Can caring for your body be a way to create more mental ease? We have all experienced being over worked or going through a difficult life transition where we let our caring for our body slide. Why is that? So much of the stress, anxiety and problems we are looking to solve eat up our energy like a hamster spinning on a wheel. Our minds get so busy trying to solve the situation that our bodies get ignored. Being aware of or taking care of your body just doesn’t make it high on the to-solve-list in these circumstances.
For me personally my appetite goes away when I’m very stressed. During my younger years, when I was without tools to allow my body to contribute to my mental health, it was common for me to forget to eat. On the flip side another common ‘stress’ behavior is to overeat in an attempt to drown out your emotions with food. These are examples of how we don’t listen to our body and almost punish it during stressful times.
Hearing our body signs for what it needs to be functioning optimally gets drowned out by turmoil. Poor diet, sedentary behaviors and restless nights become status quoe. We start a negative cycle of not being able to tune into our bodies and as a result our mind/body connection gets weaker as our stress continues to build.
What if instead of ignoring your body during these times you engaged with it more? What could your body contribute to your mental health? What if we could utilize body care as a way to calm mental dis-ease?
Our bodies are amazing gifts that can be utilized as a gateway for stress relief, consciousness expansion and improving our self-esteem. By taking care of your body, you take care of you. The result? More mental ease, more body ease and ultimately more ease in your life.
Next time you find yourself in a stressful, anxious or depressed cycle start playing with these tools:
• Ask your BODY – What would create more ease right now?
• Keep a running list of the things you can do for your body that create a sense of peace in your world: exercise, hot bath, walk in nature, massage, 5 minutes of deep breathing…
• When you ask the question above which of these things pop of the list? Follow that body awareness and do it.
• Allow the relaxation and pleasure of the body to bring you back to the present moment, ground in yourself and know that right now – you are okay.
• Move forward with your day allowing your body to contribute to you in any way it can.