Treating Your Body Like a Friend: Having a positive relationship with your body minimizes judgment, says Dr. Kacie Crisp

Do you have a good relationship with your body, or are you trying to beat it into submission with the right exercise program, latest diet or trendiest visualization? If we treated our dog the way many of us treat our bodies, the dog would have run away long ago. Maybe there is a better way to relate. What if you considered your body as a friend? What would that look like? Here are some tips for change if you wish to work with your body and for your body to work with you, instead of fighting each other.

If your body could talk, it might be saying, “Stop judging me! Consider me in choices that have to do with me. Ask me what you would like me to do or change. Acknowledge what I know and the contribution I’ve been trying to be to you and your life.” How would you answer?

Do you have a friend or family member that’s always happy to tell you what’s wrong with you? Do they ever acknowledge what’s right about you or the contribution you’ve been to them? Does that resemble your relationship with your body? Do you start each day by telling it what’s wrong with it as you look at yourself in the mirror?

Judgment, by the way, can be almost any fixed point of view you have about anything. If you judge that a vegan diet is the only correct diet for everyone, then that is a judgment. Does that view allow your body to prefer a vegan diet when it works or a steak when it requires what’s in the steak? When you imagine being able to change your “correct diet” from day-to-day or meal-to-meal, doesn’t that feel lighter and less restrictive? Wouldn’t you and your body enjoy that more?

Did you know your body has wisdom that you don’t necessarily have or acknowledge? If you’ve ever had butterflies in your stomach before doing something that you were determined to do, but did it anyway, that was your body trying desperately to get your attention. Unfortunately, most of us have been ignoring it since we were about two years old.

Some of the things you do actually affect your body, but not you. These include wearing clothes, having sex, eating and exercising. Wouldn’t it make sense to ask your body questions about what it would like when you are doing things that affect your body? Bodies, by the way, hate to exercise. They think you want to exorcise you from them and they’re not so interested in that. Bodies do love to move, however. What if you asked your body, “Body, what kind of movement would you like to do today?”

If you’re wondering how to speak to your body, it can be helpful to recognize that it’s a practiced skill. Haven’t you practiced ignoring your body for a long time? Would you be willing to give yourself some practice time to listen to your body? If you started to study German, would you expect to be fluent when you stepped off the plane? What if you recognized that learning to speak to your body was also a language that would improve with practice? If you acknowledged every time you got a message from your body instead of judging and blaming yourself every time you missed a message, would that work better?

One easy way to learn to listen to your body is to go to a restaurant and look at the first thing that pops out at you from the menu. It will often be something you the being would not dream of choosing. If you’re willing to play with this and order it, it could turn out to be orgasmic. Food that’s exactly what your body desires is incredibly delicious. Our bodies actually desire much less food than we are used to eating. When that orgasmic food tastes like cardboard at the next bite—that’s your body saying it’s had enough.

Dr. Kacie Crisp is an internationally recognized author, speaker and workshop presenter. She will be in the Phoenix area Aug. 8 through 12 presenting a variety of courses. For more information, visit DrKacieCrisp.AccessConsciousness.com.