating mindfully, we'll discuss how these practices can lead to a richer experience. And let's not forget the transformative power of rest—far from being a mere reward, it's a vital element of a balanced and healthy life. Join me as we journey together toward a more mindful and connected existence. And remember, your body has a voice—let's learn to listen.
Hello everyone and welcome to A Mindful Perspective. I'm your host, nic Levec, certified Spiritual Life Coach, and I'm here to share insights into my journey of mindfulness and self-discovery. Each week, we'll explore mindset, spirituality and personal growth to help you navigate life's challenges with practical strategies and inspiring stories. Let's dive in.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of A Mindful Perspective. In today's episode, I want us to talk about the importance of listening to our bodies and, more specifically, how to do so, because I think that this is such an important topic and a lot of us sometimes we know we should be listening to our bodies and we don't. Some of us are really disconnected from our bodies and don't really know how to connect to our bodies, and some of us kind of just ignore sometimes, or we just kind of push through the pain or push through our overwhelm or stress as an example and I know that for me personally, for a long time I really wasn't listening to my body. So in today's episode, I really want to talk about this because I find it's such an important topic, so let's dive right in. So, first and foremost, I just want to highlight what I mean by listening to our body. So, honestly, listening to our body means having awareness. It means having awareness of what your body needs at any given moment. The thing about this as well listening to your body is a practice. It's something that we need to practice like a skill, because a lot of us we don't really pay attention to our bodies, or sometimes we will when we're hungry or when we need to use the bathroom, but our body is speaking to us all day. So, whether that's, as an example, starting to pay attention to physical sensations in our body, maybe it's just pain that you're having, maybe it's just something that's, maybe you're just not feeling well and you really pay attention to that. It could be emotions that you're feeling or specific needs, but, honestly, listening to your body can allow for a much deeper connection to your body and to your mind as well. And again, listening to your body really means becoming attuned to the signals and the cues that your body sends you, and then you respond in a way that supports your body and your overall well-being as well. And from my personal perspective as well, I think that listening to your body means that the mind and body are connected right and personally, for me, I truly believe that the mind and body are interconnected right, so they communicate both ways. So your mind is finally attuned to perceive what your body is saying right, even down to a cellular level, I would say right. So literally your mind will kind of register what's happening in your body, but also your body will also respond to what is happening in your mind, right?
Speaker 2:So let's say, as an example, you're stressed out, you're constantly stressed out about something. Maybe you're having a very rough day at work, right? Or a rough week at work, as an example, and you've been stressed out all week, but you're not doing anything to address that stress. Well, that stress will get stored in your body, right? We've all heard the term perhaps? The body keeps the score. That's very true, not only for traumatic things, but, honestly, your body keeps the score, right. So if you're stressed all the time, okay, and you're not doing anything to address that stress, guess where that goes? It can get stored in the body.
Speaker 2:And I think this is so important to understand, because I think that a lot of us spend so much time in our head and not enough time in our body, right? So we're often too much in our heads and really disregard what our body needs, okay, or sometimes even we can be consciously aware of what our body needs, but we're not actually listening, right? We might be pushing through something, right, pushing through the pain, whatever it may be, and we'll talk about that a bit later but honestly, sometimes it's, we're just really not paying attention to what the body needs, and Tara Brock was a psychologist and meditation teacher said something once that really stuck with me, and she said we are a society that's lost in thought, meaning that we are constantly in our heads. Right and honestly, this is what I mean by the mind and body are interconnected. Right, we need to use both of these tools. We're given this vessel right for how many years that we're going to be alive, and we really need to learn how to utilize these important tools right, being the mind and the body. Now, the problem with only listening to our mind is that our mind often convinces us that something else is more important, okay, so let me give you an example of this. So, perhaps you worked out yesterday and you're really sore. Okay, maybe you went swimming. Maybe you did yoga. Maybe you just went to the gym. Okay, you had a great workout, thank you.
Speaker 2:You wake up the next morning, you're about to go to the gym. Your body is super, super sore, and not just like a you know, a regular soreness, like you're really sore. And now you're debating like, okay, am I taking a day off or am I going to the gym? Your body is literally screaming at you, telling you not to go. Okay, your body knows best. Right, your body holds so much wisdom, but your mind is convincing you otherwise. Right, your mind is convincing you that, no, you cannot miss a workout. No, you need to go to the gym. No, you'll start warming up and then you'll feel great. And there's a very big difference between being sore and then being sore to the point that you might actually get injured, as an example, right, so this is what I mean.
Speaker 2:Oftentimes, our mind will tell us something else is more important and, again, this is why I think it's so crucial and so beneficial to our overall well-being to create that mindful relationship with your body. Right, so that you can start understanding the cues that your body is telling you. Your body is telling you these cues for a reason. It's sending you signals for a reason. Okay, this is why I find it so, so, so important to create that mindful relationship with your body because, honestly, if you really take a step back and think about it, okay, your body speaks to you all day long. Okay, yes, your mind is also doing its thing, but the body is speaking to you all day long, right, whether you're hungry, you're tired, you're stressed, you might be in pain, you might be not feeling well, you're sick or something. Okay, the body is speaking to you all day long, and, I think, a problem with our society.
Speaker 2:To be quite honest and this again it's just a personal perspective but we spent most of our lives learning how to use a variety of tools and resources. Okay. So, whether that's, you know, academic pursuits, that's learning how to use a laptop, all these different things right, all very beneficial things, all things that we need to learn how to use. However, we take very little time learning the most fundamental tools that we are given, which is the mind and the body. Okay, the mind and the body are interconnected, but oftentimes we live in our heads and we're actually neglecting what the body needs. Okay, but we're given this vessel for a short amount of time, as long as we're alive on this earth. As an example, right, so we need to prioritize the development of the vessel that we are given. Okay, because that will enable us to lead a more fulfilling and balanced life, and this kind of comes back to what I was saying earlier, right.
Speaker 2:So, just as an example, okay, let's say you were having a very stressed out week at work, or maybe a month, or whatever. How long you've been stressed out for right. If you're constantly stressed or you have a head full of negative thoughts, whatever it can be, and your body is in a constant state of fight or flight, your constant stress, again, if it's not exerted in any way, right. If you're not doing anything to get that stress out or deal with that stress whether that's working out, whether that's doing yoga, whether that's doing meditation Okay. The constant stress may lead your body to illness, right. Especially if you're not doing anything to address your stress. However, I just want to be honest. Your stress can also be a very good thing, right. Stress can help us prepare for presentations. Stress can help us prepare for many different things, right Competitions and all these things. However, it's really when stress is taking over our lives and we're not addressing it, okay.
Speaker 2:So my view of stress now is kind of from a different lens or a different perspective. But, honestly, if I'm really stressed out about something, okay. And I'm chronically stressed out about something, that is a signal to my body that something is not going right and something needs to change, okay. So, instead of seeing it as this thing that's going to bring me down, I'm seeing it as a way to okay, what can I change in my environment? Is there something that needs to change? Is there something that I need to adjust? Am I just not exercising enough? Am I not sleeping enough? Whatever, it is right. I'm kind of looking at it now from a lens of okay, this stress is trying to tell me something and that something needs to change. However, for a lot of us, that isn't the case, and sometimes the stress can really impact our bodies when we're not utilizing the stress in a proper way or, honestly, just not using a funnel to get that stress out right, whether that's exercise, whether that's meditation, yoga, whatever that may be.
Speaker 2:However, I do want to highlight something that's also very important. Okay, some people, some individuals, have trouble connecting and listening to the bodies because their bodies do not feel safe. Okay, as I mentioned earlier, your body keeps a score, but not only for stress. Right, it can keep the score for difficult experiences in childhood that could be traumatic experiences and all these different types of things. If you lived in a chaotic environment as you were growing up, your body may have been in a constant state of fight or flight. Or you can also call this kind of the trauma body, where it's really just a chronic state of survival mode, so that really kind of dysregulates your nervous system for a long time. Right, because maybe you've spent years in a childhood home that had not only, perhaps, physical abuse or sexual abuse, but emotional abuse as well. Right, a lot of the times, trauma can be seen as something that happens to us, but it can also be the things that don't necessarily happen to us, right, so that could be neglect from a parent, not receiving the love that we need as a child, all these different things.
Speaker 2:Right, but honestly, what I'm just trying to say here is that there are so many contributing factors that can lead someone to not feeling safe in their bodies. Okay, and the reason I wanted to bring this up is that because if you're listening to this and this resonates with you and it rings true for you, specifically, where you may have grown up in circumstances that kind of disconnected you from your body and you're not sure how to reconnect with your body, it's really important to seek that professional help, right, seek a counselor, seek a therapist, seek someone that can really help you reconnect with your body. Okay, I just really wanted to highlight this because I find it so important. Okay, now I wanted to provide a few examples of what this can look like when we're not actually listening to our bodies and ignoring our bodies cues. Okay, so these might sound familiar to some of you, and also, I'd like you to think about some circumstances, right as I'm going through this list, that you may have neglected your body or just not listened to your body.
Speaker 2:Okay, so this could look like you are exercising through pain. Okay, I am very guilty of this and I know many people that are as well. This doesn't does not necessarily need to be in the gym. It could be doing yoga, it could be playing baseball, whatever it may be. Right, you are pushing through the pain when you know you should probably be taking a break, or you know that there's something wrong, but you're still pushing through.
Speaker 2:It could be that you're working beyond exhaustion. Okay, we all know people like this that work themselves to death. Right, they're running themselves into the ground, literally. They're not taking breaks, they're not taking time to recharge, to recover. Sometimes. You know it's good to want to work on something and build something, but it's also just as important to allow ourselves to rest. It could also be that perhaps you're drinking something, you're eating something that leaves your body feeling tired, bloated or just not in a good state, Okay, and you might be aware of this and you're still doing it anyway.
Speaker 2:It could also be that you're ignoring going to the hospital, right, thinking it will go away. The reason I'm laughing about this is because I knew so many people to do this, myself included, and in a way you know, understandably, especially if you're in Canada and you're listening to this. Sometimes the hospital can be a significant amount of long wait times and we just don't want to go to the hospital and wait, but sometimes there could be something that's very, very wrong with us and we're just ignoring it. Right, we're pushing through it all. You know it'll go away. It's probably nothing bad, okay, and sometimes it could be very well nothing, but it could also be something that's very, very important. So these are just a few examples of what I mean by ignoring our body's cues.
Speaker 2:Okay, and now my question for you is this are you ignoring your body's signals and really take a moment to reflect on that question? Okay, is there something in your life that's going on right now that your body's been trying to tell you that you're actually not listening? Okay, because, again, is your mind trying to convince you that something else is more important, and I just want to clarify something here as well. Okay, I do truly believe that sometimes we do need to push ourselves, we do need to challenge ourselves. Okay, as an example, maybe you're working on a business, maybe you're launching a business, there may be a few late nights that you have to do. Maybe one day you're feeling a little sore. You're not sure if you should go work out, but you're not in any pain or anything. It's just, it's a normal soreness and you're like okay, I'm going to go to the gym, I'm going to warm up properly, I'm going to push through this workout.
Speaker 2:Okay, I truly believe that we should be challenging and pushing ourselves, but not to the point where it's costing our body's physical health. Okay, I know people personally that work on their business so much that they don't sleep for months on end. Okay, they end up getting sick or like their body is falling apart for good reason. Right, like, you really need to listen to your body and sleep. I always say this in a lot of my episodes, but sleep is one of the most underrated and important things that we can give to our bodies. It's literally our body's way to recover. Okay, and, like I just said, I understand that sometimes we can have late nights. We can have late nights working on a business or working on a goal or whatever. That is completely understandable and that will happen, but it should never be at the compromise of your health.
Speaker 2:And just to share a personal story on this as well, a few weeks ago as I'm recording this, I got injured in the gym. Okay, it sucks, injuries suck, there are setbacks, but I'm a firm believer that setbacks make for greater Okay. But with that being said, typically I would actually try to go to the gym and do something right. I would try to go to the gym, do cardio, I would try to perhaps push through the pain, I would try to do whatever. Okay, and you know, thankfully I don't get injured too often. But this time around, I really sat down with myself and I said, okay, what does my body need right now? Okay, I'm asking myself this question literally every day because I really want to attune myself to my body and listen to what it needs, and literally what it needs is rest. It needs rest to recover.
Speaker 2:Okay, in the past 12 years that I've been working out, I've never taken like two or three weeks off from the gym. I think the most I've ever taken is two weeks due to an injury. And now you know, I'm going to take a few weeks off and I'm going to allow myself to give myself time to rest and take those few weeks off, because I'm truly listening and taking the time to listen to what my body is telling me. Okay, so, instead of ignoring my body's cues and going to the gym and perhaps pushing through the pain okay, I'm not going to do that I'm literally going to sit down at home and rest as much as I need to. If that's a few weeks, that's a few weeks. If that's a month, that's a month. But I will actually take the time to listen to what my body needs and, honestly, I've discovered that that's helping me build a better relationship to my body and a better connection to my body as well, because I'm really taking the time to listen to my body's cues as to what it needs.
Speaker 2:And the reason I want to share this with you today is, if you're going through something similar whether it's pain, whether it's an illness, whether you're sick, whether you're just very stressed out please take a moment to end in with yourself listen to what your body needs, and if that's rest or a week off, something or whatever, please just listen to what your body is telling you. Okay, you will not regret it. Your body holds so much wisdom. I'm a firm believer that our body holds all the wisdom and all the healing tools that we need is already within us. I truly believe that we are born and we have this inherent ability to heal ourselves.
Speaker 2:And another thing that I want to highlight very quickly as well is that paying attention to our body isn't only when we're hungry or retired or we're feeling sad. It's really paying attention to the body in all walks of life. So, as an example, it could be as simple as how does your body feel when you're walking in your favorite trail or just down the street or you're going for a walk? Okay, if you're tuning into your body, how does that feel? Does it feel good? Are you feeling rejuvenated? Are you feeling energized? It could also be how does your body feel when you're playing with your children? Okay, are you feeling happiness in your body? Are you feeling all giddy like butterflies in your stomach? I don't personally have children, so I don't really know, but just from playing with my dog is an example. Right, I really tune into that as well when I'm playing with my dog. It brings me that sense of joy, that sense of fulfillment, and I actually take a moment to tune into that as well.
Speaker 2:Okay, sometimes we're having so much fun and we're not really, you know, paying attention to that moment. We're doing this unconsciously, right, it's not something that we we do on purpose, but sometimes it's good to really tune in and check in with ourselves, like, wow, this is really feeling good for me and it's about tuning into that moment consciously as well. Okay, so this is what I'm trying to say. It's not just about what your body needs, but it's also understanding what your body loves to do, what makes your body feel good and what your body wants more of. Another quick example of this could be the foods that you eat. Okay, so let's say, this week you're feeling really good and you're like, wow, I'm so energized and such. Well, is there something that you've been eating that's different? That's really energizing and fueling your body in a way that you haven't felt before.
Speaker 2:Okay, it could be that you go to the gym and you get a really good pump that day and you notice that you tried a new exercise at the gym that really kind of pushed you a little further, that Really gave you a good pump in the gym. Or maybe it's something different that you tried at yoga class that you're like, wow, okay, this, I got a good stretching or it made me feel really good. It could be anything right. But noticing how your body feels when you're doing those things right, noticing how it impacts your body in a way that you may have not felt before, right, this is what I tried to keep note of in the gym as well. Because, like just, I'm using the gym as an example because obviously, if you've been listening to the podcast, you know that I've been gymming for a long time.
Speaker 2:But for me personally, after gymming for 12 years, sometimes the routine can can get kind of mundane, right. It can get kind of automatic, and sometimes I just go to the gym it's almost autopilot I just do my things and get out. So what I've been trying to really tune into lately is To really feel what feels different for my body, right. So when I get a really good pump on something, I kind of take a mental note of that. It's like, okay, my body really reacts well to that right. So it's again it's.
Speaker 2:It's really about understanding what resonates with your body, and, as we're talking about fitness and nutrition, I just want to highlight something that also, I think, plays a contributing factor into this, and that is body image.
Speaker 2:Now, the reason I say body image is because I truly think that, especially in this day and age, with our technology and social media and comparison, all these different things, we are a society that really puts a lot of emphasis on physicalities and how we look, and the problem with this becomes, when we're trying to achieve a certain body image or a certain look, that we're completely neglecting what our body actually needs. Okay, so that could mean that we are starving ourselves because we want to look a certain way, right, so we're not giving our body the nutrients that it needs to actually feel good. Right, we'd rather try to look good, to get the validation, that external validation from other people that generally we don't even really care about. We just want that validation, okay, to make us feel seen and accepted as an example. I know for me that was the case for many, many years. Right, and over time I've learned to actually love my body, what my body does for me.
Speaker 2:But I just want to highlight. This is why I find this is so important. But body image can play a significant factor in Really being disconnected from our bodies, right? Because when we're taught how we should look, how we should not look, how we should be eating or even how we shouldn't be eating, that can be very detrimental, first and foremost, to our mental health, okay, but also to our physical health, because, like I said earlier, if we are depleting our body from Nutrients and resources that it needs to achieve a specific look, okay, that is just not feasible and we should not be doing that.
Speaker 2:Okay, so I just really want to highlight that and also just to remind you that you are so so much more than just your body. Okay, but now let's dive into some tips and tricks on how to listen and connect with your body. So the first step that I want to share with everyone today is awareness. Okay, because, again, like I keep saying, you cannot change what you're not aware of. So doing a daily check-in with yourself is very, very crucial to Learning how to connect and tune in with your body. And this is very simple. Okay, once a day, you can just check in with yourself. Pause and check in with yourself, and if you're someone that might have trouble remembering to check in with yourself, set an alarm right. Just put a reminder on your phone once a day. At the same time, every day, to just check in with yourself. You can do this multiple times a day if you want, but at least once a day. And when you're checking in with yourself, just ask yourself the question how do I currently feel and what does my body need at this moment? Okay, what does my body need right now? So, maybe in that moment when you're checking in, you feel Frustrated. Okay, so what does my body need right now. Well, maybe it just needs to go for a walk. Okay, maybe your body just needs to get that frustration out. Maybe you need to go for a workout. Maybe you need to go for a walk or a swim, whatever it may be right, maybe you just need to get that frustration. Okay, maybe you're checking with yourself and you're feeling really tired. Okay, well, what does your body need? Maybe just needs to take a rest, maybe just needs to take a nap or a quick break from something. Okay, maybe you're checking in and your body is feeling super energized, right, you just want to go do something. Okay, well, maybe you're feeling so energized that you want to, you know, go for a walk or go for a workout. Okay, maybe you're checking in with yourself and you're really hungry because you haven't eaten in a while. Okay, and I know so many people that do this that you know they're working or doing something and they forget to eat, and then they're wondering why they're tired or they're not feeling energized or whatever. Right, like.
Speaker 2:Nutrition is so, so, so important. It's literally what gives your body fuel to feel energized, right, and to get that body in a really good state, okay, so, again, it's really just about checking in with yourself, right? Maybe you're checking in with yourself and you've got a lot of tension in your neck, so you need to just get up and move around or just go do a few stretches and, just you know, get off the chair. Maybe you've been sitting at your desk all day and you're just really hunched over and you're not comfortable, right? So this is what I mean by really checking in with yourself, and if you want just some additional questions, you can literally just checking in at any time. Okay. So, and if you want to do kind of like an audit, you can also just ask yourself, like do I feed my body what you need? Right? Am I feeding my body in a proper way, or are there foods that maybe are making me not feel well? Okay, do I move my body enough? Am I getting enough sleep? Okay, these are just basic questions, but, honestly, to really tune in with yourself, it's you really need to listen to what your body is saying. Okay, so, honestly, that's really.
Speaker 2:Step number one is awareness and checking in with yourself. Tip number two is understanding how emotions manifest in your body. The reason it's so important to know this and understand this is because emotions show up differently in our bodies for everyone, okay. So learning to notice how your body reacts to certain emotions will help you connect to your body and will help you kind of process those emotions when they show up. Right, because now you've got a better understanding of how your body reacts to certain emotions. So something I do with my therapist a lot is, when I'm dealing with something, she always asks me, okay, like, where do you feel that in your body? So I'm just going to give you an example of, like stress and anxiety for me, it's always in my gut. I almost get like this butterfly feeling in my gut and I know that I'm anxious about something. Okay, for other people, anxiety or stress can come in their chest. Right, one of my clients felt a lot of stress and anxiety in his shoulders, another one in their lower back, as an example, right, so it really depends on where that is showing up for you, okay, and this is why it's so important to understand this, right, because, again, anxiety for me and anxiety for you will show up in different places. Okay, anger for me and anger for you might also show up in different places. So maybe someone that's very angry begins to feel really tense, okay, perhaps their face gets really hot, their teeth starts to clench. One of my clients that's what he told me he knew he was starting to get angry because his teeth were clenching a lot. Right, and this is a key component of what I'm trying to say, this right, he knew he was angry because his teeth started to clench.
Speaker 2:The reason also it's so important to understand how our emotions show up in ourselves is that we don't get overtaken by the emotion. Okay, we know when something is coming. We understand that perhaps something triggered us and that we're very angry. Okay, even if we don't understand right away what triggered us, we understand that something's triggered us because our body is reacting a certain way, right? So, as an example, when I'm angry personally, for me, okay, when something triggers me and I start to get angry. I've practiced this for a while now, so I understand when anger shows up in my body. So what this allows me to do is a few things. One, I don't lash out at somebody. Okay, I don't let that emotion unconsciously take control over me and then I start lashing out at someone, right? So, as an example, let's say someone does something or I'm in a situation that triggers me. I start to get angry.
Speaker 2:For me personally, okay, what I've discovered through therapy is, when I get angry, I can feel a surge of heat rushing through my body. Okay, my, my palms and my hands start to get warm and sweaty, and that's how I know I'm frustrated or I'm angry about something. So in that moment, okay, I can choose. I always believe that we have the ability to choose how we respond to something. Right, with practice, this is what I'm saying. Tuning into your body is a practice.
Speaker 2:Okay, so in my personal circumstance, when I'm angry or frustrated about something, I'm at a point now where, when I feel that surge of energy or that heat coming through my body, I know that something's going on, I know that something triggered me, I know that I'm, you know, frustrated about something, and this allows me to choose how I'm going to respond. Okay, and I want to just clarify here I am by no means perfect and you know this is a lifelong practice, right, it's not something that you master overnight and it can take years to master, and I just want to say I'm nowhere near mastering this, but I'm much better than I was a few years back, right? So in that circumstance, this is what I mean, it allows me to choose how I'm going to respond in that moment. So, when I feel this surge of heat or energy rushing through me, I know that I have the option to back away. Right, perhaps it's backing away from the situation, maybe it's just, you know, channeling that frustration or anger through a workout, through going for a walk, through meditation, whatever it may be right.
Speaker 2:But typically this is why, at some point, to let ourselves feel an emotion, right? So, as an example, maybe you're feeling very stressed or anxious about something. Sometimes it's very important to just, you know, allow yourself to feel what you're feeling, right? This is why I keep saying feeling is healing because typically, okay, an emotion will move through your body in about 90 seconds. Okay, if it lasts longer than 90 seconds.
Speaker 2:Sometimes it's because we're trying to think ourselves through an emotion, right, but feeling our feelings is not thinking ourselves through an emotion, right. So let's say we're anxious about something, we sit down, we try to take a few deep breaths and just process that, and then we start thinking about why we're anxious and then think about this and that. Then that's going to trigger even more anxiety and more emotion. As an example, right, that's not feeling your feelings. That's actually thinking, trying to think yourself through an emotion, right. And that's the problem for a lot of us, okay, is that once we're emotionally activated, okay, let's say we're stressed. We'll just use the example that we used earlier Once we're emotionally activated, many of us again, like I just said, we'll spend a lot of time thinking about our feeling Okay and keeping that stress response alive in our bodies.
Speaker 2:So this is why it's also important to observe where your attention goes, okay. So let's say, you're very anxious about something. Something happened at work Kind of upset you a bit, you kind of worried you a bit. Okay, you're trying to sit with that. It's important to observe where your attention goes, because if your attention again is going to the thinking mind, it's only going to fuel that emotion more. Okay, if you're trying to sit with that emotion and just kind of breathe through it and then you're going back to your mind and say, oh, my goodness, I should not have done that, why did that happen, you're just going to fuel that feeling of anxiety, right, you? Just it's literally like throwing fuel into the fire, right? So in those circumstances it's important to really notice where your attention goes, okay. And then if you're distracted by the upsetting event or whatever happened, right, you bring your attention back to your body. Okay, so, this could be through the breath, it could be to just feeling where that sensation of anxiety is, but you're just bringing it back to your body and get out of your head. Okay, Because, again, I've said this many times, but sometimes you cannot fight the mind with the mind right, and again, we cannot think ourselves through the motion. We actually need to feel it.
Speaker 2:Tip number three is using meditation and mindfulness. Okay, so the reason these are so important is because a lot of different ways that we can meditate helps us connect to our body. Okay, so meditation isn't only breath work and there are so many different ways to meditate. Right, there's not only one way where you're sitting cross-legged on a pillow. Like you know, when I personally meditate, I don't even sit down, I sit on a chair. I'm very comfortable, like. There are so many myths about meditation and I'll do a different episode entirely on that. But meditation can be breath work. Right, it can be tuning in with your breath, but breath work, there's so many different ways you can do that, right, you can do the box breathing method, you can do Wim Hof method. You can Google your own thing and then you try out what works for you. Okay, but that can really help you connect with your body.
Speaker 2:Another powerful practice that I use to really help me connect with my body is called body scanning, and body scanning is literally what it sounds like. Right, it's literally just scanning your body. So a great way to do this. If you want, you can go on YouTube. You can check out body scanning meditations, or you can even use an app called Insight Timer. Right, there are guided meditations there that can help you, and if you're new to meditations, I really highly recommend that you start with guided ones, because you have someone to help you and literally guide you through the meditation.
Speaker 2:But a body scan, right, is literally just scanning your body. Some people do it differently. Some people just, you know, start with any part of their bodies and they just put their focus, as an example, on their feet. Right, they put their attention all on their feet for a little while. Then they move up to a different part of their body and you're just literally tuning into what your body's doing. Each part of your body, right, you can put your attention and your focus on your hand and then you kind of feel that energy going through your hand right. You can then move down through your feet, etc.
Speaker 2:Personally, how I do it is I always start my meditations with a body scan. So I will start and I will literally scan my body from the top to the bottom. Okay, so I'll start at the top and I'm just going to go down, and then maybe I'll feel like my jaw is very clenched, as an example, right, so I'm going to scan my body. Oh, I'm noticing my jaw is very clenched. I'm going to allow my jaw to relax. Okay, I'm going to go down. Oh, like I've got a little pain in my shoulder or my trap, as an example, right. So I'm just going to readjust how I'm sitting. Okay, I go and I scan down. Maybe my back is not as straight as it should be for my meditation. So I'm literally just scanning my body right, bottom to top, and you can do this a few times, and this allows me to, first and foremost, just tune into how my body is feeling, and also this helps me get ready for a comfortable meditation, okay, but some people have an entirely dedicated practice to body scanning alone, okay, so there's really no right or wrong way to do this, but body scan is another great way.
Speaker 2:Okay, it could also be that you're eating mindfully, right. When you're eating, okay, you are not distracted by TV or phone or anything of the sort. You're literally just sitting down, you're enjoying your meal and you know you take some time to take all your senses in right, like, how does the food smell, how does it taste in your mouth, how does it feel when it's going down your esophagus and just kind of going down through your body? Right, mindful eating is another great way to just be present and honestly just appreciate the moment and what you're eating as well. There are many other different practices, like visualization, etc.
Speaker 2:But another great way to be more mindful and personally, what I consider meditation as well is movement. Okay, because there are such things as quote unquote movement meditation, but I truly believe that when you're present doing something, in my personal opinion, that's meditation Okay. So for me, going to the gym, I consider that a meditation practice because I'm fully immersed in the moment, I'm very present and I'm very connected to my body. Right, I make a conscious effort that when, if I'm training my biceps, for example, I'm really trying to get that mind muscle connection, but movement is a great way to help you connect with your body. Another great way is yoga. Right, yoga is another fabulous way to really connect with your body. Be mindful, and I consider that a meditation in and of itself. Okay, but again, this is also what I meant earlier by paying attention to how the body feels in all walks of life. Okay, but tip number three, really quick again, is meditation and mindfulness.
Speaker 2:They are great ways to help you reconnect and stay connected to your body. And, last but not least, the final tip that I want to share with everyone today, and this is probably the most important one to be quite honest, okay, but it's to allow yourself to rest. Rest is literally, honestly, one of the most important things that we can allow ourselves to do, and the reason I say allow is because a lot of people do not allow themselves to rest right. I have been in that boat for many years and it's been something that I've worked through therapy for a long time. Right, we are a society that really focuses on the doing and not enough on the being. Right and being is just being in the moment as it is. Being is allowing yourself to just literally be okay. Like I said earlier, I'm a firm believer in hard work and hustle is required absolutely to get to where you want to go, but I also feel like, at a certain point, it's like hustling became the primary thing and rest is almost like something that you earn when you've achieved a specific goal. And the other reason I say allow is because a lot of us will feel guilt and shame when we are resting okay, so let's say we take a day off of something, a lot of us will feel guilt and shame for doing that, myself included for many, many years and still sometimes I'll feel that way. Right, oh, I should be doing this. Oh, I should be doing that because I think, personally, for me, it's like seeing all these people on social media doing all these things and showing all the things they've achieved. It's like, wow, well, I'm not there, I should be doing something more. Right, so I shouldn't be resting right now. I should be constantly doing, doing, doing and pursuing, pursuing, pursuing. Okay. So for me personally I know this was an issue for a long time. I'm much better with that now but honestly, just, you know, allowing myself to rest was a big thing, right, I felt guilt, I felt shame associated to it, and it's really only in the past year, through that I've really shifted my mindset about that and it's like, okay, I need to rest.
Speaker 2:And when I'm saying rest here, I just want to make something very clear. I'm not talking about resting for six months and just not doing anything, right, unless it's something that you absolutely need to do If you're very sick or whatever. That's a completely different thing. But rest can look like just taking more breaks in your day. Okay, rest can look like not working 15 hour days, or if you are working a long day, then allow yourself to take a break in between those. Okay Rest can be taking a few days off when you actually know that you need it, instead of pushing through something where you know that it's starting to impact your physical health and your mental health.
Speaker 2:Okay, rest is something that we all need and it is not a reward that you get when you complete a goal or that you pursue your endeavors. Okay, we are all allowed to rest, and if you are in that boat where you're feeling guilt or shame associated to resting, just please know that your worth is never defined by your achievements or successes. Okay, but by simply acknowledging that you are already whole, just as you are. Wholeness is your birth rate. Okay, it's not a reward for your endeavors, so please do not chase your worth.
Speaker 2:Okay, a lot of us think that by taking a few days off, we're not gonna get to our goals, we're not gonna do this, we're not gonna do that, and I think sometimes, for me personally, what I noticed is that that guilt and shame was based off the fact that I thought my worth would be better when I'm doing something right. I thought I would be more worthy of something when I've achieved my goals or achieved success in whatever shape or form. That looked like for me at that time. Right, and it's not. We are whole just as we are. We don't need to prove anything to anyone. Everyone on this earth is whole just as they are, okay.
Speaker 2:So, please, if your body needs rest, listen to your body and allow yourself to take that rest. So, that being said, that's all I've got for you guys on today's episode. If you did like the episode, please feel free to leave a comment or review, share it. It really helps bring awareness to what I'm trying to do, which is really kinda spread this podcast on a broader scale to really help people just navigate everyday life challenges. So, again, with that being said, I hope you have a good week and I will catch you guys next week. Spay His Last Message.
