My handsome hubs and I went for a walk on a windy, sunny, dogwood blossom-kissed Sunday morning here in Charlotte. We walk throughout the year here, and this day was one of those especially nice spring ones, after the cooler days of winter and before the humidity of summer.
When we got home, I immediately started sneezing, not like a time or two, but like 15 times in a row! And so began a day of allergies that signaled to me spring was officially here.
Though the sneezing started literally on the spring equinox, it wasn’t the first sign that my body had given me. For the last couple of weeks prior to the equinox, my digestive system had been undergoing its annual March pivot.
Pretty much every year around this time, my appetite decreases and my digestive system becomes sluggish and inflamed. You might think, “Just drink more water, Tami,” or “eat more fruits and vegetables,” but that doesn’t work. At this time of year even water, yes *water* can give me indigestion. Sounds crazy, right?
Well, this March swivel has happened enough times now, no matter what probiotic I’m taking, that I’ve started to pay more attention and recognize it. Though I was a few weeks into this change before realizing that’s what was happening, I finally started listening so that I could modify my actions and feel better.
When you learn the language of your body and change your actions to fit its needs, you end up being more productive than if you ignore its messages and you set an example for a more compassionate way of living.
Finding the Natural Wisdom in the Seasons
Just like your fur baby sheds more as the weather grows warmer and the daffodil bulbs start sprouting and blooming, your body is a living, breathing thing that responds to the natural world around it. It goes through seasons and phases too, and for good reason.
There’s a reason your fur baby lightens its coat—to lose the heavy undercoat of winter so that it’s more comfortable in warmer months and can maintain its activities. When it’s feeling good instead of overheated, chasing frisbees or running after the birds is a lot easier.
There’s no question about pushing through the discomfort of the extra weight and warmth. The loss of fur happens naturally so your fur baby can live its purpose.
The human body also needs different things in different seasons. Several health modalities like Ayurveda and Chinese medicine recognize this concept and offer various foods and remedies to help the body adapt to nature’s changes.
Despite the tendency for us humans to think you just need to put your head down and push through, you don’t have to suffer. You don’t have to override your body’s messages for the sake of getting more done.
Because it’s a lot harder to live your purpose, do good in the world, or even leave a mark on your to-do list, when your eyes are itchy, you’re sneezing and sniffling, you feel like all your food and water is sitting in your throat, and you worry your bloated belly might just make you float away if the wind gets any stronger.
Just like your fur baby, you’ll be able to be more active and better live your purpose if you heed the body’s messages and take care of it.
Learning the Language of Your Body
I now know to listen to these messages my body gives me at this time of year. Rather than just complain about the symptoms, I understand they’re telling me it’s time to do things differently.
Sometimes that means I break out the neti pot. At other times I resort to allergy medicine instead, even though I’d prefer to stick to food-based, herbal, and yogic solutions.
Sometimes it means I eat fresh aloe vera leaf. At other times, I might do a specific breathing technique to strengthen my digestion before each meal. Or maybe I take some Tums.
This year, I’m trying a couple of new things because I like experimenting and exploring different ways to feel better.
The more you learn to listen to your body, the more you understand its language and the quicker you can respond when it asks something of you.
There’s no one size fits all for your health. What works for me might not work for you and vice versa.
What helped you last year might not this year. That’s why you have to keep listening.
And sometimes you just need some help interpreting this language in the form of a doctor or other medical professional. What I’m offering here is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical or mental health condition.
The better you start to pay attention to and understand the messages your body is sending the more you’ll be able to help your doctor when you do need to seek that help.
yoga As interpreter
To learn to listen to your body, you do have to learn a new language—the one your body speaks. Once you do, you can start heeding its requests for change before it starts “shouting” at you with something more debilitating than slow digestion and sneeziness.
Practicing yoga is one of the best ways I know for learning to listen to your body, mind, and heart.
Your yoga practice can act as an interpreter between your body and your mind and teach you the language your body speaks.
For example, your posture practice helps you start to observe how a pose or a practice affects your musculoskeletal system. As you progress you might start to see how they influence your breath. If you take the time to notice, you might also detect the way a posture or sequence has the ability to alter your mental health.
This practice of observing yourself is called Svadhyaya (Self-Study), and it’s a key component to moving beyond doing yoga only for the sake of exercise. Though there’s nothing wrong with doing yoga for the exercise and stretching, when you start to go deeper, you’ll reap benefits you didn’t even know were possible.
You begin to live in a way that honors your body and your purpose. When you listen to and heed the messages of your body, you can increase your focus by reducing and eliminating the distractions of discomfort and illness. You can stave off or even avoid the longer term consequences of running yourself into the ground.
You act with more compassion and a wiser kind of perseverance. You model for others the truth that taking care of yourself ultimately is more productive than overriding your needs.
So tell me, what’s your body telling you about what it needs during the change of the seasons right now? How can you listen to your body, heed its messages, and act differently to take better care of yourself? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to learn more about you and get the conversation going!
In wellness, joy, and inspiration,
Tami