The Body’s Intelligence
November was not an easy month for me. My husband and I were in an auto accident on November 8th and he has been in a significant amount of pain as a result. I have only had a lesser degree of back pain but he has had so much pain in his feet that he hasn’t been able to walk.
Now I am not one of those practitioners who hides that I have a real life with real struggles. I personally believe it is important for my clients to understand that I also have challenges, hard times, and frustrations just like they do. So in the interest of continuing to be open, honest, and vulnerable, I am writing this post.
But I am also writing this post because even in this dark time, I see the wisdom of our bodies. Our body’s are amazingly intelligent. And that is what I would like to share more about with you today.
Shortly after the accident, I developed a dry cough. Mostly it came on at night and kept me from getting great sleep. But then it started to get worse and I went into coughing fits that made me get up out of bed and try and calm down what was going on.
I wasn’t sick (even though some might have thought that). I felt fine- no other symptoms of a cold- just this obnoxious cough. So I started to tune into the cough and try and understand what it was trying to tell me.
Well the cough would get worse when I talked about stressful topics. And it would get worse when I was holding in what I really needed to say to my husband about certain things. So I started trying to voice what was going on for me and not hold it in, and that helped to some degree.
But the cough went on and on. I did go have it checked out, my lungs were clear and I was given a cough med, which did nothing- because the cough was really my body still trying to communicate with me.
At this time, my husband had to start sleeping in the recliner in the living room because of his pain. Not sharing a bed is something that I don’t really like. As much as I never though I would get used to sleeping in the same bed as someone, with my husband next to me, I sleep better most nights than I did before. But he needed to feel comfortable and I understood that.
But every night, when I went to go to bed at night (alone), I felt the tears start to creep in. I would allow myself to feel them for a few minutes and then shift to distracting myself and trying to go to bed. That was when the coughing fit would actually REALLY start. But I wasn’t quite connecting the dots yet.
This week, my massage therapist friend asked me to really feel my feelings. I had shared how hard it is at night with the current situation and that I feel sad. She suggested that night I go to bed and allow myself to cry myself to sleep.
And so I did. While the crying stuffed up my nose and made me cough while I was crying, after I had let it move through me, the coughing went away and I slept better than I had slept in a few weeks. And each night is getting better and better. The cough is almost gone now.
Our bodies are so incredibly amazing and intelligent and they try to communicate to us in the only way that they can. Mine was trying to tell me that by stuffing my sadness and grief, my lungs had to take on the burden of holding that instead of just expressing it so it could release.
So next time you are struggling and your body starts talking to you, my suggestion is to get quiet and listen. Remember, sometimes wisdom and support is needed from those around us to fully hear the message and that is just fine too.