Listen to your body.
That’s a fairly new phrase in my life. It popped up as something that we would remind our children when they were feeling disregulated. It is an invitation to try to stop and sense what is going on within yourself. There actually would have been a time when I would have firmly opposed such a phrase. In some very reductive Christian teachings, the body is depicted as weak and even deceptive. Why would you listen to it?
Yet there is no compartmentalizing our body, mind, heart, and soul. They are intertwined. They work in tandem to help a person live and experience the world. The body tells us when we are tired and when we are hungry. It tells us when we need affection. It, rather annoyingly, remembers the trauma that weighs down our souls.
Our bodies often remind us that we need to move. Running has been an important physical, mental, and spiritual aspect of my life (again, they are all intertwined) since I was in middle school. This past year has been the least I have run since I was thirteen. New job, parenting, depression, gaining weight, and other factors kept me out of my running shoes. Then whenever I tried to get back on the horse, running was so much more difficult than it had been for years which only made me more despondent. I once made the arrogant college-aged comment to someone that they should shoot me if I couldn’t run a 5K without stopping. I would like that person, whoever they are, to refrain from honoring that request.
In the South, we have those random days in February when the weather transforms into gorgeous spring-like weather. When that happens, everyone and their literal dog is out on the sidewalks moving, running, enjoying the sunshine. After a few of those days, I decided I had to get moving again. It was just going to be slow; one step at a time. So that is what I’m trying. It is truly difficult, but Sunday afternoon after I spent a few miles plodding through our neighborhood, I felt a little more grounded and a little more like myself.
One of my favorite passages of scripture is Acts 17, especially verse 28 where Paul tells the Athenians that in God we live and move and have our being. For some reason, that verse has always grounded the Holy in our everyday lives. God is not just in church but in our walks through nature, our laughter, our meals shared around the table, and so much more. Life and movement are thick with the presence of God’s goodness.
So listen to your body for God has given it to you. Walk and eat and laugh and sleep and know that God is in those ways that you have your being. It doesn’t even have to be physical movement. You can read, listen to music, color, or connect with another person. There are so many ways to live and move.