The Intuitive Wisdom of the Body
Have you had the experience of attunement to that special place of wisdom in yourself? Has this wisdom expressed itself as “a gut feeling,” or “I just knew in my heart…?” Or has intuitive knowing come through as a pain in a particular body part, causing you to say something like, “He, she, it..is a pain in the …. ?”
The body has channels of wisdom that can advise and inform in many somatic dimensions. One memory of my somatic wisdom stands out. It happened at a clinical conference when my daughters were young adults and I was beginning to adjust to a new phase of my life. As I listened to the presentation I had a sensory experience that translated into cognitive awareness and led to a felt sense of greater peace and self-wholeness.
The speaker, a family therapy expert, was talking about his personal experiences and his emotional reactions. As he spoke I began to flash back to when my girls were first born. The memory was visceral; I was remembering what it was like to hold my babies so close that our heart beats seemed as one and tender feelings merged with the physical sensations into an awareness of a new kind of love.
Experiencing this progressive flashback, I saw and felt where life had taken me. I re-experienced how hard it had been to raise the children after my divorce, and after their father died. I remembered wanting to tell them how hard and scary it was to be a single mother, and how I resisted the temptation to tell. My recollections of the old fears, the struggles, the heaviness and the sadness—as well as the love– emerged as feelings in my chest, in my stomach, in my neck and in my shoulders.
Then in one particularly clarifying moment of somatic wisdom, the emotional terrain changed. As part of me paid attention to the program, another part of me was absorbing an understanding of the somatic intuition and an ache in my psyche shifted. Remembering my commitment to raise the girls without contamination from my own disappointments caused relief from the heavy feelings, making my body feel lighter and my emotions less painful. It occurred to me then that I did not have to be stuck in an old phase of my life. I could consider new possibilities. Perhaps the time had come to pursue my dream of becoming an author. I felt as if an inner force was guiding me from past struggle into a new awareness of possibilities in the present and hope for the future.
I had long understood the dual need for mothers and children to stay connected as well as to separate. I began to more deeply understand that “letting go” did not mean giving them up, but rather releasing them to follow the paths of their own individuality, as I could release my Self to follow mine.
Intuition can speak from the authenticity of somatic sensations and will embed its wisdom in your soul. You can learn to recognize somatic wisdom and trust that it can enhance your coping capacity, ease your stress and pave the way for greater peace of mind.
