One of the joys of my life is having conversations with people. I love talking with other humans and getting to know them. With my clients and students, knowing their current physical, mental, and emotional pain points is necessary to guide our work together.

During convos with clientele, I am asked so many questions, things like:

• How best should I stretch my hamstrings?
• Is there a strengthening exercise I could for my low back?
• Is there someone else I should go see for this problem?

All good questions that I'm happy to entertain!

Want to know the #1 question I am asked by clients I work with, the one that gives me great pause? Here it is:

When we are in pain, it's natural to want solutions to shift us back to feeling good. For many of us, this means multiple appointments with multiple specialists atop Googling and YouTubing and asking friends for their input over coffee.

There is nothing inherently wrong with this! Heck, I'm a fact finder and this is part of my process. I don't feel complete until I have all the info!

Here's the glitch in the question I'm asked so often: I don't live in your body and I don't live your life! Looking in from the outside, I can certainly make assumptions and give suggestions about what might help, but there is never a guarantee. So asking ME what more I think YOU should do to feel better isn't always the answer.

You know who does know the next best thing for your body? You.

I have learned a few truths about healing after injury and illness. There's just a couple and #3 might surprise you.

Truth 1: Our bodies are primed to flow toward wellness. Even if we did the bare minimum, over time we would heal.

Truth 2: Our bodies and minds can hit peak overload if we try to cram too many healing modalities into a short window of time. Yes, we might need physical therapy, massage, and acupuncture to treat a back injury, but do we really need all 3 of those touch points every week?

Truth 3: Our bodies need time for integration. Another word for integration? REST. During these periods of rest we can learn to listen to ourselves and hear what our body has to say to us. If we can hold truths 1 and 2 to heart, we can give ourselves space to surrender to truth 3 and savor a little less doing and a lot more being. In this quieter space is where the healing magic really happens. In this quieter space is where our intuitive wisdom resides and only when we slow down can we hear it's whisperings.

A client of mine who has chronic pain recently asked me, "What more do you think I should do to feel better?" Knowing they've done so much and continue to do many things in order to heal, I took a breath to center myself and asked them this:

"What if you asked your body what it needs today? What if you began to have a dialogue with your body and let it lead?"

The next time life drop-kicks you into pain and you're tempted to ask everybody and their brother what they think you should do to get well, pause, breathe, and ask your body what IT wants first. LISTEN! The answer might surprise and delight you.

Wishing you good feels today,

Jennifer

(She/Her)

{{PS: I'm on vacation the week of July 25. No bodywork, no yoga, no coaching. Just me, my kiddos, my family, Upstate NY, and a whole lotta NOTHING, babes!}}

{{PPS: For those missing LIVE interactions, I'm offering in-person bodywork and 1:1 yoga Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Email to book your session: jenniferbrennanwellness@gmail.com}}