I went to get my nails done on Saturday.

Because it was the Labor Day weekend here in the U.S., the salon where I go was slow.

In fact, I was the only customer.

Mia’s 3 year-old daughter was hanging out with us while her Mom worked on me—her last customer of the day.

While I had a great time interacting with my new young friend, here’s what struck me the most.

After playing games on her iPAD for a while she jumped up and said she felt like she needed “to move” and started running around the desk where customers are greeted.

After going around once, she stopped and asked me to count each time she came around. She wanted to go around 5 times.

So she ran and I excitedly called out the number of each round and cheered her on.

In addition to being adorable, she was demonstrating that we have an intuitive knowing of when and how our bodies want to move.

But this knowing gets quieted—and often silenced.

It starts with parents telling their kids, “Sit still!“

Mia didn’t tell her daughter that she needed to sit down and be quiet. She actually remarked that her daughter knows when she needs to exercise and she let her run.

This inner knowing gets further silenced when kids head off to school where they have to sit unnaturally at desks for hours on end and only play at certain times.

Experience after experience teaches us to quiet that body wisdom.

So by the time most women are adults, they have forgotten that they ever liked to move, much less connect with the guidance that tells them when, how, and how much.

They have beliefs about what exercise is “acceptable,” “meaningful,” “effective,” or “appropriate.”

But the guidance to move is not gone.

You can retrain yourself to listen. 

Most women who struggle with their weight experience the world mostly from their heads. You may do this if:

• You’re not really aware of your body most of the time.
• You may bump into things a lot.
• You take shallow breathes, or sometimes find you are holding your breath.
• You see your value mostly in terms of your intellect, thoughts, or ideas.
• You are intensely spiritually connected, but feel “flighty” or like things in your life aren’t playing out the way you want them to.

If any of these sound like you, you will see profound changes when you reconnect with your body wisdom.

Here are a couple of ways to start.

• Increase your body awareness.  Take a few minutes every day to sit quietly and bring your attention to your body. Feel the bottoms of your feet against your socks, shoes, or the floor. Then bring your attention to the tops of your feet, your ankles, your shins and calves. Work your way up your body to the top of your head. Appreciating each part of your body as you go helps turbo-charge this experience.
• Follow the fun. Put on some melodic music that doesn’t have a beat. Hold up your hand in front of you and ask, “How would it be fun to move my hand?” Then slowly start to move your hand. Notice when you are thinking and moving it and when you are following the movement of your hand. Then ask, “How would it be fun to move my arms?” Work up till you are slowly and gently moving your body just for the fun of it.

Remember the fun moving was as a kid.

Remember wanting to run, jump, and play.

Reconnect with that joy of moving your body and your exercise will become more like play.

Together we can do it!

Thank You!

I’m celebrating my 2 year anniversary of blogging!

Thank you for reading, commenting, and supporting me during this time.

If you have received value from my posts, I’d love to hear your thoughts on where I should go from here!

And I’ll give you the chance to get Your Slim IQ for FREE!

I’ll randomly select a winner from all those who give me your feedback. You can provide a comment here, or send your answers in an email to Hanna@LoveYourWaySlim.com. Answer only the questions that you feel are appropriate for you.

• What are the questions you would like me to address in a blog post?
• What are your weight or wellness concerns?
• What is getting in the way of your getting the body you want?
• What do you like about the blog/posts/messages, etc?
• What has inspired you the most?
• What would you like to see change?
• How often would you like to receive blogs?
• How often would you like to receive wellness tips?
• What do you need to help inspire you to get the body you want?
• What do you feel is missing?
• What other suggestions do you have?

I’ll announce a winner and the results on Monday, September 9. 

Thank you for your input!