Your Body - Friend or Foe?

And we will be in tune with our bodies only if we truly love and honor them.  We can’t be in good communication with the enemy.

- Harriet Goldnor Lerner

You may have yet to come to the realization that you have a relationship with your body.  When you think about being in a relationship, you think about being in relationships with other people.  That is straight forward.  You have a relationship with your parents, your children, each of your friends, your coworkers, and your significant other.  If you look up the definition of relationship it says it is the state by which two or more people, places, or things are connected.  

If you understand your body to be an entity separate from “self”, therefore a thing, then you can understand that you have a relationship with your body.  The way you interact with, perceive, and care for your body then defines the type of relationship you have with your body.  

What’s the benefit to coming to the realization that you have a relationship with your body?  The answer is simple.  You now have the chance to evaluate the quality of that relationship. You can determine the thoughts and emotions you have toward your body and the behavior you engage in as it relates to your  body.  What is your relationship with your body?

Friend or Foe?

Take two minutes and contemplate the thoughts you have about your body, the emotions you feel toward your body, and the habits and practices you engage in with your body.  Are you in resistance to the state your body is in presently? When your body is aching, how do you show up for it?  When your body isn’t performing in the way you want it to, what are the emotions you feel?  When your body doesn't look the way you want it to, what are the words you say to it?  When your body is injured or develops a health condition, how do you respond?  When your body signals it’s hungry, what do you feed it?  When your body is performing to your expectations, do you acknowledge it?  Do you appreciate it?  What are the ways in which you show love and compassion to your body?  The answers to these questions are what constitutes the relationship you have with your body.

“My body is against me. It always lets me down. It’s broken. It doesn’t do what I want it to.”  Does this internal dialogue sound familiar?  Do you tend to take on the victim mentality in relation to your body?  When your body shows up with pain, with disease, with some sort of dysfunction, how do you react?  Like a victim?  Did your body go against you?

A New Relationship With Your Body

If you’re someone, when being honest with yourself, who is at odds with you body, you now have a choice.  The awareness of your current state gives you an opportunity to choose whether or not to start a journey to create a new relationship with your body.  

We all want to live a long, healthful life.  To increase the likelihood of that, it’s important to befriend your body.  A caring and compassionate relationship with your body is one of the critical keys that opens you to that possibility.  Don’t be someone who lives short and dies long.  Be the person who lives long and dies short.  The first step is to accept that all that came before this point came from a place of unawareness.  The next step is to take action toward consciously creating with your body so you can have experiences you desire.

Take Action!

As a holistic body coach, one critical aspect of my work is to help you identify and create the relationship you want to have with your body.  If you’re at odds with our body, if you’re in an adversarial relationship with your body, or if you perceive your body as against you, the path to health and well being is a shaky one to say the least.  When you move into alignment with your body, when you become teammates with your body, and when you cultivate an intimate connection with your body, you can learn to thrive and can experience vibrancy.

Do you want to move past the adversarial relationship you have with your body and create one where appreciation, compassion, and love is your experience? Check out the Personal Training and Lifestyle Coaching services to read more or click here now to schedule a complimentary consultation to learn more about how I can guide and support you.