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Body Intelligence

This exercise focuses on body intelligence - i.e., the smarts you have about your own body and its ways. Almost all of the attention that women focus on their bodies is how we look from the outside, which is only one aspect of living in a body. You can print this page and fill it out.

Part 1. Which part or aspect of your body

is strongest?
is most injury-prone?
are you most comfortable with?
are you least comfortable with?
do people notice first?
holds your tension?

Part 2. "If you lived in your body you'd be home now":
Pretend you could move out of your body and someone new could move in. What tips would you give the new tenant about what it’s like to live here? Consider:

What care does it need?

Rest
Feeding
Watering
Light/Outdoors
Physical Activity
Touching
Soothing
Stimulation
Healing

What are its rhythms?

Daily
Weekly
Monthly
Seasonal

How do other people respond to this body?

What tips can you pass on about how to manage this body (keeping it functioning well; squeezing a little more energy from it when it’s tired; knowing when to stop exercising for that day, etc.)?

How does this body learn a new physical skill?

Another aspect of living in a body is our emotional intelligence:
Our bodies hear everything we think/say about ourselves. If your body could write you a letter about how you speak to yourself and others about it, how you treat it, etc., what would it say?

Dear ____________,

After hearing from your body, are you considering the need to treat your body better?

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Last updated: March 05, 2011.