The f*ckery of modern health: why we need to start listening to our own bodies, and how.

The mind over body dogma that's leaving women in particular completely disempowered.

Did you know that women were only included in health trials and research from around 1993?

While improvements have been made in the last few years study groups have consisted overwhelmingly of white, middle aged males. Women on the whole are underrepresented, throw in women across each stage of their cycle, women who are pre- or postpartum, women who are peri-menopausal or menopausal and you’ll soon find yourself grossly, grosslyunderrepresented.

Blanket recommendations on everything from intermittent fasting (if you’re a cycling woman just, don’t) to the amount of sleep you need per night (it’s more), to protocols for various illnesses are based on someone who doesn’t have your body.

So if the science behind making decisions around our health is failing us, what can we do?

UNDOING THE HIERARCHY OF MIND OVER BODY

First of all, I have to say “don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater”, for every 9 studies there *may* be 1 study done by an independent researcher who’s clinical trials do adequately represent you, if so, check whether their data is not being skewed in the direction that their sponsor is going to benefit from, and then by all means read up and go forth.

But if that’s not available then what is the most important thing we can do?

We need to learn to listen to our own bodies.

Which means if your WHOOP or biometric tracker says you’re at 96% recovery and there’s a big green tick telling you to go max on your workout… unless you’re feeling heavy and low on energy, instead of gaslighting yourself and telling yourself you’re “just being lazy”

you can honour your body before the metrics, and listen to your body above the science.

Of course, we all know this is easier said than done.

Women are not only gross underrepresented in the medical research, they are also incredibly disempowered.

How many friends or family members do you we know with “unexplainable” symptoms who are going to doctor after doctor’s appointment to have their symptoms, “ghost” pains, and entire experience dismissed because what their sharing doesn’t line up with the doctors understanding of what medical texts say?

How many times do you hear of women going into labour, their entire intuitive, inherited knowing around what they and their babies need stripped away and medicalised, to become a frenzy of tests, numbers and policies that. Where an arbitrary figure of 40 weeks became overdue (in Australia, but not in France) and that if something looks concerning it’s not what Mum knows best, but what intervention would get the baby moving quicker… invariably ending in an emergency C section that neither Mum nor baby actually needed.

But the women who stand up against this, the women who stand by the wild knowing of their bodies are dismissed as mad, hippies, and out of sync with reality when we are first and foremost animals who sense our way through the world first and think second.

But this is of course the culture that we live in, one that prioritises not the body, but the rational mind, and continue to do so in despite of a large number of evidence in our own lives and collectively that shows that human beings are far from exclusively rational creatures. We can be considerate, thorough and evaluative in our decision making, but when emotions run we will take convicted action in the face of glaring logic.

Science, logic, math, ration, of course have their place. But it is one place and one that should never have been placed in an unjust hierarchical relationship to your bodily wisdom.

But it has been, and the felt sense, has become something as nebulous and inexplicable as magic… and thus dismissed in the same way.

We developed for a reason to be people who both think and feel. Who have a mental and a somatic intelligence.

And it’s time that we empowered ourselves with both.

LETTING THE BODY LEAD

I believe that taking our power back, particularly in the realm of health and wellness depends on us learning to listen to our bodies and getting to know them very well.

But what does this even mean? Does the body talk with words? How does one build a relationship with a body when it’s often seen as an aesthetically inadequate vessel to carry your thoughts around?

My biggest tip is to start small and not overcomplicate it. You already are embodied (to an extent) because you live within your body, all you have to do is pay attention because your body is speaking to you constantly.

Notice the cues your body is sending to bring your attention to your physiological needs. For example, instead of waiting to finish your email before you need to pee, respond and visit the bathroom immediately upon feeling the tug of fullness. Instead of saying scant attention to your headache choose to drink a second glass of water. Instead of staring at the screen, notice the pins & needles in your legs and get up and start moving.

And choose more intentional times where you can draw your attention in, away from the ever present external distractions of the modern world (and the all too tempting options to numb) and practice being with the sensations that swirl, and bubble, and clench, and harden, and tickle, tug, tremor, and whirl inside you. There is a surprising array of textures and sensations that have a language all of themselves.

Learning this language is your key to your empowerment.

Learning the language of your body means cultivating a) sensitivity and discernment and b) trust with your body.

When we build sensitivity we will begin to notice the cues, messages, and signals that your body is sending you to alert you that something is amiss well ahead of time, and increasingly you will be able to discern what those cues mean, enabling you to respond appropriately and take the necessary action.

As we begin to listen & respond we build trust in our bodies, and then it’s as if our bodies also begin to trust us, and we open a channel for dialogue with a the animal part of us that has incredible innate intelligence.

When you have sensitivity, discernment and trust in your body you’re less likely to get to the point of having an autoimmune disease, because you would have been aware of the unreasonable stress that you’re putting on yourself due and the underlying sense of inadequacy that is fuelling it, and be able to ask for support to address the emotional root cause well before the disease takes hold.

When we trust our bodies we stop pushing ourselves past our limits just because an Oura Ring or Apple Watch says that we can.

When we know our bodies we are empowered when we walk into a doctor’s office and are instead of landing in confusion at their dismissal, we simply walk out and find someone who is knowledgeable in root cause medicine and a woman’s unique physiology and is willing to listen.

Sure science can be great, but it never gets to boss around your own body.

An empowered woman is an embodied woman.

It’s a brave stance to take in the current cultural paradigm, but it’s a necessary one.

xx

Jess

P.S if you’d like support to develop a deep (and surprisingly delicious) relationship with your body get in touch, I’m super passionate about women returning to their wild, undomesticated ways of living that are powerful, pleasurable and filled with possibility ✨