This episode is your invitation to pause and engage in mindful check-ins with your body during rest, work, and everyday activities. Discover the art of tuning into your body's signals, understanding its needs, and acknowledging how it feels in different moments of your day. We'll guide you through simple, yet powerful practices to cultivate a deeper awareness of your physical well-being, helping you to respond to your body's messages with care and intention. Let's learn to listen to our bodies.
Trying to get healthy and stay healthy is f-ing hard! Everybody struggles with some aspect of it, no matter what they look like or what they tell you. There is no magic formula - a healthy lifestyle is a choice we need to make daily. Join Amy as she supports, informs, and entertains you on your journey toward health.
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[00:00:02] What you want, when you want it, where you want it. This is The MESH. Hey, I'm Amy Chang. I'm a nationally board certified health and wellness coach and this is Healthy AF. In this podcast
[00:00:17] I'll be bringing you all things health from the newest health strategies to how to tackle those personal roadblocks that just will not let you move forward. So buckle in. We're going to be inspired and instructed and dad gum, we're going to have a little fun on Healthy AF.
[00:00:37] Hey everybody and welcome to another episode of Healthy AF. This whole month I'm talking about mind-body connection. Last podcast we just did a body scan and man, it really brought to mind how comforting and grounding it is to really like get in my body.
[00:00:57] Pull my head out from all the goings on, all the busy busy, all the hubbub of normal life and get really grounded in like me and what's going on right now. So I wanted to spend a moment talking today about checking in with your body.
[00:01:16] Now body scan is a great way to do that, right? For me I see that there are three distinct spaces that we can use to check in with our bodies.
[00:01:28] And one is that still space when we are doing a body scan, when we're laying down to go to bed at night, when we're just waking up in the morning having that check-in.
[00:01:41] Well how's my hip feeling today? What do my hands feel like? Can I feel my heart rate? Is it even? Does it feel strong? Is it erratic? Is it slow? Is it fast?
[00:01:57] How's my back feeling? You know, how are my quads feeling from that we just did Murph at the gym, from that heavy workout at the gym? Am I tired? Right? And really taking a moment to listen in to that body when we are still.
[00:02:17] Whether it is an intentional still like I'm going to do a body scan or a more organic still like while you're having your morning coffee or while you are in bed just waking up or laying down.
[00:02:32] The other space that I see that is for us to be still, is to check in with our body rather, is while we are working hard and or at capacity.
[00:02:45] Now these two are vastly different, right? We've got the whole like really get grounded and do your breathing and check in. And then we have no, in the midst of the poop storm called you're doing the hardest workout of your life, check in with your body.
[00:03:04] I know it's kind of crazy that it's on the opposite ends of the spectrum, but they're both beautiful times because the outside world is just gone.
[00:03:14] You know, I've said this multiple times. One thing I like about working out with the CrossFit modality is there are so many numbers for me to keep up with. I'm doing 15 of this and 24 of that and I'm doing it in four minute segments and right.
[00:03:30] There are so many things for me to keep up with aside from the fact that I'm intense in my exercise that I don't have the time to think about the Walmart list.
[00:03:40] I can barely keep the count straight without thinking, you know, about all the other things that I have to do that day. So it's a very presencing, very in the moment feeling.
[00:03:54] And when I'm in the moment and I'm pushing to capacity and working very hard, that's a great time to check in and figure out how is my body feeling. So here are some things that I say to my body when I am at capacity.
[00:04:11] First thing is, do you still want to do this? And it's important that I listen. You know, sometimes my hip might be hurting, but it's really more fatigue hurt than injured hurt. And it's important to distinguish between those two.
[00:04:31] So the first thing I say is, do you still want to do this? And see if the answer is yes or no. And then I say, you know, anything going awry, like is any pain, pain popping up? Are you in any pain?
[00:04:46] And the third thing I say is what do I need to do? Do I need to slow down? Do I need to take a few deep breaths? Do I need to take a few deep breaths? Do I need to modify my movements?
[00:05:00] So right there in the moment, checking in on my body. And I'll tell you what, when I started doing this, it hasn't been long. I haven't been doing this very long.
[00:05:09] I used to just do the put the head down and grind kind of thing, and wasn't really present to my body. When I started checking in, I found that my body was getting a little bit more tired,
[00:05:26] and when I started going in, I found that I pushed harder, made better results in a more empowered, less frantic way. It was like I checked in with myself and my teammate. It's like that movie, Me, Myself and Irene or something.
[00:05:50] I checked in with me, myself and Amy, and we were all a go. And with all three of us on board, we were tearing some stuff up. So I think you may find that that is true for you too.
[00:06:02] When you take a moment to really check in and recommit to like, no, I feel good and this is alright, let's go. Your performance goes up. And then the fourth thing I always like to do inside that little conversation with my body is be grateful.
[00:06:21] So after I check in with like, do you want to do this? Is there anything you need to tell me? Is there anything I need to do? That last thing is like, man, I'm so grateful for you.
[00:06:31] I'm so grateful for you quads that you can do 225 squats, you know, and keep moving. The other, the third last compartment I see where we are not always checking in on our body when we could. It's just in that normal everyday life.
[00:06:54] It's the time that you're sitting at your desk. Do you, how long does it take you to realize that your back is stiff from sitting at your desk? How long does it take you to realize that your hip is sore from being in the car?
[00:07:13] I have a client who made a fabulous realization. She's a realtor and she realized that she had a limit on being in the car because of her sciatic nerve. Right? So it took her a minute to figure that out.
[00:07:31] And she had to listen into her body to sort of determine like, okay, three hours in the car is okay. Four hours, not okay. So for, for people who really don't connect well with their bodies, I always say, can you set a timer?
[00:07:50] Can you set a timer during the day just to check in? Have another client who uses the special numbers on the clock, right? Like when it hits 1111 or 1212 or 111, any of those kind of like cool numbers on the clock. Some people call them angel numbers.
[00:08:11] She checks in with her body. So if she sees a number like that on her phone, she just does like a little double check and then like a little gratitude for her body. So how is it that you check in with your body?
[00:08:26] And why would you want to? So useful, such a big part of our wellness. And I'll close with this. Remember if you listen when your body is whispering, it will not have to scream. Give yourself grace if you're just learning this new skill.
[00:08:43] If this podcast was helpful to you, like, share and subscribe it. We'll see you next time on Healthy AF. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Healthy AF podcast.
[00:08:56] I hope that it has helped you create a new possibility for your health and sets you into action to go get it. If you want more information or if you want to connect with me, visit my website at myhealthylifed.coach.
[00:09:11] And don't forget to hit the subscribe button so that each new Healthy AF episode will be sent directly to you. Let's take you from where you are to where you want to go.
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