Have you ever been told to “listen to your body” during yoga? This is a key element to trauma-informed yoga, teaching you to do what feels best instead of perfecting poses. Many trauma survivors actually feel confused by this statement because they’ve been disconnected from their body for so long.
I created this beginner’s guide to remove this confusion and create opportunity for deeper embodiment. I welcome you to join me and explore the five steps.
The Importance of Listening to Your Body
Why listen to your body? Couldn’t you just do the yoga poses and receive the benefits? Yes, and no.
If you go through motions and follow the teacher, that’s okay. You may gain more flexibility or focus on form in poses. But, if you listen to what your body needs, you’ll experience these differences in your practice:
Reduce risk of injury. Knowing when you’re going past your limits requires you to listen to your body. Are you straining, holding your breath, or uncomfortable? These are signs you’re too far into a pose or doing a pose that isn’t supportive for your body.
Deeper embodiment. Tuning into your body is how you embody your practices. You go from mindless motions to a profound experience.
Deepen your mind and body connection. If you’re a trauma survivor, it’s common to “detach” from your body. You may feel completely disconnected or not feel you can fully live in your body. Listening to your body is how you gently restore this connection.
5 Step Beginner’s Guide: How To Listen To Your Body
1. Establish Your Starting Point
The first step to listening to your body is to bring awareness to how it feels in the current moment. Do you have points of tension? Places in your body that feel comfortable? Do you have energy in your chest or tightness in your abdomen? These are questions that bring an awareness to your current state.
If you’re a trauma survivor, this may come with challenges. Many survivors don’t feel comfortable in their skin and tuning inwards can quickly become an overwhelming experience. It’s important to go at a pace you’re comfortable with and know that you can end any practices at any time.
2. Grounding
Grounding is important because it’s how you return to your center if your practice becomes overwhelming or you need to regroup. There are several methods for grounding, but the most common is to notice your body’s connection with the surface supporting you. This brings your focus into the present and creates mindfulness.
Breathwork is another grounding method, but may be activating for trauma survivors. I welcome you to explore breathwork in your time and pace and know you can still create grounding without this in your practices. This blog post gives you three breathwork exercises for trauma healing journeys.
3. Pain Is A Sign To Explore Something Else
If you’re learning how to listen to your body, it may be difficult to notice subtle energy. One feeling that you should never feel in your yoga practice is pain. This is a good starting point to focus on because pain is a more noticeable sensation in your body.
I invite you to focus on easing out of any poses that cause you pain. A quick check-in between each pose will be your guide. If there is any pain, I invite you to gently ease out of the pose or take another one entirely. You don’t need to do every pose, especially if you feel discomfort.
4. Notice Sensation
Pain is a type of sensation, but not all sensation should be pain. It’s not a sharp feeling, but far more gentle. If you do a forward fold with your knees bent, you may notice sensation in your hamstrings and back. You may also notice sensation elsewhere – there is no wrong sensation to notice.
I welcome you to take note where you notice sensation in each pose. Where is there the most sensation? The least?
Take as much time as you need noticing sensations through poses.
5. Start Asking Questions
Once you no longer feel pain and can start identifying sensation in poses, you’re ready to ask questions for more comfort. While in a pose, you might ask:
- Is there any way I could make this pose 5% more comfortable?
- What do I like about this pose? Dislike?
- Could I add any props to make this a better experience for me?
You never reach an end point with these questions. Some days, you’ll prefer to do a pose a certain way, then completely change the next practice. This is when you begin embodiment and deepening your mind and body connection. You’re listening and asking your body what it needs.
You won’t always get it right, and you may try a shape and realize it didn’t bring you comfort the way you thought it would. That’s okay! It’s about exploration more than finding your perfect shape once and forever.
I also recommend you check in with yourself as much as you like. It takes more effort to ask yourself what your body needs, so it’s okay to take breaks or come back to listening to your body when you’re ready.
Overview
Listening to your body is a lifelong journey that constantly changes. Your body isn’t the same every day, and even different sides of your body differ from each other. The more you practice and become comfortable with this, the more you’ll begin to notice and deepen your practices.
Take Care.
