Most of us were taught to make choices with our minds — to list pros and cons, gather opinions, weigh the facts.
But long before a thought forms, the body already knows.
The stomach tightens before the mind says something feels off.
The chest expands before words like yes or safe appear.
This quiet knowing is older than language. It’s the compass we were born with.
How the body speaks
The body doesn’t argue or explain. It speaks in sensation — warmth, pressure, openness, resistance.
When we’re used to ignoring these signals, they get louder until we call them “stress” or “intuition.”
When we learn to listen early, the messages arrive softly.
Try this: before answering a message, invitation, or decision, pause for one full breath.
Notice the first shift inside — does the energy rise and open, or drop and contract?
That is the body’s first truth.
Why we stop listening
Many of us were taught to override those signals — to be polite instead of honest, productive instead of rested, agreeable instead of authentic.
Over time, we confuse tension with responsibility and numbness with peace.
But awareness can be rebuilt.
The moment you choose to pause instead of react, you begin teaching your nervous system that it’s safe to speak again.
A story of remembering
A client once told me she couldn’t tell when she was “burning out” until she collapsed.
We practiced something simple: every day she’d stop midday, close her eyes, and ask her body, “What do you need right now?”
Some days the answer was water.
Other days it was silence.
Within weeks, her energy no longer crashed — because she’d started listening before the body had to shout.
Learning to trust it
Body wisdom doesn’t compete with intellect; it guides it.
When you listen below thought, you don’t abandon reason — you give it a trustworthy foundation.
A grounded “yes” in the body makes every action smoother.
A body-based “no” saves months of confusion.
A simple practice
Today, before saying yes to anything, pause.
Breathe.
Let the body answer first.
Then let the mind translate that answer into words.
You’ll find that decisions made this way carry less doubt — because truth was already present when you chose.
Closing reflection
Every time you listen below thought, you return to partnership with your own body.
It becomes less about mastering intuition and more about remembering trust — the quiet agreement between your cells and your consciousness.
If you’d like to deepen that trust, try this:
before bed tonight, place a hand on your heart or belly and ask,
“What truth did you show me today?”
Don’t look for words.
A breath, a pulse, a softening is answer enough.
