Trust your body: learning to heal

The important thing for you is to never give up and trust your body: your body knows what it needs at any moment. You need to develop a real connection with your body, to learn to listen to it and have a deep love and respect for it. Because it is your body that is doing the healing, not the diet or supplements or anything else! Your recovery process is a partnership between you and your body. So, don’t try to impose anything on your body without asking it first if it agrees with that. You body will let you know through feelings: something that is right for you will feel good. If it doesn’t feel good deep inside you then don’t do it despite the fact that it may seem like a good idea. Your mind is affected by many different things and can deceive you, while your body is always right. We have lost touch with our nature and it takes time to learn to listen to our bodies and our souls. But as you learn, you will become more and more successful, and not only at your physical recovery, but many other aspects of life. — Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride (author of Gut and Psychology Syndrome: (GAPS DIET)

It was the GAPS diet that got me started really paying attention to my body. I did that for a couple of years until I learned enough to know that it wasn’t the right diet for me for the long haul. I say that with complete respect. It was a foundational learning experience and it was the diet for me while I was on it as it produced both a fertile learning ground and some important early healing for what was a tragically injured and hurting body/mind/spirit. The process of learning to pay attention and get back in synch with nature takes time.

Anyway, I came across that quote from Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride and I thought wow, that sounds like me. You see, she was my teacher and yet I don’t remember ever reading that quote when I did the GAPS diet. I have since learned that my body knows and I continue to practice learning to listen. It is something that needs to be discovered within our own selves. We cannot hear it until we actually know it it seems. But then again, we all know it. Somewhere deep inside we all know exactly what we need right now. Trust that.

May we all honor the mystery of our individual paths.

And also:

Mental health and diet: nutrition and gut health
The body knows: trauma and the body (features Bessel van der Kolk)
Trauma and your body

For a multitude of ideas about how to create a life filled with safe alternatives to psychiatric drugs visit the drop-down menus at the top of this page.

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