If someone were to talk to me about connecting my body to my mind a decade ago, I would have thought they were full of it. Regularly practicing meditation and now yoga has really made me realize how stupid you must be not to build this connection with yourself. Humans all have this incredible biological computer sitting inside their head and if you treat it as just that, a computer, it can do cool things. But in order for the computer to run at optimal capacity, there are some conditions you have to meet. Our bodies are constantly sending signals to us asking us to drink water, eat food, go for a walk. Whether we listen is another story. The western world does not put much emphasis on the development of intuition, as opposed to the cultural values of the east.
Yoga is not just a practice of stretching and strengthening your muscles, it also gives you an opportunity to develop an intuition about what your body is telling you. Can you stretch in that direction? No? What if you breath into it, what does your body tell you now. I am consistently surprised with just how much I can push myself in yoga by just focusing on the simple act of being and connecting with my body.
Being aware of what your body is telling you branches into all aspects of your life. You are you after all. Knowing when work can wait so that you can take time for things that feel more worth your time so that your body will thank you later is indispensable.