RECONNECT TO YOUR BODY

THE POWER OF EMBODIMENT

Introduction:

In a world designed for a fast-paced lifestyle that is far removed from what we are naturally intended to live, we have reached a breaking point. Many are feeling disconnected from themselves, each other, and the wisdom of their bodies, leading to disease and mental, physical, and emotional issues that aren't being resolved or even acknowledged in Western medicine. So, how do we return to our roots and undo the damage that has been done?

BODY WISDOM:

.It begins with us—each one of us individually CHOOSING to return to nature, to remember and rebuild our connection with the Earth and the medicines she has to offer: clean, unsprayed, vibrant foods, herbs, and plants straight from the Earth, unaltered, unmodified, unpasteurized, and unprocessed.

When we return to the Earth, to our roots, magic happens, and our body's ability to naturally heal begins as we reconnect to the Earth, to ourselves, and to God. Our bodies hold so much wisdom within them and have no intention of being disease-ridden. Our bodies are constantly speaking to us; we’ve just forgotten how to hear and understand the language of our bodies.

Dis-ease in the body is our body screaming at us to listen because we didn’t listen to the gentle whispers. It will continue to get louder and louder until we finally listen. Some of us are so afraid to trust our bodies that we’d rather have a cupboard full of prescriptions that keep us surviving, but far from thriving. One Band-Aid creating another wound, which creates another Band-Aid, and so on.

When do we hit our breaking point and realize this isn’t the way? This isn’t working, and we deserve to live a full, vibrant, and healthy life—free of depression, anxiety, disease, and all the other increasing health issues?

Do we wait until our body is screaming at us to listen, or do we choose to hear the gentle nudges and CHOOSE a new way—to return to the wisdom of our bodies and learn to LISTEN to HER/HIM?

What has your body been trying to tell you? What FEELS good in your body? What doesn’t? Are you afraid to FEEL? Are you afraid to be alone with yourself, your own thoughts, and your feelings? Our greatest gifts lie within the places we are afraid to go or be.

Rebuilding our connection with our body and the Earth is much like rebuilding a relationship with a friend or lover. It takes time, devotion, patience, love, and understanding. It requires active listening and changing our toxic behaviours to create more harmony, peace, and understanding.

RECONNECT:

My journey to healing my body and my relationship with it has been a long one, filled with tears and frustration but also a lot of joy and expansion. I was always very insecure but hid it really well by throwing myself into extreme workouts, becoming a bodybuilder, and following my strength program and diet to a T. My body looked amazing, but it was never enough, and I couldn’t even appreciate the hard work because I couldn’t see how amazing my body looked. The energy fuelling my ambitions was rooted in self-hate and unworthiness, as well as wounds such as the need to control and shape my body in the way I wanted to give me some sense of control. I was still holding onto the story from childhood that taught me it wasn’t safe to not be in control because bad things happened that I couldn’t control, leading me to try to control everything in an attempt to find some sort of false sense of safety. I became very structured and tried my best to control everything I possibly could in my life, and one of those things was my body, which eventually led to many issues with my health and my relationship with it.

With the help of plant medicines, I was finally able to see how I was perpetuating and continuing the cycle of abuse in my life through the way I was thinking, feeling, and treating myself and my body. I realized how disconnected I was from my body due to trauma that instilled the belief that my body wasn’t a safe place to be, leaving me so disconnected that I couldn’t understand what I needed or wanted to feel good. And because our body is also our most powerful intuitive tool, I was also disconnected from my own intuition and power.

As I began to understand how the stories of my past were stored in my body (because even if we let go of them within our minds, our bodies hold the memory too), I was able to hold space for these stories to be released and bring love to myself and my body. I saw the truth of how I felt about my body and how I felt in my body, and OH BOY, that was uncomfortable—to finally be in my body and feel everything I hadn’t been able to feel from being disconnected from her for so long. I became devoted to her and listened to her needs, even if they didn’t always make logical sense. I started to trust my body, knowing that it holds so much wisdom and knows exactly what it needs to heal and be in its most healthy state of being. This journey with her has not been easy, but it has been beyond worth it and fulfilling.

Here are some of the most powerful tools I have used and continue to use to heal and listen to my body.

NATURE

Spending time in nature is my #1 priority and medicine for my body. Not only does it soothe our body, mind, and energy, but it also grounds our energy into our body—most of us are not grounded, so daily grounding practices are super important.

Being in nature also helps your body heal its nervous system. So hug a tree, lie in the grass, meditate while sitting against a tree, go barefoot as much as you can, swim in lakes, oceans, and rivers, garden, or have plants in your home. As much as you can connect to nature, this is the most important piece for overall health and well-being.

MOVEMENT

Embodiment practices are powerful and should be incorporated into everyone’s daily life. There is so much more to embodiment than movement, but we’ll focus on just the movement aspect for this. Feel free to explore more about embodiment and its benefits.

Movement is our most powerful tool to get INTO our bodies. This is the fastest and best way to connect with our body. By letting go of the mind and getting lost in moving your body, you are able to tap into the language of your body. Our body speaks to us in many ways, but I always find movement is the most powerful way to feel what it needs.

SLOW down, put music on in privacy, and just let your body guide you. Move into all the places that are holding tension (energy), and pause in those spaces. Hold space for it to be released. This is part of how you release the stories of trauma that are stored in your body. It’s just energy trapped in the body, and movement is a powerful way to move it out. So give your body space to FEEL so it can release the stories. Our mind releases more by speaking things out, but our body needs to FEEL to release, and one of the ways it NEEDS to feel is through movement.

I promise, that when you move your body in the way that FEELS really good to you, you will naturally begin to feel better and look better with ease. If your body doesn’t like weights, try Pilates, dancing, yoga, or one or more of the many other options out there to move your body. This has changed many times for me, and I just keep trusting that what my body wants will result in me feeling my best. Remember, this is a process—give it time and trust the process.

MEDITATION

Meditation is my favourite mindfulness practice, and it’s something I do daily (or twice daily).

When we cultivate mindfulness and awareness through meditation, we become more aware of our thoughts, beliefs, and how we FEEL, all of which are important to cultivating a healthy relationship with our body. Meditation gives us the awareness and ability to change our damaging beliefs and programs.

Meditation also has many other health benefits, like lowering stress levels, healing the nervous system, improving mental health, better sleep, pain reduction, and improving memory and focus, among many other benefits for our body, mind, and spirit.

You don’t need to spend hours doing this. Start with 5 minutes a day and go from there. Even 5 minutes every day when you wake up makes a difference and will motivate you to spend more time in meditation.

FUEL:

What you put into your body is so important, and so much of what is found on the shelves in stores is absolute garbage and literally poisons your body. Now, I know this topic can be stressful, as even most of our fruits and vegetables are being genetically modified and also sprayed with pesticides. Most of us don’t always have access to grow our own food or buy organic, but there is still so much we can do—like cutting out all processed foods, seed oils, and anything else your body is telling you F-no to.

The more I listened to my body, the better I felt. Even though my diet was considered extremely healthy and clean—all home-cooked with no processed foods—my body still wasn’t having some of the foods I was eating. And I won’t even go into what I do and don’t eat, because we need to listen to our OWN BODY, not what everyone else is doing or telling you to eat. There are so many opinions and programs out there around this topic, but no one knows what your body needs better than your body."

"What really helped me tune into what my body wanted was learning how to tune into the energy of food and then feel in my body how it felt about each food. I let my body lead the way now, and it knows exactly what it needs to feel good. I trust it, even when it goes against everything I’ve lived by in the past and everything society tells us.

See food as energy—because everything IS energy. See it as energy and ask yourself, 'What is the energy of this food? What does it make me feel? What do I feel when I look at it, hold it, or think about eating it? Do I get a sinking feeling in my stomach, instant pain, or do I feel a sense of upliftment and high energy?'

Start tuning into what you are eating, as this plays a big role in how you feel. And when you aren’t feeling good, it makes it harder to feel good in your body. Let’s stop abusing our bodies for the sake of flavour, addiction, numbing out with food, or whatever other reasons we hold for eating food that we KNOW our body doesn’t want. Our body is a sacred vessel, and the health of it dictates the quality of our life. We only get ONE, so treat it with the love and respect it deserves.

These are just a few of my favourite ways to stay happy, and healthy, and cultivate a deeper relationship with my body. The benefits ripple out to every aspect of my life.

I hope you enjoyed today’s share. If you feel called to work with me to create change in your life, head to my services page.

Wishing you much love and ease on your journey HOME 💕

Elyssa Faith