As the old saying goes ‘Your body is a
temple.’ It is true. Your body is a receptacle of memories,
feelings and thoughts in various areas of the body. As you experience the world, so does it flow
through your chakras and meridians, affecting your aura, moods and physical
presence.
It is my belief that it’s not only
mindfulness but psychophysiological mindfulness that creates strong foundations
for your life, your workplace, family and free time and contributes to your own
healing in so many ways. As they say:
prevention is far better than cure and I always look for holistic ways to solve
problems.
We usually associate mindfulness with
becoming acutely aware of the patterns, of thoughts and feelings that flow
through your mind every day, but we also need to treat our bodies well to help
with this process and eliminate any possibilities that what you are ingesting
or how much you are exercising is either assisting or burdening your
psychophysiological health.
I was inspired to write this quick blog article
from another article published in The Age today titled ‘How healthy is your relationship with food?’ where it’s recommended that you eat when you are
hungry rather than trying to starve yourself to stay in shape, the former being far
more effective for your health. The
author Paula Goodyer notes:
“People
often get fixated on counting kilojoules, for instance, but learning to count
kilojoules doesn’t teach you to listen to your body,” she says. “One
characteristic of people who have a healthy relationship with food is that
they eat more intuitively and are more aware of their appetite. They rely on
internal hunger and satiety cues to know when it’s time to eat and when it’s
time to stop – and their reasons for eating are physical, not emotional.”
I like this far more than any of the other
fad diet ideas. It's so important to
listen to your body. Are you eating a
range of holistic foods that are a variety of colours and textures? Have you become aware of how some foods
affect you which you could live without?
A personal trainer recently told me that about 80% of maintaining your
shape/wellbeing/health is by eating well.
What you ingest can affect your moods, but your moods can then affect
what you ingest with 'reward' foods or substances. If you're not getting enough water or
exercise your moods will be affected.
Pay attention to those needs just as you would with your own child who eats
too much sugar or colouring.
Many people are not accepting of their
moods being affected by how tired they are - like a toddler losing their grip
because they're just plain tired, so tune in.
Sometimes our moods are affected by how our bodies feel or the reverse:
stress can have dramatic affects on the body too which can cause psychic
blockages and/or contribute to stress or trauma already existing in the body.
[For
the record, I am not, however, going to make any claims leading off from this
point about cancer caused by psychic blockages in the body – I believe in holistic
prevention and would never try to take a client away from the doctor’s
surgery].
Adults are affecting their bodies all of
the time by not realising that they have a reliance on certain substances to
lift their moods nor are they watching their moods after a big night out or
considering what they ingest as a part of a cycle whether short term or as a
part of an old habit that needs to be altered.
As with all things (especially any strange herbs you're incorporating) -
doing some research is always a good idea.
That’s not to say ‘Don’t ever eat sugary
foods’ – you need to enjoy your life.
What about exercise? If you don't like the gym, change your
routine to incorporate more outdoorsy things to get out in the fresh air - do
what you enjoy then you'll get more out of it.
I don’t do a great deal of hardcore cardio and weights because I’d
rather have the energy the next day to go for a 30-40 minute walk and silently
take in the sun and that works really well for me. Keep it lively too – what are the many
variations you could do of the one thing with or without weights?
Consider this: What is your body's 'true will'? Are you meant to have shape to your body but are perfectly healthy in that form? How do you express yourself through your body? It's all key to a healthy image of yourself outside and in.
)O( Elspeth.
