How to Lose the Belly Fat (Intuitively)
I just listened to this awesome podcast episode about “How to Heal Your Nervous System” on the Sahara Rose show. This type of drift wood is just pouring in right now, aka the universe is sending me a theme. A theme of getting out of my head and back into my body. A theme on how to release the weight I have gained the last year and a half. This past year and a half has been a ride. I was experiencing stress through a new job, while also coming back from maternity leave, while also living through a pandemic (activating me daily) and then not feeling like I had space to decompress at home each night. I came home from work vibrating with stress. But mom’s don’t get a night off and instead two out of the three night I was feeding my kids, get them off to bed solo while navigating stress levels anywhere from a 5 to a 10! To say I have been stressed often and consistently for long periods of time probably isn’t doing justice to how unsafe I felt the last year and a half. There was actually nothing that could hurt me physically… not like there was a lion waiting for me at work each day. It was a sense of not feeling safe because I perceived work and home as not safe. I felt I had to work like a dog a work, struggling to navigate the ever changing rules around the pandemic and then two toddlers who are always pushing boundaries and buttons. I was in a consistent state of hyperarousal and it was manifesting in my body as belly fat.
More drift wood from the universe has been an advertisement for how to “lose your belly fat”. The advertisement is mainly identifying that if you reduce your stress by walking you reduce the amount of cortisol (aka the stress hormone in your body) and the result is you lose your belly fat. They don’t promote vigorous walking or extremely long walks, rather a walk that is good to reduce your cortisol levels. And as I am listening to the podcast, the guest Sarah Baldwin confirms that when we are stressed, and rating our stress levels some where from a 5-10, we need to move our body. It can be a walk, dancing, maybe loading the dishwasher. Sitting and meditation won’t help when we are in that state because our body thinks we are in danger and need to move ourselves out of that place of danger.
I do believe we can struggle to lose weight because our bodies are in survival mode. The past year and a half I mostly meditated to help with my stress. But movement has been calling to me lately. Gentle movement; movement that helps move and release that stressful energy in your body. Movement that gives your cortisol permission to dissipate in my body and then ground down with meditation.
I believe unless you shove your body off a cliff with extreme diets and exercise, your body will likely hold or continue to gain weight when you are stressed. Those extreme diets and exercise send your body into more stress. That extreme diet and exercise create a state that can’t be maintained long term and sometimes have to be very extreme to see results.
Before going back to my 9-5, my body was naturally losing my baby weight. I was eating whatever I wanted, I was meditating and naturally welcoming in movement as a mom chasing my baby and toddlers daily. People asked me what I was doing and my honest response was nothing. Not understanding how I was giving my stressed self, natural consistent movement by chasing children or walking them to the park. Plus navigating the lower stress (1-4) through meditation. I still had stress in my life, a baby and a two year old is a lot. But I was moving and not holding that stress in my body.
Then my life changed, I went back to my 9-5 and spent 7-8 hours a day restricting my movement as I worked at my computer. I could feel myself gaining weight, but I felt it was important to be gentle with myself. I was trying to meditate, but it wasn’t having the normal success I had experienced when on maternity leave. Meditation at work was still leaving me stressed because I was a 5-10 on the stress level rating scale, and I wasn’t offering movement. Instead of the flight reaction to something scary, I was stuck in a state of freeze most days. There was a craving for movement, but it didn’t feel like there was space for movement. I knew I was going through a lot and my intuition was guiding me to be gentle with myself. It felt important to offer my body comfort, even when it looked like fast food on the regular.
I am coming out of that consistent state of stress. My work shifted dramatically in March when I started with a new company, giving me space to get more regulated. I have made changes at home where I am creating more space for myself. As I am coming back from my tough year, the call for movement is becoming louder. I have been trying some old ways to move my body such as playing ball. My feminine self is not onboard. First night I played I slightly rolled my ankle and the next time I played I aggravated my ankle to the point I now have a limp. It’s my left ankle, the left ankle is about feminine flexibility as you move forward in life. My feminine is not loving the direction we are heading when I play ball. It’s 3 hour straights and pushing my body. Compare this to the past 4 years, where I have slowed down. My feminine doesn’t want to go back to push, push, push. I use to work out 2-4 days a week, play fastball during the week, volleyball tournaments or league play on the weekend. My feminine doesn’t want to go back there. She wants me to gently move my body with yoga and embodiment dance. My ankle is now my gauge right now. Maybe ball will feel good again, but at the moment if feels like it isn’t the right fit for me. My ankle is getting worse, my feminine energy is signaling to me I am moving in the wrong direction when I play ball. My ankle is trying to tell me to be slow and ease back into movement.
So if you are still reading, thank you for taking the time. I have some exciting news! I am offering an opportunity for gentle movement for FREE the month of August.
Friday, August 19th at 3 pm MST I am offering my first FREE embodiment dance session. Cameras off to help you feel safe, I will DJ a few songs to welcome in movement. It will help you release your stress and welcome in fun gentle movement. It will be just a 30 minute offering that will end with a meditation to help ground you into a sense a calm.
Zoom Link: please email me ( prairieignitebodytalk@gmail.com) and I can forward the link.
If you don’t want to miss out any of my FREE offerings this month, please subscribe so I can keep you in the loop!
P.S. this fall I plan to offer Embodiment sessions in-person at the Ivy Yoga House. If you are in the Saskatoon area, keep that on your radar for this fall.
P.S.S. this fall I plan to team up with Back2NatureWellness for a full moon offering that will include embodiment dance!
P.S.S.S. I am looking to start offering in-person Inner Knowing sessions. They compliment my embodiment sessions as they are about acknowledging and releasing what is creating stress in your body. If you know a space I could sub-let or you have space I could sub-let, email me at prairieignitebodytalk@gmail.com to let me know!
