Unlocking Body Wisdom: The Power of Symptom Awareness

Client Journey to Comfort

I had a client in my office this week in a lot of pain. As she was leaning sideways with her arm outstretched against the wall for support, she said she didn’t know why her body hurt so much and was unable to sit or stand comfortably. 

Knowing her commute to my office was a forty-minute mix of sitting and walking, it was truly amazing she was standing in front of me now!

Harnessing Body's Wisdom for Healing

We’d been working together for the past 9 weeks. I was teaching her to use her body’s wisdom, aka symptoms, through a set of practical skills. TBH, I was REMINDING her to use her reactivity, or innate wisdom of her body. In other words, I was re-training her to use her own GPS, (Global Positioning Service), internal compass or barometer. As humans, we all come fully equipped and loaded with a natural version of this.

After the first two weeks of her slowing down to observe, paying attention to her senses, she resolved one of her main complaints - months of an unresolved and painful bladder issue that was diagnosed and treated unsuccessfully by her western medicine docs.

The body is wise and symptoms are teachers

A few weeks later, another big success was a professional one - a new job with a 40% pay increase! How did this happen, I inquired. Paying attention to her body in different environments - work, with certain people at work, at home, out and about, she said she had the opportunity to learn more about how she creates stress and to then choose to create calm allowing her to be present. She applied these practices during the negotiations. She not only received what she asked for but this career move will open future opportunities in her career. The result was astounding to her but not surprising to me.

Again, the body is wise and symptoms are teachers.

Investigating the Symptoms

Yet today, she’s here reporting the bladder sensation is back after being symptomless for two months, plus low back pain. After going through all the usual and customary questions as any medical provider would ask (onset, where, what helps, what does not, etc including did you go seek western medical attention?), I asked a few curious questions about what she thinks this pain is about. Her initial responses were “I don’t know” and “I was feeling good…”

Again, the body is wise.

The body doesn't do things out of the blue, but more accurately, out of oblivion. Forgetting to observe emotional reactivity and how it impacts the body, clients begin to use words like “sudden” or “unexpected”. For this conversation, I trusted my own senses to keep asking questions, specifically about the first moment when she felt pain. 

When a client is sure that whatever is going can’t have anything to do with emotions or one’s mental state, that the body is unpredictable and can get sick at any moment, let me say this. I do know that the fear of not being in control feels scary and worrisome. But, this is a type of cultural training. In Western culture, the body, mind, emotions, and spirit are separate and treatment mimics this belief. We don't have a major system of medicine that can hold the complexity of being human.

Based on my experience, symptoms are rarely sudden. They might subtle and easily overlooked. Also, there are some things about your body (and life) that will be mysterious. Leave room for a lot of mystery. There are some things that are unexplainable. There are some things we will need to bear. Not everything is a problem to be solved or has an answer. 

Listening to Body

But, this did not feel like one of those times. I felt this in my body, a familiar sensation that I used to prompt me to ask more questions. I encouraged her to slow down and observe her body as I asked, and perhaps she’d get the relief and the healing she was here for.

Then, she told me something that had happened that she’d dismissed. And that moment was the genesis of the pain. In one conversation, coaxing her back into using the practices she’s learned. Within 24 hours, she’s feeling much better, able to sleep during the night, and less pain in all affected areas.

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I love what I do. To teach you about the wisdom of your symptoms, whether it’s a health issue or regarding the health of your organization or team. 

You bring your body everywhere you go!

Honing your senses increases ease and calm exponentially in your body, your family and business.