Starting the Journey of Somatic Listening
Here’s the thing: everyone thinks they’re good at multitasking….
Truth: No one is good at multitasking.
Because no matter how how well someone is doing two things, the attention is still being split 50/50, so neither activity is receiving 100% presence, meaning both are being approached with half effort.
Have you ever called up a friend to get their advice on something and heard mostly the sound of chopping vegetables or the crashing of plates on the other side of the phone? I’ve definitely been guilty of this, thinking I could listen and prepare dinner at the same time. Then I was on the receiving end of it one day when I really needed some help, and I felt completely unheard.
I became frustrated and sad when I hear the person I called up seeking help from wass splitting their attention and couldn’t take the time to be present with me.
It’s not uncommon that being unheard produces feelings of disconnection and unworthiness.
And how relieved, comforted, and supported do we feel after we’ve really been heard and someone has truly listened to what we needed to say?
So how, and how often, do you listen to your body?
Our bodies hold an incredible amount of information for us if we listen. There are thousand of networks communicating and signals switching on and off in every moment.
These signals have one common goal: optimum potential health.
I think one of the most common and easy ways to recognize communication from our body is when our stomach sends the signal to our brain to let us know we’re full and it would like us to stop eating.
Aside from mealtimes, what other messages is your body trying to send throughout the rest of the day?
It’s highly beneficial for our parasympathetic state if we can take a few times each day to tune in with ourselves and just see what’s going on. It’s an opportunity to begin harmonizing the psychosomatic connection and building trust between mind-body communication.
One easy and effective way to return to your body throughout the day is to have consistent check-ins to see what you need.
Take about three to five minutes, three to five times a day to ask what the body needs and best provide what your vessel is asking for in order to benefit all levels of mental, physical, and emotional health.
It’s as simple as this:
Set a “check-in” alarm on your phone to go off 3x during the day, or 5x including morning and evening.
During each check-in, close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, and bring your awareness to your belly, your heart, and your mind. Take one to three minutes to tune in.
Cultivate the observance of sensations.
What is your current experience?
Noticing physical sensations, contraction, tension, breath, and emotional quality.
Ask yourself these questions:
How do I feel right now? Avoid terms like “tired,” “good,” or “ok.”
Try describing your experience with a description of the body part that’s sending a signal (adjective + noun):
For example, “clenched jaw,” “tight shoulders,” “shallow breath,” “foggy brain”
How does my overall physical health feel?
Take a body scan, placing your feet on the ground and moving your awareness slowly upwards from the soles of your feet to the crown of your head. Maybe it feels like:
“Knee is a bit pinchy” “ I am a little dehydrated,” “a lot of nasal congestion”
How does my overall mental health feel?
Check in with your levels of patience, spaciousness, groundedness, etc. Maybe it reads something like:
”A little bit annoyed at…” or “Feeling frustrated with…” or “overthinking this situation…” “slight guilt because…”
What do I need in this moment to bring in more balance?
I could be something as easy as, “I just need a few sips of water” or maybe it’s, “I need get this {conversation, thought pattern, email} out of my head.”
Take appropriate and mature steps to make this happen.
Maybe you feel great on all levels! Clear, open, calm, expansive? That’s the goal!
If not, how can we get there?
No matter what, I put my bare feet on the ground for a minute or two, take a few full body stretches and deep breaths and drink 200-500ml of water.
Add in 30 seconds of shaking to move through some ickiness! Or do 10 jumping jacks to increase the physical energy. Alternatively, you could lay with your legs up the wall for 10 minutes to simulate a little power nap. There are so many ways to bring balance back during the the day!
My check in schedule looks like this:
Morning: usually at the end of meditation, yoga practice, or morning pages
11 am or 12 pm: depending on how early of a riser you are, this is a late morning check-in
3 or 4 pm - late afternoon check-in - how are the energy levels, how is your water intake? Are you feeling scattered, lethargic, mid-afternoon crash? Maybe the mind and body could benefit from 5 minutes of bare feet? Or 10 squats!
7 pm evening check-in
Bedtime check-in during wind down, before writing, reading or evening routine
Checking in with yourself throughout the day will open and strengthen the communication of signals from your body, so you can become more in tune with what’s going on within the system beneath the skin, and living a healthy, intuitive life.
