Listening is such a powerful skill – whether you are listening to someone else or to yourself. I often think I’m listening to someone, but in reality, I’m often engaged in another activity while someone is talking to me, or I’m preparing my reply as they are talking, so I’m really not listening with my whole self.

And quite honestly, listening to myself is even more challenging.  I don’t really, fully listen – I bypass the nudges of hunger or fatigue with the challenge of doing just one more thing before I stop to eat or rest or move.

The other morning however, I made a different choice.  When my alarm clock went off at its usual early morning hour, I awoke feeling very tired and drained so I decided to lie down for a few more minutes.  And as I lay there, I made a conscious choice to listen – to listen to my body’s message.  Here’s what came through: “I’m really tired – go back to bed and just rest.” And so I did.  But when I woke up in time to walk Soupy, I still felt very tired – not like myself.  So, I listened some more.  Within was the message to move slowly, to take it easy, which can be challenging when you have a dog to walk, a kiddo to get off to school, and a business to run.  But, once Maddie was off to school, I decided I needed to listen to that inner voice – to my body’s wisdom.  So I lay down on my mat and just breathed. Gradually my breath and body shifted into a gentle movement practice and ultimately into Savasana.  Even though it was a very gentle practice that restored my energy quite a bit, I knew I needed to really pay attention and honor myself. The whole day I tried to listen, and the messages were clear:  move more slowly, don’t push to get one more thing done, sit and pet Soupy, sit and talk with Maddie, cut yourself some slack and  re-share a useful and relevant video for my class participants.

And I’m so glad I did all this. Just slowing down a little for one day helped me feel 100% better the next day, and more importantly it showed me that nothing bad was going to happen, I wasn’t going to get oodles behind on my projects or lose work.  It was such an important reminder of my human-ness.

Take a moment now and stop what you are doing.  Enjoy a breath in, enjoy a breath out.  Ask yourself, “Are you listening to your body?  What  are you in need of right now?  How can you listen more fully and deeply?”

Check out my schedule of classes and videos for more movement practices!