Trust Your Gut

You’ve heard the sayings before, and often from successful people. Sayings like, “trust your gut”, “follow your gut instincts” or “I just felt it in my gut.” Whether or not you notice instinctual thoughts in your actual belly, it’s no coincidence that we use these sayings. Our core is truly our powerhouse for intuition, creativity and courage.

 

We are not in balance if the core is not physically strong and tight, if we are stressed, are sick, have had surgeries to this part of our body, or even if food does not agree with us. Small, everyday mindless habits like shallow breathing also impact our core centre as prana (energy) is not in balance with apana (eliminating energy forces).

 

In a recent post, I talked about the body as having 72,000 strings, where, when one goes out of tune, we’re going to notice it. According to the same philosophies, all of those strings connect at your core. If your core is not healthy, then it’s like your tuning box is broken. Our connection to these intuitive voices in the gut becomes lost, and self-trust in our decisions plummets.

 

The beautiful thing about our bodies and especially our bellies is that we can work to strengthen them. Here are a few suggestions to help you rebuild your core. I challenge you to pick one of them and try for 40 days.

 

• Belly laughs. Yes, the world is a serious place, but allow yourself to laugh so hard that you wake up the core. Let the happy endorphins flow!
• Deep breathing. Clear out the toxins and stale energy. Hold a book against your belly and try to move the book out as far as possible on the inhale, and then squeeze the belly in as you watch the book move towards you. Physically seeing the breath in motion can be quite helpful.
• A true gut reaction. When you hear or see things that do not agree with you, pull and tighten your core, instead of scrunching your face. Protect and guard your core.
• Deep core exercises. Try holding a plank pose for two minutes, double leg lifts or learn stretch pose, which is similar to hundreds in pilates. Go take a pilates reformer or boxing class. Sit-ups and bicycle crunches are just surface work. Your true core is behind the belly button
• Eat yellow foods: lemon, ginger, turmeric, pineapple, mango, yellow peppers, squash. These bright foods help balance your dosha heat in the body.
• Fall asleep with your hand on your belly. Focus on your belly softening and relaxing as you begin to drift off into sleep

 

A strong core has a much deeper purpose for us than just helping us look sexy. Strengthening the core is one of the quickest paths to getting into the flow of intuition, courage, and creativity. Give some or all of these exercises a try, and experience a “gut feeling” on a whole new level.

 

Heather Berse, Clarity Kingdom Founder, will be leading a two part workshop on the Yogic Body on the 10th and 17th of March. As we start to tune into the breath and body through our yoga practice, the inner fire becomes the vehicle to empower us for change. For more information, contact Heather.