How to Listen to Your Body: 4 Tips for Mind-Body Awareness

In yoga or conscious dance classes, we often hear the phrase ‘listen to your body,’ but what do we really mean by that?

Our bodies communicate with us all the time, but we are too busy listening to the thoughts and stories of the mind that we often forget about the body. Without practice in listening to the body, it can seem strange to us.

Here, I propose some ideas to start listening to your body and be more aware of what it wants to tell you:

1. Scan your body and observe how each part of your body feels. If there is a part that stands out, focus on this part of the body and feel what you feel without judging, or simply observing.

   
   

2. Observe your posture and your movements. Body language gives a lot of information, maybe we are more accustomed to reading the body language of others and not so much the body language of our own body. I invite you to observe yourself, your movements, and your gestures.

   
   

3. Accept, listen to, and trust your body. Listening not to judge but to learn.

   
   

4. Enjoy what your body wants to do. Maybe your body is telling you it needs to move more in general or in a specific way, or some part of the body wants to stretch or move in some way, or maybe it needs to rest.

   
   

Sometimes, it’s only when we are on the yoga mat that we realize these things. I invite you to practice listening to your body outside the mat and tell me how it goes.