In Part One, we discussed feedback from the body, and in Part Two, I’ll go into more detail about what that feedback really is. The body is very simple, but we can complicate things because of chronic pain and anxiety symptoms. Sometimes, the body’s warning signals can be misinterpreted, rather than used positively. When you start labeling everything simply as “bad” or “good,” you’re limiting the feedback from your body. Instead, you’re focusing more on emotional feedback that often prevents a deeper connection to your nervous system through your kinesthetic sense. Let me explain.
Let’s say I put sugar in water and ask, “Taste it—Is it sweet enough?” If you reply, “I’m good” or “My shoulder hurts,” that’s not really feedback about the taste. Similarly, if I ask, “Are you cold?” and you say, “I’m uncomfortable,” that doesn’t tell me whether I should get you a sweater or turn the heat on. When people are asked to check in with their sitting posture or their breathing, many times the responses are something like, “I’m okay,” or “I don’t feel anything.” Feedback from your body gives your nervous system something to work with so it can realign, adjust, and heal your body. Non-sequitur responses are just that—irrelevant to healing, as they don’t relate to the question. That makes sense because people often don’t have an experience of truly feeling or sensing their physical body, they talk around it instead.
Feedback from Your Body
When I ask people to check in and notice how they’re sitting, many immediately jump to responses like “I don’t feel anything” or “I feel tightness in my shoulders.” If I ask them to notice specific parts of their body, they often seem complacent, as if those parts don’t matter. It’s considered okay to not feel much of your spine, rib cage, or pelvis, or to not notice if your feet are on the floor or if you’re locking your knees. This approach generalizes the body experience as simply saying “I feel good” or “No, I don’t feel good,” which isn’t connected to the possibilities of what benefits you can get from more specific feedback.
But what if I don’t feel good?
The emotional aspect of the body is completely understandable. Pain isn’t pleasant. Chronic pain is different from acute pain. Acute pain, like tripping and hurting your knee, is something you need to pay attention to temporarily—there might be swelling or a need to see a doctor. But chronic pain—such as “I always have tight shoulders” or “I can’t seem to stand up without hurting my right knee”—is more common and often becomes the background noise of our lives.
As we all know, anxiety symptoms can arise unexpectedly, and they often feel as though they come from nowhere. People tend to think back pain appears out of nowhere, and this can be very scary. It feels like the bogeyman waiting to attack at any moment. But that fear arises because we don’t address the signals from our bodies while they’re happening; instead, we react to the emotions surrounding the pain.
There is logic to the body that’s as simple as tying your shoelaces, balancing the architecture of a building, or doing everyday tasks. You don’t have to think about tying your shoelaces, you just know to pull the laces in opposite directions. Similarly, when you make coffee, you know the ingredients and how to prepare it without overthinking it. But when I ask people to get specific about their body—things that are completely within their control—they tend to dismiss it. They don’t see the importance of feeling and sensing the various parts of their body. They only notice the discomfort when something stands out.
Posture Comes from Opposition and Breathing
What I’m asking is to think logically. If you looked at a home, many of us could tell whether it’s a one-story house and assume it has some sort of foundation, walls, and a roof. We don’t need to be experts to figure that out. The same principle applies to posture. It isn’t about holding all the parts of your body in a particular position you can’t feel. That’s why good posture often doesn’t last, it’s based on holding things you can’t sense. Imagine a builder constructing a house without knowing what parts he’s using. Posture actually comes from opposition and breathing—it’s the balance between going up and down at the same time. It’s not hard to do, just unfamiliar, and much easier than trying to move based on imagination alone.
Relieving Chronic Back Pain
For example, relieving chronic back pain might be much less complicated. If you don’t sense the feeling of your pelvis or your leg joint—things we’ll explore more in the next webinar—you won’t have support for much of your body. It’s that simple. But if we keep answering questions with “I feel good” or “I don’t feel good,” there’s no real feedback from the physical body. It’s like adding salt to soup and not tasting it. Eventually, you’ll put so much salt in that people won’t be able to eat it.
We tend to hold stress and tension in some muscle groups, but because we don’t feel them, we keep repeating the same behaviors and experiencing the same pain. Eventually, we go to someone to “fix” us. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s unfortunate because if you learned to sense your body, you could bring a much more informed body to that person for help. You’d be able to sense the ingredients in your own physical experience, just like knowing how to tie your sneakers. If no one teaches you to tune into your own kinesthetic ability, you might go through life thinking there’s a bogeyman in the bushes, waiting to jump out at you. But when you look closely, you’ll see there is no bogeyman. There is logic to what your body is trying to communicate. It doesn’t send you an email.
Your body is capable of feeling all its parts, and once you sense them, it will actually give you guidance on how to change and adapt. Your body knows how to find balance, relieve chronic pain, and help with anxiety. It knows how to help you move better in any activity—whether it’s sports, workouts, walking, or just daily life. There is nothing more supportive, calming, or confidence-building than connecting with your physical body.
Our Physical Body is Who We Are
Ultimately, our physical body is who we are. All our emotions, experiences, trauma, and joy reside in our body. It’s mysterious and complex, and although psychology is still relatively new, people are increasingly exploring how the mind works. But if you simply sit in traffic, you’ll notice how different your body feels at the end compared to when you first got in the car. The body stiffens up, stressed from sitting in awkward positions, or dealing with loud noises, fast driving, and honking. Even a simple task like driving can make your body feel vulnerable. Can you imagine the toll life’s more significant stresses take on your body, not just your mind?
My Experience
Through trauma I experienced as a child—trauma that persisted over a long period of time—I didn’t realize until my twenties that there were parts of my body I simply didn’t move. I compensated with other parts, thinking everything was fine. But eventually, I hit a wall. Some parts of my body became so stiff I couldn’t move without a limp. That’s when chronic pain began to develop.
This is an extreme example, but it illustrates how the human body tends to store things, like a trash can. We throw everything in there and pretend it’s fine as long as the lid stays on. But once you take that lid off, you’ll see there’s no bogeyman. Will you feel things that are scary? Yes, sometimes the body can overwhelm us, especially if we’ve been sensitive to pain before. We tend to miss a lot of what’s going on in our bodies, but that’s why the Miracle Ball Method takes things step by step. It allows you to experience things gradually, in your own time. For me, even one minute of simply noticing was enough at first, my body was giving me so much feedback. But consistency is key. A little bit every day, or even during your day, with the right guidance you can allow your body to transform into what it knows how to do.
Join My Next Free Webinar: Discover Your Leg Joint to Relieve Chronic Pain
Please join me for the next free webinar, where we’ll explore key areas of the body and continue our discussion on sensing feedback. It’s easy—though unfamiliar to most—but once you start practicing it, you’ll get more comfortable with it over time. You don’t need to overanalyze it—just feel it.