3 Ways to Build Trust With Your Body
Do you trust your body?
There are various reasons why you may be shaking your head “no” to this question…
Dieting is probably one of them: Diets (and the people who market them) bank on your insecurities. They work really hard to convince you that you and your body can’t be trusted, and that you need their “top secret” formula because they know what your body needs (better than you).
They teach you to prioritize external rules over inner cues. The actual root of this problem isn't diets, it's the shaming of fat bodies, but that's a chat for another day. And this problem goes deep: Whether you've restricted your food for a few days or a few decades, you probably still struggle to trust your body.
Trauma is another: Experiencing a traumatic event (or the ongoing trauma of being in a marginalized body) can make your body feel like an unsafe place to be in. Your body may feel like the enemy, or you may have developed a familiar dissociative state so that you can avoid reminders of your pain.
When you do whatever you can to distance yourself/mind from your body, body trust grows farther and farther away.
Experts may contribute as well: Experts are people or things you trust more than yourself, and you may have handed your power over to them.
Parents who told you what to eat, when to eat, and how much to eat were acting as “experts” of your body and can contribute to a broken sense of trust.
Doctors who denied how you felt could lead to a conflicting relationship with your body, leaving you not knowing who or what to believe.
Social media probably makes you feel like your body isn't good enough, or that you just need to find the one person who has all the answers.
All of these factors cause you to disconnect from your body and deny its needs and desires. They destroy the trust you once had in your body - before you viewed it as a problem to be solved.
The thing is, no one knows your body better than you do.
No one knows better than you when you’re hungry, how much food you need, what kind of food you need, what foods satisfy you, and how different foods feel in your body.
Losing touch with this fact is at the very root of the nourishment challenges we are collectively experiencing as a society.
To re-build trust within your body, you need to start slowing down with it, hearing it out, and showing up for it.
Try to throw out the messages you have received from diet culture and so-called “experts” about the parts of your body you should change. Believe it or not, it’s actually working REALLY hard to keep you going.
Consider all the times it has shown up for you in spite of:
- Insufficient sleep
- Undernourishment
- Loneliness
- Work stress
- Punishment by overexercise
- Punishment by self-harm
- Lack of family support
- Concern for the social and political environment
Your heart keeps pumping, your lungs keep breathing, your body keeps moving. It’s amazing, really! Your body is resilient and creative. It’ll do its best with whatever resources it has.
Here are some ways you can begin to rebuild trust with your body:
1) Notice how hard it’s working to keep you alive.
Offer it gratitude for that work.
2 ) Give it resources to make its job easier.
Here’s a few to consider:
Rest
Food
Connection
Play
3) Enjoy the precious time, energy, and capacity you have now.
Your body could be different tomorrow. Appreciate what you’ve got.
Reconnecting with your body is a life-long project. Take a moment today to practice just a little bit.
~ Sarah