When was the last time you listened to your body? A better question…when was the last time you remember what it felt like to ignore your body? Nowadays it is so common to default our decision-making to what the outside world is saying. Many of us want so desperately to please our families, do what it takes to fit into our communities, and willfully take on the role of martyr and overdoer in our homes and at work. And it’s costing us more than we want to pay.

When Kate asked me to lead our monthly Body First sessions inside of the Origin Membership, it felt like the most obvious expansion to the content we already offer inside. But why?

Take a second right now to peek at your calendar. Then take a quick scroll through your podcast subscriptions. Lastly, notice who you’re following on social media. 

I’d be willing to bet that the majority of what you’re consuming has more to do with your business and work than connecting with the only tool you have that makes any of that possible. 

Your body.

And don’t get me wrong, I noticed the same about myself many months ago and continue the practice of noticing the balance between my consumption for the sake of “doing” versus that of “being.” 

This is exactly what we considered when making the very first offerings of the month inside of the Origin Membership focused on your body. 

As a practitioner and a woman in need of healing for myself many years ago from burnout, heartbreak, and a diagnosed anxiety disorder that multiplied itself tremendously in my postpartum experience, the training I sought out for my own relief became the tools I use to present the Body First sessions. 

To continue going through life as if our bodies are completely separate from our ability to focus, to speak clearly, to serve, and even show up for the work that is necessary to do in order to put food on the table and a roof over our heads feels like a complete disservice to our real potential.

We have been taught that doing the most equals safety, freedom, and even love. When asked, “How’ve you been?” by acquaintances and friends alike, we often hear “busy” or “fine” spilling from our lips because that’s a language that speaks more to our need to feel safe and accepted than a willingness to be vulnerable and alive.

We may even balk at “doing less” as a privilege for people who have something that we do not. 

Do you do that? 

Because I know I did for many years when my grandmother would urge me to slow down, rest, and take days off when I was in a season of climbing a corporate ladder that felt so much harder than what looked like an escalator for my white male counterparts. I felt as though her perspective came from that of a woman with financial means and eventually learned that it was a wisdom derived from regret, loss, and longing to reclaim time that had long evaporated. 

However, you don’t have to lose anything of value like time, love, your health, or your money in order to choose your body first. And the action you take to do so doesn’t have to be grand or perfect. 

You can start now by acknowledging what you need at this moment. 

Breathe. Then breathe again. Then close your eyes and breathe. Place your hand on your heart and breathe. 

How does your body feel? What is your body saying to you and is it in alignment with where you are right now?

You can start small and build a relationship with yourself that says, “I see you and I hear you.” Before long, your yeses and your no’s will feel a lot more like your own. You’ll see yourself choosing nourishment that supports how you want to feel in your body. You may even start scheduling 10-minute walks outside or 2 minutes of meditation between meetings because you like how much more clearly ideas and words come to you. 

It’s all a practice. Living. Breathing. Loving. Nourishing. And like my grandmother always says: “What you give to the world should come from your overflow and not from your need to be filled.”

This is the essence of how Body First offerings are created. So that you can fill your cup, overflow, and spill all the goodness of what you have to offer out into the world. 

So what is your body saying it needs right now and what small step are you willing to take to support it? 

Let us know in the comment section below, so we can send you energetic support in putting your own body first. 

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TAKISHA AUGUST, Origin Community Manager/Head Empress
TaKisha is the holder of all spaces for The Origin Company. On calls, in the community, and sometimes 1-on-1 in the inbox helping members of our community feel seen, heard, and more confident about how to use the tools inside of the Origin membership.