Change how you touch your body
In this post, I talk about the way you touch your body, and the impact that has on the way you feel about it.
According to recent research, changing the way you touch your body can have a profound effect on how you think and feel about it.
I’m sharing an exercise that will show your body greater compassion through touch.
Regular use of this exercise will help you to treat your body with greater kindness and respect.
Watch or read below:
How do you touch your body?
Do you pull at or poke your body? Maybe you pinch what you call your ‘fat rolls’ and say something derogatory like, “I’m so fat and disgusting”?
When you touch your body in this way, it isn’t loving or kind – it’s self-abusive!
Poking, prodding and pulling at your body worsens how you feel about it, because it reinforces the belief that your body isn’t acceptable.
The benefits of compassionate touch
If you touch your body in a compassionate and loving way, it can change how you think and feel about it, as a recent study has shown.
A 2013 study published in Frontiers in Psychology found that a slow, stroking touch helps create a more positive attitude to your body.
Change how you touch your body
The next time you find yourself poking or pulling at your least favourite body part, try this exercise:
1. Firstly, acknowledge your behaviour, saying to your body, “I’m sorry for the way I’m treating you, I know that you don’t deserve this.” Doing this raises your awareness of how disrespectful and abusive this behaviour is to your body.
2. Then, close your eyes and gently stroke the part of your body that was on the receiving end of the abuse, using a slow, stroking motion (like the way a mother might touch her baby).
3. Observe what touching that part of your body feels like. For instance, if you’re stroking your belly, what does it feel like? Soft, rounded? What is the experience like for you? Is it comforting to touch your belly in that way?
4. Finally, notice how you now feel about that body part. Do you feel more compassionate or loving towards it? Or maybe you feel the same, or neutral about it? Whatever you experience is fine, it’s your experience.
Using this exercise regularly will help you to re-connect with your body. Re-connecting to your body helps you see it as a part of you that deserves to be treated with kindness and respect.
How does it feel to touch your body in a kind and compassionate way? I’d love to know, so please leave me a comment below.
