Cultivating Body Awareness and Self-Compassion to Support Navigating Your Ups and Downs

I've been reading a lot about menstrual cycles recently. This research was triggered by my own desire to understand the fluctuations I observe in my mood, perception of myself, self-esteem, overall body energy, hunger levels etc. In addition, I have women around me - including my lovely clients - who also experience the same and sometimes share their struggle with me. It's been a journey of discoveries for many years already, but it somehow picked up over the last few months and I'm going deeper and deeper on it.

With the reminders from changes in seasons, phases of the moon, we see that nature is cyclical... so, why wouldn't be the same for us?! For men, the hormonal fluctuations are usually more consistent on a daily basis, with testosterone peaking in the morning and dipping by evening. For women it's a whole different story :) considering the hormonal fluctuations are linked to the menstrual cycle and will oscillate as we navigate its phases.

Once you get to understand the physiology behind all these shifts, you can be more self-compassionate towards yourself. Then, by taking this knowledge and applying it to your routine, you end up discovering hidden powers behind what initially seemed messy and unstable. Instead of questioning why everything shifts within you so frequently, you start using the shifts to your own benefit. At the end, knowledge without embodiment is useless.

I guess the message I want to pass on is that you are not abnormal for experiencing so many shifts throughout your days, weeks, months. Abnormal is the outside world for demanding us to deliver the same, consistently, no matter what.

The first step in this journey of self-compassion is to increase your body awareness. This means being able to listen, tune in, feel and acknowledge what is happening inside of you. The degree in which we feel will vary, and imbalances in your physical, energetic, emotional, mental bodies can turn the volume up, intensifying the perception of these oscillations.

In order to be able to tune in more deeply with how your body feels, how your emotions present themselves, you have to develop body awareness. Getting closer to your internal world enhances the sense of connection as you feel closer to yourself. That automatically increases the sense of belonging, of feeling "connected" with the outside world as well.

My support for you...

The bodywork sessions I offer comes as a tool to increase body awareness. Both thaiyoga and abdominal massage sessions are exercises of presence and connection with your body and inner world. In addition, these sessions support not only your physical body, but also all other layers within you (energy, emotions, mental) - you can find more about it in this blog post.

With love,

Tarsi.