by Judy Joy and Matilda Bathurst.
What is wisdom and what is intelligence… how do we define and refer to these words and what is their relevance for us?
Are we living with a very restricted definition and relationship with the word intelligence? Caught up in the cerebral, educational celebration of mental prowess and factual recall that leaves us bereft of a much richer, fuller experience of life?
We tend to think that our intelligence comes from and resides in our heads, that it is ours and that we own it, and we pride ourselves on it.
But could it be that true intelligence is a whole body experience, not something confined to our brain cells?
If we look at our food choices for example, we often govern our bodies from our brains, at best, conforming to the current accepted intelligence about optimum dietary and nutritional requirements, but more usually just eating what most tantalises our taste buds, rather than giving our bodies a voice and being guided by how they feel after we eat certain types and quantities of foods.
As children, we are more naturally ‘in’ our bodies and are clear about what we do and do not want to eat. However, our food choices are governed by the choices the adults (our care takers) make and it does not take long for us to be caught in the same consciousness about nutritional ‘rights’ and ‘wrongs’ based on a mental model and/or be tantalised by the same desires.
The thing is that our bodies tell us ever so quickly about the impact of what and how we have eaten. For example, it is hard to deny the slump after a carb rich meal, or the stomach disturbances and mucous that come with a diet that includes a lot of dairy, but deny we do because the world, nutritional experts and/or our desires speak otherwise.
And what about those moments when our bladders call us to the toilet and we ignore and dismiss the call until the emergency bell is pulled and there is no further resisting?!
Or when we stop for long enough to realise that our mouths feel like sand dunes, having overridden earlier signs of thirst, even though we know the importance of staying hydrated.
And then of course there is feeling tired… a bit of TV and a hot chocolate for example, keeping us going much later into the evening than truly serves, allowing us to override our body and leaving us less vital and alert the next day.
Our wise bodies absolutely know their limits and what truly serves.
There are plenty of scientific studies that are revealing the fact that our bodies work very differently to the way we have been historically taught; that parts of our body (most specifically heart and stomach) respond to our surroundings before our brains; that we have an innate intelligence in our bodies that is more responsive and fine-tuned than our brains in isolation. This is not to discount the extraordinary organ that the brain is, but it is very limited when we let it ‘go alone’… certainly not the central office and ‘mastermind’ that we have believed it to be.
To simply start a dialogue with our bodies, letting the voice of this whole body intelligence be heard, is the start of something very huge, an intimate relationship that simplifies life beyond belief. It develops a deeper understanding of ourselves, each other and the magic in life that makes decision making the clearest and simplest thing in the world… tortured ‘should I?’ or ‘shouldn’t I?’ increasingly becomes a thing of the past, as we build unwavering sureness in relationship with the wisest ally we have (and we all have)… our bodies’ wisdom.
Read more:
Medicine and Serge Benhayon 
‘Our wise bodies absolutely know their limits and what truly serves.’ Yet do we acknowledge the wisdom our body provides. For years I overrode what my body was telling me and suffered the consequences. For all their intelligence I see academics who don’t have vitality and make poor lifestyle choices. Intelligent they may be, but where’s the wisdom?
The more I observe the limitations of expression in intelligence compared to the depths that is on offer with wisdom, the more I see its shallowness and how it can be used to manipulate.
There is a joy in wisdom, either imparting it or hearing it but with the intellect all I get is a disconnected and cold hardening.
When we start that dialogue with the body we become aware of how simple it is and how under a false illusion we have chosen to make life complicated.
There must be so much corruption in the world of nutrition, money to be made and deals to promote foods and beverages as healthy when they are not. Doing our own research and particularly trusting the body is a great way to find out what is honouring and supportive for our health and wellbeing.
Our body knows. As little ones, before our mind kicked in, we knew by listening to our body’s cues, when we were hungry, thirsty, cold, tired etc. education taught us to override this wisdom.
It’s a great point about the difference between knowledge and wisdom, and how that plays out to affect our health and wellbeing. We see children as empty of intelligence and wisdom but the opposite is true.
So from what you are saying it feels like wisdom is a whole body experience and intelligence comes from the mind.
Love this. Simple and to the point.
“To simply start a dialogue with our bodies, letting the voice of this whole body intelligence be heard, is the start of something very huge, an intimate relationship that simplifies life beyond belief”
Very true – this dialogue is paramount and priceless if we truly want a joyful successful life.
The expression ‘mission control’ comes to me when I re-read this article. Mission control has the sense of one central point that drives the body forward and yet we are much more than this. Wisdom comes, not from control, but a relationship with the whole body and its intelligence. In other words the brain’s mission is control, whole body connection expands and deepens awareness.
Whole body intelligence is definitely something we should be exploring and discussing more of. I can distinctly feel the difference when my body is speaking or when my head is, there is a feeling of presence and steadiness when it comes from my body and erm not so steady and zero presence when it comes from my head!
The mind is so dominant we rarely make time to listen to the body and feel what it wants. We’re invited here to turn everything upside down, to not to rely on mind to rule our lives, but connect instead to our very wise and best friend, our body.
True intelligence is a whole body experience, and source of wisdom, which when listened to, makes angst ridden decision making a thing of the past.
“Our wise bodies absolutely know their limits and what truly serves.” This is something I am learning more about each day, and it is not just about physical things like food, sleep and exercise, but my body communicates very clearly about every aspect of life including how I approach people and dynamics in relationships, and how the energy behind these things can be harmful or healing. Emotions like sympathy feel to me like a poison in my body, yet we are told sympathy is good and normal. Even though it’s a decent thing to care about others the energy behind sympathy is actually awful to feel. It’s like a pollution in the body.
It makes so much sense to let the voice of this whole body intelligence be heard and listened to as it can be so much louder than the voice of the head.
I watched a programme on the TV years ago about the wisdom of the heart. It has its own nerve supply and can beat independently of the brain, as it does when people are in a coma, and with the connective tissue all around it, in the middle of the body, it communicates so much more than we realise. I already knew in my own heart that it had such wisdom.
When we view the body as just a carcass to carry ourselves around in, disliking it or dismissing its needs on so many levels, we fail to appreciate the enormity of what it is, how it works, what it is connected to and what it communicates.
It is such a tragedy that we allow the intellect and intelligence to override our inner wisdom. In so doing we reduce ourselves so much more than we know.
The wisdom is something very solid within us, whereas the mind flits and changes itself according to its fancy.
Our bodies have always felt the truth; it is simply the corruption that force feeds the lies to keep us in the dark; so thank goodness for movies like ‘Robin Hood’ produced by Otto Bathurst that show how evil and corruption are a common practice even in our modern world.
It is not about dismissing intelligence, but seeing it for what it is and not making it more important than the loving wisdom we are and are from. We are in a mess as a global humanity and need to consider the whole and not just the parts.
Beautifully expressed Ariana. Yes – we do need the intelligence from the mind to operate and yes we do need recall; these things are necessary to function well but without wisdom, intelligence and the intellect are merely tools with no heart – empty, lacking in richness and love.
There is a ginormous difference between what we regard as intelligence from the mind and the intelligence or wisdom from the body; the latter comes from absolute love for the all and the other serves nothing but self. It is the absolute love for the all that I am choosing to align to which is changing my entire life and my relationship with everyone.
A great example of intelligence’s limitations – it has to play catch up with wisdom we already have.
Intelligence seems to be something we champion that sets us apart from each other. Wisdom is a quality that embraces, includes, shares and is humble and ready for the next learning on offer.
I recognise that tortured indecision of the mind and I have also experienced the solid instant knowing that comes from a connection to the body and the intelligence its particles have access to.
Love that Andrew, so clear and explicit of the two experiences, the mind or the body?
Yes I have been noticing this too. If I go to do something from my head my body is now programmed to stop and for me to pause to feel. In this pause quite often I can reassess.
Our bodies feel like an endless vessel that is forever filled or flowing with universal wisdom when we are reconnected to our essence. And to celebrate our intelligence without true connection is a parting from our essence.
The intelligence of the mind would have us doing all kinds of things that are detrimental to our bodies, our health and our overall mental well-being. It cares nought for the body.
We spend our life trying to grow up and leave our childish behaviours behind us. But, that was when we were fully connected to our body.
It’s easy for us to dismiss people because they do not fit the image of what it means to be intelligent, so therefore, we don’t see the value in what they have to say. We do this with children all of the time.
Yet, children have an innate wisdom that we choose to squash probably because it challenges our ‘intelligence’ so precisely.
I have no doubt that my body is very wise and listening to it makes me far wiser too.
And this makes life so simple; our bodies are with us all the time; wise, loving, absolutely committed and super patient friends.
For years I dieted to lose weight and would adhere to other people’s ideas of how to lose weight but what I’ve come to realise what one person can eat doesn’t necessarily mean that my body can. Our bodies have an intelligence that we would be well served to listen to instead of ignoring or overriding.
I agree that diet is something very personal and everyone needs to feel for themselves what foods support and which don’t.
‘The wisest ally we have.. our bodies wisdom’ oh yes indeed, and it is worth every moment spent building a connection and relationship with our bodies for the wisdom just keeps being lovingly presented, so I have found.
I know for me if I was intelligent (which I am) and I have studied and can recall the food pyramid and what it tells me I should be eating or not eating to stay healthy but when I did this for me it never worked. It was only when I applied the wisdom of what my body was telling me in terms of my diet that things really changed for me in terms of health and vitality.
Our heads in separation from our bodies, which equals what we call intelligence, are at sea in the world. Our mind and body working together is a combo that can navigate life wisely and in relationship with the vastness that is life.
Yes, “a whole body experience” will create the space so Love can be felt, and this is far more meaning-full and wise.
Intelligence only engages our brains which can channel all manner of things; wisdom comes from the truth of our bodies – how we treat our bodies will reveal whether we live by wisdom or intelligence.
The more I build a relationship with my body the simpler life becomes and the more sense there is in taking super care of my body so it can communicate more.
“… could it be that true intelligence is a whole body experience…” indeed it is – from personal experience there is a quality that is felt throughout our whole body when truth is offered which cannot be denied.
We are foolishly stubborn in adhering to beliefs even when all the evidence points us a different way.
In isolation from my body, my mind can wreak havoc. Immersed with my body and alongside my body’s wise guidance, my mind is a useful support.
When we rely on our intelligence for something, we can almost justify anything as being good for us (extremes excluded) and our body may not come in as a factor at all. With wisdom we can exclude nothing and our body is the centre.
Held by wisdom, subject of intelligence.
How often do we over-ride our body’s tiredness to push the envelope and stay up late and when we find naught is achieved and that an early rhythm allows us great space in the day to complete many more tasks because we wake earlier and more vital.
Life becomes more real and we are divine within all we do to our abilities best ways.
Pretty much all of us have had stories where on hindsight we have noted that although everything according to our logical perception painted one picture, we had a deep down sense that things were different. Many talk about this factor as something strange and supernatural. Yet discussions started here show how normal and down to earth this process actually is.
The current education model we have does not support humanity to acknowledge, appreciate and claim the innate wisdom that is there. We are actively taught to come from the head and in so doing negate the wisdom of what we know through what we feel. We therefore learn to live life from the head, from projected pictures about what is and what is not acceptable rather than from what we know. The fact that the expression from this place is perceived as supernatural or weird by so many is indicative of the collective hold we allow the mental plane to have over our bodies. The beauty of this awareness is that we can start to very practically and simply address this mix up as you suggest. Simply connecting to our breath and feeling our bodies is a great place to start and in this practicality we find a profundity that our heads simply couldn’t make up.
Ironic that we are so obsessed about knowing things but are shunning our connection to the greatest source of wisdom. I recall in the past being envious of those who seemed far more able to sense what was true and what was not, and I wished there was a gadget I could own with lights, colours or sounds that would alert me to anything that was false. It took me a long while to start to realise and accept that I too have that potential, as we all do, via every particle of my body- particles that remain in harmony with the pulse of the universe and do not get seduced by falseness like my brain can.
Interesting that you are sharing this Golnaz. This shows me that when was I younger I had totally aligned to the education model – wanting to have access to truth wasn’t on my radar. In my emptiness I believed that to be worth anything you had to be clever, which you had to prove by getting qualifications and in knowing a lot. The trouble was, no matter how much I studied and learned it was never enough to mitigate against the well of lack of self-worth I carried. Learning the difference between the illusion of intelligence and the truth of wisdom has taken me some time to unravel, but there is nothing in me now that actively searches for knowledge to prove my worth but an increasing appreciation of the wisdom that can come through when I get myself out of the way based on a foundation of deep appreciation for everything I am and what is possible for me to express.
The mind will always over rule the body and drown out any messages it is trying to convey to the being that resides within. We even get to the point where we begrudge the messages from the body as if it is punishing us and making us sick on purpose. This way of living is clearly not working, so maybe it’s time to start listening to the body and the multitude of messages it conveys to us on a daily basis.
In the light you paint Julie, it is vey clear that in not connecting to the innate wisdom we have we are not being very intelligent. Paying attention to my body and how it feels has been the only way that has allowed any form of wisdom to emerge from it!
Brilliant. I love this point. Let’s make it our normal to speak from how we feel not from what we think. And yes this is a richer and wiser way to communicate.
With the new year we have a beautiful moment to reflect on the year past and the year to come. I enjoy clocking the changes I have made and using these as points of inspiration for what next. Where can I develop more, express more and deepen relationships? How can I make life richer, more real and true?
So great to bring up the consideration that there can be far more to the wisdom of and quality of our choices and that these ‘gems’ actually come from the whole body intelligence and not our heads. I know that when one of these ‘gems’ is passed on to another through my own lips it can surprise me almost as much as it does another – the truth is heard and felt first and it is not some recycled one off comment that many have regurgitated before that comes from the head.
Eating finds its way into every aspect of our life if we let it! Living with the wisdom of our bodies eliminates wasted time so we create more space to do those things that serve us and others and still have a great time eating delicious foods when needed especially at celebration, which is simply sharing a meal with others.
Reading this again confirms that we would be much faster in getting to the answers we seek by listening to the wisdom of the human body rather than waiting for our minds and science to prove things beyond a doubt.
Whenever I get a nugget of wisdom my whole body responds to it and the inspiration lights me up in the recognition of the truth.
Wow!! This is great Matilda and Judy, and may I add that on Christmas day some suggested that we over did the choices of rich protein foods that also caused us to feel lethargic? Or maybe it was the cornucopia of food that caused us to drop our awareness? Are we eating to sustain our body and Soul or are we eating because we are empty? Eat lightly to feel the light of the Soul!
Great questions and reminders Greg. Everything we eat, how we eat it and how much is either a choice to support us to be in the livingness of Soul or not.
So true Michael, and the complete forever deepening humble appreciativeness of the loving choices will also sustain us or be like our fuel between meals!
When we embrace our whole body and honour it in its fullness we not only have access to great wisdom we also fall in love with ourself and find settlement within ourself.
“We tend to think that our intelligence comes from and resides in our heads, that it is ours and that we own it, and we pride ourselves on it.
But could it be that true intelligence is a whole body experience, not something confined to our brain cells?” Such wisdom that asks us to deeply ponder on what has been accepted as the norm for so long, but asks us to question if this is actually true. In my own experience, the more I listen to my body and dont override it with what my brain is telling me, the more I cannot dispute that my body knows the simple truth about everything.
“To simply start a dialogue with our bodies, letting the voice of this whole body intelligence be heard, is the start of something very huge, an intimate relationship that simplifies life beyond belief.” And when truly honoured miracles become common place, as many long term or seemingly unsolvable conditions clear up and people begin to experience vibrant health sometimes for the first time in their lives.
Checking out in front of TV used to be a huge part of my life and I would regularly fall asleep in front of the TV, to wake up hours later with a buzzing noise, as the station had closed down, I did not want to miss out! Now that I have a deeper understanding about life there is no more TV, but I now use food to dull and distract myself and now because of the distractions I am missing out on deepening my connection! So our spirit wants a bet both ways, just like the church in the Robin Hood movie produced by Otto Bathurst.
‘However, our food choices are governed by the choices the adults…’ interesting to observe how as adults we impose beliefs about what and how much food should be eaten onto children and are not really hearing what they are saying when they tell us they don’t want to eat a particular food or eat anymore more of a particular meal. We could perhaps do well to listen more and tell them less.
I wonder if one day we’ll view the way that we force children to eat certain foods and certain amounts of food as child abuse?
Absolutely Alexis – we are at that point already in some cases of poor diets, malnutrition and fast food in the eyes of social services and health workers but there is another step required for it to include all food choices and amounts of food in such detail. There is obvious resistance to this full awareness in society as it asks us all to take responsibility and become aware of all of our own choices too.
An important factor in all of this is that we are all blinded by our beliefs. If for example we believe that it’s imperative for good health that we eat three meals a day, then we’re going to ensure that our kids also eat three meals a day. If we believe that we should be governed by our body as to what and when to eat then there’s a high chance that we will encourage our kids to do the same. Most of us try and impart our beliefs onto our kids.
The more I listen to my body’s feedback about how I treat it, the more I appreciate the immensely sensitive work of art that I live within and the immense wisdom that has governs and harmonizes all it does for me.
The purpose of riding roughshod over our bodies by reducing them to mere function is so that we can continue with our charade that we are not aware that the way that we are all choosing to live is neither true or loving.
The ultimate in irresponsibility and yet how often do I still abuse my body in spite of this awareness?
I have found that reducing the amount of abuse that I inflict on myself is a very gradual process and one that ebbs and flows like the tide. It’s not that I ever stop doing something completely in one go but more that it comes and goes, a forwards and a back and often reducing in strength until it peters out completely.
“yet how often do I still abuse my body in spite of this awareness?” A great question to ask ourselves Michelle and I suspect you are not alone in this. Greater awareness does not guarantee change, we are constantly affected by things and life in and around us, sometimes we hold steady and other times not.
Wherever we are, accept, appreciate how far we’ve come and be gentle with ourselves.
Alexis I love your response to this. Sometimes we hold pictures in our heads about how we should be and want to change patterns, usually expecting a one fix all approach believing what we need is more resolve. Whereas in reality, making lasting change is way more elusive and fluid than this: ” Its not that I ever stop doing something completely in one go but more that it comes and goes, a forwards and a back and often reducing in strength until it peters out completely’.
The key for me is to keep putting appreciation ahead as the focus, so no matter what is going on for me there is an openness to keep making those self loving choices even in the trough of those that aren’t. Over time the scales have definitely been tipping in favour of those that are more supportive because over time also we realise that those self loving choices are no longer about the self but about all of us.
Good call Michelle, to bring into focus the importance of appreciation.
“There are plenty of scientific studies that are revealing the fact that our bodies work very differently to the way we have been historically taught”. There is a new understanding emerging in our medical sciences that is enabling us to move on from the ‘brain is king’ kind of mentality. New studies are empowering us to appreciate just how sensitive and responsive our heart is and the immense role is plays in governing our bodies. Makes sense to me, considering its power and purpose nourishing every cell in our body, never ceasing its work until it’s time to stop, that the whole body should be focussed on keeping it vibrant and healthy.
We are still very caught up in the functional capacity of our bodies. What they can do and what we push them do to. But what is the purpose of this if we don’t listen to our bodies very distinct communication?
Well said Jennifer – our bodies are amazing instruments which we treat more like a machine. A great reminder to honour what we feel rather than override it.
Our bodies are the master but we override our bodies constantly with the result of our minds treating our bodies as the servant. We come off second best as a result. We only have to look at our current state of health to observe this.
So true Jennifer our bodies can be a slave to our minds and thoughts, living in such a way that does not support our true health and well-being.
It is a very simple way to live when we heed our body’s advice, and as you say we all have a body and thus access to its wisdom.
“Our wise bodies absolutely know their limits and what truly serves.” And the chaos starts when we belligerently override this wisdom in the drive to do what we want to do and then have the audacity to blame our bodies for failing to keep up. The ridiculous thing is that when we really honour what is felt within us, our bodies will carry us a long way with the most incredible vitality.
We really need to support our children with this. If we do not, it becomes normal to put up with stomach pains, or blocked sinuses or bloating; all too easy then to override what our bodies are telling us. We stay in the habit of this until really our bodies have to shout much louder for us to take notice.
We can all know everything there is to know because each of us is a part of everything, it’s just that we can also be absolute masters at playing dumb.
A very different experience yes, and the more I choose to feel the wisdom and stillness in my body the more I enjoy life.
Working in health care it is very clear to see the impact of ignoring our bodies’ sign posting and wisdom. We will be amazed and inspired when we start listening and responding to everything we are shown through our bodies.
‘The thing is that our bodies tell us ever so quickly about the impact of what and how we have eaten.’ Sometimes there is a little delay – for example, that chocolate or nut butter I ate earlier in the week (if the body is clear) can then come out in a cold. I ate some nut butter over a couple of days last week and told myself I could get away with it as I didn’t experience the immediate symptoms you speak of – as soon as I gave myself the space from the nut butter and paid attention to my diet my body started to clear the dampness I had consumed!
“Our wise bodies absolutely know their limits and what truly serves.” When we live in harmony with the body’s wisdom we are in harmony.
I have found the wisdom of my body far wiser counsel than my mind could ever offer.
It is fun to read this again – to re-prompt myself to have this relationship with my body and that actually the more I do, the wiser and surer I feel about everything.
The value of allowing time to feel the communication from our bodies is not fully appreciated and in fact we have become quite adept at creating a life which prevents this. So much on offer when we choose to be open to our bodies in full…
If only we could blame not having enough time to listen to our bodies on the fact that we don’t, but we can’t, because messages from the body are always instantaneous; the only delay that ever exists is in our understanding.
We tend to make a big song and dance of many so called discoveries, half baked theories and some times spurious research data (such as the one that finds chocolate is good for you just before Easter). Yet I have come across hardly any mention of the findings of these studies showing that “we have an innate intelligence in our bodies that is more responsive and fine-tuned than our brains in isolation” other than the research paper itself.
Thank you Matilda and Judy, for another great blog and expanding on what you have shared as we as an intelligence are ‘Caught up in the cerebral, educational celebration of mental prowess’ so our heads celebrate, which in general means a feast!!! With a cardio-centric view, our essence displays a wisdom that is out of this world, which gives a whole new meaning to the word celebration and how we feast, so from this lived wisdom our movements will avail us all openly to the natural evolution available.
I can remember as a kid being forced to eat things that I just didn’t like, only to find out years later that I was in fact allergic to them.
So simple and something to really remember when we are with children.
Looking back over my life I can see so clearly that my so-called intelligent mind led me astray over and over again, with me wondering why life always seemed to be a struggle and rarely going in the direction I had planned. So, it’s not surprising that in a world where the intelligence of the mind is celebrated that there is such chaos and calamity, when there are billions of others like me who are regularly being led astray by their minds, while their inherent wisdom is totally over looked. Now that simply doesn’t sound like true intelligence to me.
When I feel wisdom, it feels wide and spacious as opposed to when I feel cerebral intelligence which feels narrow and confined.
Wisdom made the Moon and Intelligence put a man on it. The Moon is still there but the man has long gone.
Love this, Rowena! I have always felt the futility of exploring other planets or the physicality of space from the perspective of intelligence. What intelligence says that it’s ok to have poverty, ill health, rape, corruption, greed, inequality, abuse, war and spend the billions of dollars that could be spent on tackling these issues, on getting up into space, which really serves those on this planet nothing other than satellite technology, which does nothing to tackle those issues at all either.
Love this Rowena. simple truth. How about we return to exploring inner space? I feel we are likely to find more wise and sustainable answers.
‘To simply start a dialogue with our bodies, letting the voice of this whole body intelligence be heard, is the start of something very huge, an intimate relationship that simplifies life beyond belief.’ I’m in!
The should I / should I not is a big one for many. Many an agonising discussion has taken place over that one. I have found that by building a stronger connection to my body and being open to the wisdom that it shares, that decisions are much easier to make.
Yes I agree Sarah ….There have been periods in my life when I have found making decisions a really arduous task, anxiety making and stressful. Gradually this is changing so that I am much more accepting of what needs to be done and what needs to be done becomes clearer across the board. I feel this is due to bringing a lot more focus on my body, how I move, how I respond to situations ( being present in and with myself I am a lot steadier and react far less) and how I treat my body – with more respect and love.
We haven’t always used our intelligence so intelligently. Take for example the design and use of the atomic bomb… it was an ingenious invention but at the great cost to humanity.
What if we were to use our intelligence from the foundation of a loving heart, would this not be accessing a deeper form of intelligence – wisdom; which, when used, is to the great benefit of all?
This makes total sense!
This is something that needs to be taught in schools. If I had learned this as a child I would have had a very different relationship with my body and indeed myself – the being in the body.
Pride and championing ourselves in thinking we are intelligent because of the qualifications we have achieved, the job title or even because we think we have a super, clever memory, then we are sold out to the belief that intelligence comes from the mind. It is a consciousness that most are aligned to and most will stand by, but it doesn’t make it true. From holding this belief knowing it was not true as it kept me small and contracted, to claiming the fact that intelligence comes from a connection to an inner knowing, has completely turned my life around. I now do not compare myself (without perfection) to another whom I have regarded as intelligent and live knowing that true intelligence lies within the heart of everyone and the connection to the body of which each and every one of us has access to.
Cerebral intelligence is gained with the intention of bolstering and fortifying the individual, wisdom is shared with the intention of lifting the all.
Our bodies have so much to tell us about, the more we listen the more fascinating life becomes.
I know that it wasn’t until I started listening to the wisdom of my whole body that I started to shred the excessive amount of weight I was carrying around and have kept it off with my continually checking in with my body and where it is at and what it needs in the way of nourishment, exercise, rest & rejuvenation.
I have really been caught up in this in the past; ‘should I?’ or ‘shouldn’t I?’ increasingly becomes a thing of the past, as we build unwavering sureness in relationship with the wisest ally we have (and we all have)… our bodies’ wisdom. If I go with my feeling about what to do and not do then this feels super simple, if I start overthinking this then things get really complicated and it can feel impossible to make a decision – trying to weigh up the pros and cons.
“But could it be that true intelligence is a whole body experience, not something confined to our brain cells?” From my experience I would most definitely say yes in answer to this question. I know for sure when I have acted upon something that I have felt so clearly in my body, and how beautifully things unfold with such synchronicity, and opposingly how complex and difficult things can get when I use my brain to try to figure things out.
It makes total sense that true intelligence is a whole body experience because every part of our body is part of the whole and so all of our body is involved in the everything and everything is involved in all of our body.
Could it be we are entering a new period of life where we plug into something or shut down by turning on some device? A phobia for not having a phone signal is now a word. The most interesting and amazing thing we will ever listen to is our body!
True Steve, we listen to everything else; the TV, Radio, gossip, drama, news (fake or otherwise), the constant mental thoughts in our heads and each other. The list could go on… but do we ever listen to our body as the first port of call… hardly ever…. unless the body has got to breaking point.
And all the while our body keeps giving us the signals we truly want and need to hear.
Our body is obedient to the flow of the universe but if we move it in a way that goes against this flow, it will tell us loud and clear the disharmony we have created. It will do everything it can to clear it and this clearing can come in many forms and illness and disease is one of them.
It can be easier to stop and listen to our bodies in hindsight or after the fact of an injury or reaction to a food we have eaten. And yet our bodies are communicating all the time and is the instrument from which we can feel and respond to life.
A lot of the things you mention in the article I just wasn’t aware of for much of my life. Now I can see how these things affect me so I’ve made changes to address them and ultimately look after myself more. So then now what? I’m not overbearing or imposing with people, but I can ask questions or share how I see things (when the time is right).
‘As children, we are more naturally ‘in’ our bodies and are clear about what we do and do not want to eat.’ As I child I was very clear about what I did and did not want to eat … chocolate, sweets and cakes … I wanted to eat!!! On reflection what I now know from this is that I wanted these types of food as a comfort what I really wanted instead of sweet foods was to be deeply deeply cherished, loved, appreciated and accepted by both myself and others.
Cherish is such a beautifull word and one that we rarely use.
I reckon in our current society it is becoming more common to numb ourselves from a very, very young age. Is it possible that the tension we can feel may be as early as pre-birth? And, numbing ourselves with food is a form of easing the tension.
‘I reckon in our current society it is becoming more common to numb ourselves from a very, very young age. Is it possible that the tension we can feel may be as early as pre-birth?’ ……You have raised something here that needs to be deeply considered because as a society we are all well aware that the consumption of sweets, cakes, biscuits, fast foods, coffee, soft drinks etc has sky rocketed. It is pretty much impossible these days to remove your self from the temptation of these food as they are easily accessible and in your face at every Grocery Store, Service Station, Newsagent, Post Office, Hardware Store and even a lot of work places have some sort comfort food available. It’s like the world is set up in a way that supports us to not feel the tension within. Therefore any time we start to feel the sadness,frustration, disappointment, pain, anger, grief whatever it may be we can easily grab something to bury what we are feeling. And as children learn a lot from reflection is it any wonder that we can now see the very young reaching for the very same to relieve the tension they are feeling.
There are babies born with their mother’s addictions. Could a numbing mother pass this on to their unborn child and the cycle continues unabated?
‘Our wise bodies absolutely know their limits and what truly serves.’ this illustrates to me a key difference between the wisdom of the body which acts in full regard of everything including itself and the supposed intelligence of the mind which can instruct us to act in full disregard of itself, the body it is part of and everything else that it is universally a part of.
The body does not need to lie, and it never stops supporting us. We can choose to ignore what it is telling us, to our peril!
“Our wise bodies absolutely know their limits and what truly serves.” Totally. Our minds do not. They will gorge on anything and everything – food, bad habits, self-hate etc….. – and that does not truly serve.
There is so much ownership of the body. Like we have to look a certain way for our own gain. But perhaps by having this mentality it is assuring us that we don’t listen to ourselves and constantly compare rather than accessing the wisdom on offer.
It is interesting to look at the many ways we are kept out of relationship with our bodies, which is not to say we cannot choose to be in relationship with our bodies, but it certainly helps me to understand that the world currently does not support the truth and power of this relationship.
Knowing all that we know about our bodies on an anatomical, physiological and biological level alone tells us how very intelligent our bodies are.
So true Esther, and there are parts and functions of our body we don’t understand because our mind cannot comprehend our body’s intelligence. By trying to understand our body from our mind is a bit like trying to fit an ever-expanding spherical ball into a tiny square box.
The single cell we all start from is simple, but how the dividing cells decide to become a bone or organ is still a mystery. Could it be there are some things we need to accept as the truth?
Yes, or as a matter of fact, as it is as it is whether we can fathom how it works or not.
I totally agree and when we allow the whole body to speak, when we actually listen to what we feel then we have world expanding intelligence.
So true and yet we stop there when we can feel there is more to understand about our bodies.
“Wisdom vs Intelligence” – the living of truth from our body is both wise and wisdom and thus intelligence and intelligent.
As a teacher, I see the harm the commodity of intelligence has on the kids I work with and the staff who work with them. Whilst without question the teachers I know have heart (and a lot of it) the system has them tightly bound to delivering knowledge at the expense of the inner wisdom we all share and carry. Wisdom can come through but we have made a god out of intelligence and recall. Those pearls are not the everyday norm but are sparsely scattered in a desert of pushing and striving to the drum of betterment, where there is no evolution just a circulation of have to try harder and not good enough – to get by.
It is a tragedy that we make it all about what we have to strive to recall and the boxes we have to tick, while the real gold is sitting right inside every single person. True support is to help nurture our connection to such divine wisdom, and to provide space and support for living in honouring of our innate awareness in a world that seems to be set up in every way to diminish it.
‘while the real gold is sitting right inside every single person’ – to me, it is an utter tragedy that most individuals are not aware of this, not only that, if you speak to them about the awesomeness they innately are they go into denial of it.
If we ask children, ‘do you love school?’ my guess is a majority of them would say no. Isn’t this enough to make us ask why? There seems to be no joy in our education system, teaching has become about results and rules, where has the fun gone? Every child responds and loves to learn, how are we teaching in a way that knocks this natural inquisitiveness out of them?
It’s difficult for kids to hold onto their innate joy and wisdom when our education system and often methods of parenting impose ways of being that are not natural to our bodies. Kids are ultimately able to hang onto their original nature, but the forces that they’re up against are very strong
The wisdom in our bodies can never be owned because it belongs to the body of the Universe we live within and is too vast to stuff into our pockets, bank accounts, cars or houses. And when we surrender to this constant and abundant presence within us, we realize there is no need to own it, just let it flow and enjoy the immense magic that ensues as a consequence.
I can’t help but wonder at how advanced the human race would become if we started living from our inner wisdom instead of running with the limited intelligence of the mind.
We know enough about the brain to realise that there is a whole lot that we still do not know about the brain. Can the same be said about the body? Or, is the body is a more fundamental study because it will tell us everything if we choose to feel and listen.
If we began to raise children to know “that we have an innate intelligence in our bodies that is more responsive and fine-tuned than our brains in isolation” it wouldn’t take too long before the ingrained and accepted belief that our intelligence is only brain-based, starts to be dismantled. And with the dismantling of the belief will come the dismantling of the pride that is often attached to the status of one’s intelligence. Mind you, there will no doubt be a lot of resistance to begin with, when humanity realises that we have been fed a lie, for a very long time.
It is very common to eat our meals based on what our brain tells us and also based on what time we think we should eat during the day. Many of us have forgotten to eat based on the intelligence of our body, listening to when we feel hungry, or not.
Listening only to our mouth is not listening to our whole body, when we put in food that supplies the bliss factor to our taste buds, but hurts the rest of us.
So true, what you have said…just tonight I was about to go listen to my head which said it’s past dinner time and I should be eating something now, but my body said it wasn’t hungry and didn’t need a big meal before I go to bed. I surrendered to my body, and this felt true.
Intelligence attempts to work things out, wisdom delivers the answer – all we need to do is to learn how to listen to it.
There is a rage that occurs when all the knowledge we have been running with is shown to be not it. It seems to stem from knowing all along that all the tricks we have learnt were never ever going to work the way our heart and body can.
Celebrating or the celebration of our bodies is not a romantic ideal like something we play with on special days but is what felt by the people who live in a way that allows our-selves ‘to love and be love’, for without the latter, how can we Love another, so celebrating life is something like a fashion or approach to life we live for and with!
Its a great discussion, what is intelligence. One of the things that I don’t like about the current model of what we think intelligence is, is that people who have a very natural intelligence, work well with people and know who they are with no airs and graces but may not have a degree can be overlooked as being intelligent, even by themselves because they don’t have higher levels of education. Education does not make intelligence. Nor do titles or lists of qualifications. How often do we hear that someone who is highly educated but has little common sense. Perhaps common sense is part of our true intelligence.
I would say without a shadow of a doubt that “common sense is part of our true intelligence”, and that common sense is what is often missing in someone who is classed as intelligent by societal standards. This becomes so obvious when for example, a doctor who knows the dangers of cigarettes, smokes – now that certainly doesn’t make sense to me, but would I and my common sense fit into the currently accepted, world scale of intelligence? Probably not.
The dogged pursuit of intellectual intelligence reduces our access to wisdom.
Food and what we choose to eat is such a contentious subject and raises so many questions and opinions for so many because of what you say, which is that we are told we should eat certain things because it has been scientifically proven that they are good for us. But what about our bodies in this equation? When I started to actually listen to my body and respond to how it reacted to certain foods it was a complete revelation to me. There are still times when I choose to eat things that no longer support my body, but it is so quick to tell me that I can no longer ignore its messages. This to me is the true wisdom of my body, and ranks far and above any intelligence of my mind.
Also, we are often told what time we should eat. I experienced this recently with a friend and I pointed out that we don’t need to look at the time to check when we should and shouldn’t eat, the best guide is to check with our body.
Learning that there is no right and wrong and that there is only truth means we have to feel our bodies because our minds cannot truly discern Truth.
It is lovely how simple life is when we connect to our body. We don’t have to figure things out because we know.
The wisdom of our body doesn’t ever lie and when deeply listened, it offers a detailed guide of how and what to eat, how to move, how to express in a healthy and spherical way that includes everything, harmoniously so.
We are born with both wisdom and intelligence but one is fostered and rewarded and we are moulded to keep the other from flourishing.
It takes a while to really understand the depth and length that we play games, and our spirit knows exactly where our weaknesses and holes are to allow this to happen. It is these games that keep us going round in circles not really changing anything. It is deeply insidious and our intelligence stops us form seeing these games but once we connect to our heart these games begin to be exposed and can no longer be hidden by the spirit who’s game is to keep us from knowing truth and who we truly are.
Our relationship with our bodies is the foundation for trust, confidence and feeling supported as they know the true nature of harmony and order.
Beautiful Jennym, expressed with a deep appreciation for our body.
Now that I have re-discovered it for myself there is nothing in this world that can dissuade me from knowing that there is a deep, grand and loving intelligence to be accessed via our bodies…
I see the brilliance in children (and some adults) who are still very close with their bodies and their whole self and I feel it more and more in myself as I re-establish my relationship my my own body and being…
it is a vast and all encompassing wisdom no mind can come close to without the body to first inform it.
Wisdom knows no bounds whereas intellectual intelligence by its very nature is in itself bound.
Intellectual intelligence is just regurgitation of facts. Wisdom is like the universe, always expanding.
And what’s regurgitation? Surely just a polite way of saying ‘vomit’.
There is so much wisdom that is available for us all, but to access it we need a body that can receive and embody what is given to us. So no wonder there are so many things in the world to tempt us away from ourselves so that our body is not able to access the wisdom that is there for us all to receive.
‘Our wise bodies absolutely know their limits and what truly serves.’ This is lovely to learn, we think our brains have to do all the thinking and yet there is so much wisdom within our bodies we do ourselves a total disservice when we override our body messages with our thinking brains.
So true Carmel and hence one of the main reasons why we are seeing more illness and disease than ever before is because our world is predominately celebrating the thinking brain and ignoring the intelligence of our body.
Intellectual intelligence is limited, divine intelligence is multi dimensional.
‘Are we living with a very restricted definition and relationship with the word intelligence? Caught up in the cerebral, educational celebration of mental prowess and factual recall that leaves us bereft of a much richer, fuller experience of life?’ This restricted relationship with intelligence is a total killer. I see what it does (and have been caught up in it too) to how kids very early begin to feel about themselves. If they feel they don’t measure up they feel totally inadequate, if they feel they do measure up, they see themselves in terms of their academic achievements, deriving self-worth by what they feel they can do that those others can’t. There is a constant weighing up and measurement of where one sits on the ability stakes that totally negates the innate wisdom we all have to share that is equal across the board.
Living from the intelligence of the body determines what is true for us in that moment; we therefore cannot dictate or claim what is true for another. When we listen to our body it gives us everything we need to know that supports us; we therefore do not need to be told what is true. Instead why not support each other to connect to our body.
Our body never forgets how to take care of itself! We still get goosebumps to protect us from the cold from when we were all a bit hairier.
“Our wise bodies absolutely know their limits and what truly serves.” And very often our intelligence overrides this innate wisdom, much to our detriment.
Intellectual intelligence does not recognise universal intelligence, whereas universal intelligence recognises intellectual intelligence.
Intellectual intelligence comes from the same place as ignorance.
It does beggar belief the infinite wisdom that can come from connecting to and listening to our bodies. It is the most important relationship we can ever have, and I wonder why so many of us choose to not to listen to it?
What you say seems to suggest that a part of us does not want to know the truth.
I think you may be right.
It’s intelligent to live in a state of absolute harmony – where we speak, breathe and move in line with the flow of life. The fact that so few of us live close to this should be something we all look closer at.
It has been scientifically proven that the heart responds much faster than our brain and as such, the cardio-centric way of life makes much more sense than limiting ourselves to the bit of white matter between our ears.
‘ It develops a deeper understanding of ourselves, each other and the magic in life that makes decision making the clearest and simplest thing in the world… ‘ This is beautiful. I’m so learning to trust my body. It tells me when something is off and when it’s true. It may make no sense to my intellectual mind but when followed the sense then becomes apparent. I could really trust my body more actually and then the magic will really unfold.
Once we honour and listen to our body, we will discover that we have access to great intelligence and wisdom through our body. But if we ignore our body, the form of intelligence we think is intelligence may not be so intelligence at all. For example, look at our current society, we run on an intelligence that is in disregard of the body and look at how disharmonious we are as a race? Doesn’t this already send out alarm bells that the intelligence we are currently celebrating and rewarding in this world has caused much harm? So, I feel it is about time to reconnect to true intelligence from the divine and allow ourselves to access it through the wisdom of our body.
Once we connect to our body and honour this relationship it has greater interest than anything we may have been seeking on the outside. It is a treasure trove of endless wisdom and unfolding.
Medicine is very much in favour of listening to our own body, it just doesn’t seem quite sure how to do that so the large majority of the population listens to their body as a matter of routine.
It is a joy to be in a body that is telling me more and more what supports it and what does not. Ultimately it is just our choice to listen and respond, or not.
Learning to respond to the wisdom of the body is so much wiser than listening to the external chatter that can infiltrate our mind.
Very wise point Mary and I absolutely agree. It is deeply empowering to listen to our body and allow it to guide us through life. If we don’t access this wisdom, we are then essentially giving our power away when we listen to the external influences, trends and pictures.
The beauty is so simple! Body intelligence that is.
‘As children, we are more naturally ‘in’ our bodies and are clear about what we do and do not want to eat. However, our food choices are governed by the choices the adults (our care takers) make…’ there are many ways we can inadvertently ‘spoil’ our children – this one example is in itself, a huge argument for us to bring back that connection to our bodies, – for the sake of good health and well-being throughout life.
Our body does not only show us what the best choice would be in a practical sense but through our body we can feel in what quality we move and how we relate with the world around us. For example, are your shoulders raised or turned forward? Are your arms hard when you move them? is there a tension, a holding around your stomach..all of these are communications that reflect to us our way of being.
Our body reflects in the minutest detail how we have been moving it, whether harshly, rushed and angular or flowing and in connection. We imprint our muscle-skeletal system with every move we make.
“We imprint our muscle-skeletal system with every move we make.” This is why the esoteric bodywork modalities are so supportive in turning around our quality in life. They support us in re-imprinting our muscular skeletal system and soften our connective tissue, restoring the natural gentle and flowing movements.
Everything is there to show us what is needed in the way we live our lives. I love how nothing is hidden.
Nothing is hidden for those who choose to see and be aware.
Our mouth has the choice of what it expresses, the body can only tell the truth.
I love this blog as the wisdom of the body is sort of my passion. Everything comes back to the body, our connection with it, our presence within it and how well we listen to what it so lovingly and sometimes firmly communicates with us. It offers the answer to all our woes.
The communication of our body about what we need, whats next and how to be with ourselves and this world is non stop. Just think about the amount of effort and mental energy we have to apply to consistently override these messages.
No wonder we currently have a plague of exhaustion as our minds have to work so hard to ignore our innate intelligence whereas if we choose to listen to our body’s communication we naturally are released from the debilitating scourges of doubt and anxiety.
well said Helen and it really is this simple, the trick is though it is not always easy, as we are so focussed on the world around us and the world around us tells us everything but to connect with our body in a true way.
“..we have an innate intelligence in our bodies that is more responsive and fine-tuned than our brains in isolation.” This is key and when we learn to adhere to this wisdom life will return to it’s natural simplicity,
Whole body intelligence is the mother of wisdom and mind, the trickster, leads us down treacherous and winding paths that lead nowhere.
Thank you Matilda and Joy for exploring and presenting the nature of true intelligence simply and clearly. Schooled from young to abandon our bodies natural intelligence and rely solely on the mind’s has been our undoing. To be lovingly guided to re-acquaint with our body’s innate wisdom both supports and inspires us.
‘Or when we stop for long enough to realise that our mouths feel like sand dunes, having overridden earlier signs of thirst, even though we know the importance of staying hydrated.’ I can really relate to this and in these moments I am not honouring and caring for my body – this then has knock on effects for me – I get dry lips and a headache.
There is a stubbornness and pride to the predominant mind driven intelligence that despite almost every aspect of life which shows us it’s not working we do not even consider it’s the form of intelligence leading us that may be part of the problem and rather try to use it even more to find the answer – the more people who live connected to the wisdom of the body the better for only then will we start to see the changes we claim to want.
Our intelligence can have us to eat all manner of things that we assume or have been told are healthy but it does not mean the body will see it the same way. I’m learning that it’s far wiser and healthier to listen to my body.
Or even persuade us to eat things that are much less than healthy in large quantities. Intelligence seems to have limitations.
Good point. Equally so the arrogance that tells us that we can get away with it over and over even though our bodies are screaming for us to stop the abuse.
Only the brain can have arrogance; the body can tell only the truth.
Why do we shun the most important relationship we will ever have? The one, with our body?
Agreed Steve, that is so true what if we actually wanted to build a depth of truth and relationship with ourselves. How would everything change.
I can’t help thinking also that we use only a small percentage of our brains as well and maybe by fully connecting to the intelligence our bodies have on offer, it might help fire up parts of the brain that aren’t so used as well.
I have wondered about this too Kev, I reckon science does not yet fully understand how our body works.
“Our wise bodies absolutely know their limits and what truly serves.” And therein lies our greatest educator, our bodies. Meeting Universal Medicine empowered me to begin to take immense care of my body and respond to how it feels by refining the way I live within it. The results are astounding and living proof that my body’s wisdom far out weighs the many ideals and beliefs I was holding about nutrition, diet and food regimes.
Body intelligence is our super tool and super power in life.
By using our mind to be more aware of our whole body we have the opportunity to connect with an innate harmony and quality of intelligence that is considerate of the whole we are a part of.
It is quite incredible how listening to the body makes life far more simple… but the question is how much of listening to the mind are we willing to give up and how much are we invested in all things complicated?
Body intelligence is a science that already exists – we only need to look at the cells in a body and see how they communicate and see how the natural harmony is maintained with the fact that they communicate together and always work together in unity. This science is spectacular – how does a stem cell in a developing blastocyst know that it must develop into? It does this through communication with its environment and a willingness to do what is needed. There is so much of the way we live as a collective humanity that does not work in this way, and so we have much to learn in order to bring a wisdom that lies already within us all, to a lived experience rather than trying to pre-meditate and control an outcome we can never truly fully perceive.
The innate intelligence and unified working order of our body is incredible and awe-inducing! Something well worth appreciating.
Of what use is it really to have an intelligence that comes with no warmth? Pure intellectual intelligence may bring with it much knowledge to seemingly benefit mankind, but this alone is not the solution for the problems we are faced with in our current society. Technological advances will not resolve the lack of love, care, respect and decency in our current world. Another ingredient is required, one that can bring alive the intelligence and turn it into a wisdom, in a way that disconnects not from the being, but in fact deepens the relationship with all beings. Could this be the intelligence of the body and the Soul?
Yes Henrietta – A very powerful and inspiring couple, the body and the Soul.
Brilliant blog! I am starting to see that how we currently view intelligence as a society turns out to be not so intelligent because we narrow it down to 3 dimensional, whereas true intelligence is multidimensional. It is way beyond our physicality and true intelligence is something we can all access through our whole body, not one part but the entire vehicle.
I have met many people in my life who may not have any or many academic qualifications but are very wise.
Among the many ways that we keep over-riding the signals of our body, “those moments when our bladders call us to the toilet and we ignore and dismiss the call until the emergency bell is pulled and there is no further resisting” is one that really gets me. None of the usual clever justifications can explain away this one and it shows a type of thinking which has a deliberate abusive relationship with the body.
Will we choose to stay in the confines of our minds – or trust and honour the universal wisdom of our bodies?
Staying in the confines of the mind is what we have more often than not, chosen and so this is almost like a default program, a way of living that we are familiar with and that can be hard to leave behind. But like with most things that are at their core natural and super supportive, the more we learn gradually to trust and to honour the universal wisdom of the body, then gradually the program re-sets itself and this becomes the new normal which in fact is the old normal or the true normal, and the only normal that ever really was, and ever really was worth considering.
But could it be that true intelligence is a whole body experience, not something confined to our brain cells? YES!!!! And I will Celebrate the day when as a whole we really start to get this and understand this more ❤️
Re-connecting to the wisdom of our bodies brings such a simplicity and flow to life as we let go of the narrowness of our mind’s intelligence which when we choose to let our mind to work in isolation leads us down many unhealthy cul de sacs.
We put high emphasis on our educational system even though it is designed to suppress our innate wisdom and we downplay or suppress the intelligence of our body even though it is designed to align to the universal wisdom. Which one would we choose most wisely to be our teacher in life?
Intelligence as it is now seen in general is very confining and defining and used to identify ourselves as either better or less than another. It is in it’s current definition a harmful concept and so for the true meaning of intelligence to be so clearly spelled out as one that is of the whole body is an opportunity for a paradigm shift for humanity.
Smoking, drinking alcohol and overeating are just a few of the things we retrain our body to override its reaction to these actions. This is just setting up the dominos to fall in a predicted course of related illnesses from ignoring what our body is telling us.
Yes and there are many people who are considered very intelligent by the worlds standards and yet make very unwise decisions when it comes to their health or taking care of their bodies.
The bodies intelligence should be and one day will become our main focus as look at the mess running with the mind only has got the world into. I’m sure if the body had a choice it would never go to war for starters.
This is a really good point Kev. And no doubt the list of things that the body wouldnt choose to do would be literally endless. No doubt we would live in a very different world if we lived from the intelligence of the body.
True wisdom is born from an intelligence that takes every part that makes up the entirety of the whole into the equation and never seeks to subtract any part of it.
That torture of should I eat this or shouldn’t I eat this is so typical of the brain. The body never allows us to go through this stress, it would just feel and move this moment, see the results and make the next move.
This feels like an intro to the wisdom of the ‘body talk’. Long have I / we complicated the original simple first feeling of truth in the body. It’s the BIG golden question – how do we know and listen to our bodies before it becomes a driven mind ideal or belief? The answer is to take that time and give yourself space to feel how it feels in the body.. When I don’t the next choice is covering the one before and you will eventually end with a pain or stop that shows you the choice you make was not from the body. It’s ironic, for such a long time I have more listened to the pain than the beautiful feeling of expansion.
It is very clear to me the foods that don’t agree with me and the foods that do, I might override the signals for a while but at the end of the day I can feel it harms my body so I eventually I let those foods go.
‘Our wise bodies absolutely know their limits and what truly serves.’ And thank God for those wise bodies for without them we would literally run amok and destroy so much more around us, in our deliberate heedlessness and willfullness.
Great hyperlink in this blog with a powerful note on sugar, gluten and dairy, much of which I know my body has indicated to me very strongly: ‘Foods like sugar, gluten and dairy, alcohol and caffeine all affect mood and behaviour and at the same time exert a negative impact on our gut bacteria. It is a well known fact that caffeine and alcohol are drugs, but did you know that so are gluten and the dairy protein casein? Both gluten and casein release opioid like chemicals that affect brain function and mood and have been implicated in autism[ix], ADHD, schizophrenia[viiii] and motor function[x].’
Yes having a close friend who has autism means I have read and researched and have been very open on talking about this condition with others. What I have come to realise is that gluten and casein ( protein found in dairy food, especially milk) makes a big difference to the autistic persons moods and behaviour. There are fortunately several books written by autistic people on this – people who have first hand experience.
If we consider what is presented here, it simply does not make sense to just focus on a fraction of the intelligence available through our mind and not honour the full package via our whole body. And using the unintelligent reasoning of our mind to actually hamper the clarity of our body takes it to yet another level of absurdity.
My body is definitely very definite about what it like and does not like.
Yes, I agree. Whereas our head can trick us into doubt and into a fight and worse, ignoring our body’s intelligence.
Tortured decision making becoming a thing of the past.. this has been one of the biggest benefits of committing to feel more from my body rather than relying solely on my head all of the time. The clearer we are about how and what we feel, the easier it is to make a simple, straightforward decision.
Yes doubt becomes a thing of the past which has released me from the scourge of anxiety whenever I needed to make a decision.
Society tends to celebrate intelligence from the mind…the more complex mental pursuits are seen as the most important. Yet, a large portion of the world is living with dis-ease, tension, addictions etc. from ignoring the wisdom of the body. Imagine how different it would be to observe people who love, adore, listen and adhere to their body.
I have observed many who live this way, and they stand out in the crowd. Thanks to Universal Medicine there are many men, women and children showing what it looks like to live in connection to the wisdom of the body.
Now that’s something to appreciate and celebrate!
The more I listen to my body when it comes to lifestyle choices the easier and more simple life becomes. These days if I get into trouble it’s because I listened to my mind acting in separation to the body, off with the mental pictures that lead to nonsense.
Being ruled by our tastebuds is very much the relationship that most of us have with food. We seek identification from food, we seek relief and comfort. We seek many things, but mostly not to meet the needs our body has. If we really listened to our bodies, we would eat very differently.
Maybe we should reevaluate the meaning of brain-storming and lift the cloud that surrounds us about what true intelligence is all about? Once this mist that has mystified so many has cleared we open up to deeper levels of lived wisdom for our Loving Inner-heart!
The more I listen and honour my body the more ludicrous it seems to me to say the least to choose to eat something because it tastes good or offers some sort of false sense of satisfaction when you end up experiencing the horrible heaviness or raciness in your body as a result.
A few years ago I had no idea of the way we can feel what to eat and although I ate relatively healthily, I was well into obesity because I ate so much carbohydrate and cheese and a regular drink of red wine. I was comfort eating, eating to hide the misery of being fat and making myself more fat in the process. Giving up gluten and dairy made a huge difference, and such a difference that it was easy to stay off both. Alcohol always made me ill so staying away from that was easy. Sugar is a whole different ball game – sugar has been a lifelong addiction for me and I am not yet at a stage where I can give it up completely.
Before we relied on medicine and our mind to give us the information we needed about our health, we naturally listened to body and knew what to do. With the onset of modern technology we have learnt to rely less and less on what our body knows so well, its own built in intelligence that understands our own path of illness, and moved more and more towards our mind and the intelligence of others to tell us what is going on with our body.
So many physical ailments and emotional turmoils dissolve when we live honouring the requirements of our body, rather than what we discern through our brain.
When I allow myself to feel what my body knows about a situation it kills emotions instantly and I feel so much lighter afterwards.
“could it be that true intelligence is a whole body experience, not something confined to our brain cells?” as strange as this may sound to some, it is exactly what I have experienced. the fact is when I rely on my mind I find myself limited to a tiny fraction of knowledge and when I allow my whole body to talk, the answers to many things I didn’t know before are there.
Having spent many years of my life blindly believing that ‘nutritional experts’ must know more about what is ‘right’ to eat, than the untrained person has been extremely detrimental to the wellbeing of my body. I have discovered that by listening to my body communications (pain, bloating, sickness etc), the greatest and truest nutritional expert ever has always been within my body. I was just choosing to ignore it and listen to external experts which may have been supportive sometimes, but offered no true healing.
“Our wise bodies absolutely know their limits and what truly serves”.
Exactly Stephanie, our body is the expert on what supports it and what does not. Humanity’s health would be very different I feel if this was taught or discussed (because really we do know!), when we were young, to listen to our body with every choice and decision we make. How different would food advertising look if they said, listen to your body first before buying this product.
What has become evident to me about intelligence is that we are not very intelligent when it comes to questioning things. Just because for aeons we have drunk milk, alcohol and eaten all manner of food products, does not mean that they are compatible with the body, but we rarely question if these things are truly good for the body or not.
We all have a body and the potential for the magic that it offers. The question is what do we do with this little miracle we are asked to care take for a lifetime? Do we honour, treasure, listen to it…. or is it all too much and we allow it to get mullered through our own choices, society’s norms and varying levels of disregard?
‘This is not to discount the extraordinary organ that the brain is, but it is very limited when we let it ‘go alone’… certainly not the central office and ‘mastermind’ that we have believed it to be.’ We hear so much about the brain and know that it is championed beyond all other parts of the body and yet in this consciousness, we fail to recognise that it is attached to the rest of the body! I have of course been caught up in this myself, so it is a slow extraction out of this consciousness and into allowing my body to take the lead without question. When I observe others too who have aligned to believing that the intellect is where it is at I simply observe the emptiness that can be felt from their bodies to confirm that this is not true.
Give intelligence of the brain – having an excellent memory any credence and we can go into comparison thinking we are less. Intelligence of the mind is not to gain the upper hand for this is exposed when we live the knowing and truth of the fact that true intelligence comes from the body.
This is a great subject to explore, I find it hard to believe most of us live by what the brain commands even though when we do things that are obviously harmful to ourselves and our bodies say no but the brain still thinks it’s a great idea even after experiencing the pain the day after. Some of us may never learn but there are many nowadays who are listening more and more to the wisdom of the body to make the decisions that govern our lives.
I always used to class myself as intelligent, as per societal measurements, but when it came to my body it is clear that I used the intelligence of my mind to override the wisdom of my body. For example: when I drank milk, I would end up very mucousy and often with a headache, but my mind would tell me in no uncertain terms that I needed milk for the calcium; never mind that my body had to struggle to digest it. These days it’s the wisdom of my body that is my guide when it comes to making decisions, after all my body is with me in every moment, so how sensible it is to give it a voice.
I often relate wisdom with older people and grey hair! But maybe this is so because they have lived so long they are a little more listening to their bodies and therefore are wiser by the ages of having worked out the result of not listening to their body. Yet wisdom is available to all ages if we but listen to our body, then it isn’t something mystical or for those with grey hairs, but something very real in everyday life.
Years lived is not always a sum of what you have learned for the betterment of your body. Age can allow the mind to control the body the way it wants to in a measured way. Wisdom and age are not exclusive. Just look at the child that has wisdom beyond their years. We all have a choice to expand this wisdom by growing from our mistakes.
I love that Lieke, I guess when we get older we have to suffer the consequences of our stubbornness and are prompted to return to what we once left behind. But indeed how much different would the world be if our young were supported to never let go of the connection to their inner wisdom.
The current reliance on so-called intelligence and the human brain doesn’t show the human race in a good light. Yes we have evolved technologically, but at what expense? We stil have wars, extreme acts of violence in the name of religion and little sign of true brotherhood. When we return to our body – and our heart – we tend to make different choices – that are more loving.
When we allow the body’s wisdom to guide our actions, it leaves the mind to do what is the master of, running the body and managing what it requires. Until we choose to put it into manual and over ride it with what we think it should be doing!
“Our wise bodies absolutely know their limits”. So true, yet we ignore our body’s signals at our peril – witness the current obesity and diabetes crisis in the western world.
We are constantly ignoring the limits of our bodies, just look around and we can easily see the extent of the harm we do.
We rate ourselves as the most intelligent species in the world but how many other species would knowingly choose to obliterate their body and therefore their health and vitality?
We don’t really own anything in this world, not even our thoughts and this can be a bit confronting to fully comprehend at first but once we understand this to a full extent then everything in this world starts to really make sense.
“Our wise bodies absolutely know their limits and what truly serves.” If more of us would listen to our bodies a little bit more I am sure our illness and disease rates would look differently . . . perhaps some of us would be healthier. It is clever to never deny the wisdom of our bodies.