4 Ways to Listen When Your Body Speaks

May 8th, 2018

By Gogo Thule Ngane

Guest writer for Wake Up World

We are constantly receiving information on all levels — mind, body, and spirit — in the form of thoughts, emotions, sensations in our bodies, dreams, and inspiration. It’s like a constant conversation and communication that make up our lives. Unfortunately with all this beautiful information speaking to us, we hardly have the time to listen.

No matter how much your body aches, you fight through it or ignore it to get out of bed in the morning and off to work… That sharp pain that just hit your lower back needs to hold on 15 more minutes until you get the grocery bags up the street and into the house… At times we can’t seem to pinpoint the beginning of our illnesses or unresolved emotions because we weren’t paying attention along the way or even suppressing them to seemingly move forward in life.

On the spiritual journey, one can feel disconnected and a bit lost. Our connection to ourselves and the universe may seem blurry and stagnant. However, we can always slow down, reconnect, and remember that we can make the connections at any moment by being more aware of our mind, body, and environment.

Here are 4 ways to listen when your body speaks.

1. Meditate and breathe

The benefits of mediation and pranayama are many, and the possibilities are endless since we are all different.

Meditation is a great way to listen to your body and soul, and allow their messages to speak louder. One thing I’ve observed through consistent meditation is all the strange sensation in the body and how breathing relaxes muscles you didn’t realize you were tensing up. More comes up to the surface when we breathe and stay still.

Once at a workshop, while doing a fire breathing exercise, I broke into tears and released emotions that had been long trapped in my body.

Though I don’t always know what all the sensations mean, or know exactly how meditation and breathing techniques are impacting my body, I love taking the time to give myself the opportunity to better know myself and my body.

2. Slow down when you feel the need to, express the bottled emotions, and do what works for you.

When we become more aware of ourselves and how we create our lives, things don’t just happen to us, we have a hand in manifesting our experiences.

Just as your brain sends signal to the rest of your body to move and do, our thoughts, our words, and our actions impact our bodies. We can speak lovingly towards our body, we can caress, soothe and massage it with our own hands, and honor the messages it gives us.

3. Pay attention to patterns in your life.

Many of our behaviors and experiences, like nature, follow some kind of rhythm and cycle. Some of us feel sensations when rain is upon us, or feel the need to draw inward while the Moon wanes every month. Not everything we feel and experience is a completely random occurrence.

To help you find the patterns in your life, try journaling, and include the timing of the moon, the season, year, or even the astrology forecast in your reflections of these experiences. You might find insight that can be useful for your life as you move forward.

4. Release attachment to having to know the meaning in every little thing.

It’s always important to honor yourself. Trust your feelings, avoid discounting or dimming your light and what you know and have experienced to be true for you. Allow the sensations to come and go. Just make a mental note and move on. More will be make sense in time.

When you simply slow down and pay attention, you remain open to the wonders and beauty that life has to offer through you.

Also by Gogo Thule Ngane:

About the author:

Gogo Thule Ngane is a Sangoma Traditional Healer, Priestess, and Medicine Woman. She is guided by the Amadlozi, Elevated Ancestors of her lineage. Her work includes divination, traditional healing, and leads workshops, ceremonies, and retreats on ancient African healing and spirituality. She is devoted to awakening ancestral wisdom on the earth.

Journey with her at: 


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