Detox & Reset Part 3: create space in your body, space for you

Image by alan9187 from Pixabay

(I’m going to apply the concept of Intermittent Fasting outside of food, and then come back to food. Because when it comes down to it, our eating habits don’t have a lot to do with food...)

We all want to be heard and understood. We want to feel safe knowing that we can have our feelings, share our thoughts, and basically be ourselves around others. The discomfort comes in not knowing if it's safe; the risk feeling too high. 

When someone sits and holds space for you instead of interrupting, fixing, schooling, and diverting, this feels safe. You know when you’re in the presence of these amazing people because you feel held and uplifted, you feel like you can be yourself, and it’s not scary when they challenge you.

The interruptions, advice, lessons, and diversions hurt because instead of feeling heard, it feels as if you’re being muted.

By feeling, flowing, and expressing, you are processing, digesting, integrating, giving space for what’s going on for you, and moving things through and out. Suppression is a processing nightmare that slows down the process of reaching where you want to go. It creates stuckness, confusion, exhaustion, and feelings of isolation.

While we can all learn to be better space holders for each other, what about if we learn to do this for ourselves?

What if we allow ourselves to sit in that space, as if we’re sitting with a person we care about, but with ourselves, letting ourselves feel all the feels without judgment or diversion? What if we can trust that this is the healing part?

Emotions may go wild when you first give yourself this space. Or it may feel surprisingly great, unsettled, or nothing. But the mind will calm, the body will follow, and you’ll begin to feel more regulated. You’ll feel heard. You’ll start to feel okay. All through this space.

This is essentially meditation space: it’s where you stop scrolling, turn off the judgment, stop going going going, and you give yourself what we all need: proof that (and say this to yourself out loud)

I’m not too busy for you. And you’re fine just as you are.

Now let’s go to your body.

It works hard for you. It gets tired and sluggish. It feels hungry, unsatisfied, agitated, and bloated. In the same way as with your emotions, what if you gave your digestive system the space it needs to metabolize before you throw more food down?

This is intermittent fasting. If you feel tired after every meal, this may be especially pertinent to you. I’m not saying this is the answer for everyone, but it may be worth a try.

In the same way that we need a break, down time, the weekend, a vacation, a sabbatical... intermittent fasting is giving your body some much needed space to process and digest what’s thrown at it before it gets layered with even more.

Any discomfort that arises during this fast is there to inform you on how to better nourish and sustain yourself. Your body knows what you need, it is so amazingly intelligent. When you get your needs met, your body naturally feels sustained. While you work this out, give yourself some time to feel through the desire. Rather than leaning into “suffering” (I’m hungry), lean into the want (what am I hungry for). See what it’s telling you.

• In intermittent fasting, you don’t take in calories for about 14 to 16 hours. It helps with inflammation, food sensitivity, low energy, and brain fog. Good news is, much of these hours are covered by sleep hours. If you’re winding down properly at night and setting your morning properly, that can get you pretty close to the 14 hours.
  
• It’s not anything goes during the other hours. Eat 1 to 3 meals a day. Think how often you want to get hit with things in your life throughout the day that you’ll need to process. It's like that with food. It’s also easier to get all the nutrients you need in a full plate than through grazing; important for cutting out cravings.
  
• Find foods that you enjoy immensely and that satiate you. You want to feel “full” - nourished and happy. While you may have additional considerations if you’re trying to lose weight, know that you can fully enjoy your food, feel nourished and lose weight. You don’t have to suffer through any diet or fast. It should give you energy and enjoying your meals is an important part of healthy eating and good metabolism. Deprivation doesn't takes you to wholeness.

Listen to your body, it knows. If you have cravings or feel hungry shortly after a meal, it just told you that wasn’t quite it or enough. It's worth taking the time to find out what is it or enough for you. Because this is your fuel that will inform the quality of your day. When you start listening to yourself and giving your body space to process - both emotions and food - the miracle is, you’ll start feeling heard, understood, more in charge, and attracting external responses that reflect that.

Love, Savitree

P.S. - if you need some assistance moving through things, hop on a strategy call with me