Listening to Your Body

A few months after I had my second baby, I was struggling to get back to an intense bootcamp and HIIT routine that had gotten me through most of my 30s. I was telling my friend that my lack of motivation and desire was pretty foreign and it was bumming me out. She replied “But is that the workout that your body even wants right now?”

I paused. I had honestly not thought much about what my body wanted. 

My body simply did whatever my mind told it to do, didn’t it…

I realized that way of thinking needed to be upgraded, and asking what my body wanted right now opened up a whole new conversation for me, a whole new way of seeing it and being in relationship with myself that has endured far beyond postpartum.

I will say that I do try to stick to a fitness schedule so that I can organize my week and achieve my goals of getting stronger and feeling fit. I love signing up for a class and looking forward to it, and I love planning workouts with friends. I also have days where I don’t want to workout, but I am proud that I forged ahead and was able to change my mood in doing so.

However, and this is a big however, I do not stick to my schedule at the expense of my body and what it’s communicating to me – whether those messages come through tension, sluggishness, energy, or excitement.

I gratefully now know that there are days when my body really wants to do certain workouts. Sometimes that is hard, fast sprints; sometimes that is to lift heavy, sometimes that is to totally rest and recover. I now never look at it as a bummer or as a weakness when I am not up for the usual program or the plan I made. I look at as a good information, and I give myself permission to adjust accordingly.   

Being in this kind of relationship with my body meant that I gave up on directing it from the top down, and I started honoring the innate intelligence that lives inside of me.