Trust What Your Body is Telling You

After giving my friend a massage and reiki session, a month ago, we were talking about how she felt. I ask people how they feel after my services for two reasons: one, I want to make sure they have a positive experience and two, it’s a learning experience for me.

She didn’t want to talk about what she felt though, she wanted to know what I felt. What “knots” I felt in her muscles, what chakra felt blocked, what I felt in my hands. I gently tried to refocus the conversation back on what she was feeling in her body. After a little back and forth, I realized she trusted what I felt on her body more than what she felt in her body.

I was disappointed she felt this way. I was also disappointed that she didn’t ask me if I noticed that her range of motion was back in her shoulder or if I felt how open her heart was. She only wanted me to list out “problem areas” that needed work. That day, I chose to tell her about her open heart and how great her body was doing from all the hard work she does to keep it healthy.

I took note of that conversation though and I started noticing similarities in conversations with my clients. For instance, people kept dismissing my questions about how they felt after their sessions were over. Some would say good or sleepy and then immediately change subjects to what I felt. I can be on the stubborn side, so I would try to force them do a mental body scan. I would ask questions “did you feel any physical sensations like heat” or “did you notice one part of your body more than others” until I got a real answer. After I felt satisfied that they took a moment to look internally, I would share what I felt.

Now, I do realize that I am a professional in the wellness industry and that’s why people want to know what I felt. Professionals in the health, wellness, mental health fields are great help processing what you are feeling and helping you become the healthiest version of yourself. But ultimately, it comes down to you listening to the signals your body is giving and acting on them.

Because as much knowledge as I can gain about my fields of study, I will never know more about your body/feelings than you do. What you feel in your body is valid, correct and complete, even if a professional doesn’t feel it. There is no wrong answer to “how do you feel?”.

We need to take time to listen and trust what our bodies are trying to tell us.

The human body does a magnificent job trying to keep us happy and healthy. But if we keep ignoring what we feel how can our body do the job it was designed to do?