Guidelines for Developing Physical Intelligence

1) Awareness: What is your body saying? It’s trickier than it sounds. When your knee hurts, is it okay to keep running or not? When you’re hungry, are you hungry for food or affection? Note the physical sensations, then employ emotional and intellectual intelligence before deciding what, if any, action to take.

2) Commitment: What if you promised your body you would “have and hold,” it, and “love and cherish,” it, “in sickness and in health, from this day forward”? Considering the stakes (extreme illness, disability, even death,) isn’t it remarkable that so few of us make the same commitment to ourselves that we make to others?

3) Humility. Your body can’t tell you everything. Tests (PAP smears, mammograms, prostate exams, colonoscopies) can detect cancer and other ailments that you can’t detect on your own. So don’t depend on physical intelligence alone. Periodically seek help from professionals.

Taken from here.

 

Physical Intelligence

It’s about how you treat yourself. What I call physical intelligence is the ability to listen to the subtle signals your body gives you, then respond wisely.

Our own bodies are good at telling us what they need – from one moment to the next, and over the course of a lifetime. When we listen carefully, our bodies reward us by feeling good, by behaving well, by taking us places we want to go, pain-free.

Taken from here.