Fertilehealthy

One of my favorite authors is Dr. Christiane Northrup.  I thought I’d share this excerpt from her book ”Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom” with you.  In order for us to be healthy, we need to be in tune with our bodies.  

Learning to listen to and respect your body is a process that requires patience and compassion. You can begin this process by paying attention to your body as you read through this list.

* Make note of those things in your life that are difficult, painful, joyful and the like. As these things come up, notice your breathing, your heart rate and your bodily sensations. What are they? Where are they?

* Pay attention to what your body feels like. Do certain parts of you feel numb? Tired? Do you feel like crying? Do parts of you feel like crying? These feelings are your body’s wisdom. They are part of your inner guidance system.

* What is your image of yourself? How do you think you look to the world? To yourself? Through years of chronic dissatisfaction with their bodies and chronic dieting, many women develop an unrealistic image of themselves. Some feel much heavier than they actually are. But women who are in touch with their inner guidance system will often appear taller and more imposing physically than their actual body size indicates. The way you feel about yourself creates an electromagnetic field of energy around you that broadcasts these feelings to the world and attracts your reality to you. Choose your signal consciously.

* Pay attention to your thoughts and observe how they affect your body.

* Notice what your body needs on a daily basis. Are you hungry? Do you have to go to the bathroom? Are you tired? Do you routinely ignore your body?

* Understand that your health is at risk if you are constantly undermining certain parts or functions of your body. If someone at work has a cold, you automatically undermine your body’s ability to stay healthy by obsessing about how many germs you’ve been exposed to. Instead, say to your body, “Don’t worry - I know you have the ability to stay healthy when I nourish and rest you optimally.

* Notice what fears you hold about your body. Do you avoid touching your breasts because you are afraid of finding lumps? Instead, learn about your breast anatomy and learn to touch with respect and love. You can transform and heal your entire relationship with them. The same goes for your genitals.

* Notice whether there are parts of your body that you have disowned. What are they? Do you consider parts of yourself “unacceptable”? A friend of mine had frequent abdominal pain until she was thirty-five. In her family, she had learned that it was completely unacceptable for a woman to pass gas, even though it was okay for her father and her brothers. Thus, instead of allowing routine intestinal gas to leave her body as necessary, she literally held on to it, with resulting abdominal pain. Once she realized that she had disowned an entire natural body function, she learned how to allow this function and became free of abdominal pain. Note: farts are funny. Even Shakespeare knew that. Little children know it. Accept them and learn to laugh and let go!

* When you experience a bodily sensation such as back pain, “a gut reaction”, a headache, or abdominal pain, pay attention to it and see if you can pinpoint the emotional situation that may have triggered it. Nivari Payne teachers her clients a new vocabulary of symptom empowerment. For example, instead of “My stomach is hurting”, say, “What is it I am having trouble stomaching?” Emotions such as anger, or any other emotion that you may consider unacceptable or that you may find difficult to experience directly, will often affect your body instead. When a sensation arises in your body, stop what you are doing, lie down, breathe, and wait with your symptom, emotion, or feeling. You may be surprised at what other feelings or insights come up.

* Stand in front of a mirror regularly and thank your body for all it has done for you. Notice what comes up when you do this. Write the following sentence down on a piece of paper and tape it to the mirror: “I accept myself unconditionally right now.” Say this sentence out loud to yourself in the mirror while gazing into your eyes. Do this twice per day for thirty days. You can learn to accept your body right now, regardless of where you are starting. When you do this exercise, you will learn a great deal about the inner critics that live within you. Remember - they are just old subconscious and incorrect programs that got downloaded earlier in life. You can change them. When you don’t take your inner criticisms personally, you can tell them to be quiet. Or you can even choose to laugh at them. And guess what? They eventually lose their power over you and go away!

* Remember always that 90% of your bodily functions take place without your conscious input. Who keeps your heart beating? Who metabolizes your food? Who tells you when you need to replenish your fluid intake by drinking water? Who heals your skin when you cut yourself? Who tells your ears to listen to beautiful music? Who tells your eyes to see beautiful sunsets? Acknowledge that your body is a miracle and that its natural state is health and joy.