| I was speaking to one of my neighbours the other day. She’s struggling with a lot of pretty big health issues and was telling me all the things she was doing to try to “figure it out”. She’s on all the meds, which aren’t working, and now they’re talking about maybe even needing to do surgery. She’s understandably distressed by all of this and struggling to find her bearings in the midst of all these health challenges. She’s a busy mom with two little ones, and went off work several months ago for health reasons. Unfortunately, things have continued to get worse and worse, despite no longer being at work. I asked her what she was doing for self care, and she admitted that she was really struggling to carve out time to care for herself in the midst of the busy-ness of life. We talked about putting our own oxygen mask first, and the importance of “paying ourselves first” when it comes to self care – scheduling in activities that bring us joy and protecting that time the same way we would an important medical appointment or something we committed to doing for someone else. When we try to find time for self care out of the time that remains after looking after everyone else, there’s often no time or energy left and we find ourselves collapsing on the couch, doom-scrolling on our phones rather than having planned ahead to do something that genuinely brings us joy and making a commitment to ourselves to MAKE the time to listen to our bodies and nurture our spirits. After talking to her, I was reflecting a lot on the wisdom of our bodies. The way our bodies send us messages, which we often ignore and try to figure things out with our minds. This is TOTALLY understandable given that we’ve been taught to cut ourselves off at the neck and shut down any messages from our body – whether our body is telling us to take a break, eat, pee, get outside, take a nap. I know this all too well. In our medical training, it’s a badge of honour to see who can “tough it out” the longest. Who can go the longest without sleeping. We skip meals and ignore the need to pee because we’re too busy running around. It’s insanity! The system that’s supposedly created to help us be healthier rewards us for abusing our bodies! It’s ridiculous! So, if you’re having trouble with this, it’s because that’s what our society has taught us to do! Over the past few years, as I’ve really made a point of slowing down, beginning to listen to my body and consciously nurturing my spirit, I’ve become increasingly skilled at understanding what my body is telling me. I’m still a work in progress and still notice my tendency to push myself when I’m at work because things are so busy… and I’m making progress. I’m learning to carve out time to eat, to pee, to take 2 min to stop, breath and recalibrate my nervous system. It’s not easy, but the degree to which I’m able to do it is the degree to which I feel more balanced, caring and able to be of service. As I’ve slowed down and begun tapping into the wisdom of my body, my connection to my intuition/inner wisdom is growing. I’ve come to use my body as a tool to help me make decisions, and when I’m truly listening from a place of grounded alignment, my body is always right! Having said that, I’ve had to learn the difference between when my body is genuinely saying “no” because the situation is not aligned with my dreams, goals and values and when my body is saying “no” because I’m scared. I’ve come to learn that my body/soul is saying “yes!!!” when I feel excitement and/or a rush of energy in my chest that often comes with a surge of tears. For example when I first heard about the opportunity to train as a Priestess, I could feel the energy surging through my body, followed shortly after by a rush of emotion and breaking out into tears. I’ve now come to call this sensation a “whole body YES!!!”. Even though I knew it was going to mean a significant investment of time, money and energy, and that it made NO sense to me why I was feeling such a strong pull to train as an anointing Priestess, I trusted my body’s “YES!!!” and signed up. As I’ve been progressing in my training, I am now understanding what my body knew LONG before my mind could catch up. I LOVE this training I’m doing. I’m not learning it, I’m REMEMBERING it. It’s like I’ve been a Priestess in multiple life times, and I finally get to come “home” to these teachings and practices. The other way I know my body is telling me “YES!!!” is when I feel like I’m about to jump off a cliff. I feel this really gross feeling in my solar plexus, as if I’m going to vomit. I feel so sick and it’s like every cell in my body is screaming “NO!!! Don’t jump off this cliff!!! It’s way too scary!!! We’re going to die!!!” In the first few years after leaving my practice, I had this feeling A LOT! The first time I sent an email to a list of my former patients inviting them into my first group visit, Connecting in Community, I thought I was going to vomit. You’d have thought I was being asked to jump out of an airplane with no parachute! My body was screaming at me to stay small. Stay safe. That it was dangerous to “put myself out there”. I felt that way most of the spring of 2022, as I created and ran my first 7 week Connecting in Community series, built my website and recorded my first course Reclaiming Our Power, Reclaiming Ourselves – the self paced, online version of Connecting in Community. I still have so much love and appreciation for 2022 Shana. She was really brave, and showed up for herself over and over, even and especially when it was hard … and as a result, got stronger and stronger and stronger. I’m living a much more alive, aligned life today BECAUSE I felt the fear and did it anyway. In my experience the biggest magic and miracles in my life have been on the other side of when I showed up for myself and did the things that I knew deep down was what my soul was calling me to do, but that terrified me. Over time, I’ve also learned the difference between “NO! I’m scared” (which is actually my body’s way of saying “YES! This is the way!”, and my mind trying to keep me safe based on old patterns) versus when my body is legitimately saying “NO!”. When my body is saying “NO!”, it’s more of a heavy, sticky, weighty, dead kind of feeling in my body. Sometimes I know what is being asked really isn’t aligned and I’m doing it because I think I “should”, and sometimes it legitimately seems like a good idea to my mind, but when I really check in with my body, it feels more like I’m trying to swim upstream through molasses or climb over a thick brick wall. In either case, I’m learning to listen because when I don’t, the messages get louder! We are all different and our bodies are going to talk to us in different ways. I encourage you to begin a conversation with YOUR body. Begin tuning into what YOUR body wants. What feels like a “yes” in your body? What feels like a “no” but is actually a “yes, but I’m scared”? And what feels like a genuine ‘NO!” in your body? As you go about your day, notice when you’re saying “yes” and when you’re saying “no” and check in with your body to sense what your body is trying to tell you. At first, this might be quite challenging if you’re used to letting our mind make all the decisions and ignoring your body… and like anything, it will come with practice. Begin noticing the feelings and sensations with a spirit of curiosity and begin a dialogue with your body. In my experience, our bodies begin by whispering to us, then they get a bit louder, then even louder and louder until they are shouting at us in a variety of ways, trying to get our attention. With the crazy pace of our lives and these crazy times we’re living through, our bodies have a lot to say… and I think it’s because we, as a species, have gone so far off track that our bodies are pleading with us to slow down, to listen, to “come home” to ourselves and begin living our lives from the inside -> out, rather than from the outside -> in. If the whispers of your body are too quiet to hear. That’s okay. Start by sending love to your body. Put a hand over any area of discomfort or dis-ease in your body, and send love to that area. Letting your body know you love and appreciate her, and that you’d like to begin a conversation with her. Be patient. Be kind. Be curious. Over time, you’ll begin to learn to decipher her whispers. As I’ve been doing lately, I’ve also recorded a little “podcast” episode for you on this topic as well. I hope you enjoy it. Sending you so much love sister, Until next week, Shana * I understand that these newsletters and audio messages offered by Dr. Shana Johnston are designed to help me tap into my own inner wisdom and find my own answers. I understand the information presented by Dr. Johnston is based on a combination of her personal experience and current medical knowledge in a constantly evolving field where a variety of different opinions exist. I understand that the ideas and information presented should not act as a substitute for the individualized advice of my qualified and licensed healthcare practitioner. In reading/listening to the material presented, I agree to accept full responsibility for my interpretation of any content I consume, and thereby release Dr. Shana Johnston from any liability related to the information and ideas presented in any of her offerings. |