When was the last time you completely stepped away? From your work, from the day-to-day obligations of your many roles—co-worker, home manager, mom, wife, sister, daughter, friend, volunteer?
When was the last time you spent a whole day feeling into your body, asking, “What do I want to do right now?”, and then doing only and exactly that?
When was the last time you rested as much as you wanted, moved your body as much as you wanted, spent time outside as much as you wanted, created as much as you wanted?
Friends, I’m on retreat. And it’s glorious.
The retreat I’m on is a writing retreat. And I am, indeed, getting lots and lots of writing done. But the insight I wanted to pass along today isn’t about writing or creating at all. It’s about your body, and it’s this:
Your body loves you.
If you are here, reading these words, then it means that your body is working tirelessly, magnificently, to propel you steadily and faithfully towards life, in every moment of every day.
Many of us have had an experience of being at war with our bodies. Feeling all of the ways our bodies are “not enough” or failing us in this way or that way.
We hear a lot about “loving our bodies” (which is sometimes just poorly disguised code and shaming straight out of the Diet Culture handbook). But what would it be like to explore a completely different perspective?
Today, I invite you to experience this for yourself in your own two-minute micro-retreat.
Here’s how: take any in-between moment in your day today—maybe while driving to pick up the kids, washing your hands before making dinner, slipping off your glasses at the end of the night, changing the laundry from the washer or the dryer.
Whatever this in-between moment is—I want you to use it to pause internally and listen to your body.
Now, at first, you might hear it asking for something you can’t provide in the moment—adequate rest, an hour of yoga.
If you hear these requests as you listen to your body, please know it’s okay! Listening to our bodies doesn’t have to mean perfectly performing the care it asks for in every moment. It’s alright that some days we don’t move enough or stretch enough or whatever you think your body is telling you. Life is alway life-y. Perfection isn’t a prerequisite for peace.
The trick in this micro-retreat is to keep listening—with openness, with curiosity—so that you might hear something even deeper than your body nagging you to sleep and drink water. If you do, you might hear the “sounds” of your body loving you.
You might sense the slight tingle of your toes as it sends a loving push to the blood beginning its long trek back up to your heart. You might hear the “sound” of your lungs unremittingly performing its dancelike exchange—oxygen/CO2, oxygen/CO2.
You might feel that twinge you always feel in your shoulder, hip, neck. The one that on most days makes you curse, “Ugh, what is wrong with me?” But maybe for today, in this micro-retreat moment, you’ll feel that throb and let yourself wonder, “Is there a way to experience this sensation as love?”
As I write this, my tight right hip is talking to me, working overtime to remind me gently (and not so gently!) that I’ve been sitting too long, that stretching and movement is a kindness always available, that release is both possible and productive for body and soul.
My right hip is here, always, whispering, “I love you.”
And maybe this is just the blissed out, retreat-y “woo” talking, but today when it does, I’ll be whispering right back, “I love you, too”.
Beautifully written and some interesting thoughts to reflect on. As a clinical psychologist working with disordered eating body image struggles, I’ve encouraged my patients to appreciate the amazing things their body does for them automatically and without being asked to. Body respect lead to body appreciation and gratitude even if it’s a journey of unwinding what we’ve taught over and over again by diet culture.
“Life is always life-y”. Thank you for this new adage. I treasure it. And your writings. Thanks, Marika🌷