Originally published in the January 2025 issue of Vegas Yogi. More at vegasyogi.com.
In the last issue I distinguished between “listening to the body,” lower-case “b” vs. “listening to the Body.” I highlighted that a benefit of yoga is that it strengthens our ability to transcend being driven by our appetites and pain impulses (the body) and live a life more centered around our deeper, wiser, and quieter impulses (the Body).
A habit which cultivates peace and meaning
Developing a regular, even daily, yoga practice reinforces our subtler voices and over time infuses our world with a sense of peace and deep meaning. By feeding our quieter self through practice, the Body grows stronger and more influential in our life.
Other good habits
While yoga may be our central habit, other habits can also turn up the volume on our inner voice. Things like prioritizing sleep, consuming food made with love from high-quality ingredients, and fostering a sense of psychological security through cultivating loving relationships are high on the list.
Symptoms are the language of the Body
Another valuable habit is the one of responding to our body’s symptoms rather than suppressing them. A body that is “firing on all cylinders” is a great ally in hearing our subtler voices. Symptoms alert us to items requiring attention. Responding to symptoms leads to doing things like avoiding toxins (e.g. smoke, deodorizers, electromagnetic radiation), replenishing nutrients through nutrient-dense foods or dietary supplements, receiving energy work and body work, and wisely seeking interventions from physicians.
Symptom-suppression is antithetic to yoga
Ignoring these signals, or worse yet, suppressing or masking them, increases the background noise and dulls our ability to hear our Body. Easy-to-obtain drugs and medications, whether it be cannabis and caffeine, or anti-depressants and antacids, not only numbs us to our body’s needs but introduces new toxins which can create additional problems. Drugs initiate new disease processes by depleting nutrients and damaging the body’s healthy regulatory mechanisms (e.g. immune defenses, circadian rhythms, hormonal cycles).
All of this leads to increased chaos-producing bodily noise while drowning out peace-promoting Bodily signals.
The invitation of yoga
The invitation of yoga is to fully notice what is happening in our mind and body, and to withhold action until our Body has completed the picture. Steering our lives from this fully-informed perspective is the way of the yogi.
