5 Tips to Tune Into Your Body Wisdom

Ayurveda teaches us to attune and pay attention to the early warning signs of imbalance.  Empowering us to manage our wellness with deep awareness and lifestyle habits. Do you know the signals that say you are going off track with your health?

Understanding your early warning system is the key to evolving your health. Don’t detour into bad habits. As soon as you realize you are off track shift back to habits that build thrive.The sooner you take action the better, because it is just so much easier to make small corrections  than big ones.

Much of living is habitual, kinda like driving a car. We teach safe driving with lots of structure but western culture doesn’t really support habits for health. It’s easy for your attention to drift and before you know it you are gaining weight or driving off the road in the middle of the night.

Loud music, cool air, bumper strips, yellow lines and jersey barriers remind us to stay on track when driving. If you are sleepy the sound of the bumper strip jerks you into alertness. You check your position on the road and the traffic and adjust as necessary.

It is the end of summer in the Northern Hemisphere and many of us change our schedules, kids go back to school, we go back to work. Do you need a course adjustment? The summer flew by and maybe your habits got a little less attention.

Have your habits slipped a bit? Is your early warning system talking?

What warns us that we are living off track?

Your body tries to tell you. Listen to it and your body will help you stay on track. Attune to your body and how it communicates. The body has a distinct language. It speaks in the language of the senses.

1. Look in the mirror.

If your skin isn’t glowing and is dull and dry instead, your body wants moisture. Start sipping water throughout the day. You may feel more thirsty after you start drinking. Your body is saying yup this is what I need. Keep drinking.

2. Listen to your body.

Are you tired, or achy, or gassy, or constipated? This is your body telling you gently you are off track.  Upgrade your eating. Add more nutrients – Add plants! If you are waking up sluggish or burping up a storm, start to eat an earlier lighter dinner and watch things shift.

3. Check your waste.

Is your hair shiny and strong? Or brittle and dry. Look at your hands and fingernails. What color are your nail beds? ( I don’t mean nail polish.) Pink is nice and healthy. Are you nails breaking? Ayurveda says our hair and nails are waste products, malas associated with bone, if your wastes are strong the tissues are being well fed.

Take a look in the toilet, after you use it. Healthy urine is light yellow and clear. Feces are brownish and banana shaped. What is going on inside is often reflected in what comes out.

Are you defecating every day?  If not things might be stopped up. No poop and poop emoji are warning signs from your body telling you to check into what you are eating and how you are digesting it.

Defecating less than once a day means you are holding onto toxins too long. Drink water and add fibrous plants to your diet to help. Constipation and diarrhea have potentially broad reaching effects on your life.

“When the physical channel isn’t eliminating well expect problems in the subtle channel, which includes your inner state- your mind, thoughts and emotions -.”  Cate Stillman,  Body Thrive

4. Are You Sleepy?

Dragging yourself through each day? Fatigue is the body lighting up the low fuel light. The fuel you need is sleep. Tune up your bedtime routine. Hit the sack by 10 pm, to be sure you are rested to face each day.

Your body will shout with pain and disease if you ignore it.

5. Feel the Pain

Are you in pain on a regular basis?  Daily pain is not normal or healthy. This is your body turning up the volume. It is desperately trying to get your attention. Tune up all your habits and check in with your healthcare team.

The body never lies. – Martha Graham

When we look and listen we can get the message we are off track early and quickly identify best next steps, habit(s) we need to plug into to get back on track and build thrive. We all want to do better, up level our own health and our contributions. We see ourselves and our students living to our potential to varying degrees.

Are we living the habits to the level we need to evolve our wellness and engage fully in our lives?

Tune into your body. Target the specific habits it is asking for and engage right now, build resiliency and preempt getting off track.

Where do you need to focus first?

Share in the comments below what warning light comes on for you.