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Body Wisdom
by Rachel Cunnington
 Early
summer. Forest path. I am running. The morning is quiet aside
from my breathing. Today I push a little harder. I keep telling
myself that the moment I want to stop, to give up, is exactly
the moment when I need to keep going.
The forest air is such sweet aromatherapy - I focus on that…
Cool down. Walking. I am lightheaded. A long run on an empty
stomach. Alas! Blackberry bushes. Breakfast! They are mostly
hard and sour, the ripe ones definitely worth hunting for.
Aha! There’s a bunch up there just out of reach. Motivated
by hunger, I carefully work my way into the thorny bush. I
am on my toes, one leg deep in the patch with the other stemming
out behind me for balance. My core muscles work to maneuver
me around the prickles. My arm reaches high above me, stretching
from the shoulder joint. My fingers have dexterity as I gently
pull each berry from its branch. My body is working in complete
synchronicity.
I devour the handful of fruit on the trail, and realize that
I suddenly feel incredible. These berries are just what my
body needs. I search for more, and it becomes a game to find
the sweetest blackberry of the morning. I challenge myself
and laugh at the simplicity.
Childlike. I continue picking with the sun warm on my skin
and imagine myself hundreds of years ago in this same place,
on this same trail. In my mind’s eye I am running from one
tribe to another. I am the messenger. Hurried on my mission,
I must pick berries along the way for fuel. I think about
that scenario again, not as a daydream but this time as an
incredible realization. It all makes sense! We have been human
beings for a long time. I am not the first human in history
to eat forest berries for breakfast. I am suddenly amazed
to see that my fingers wrap perfectly around one berry. My
long arms work with my shoulders and side body to reach high
into the bushes. My core muscles are my balance to help me
get into hard to reach places. And my legs are my stability,
my strength to take me to the places that I want to go. My
body is suddenly executing with perfection the flawless design
that is the human form.
This flash of consciousness stuns me. My perspective is suddenly
turned right around. I become aware without knowing why, that
this is the most natural human behavior I have ever done.
Of course my body knows how to find food! Of course my body
knows when I have chosen the perfect food for me to be eating!
I keep picking and the more I think about it, the more incredible
the feeling becomes. It is as if I am not even trying, like
I have done this a thousand times before. Like I inherently
know what to do. Like it is instinct. We accept that birds
just ‘know’ how to migrate; why is so hard to imagine, that
given the chance, humans might just ‘know’ how to eat?
The way a whisper on the wind is gone so quickly, my elation
fades. I am saddened that my mind is back to its regular routine.
But the memory of that feeling stays with me. A physical feeling
of pure joy was shining down on me, streaming through my body
like a river of love. A feeling that left an imprint on every
cell of my being, to be sure that I would never forget. A
feeling that left me invigorated and alive. A taste, my first
taste of what I will ultimately spend the rest of my life
committed to - ‘body wisdom’. Coined so eloquently by Victoria
Butenko in her book, Raw Family, body wisdom is truth. It
is knowing so surely that something is true, without needing
to know why or how you know it. Without needing proof. Without
needing science. Knowing because your body told you so.
Now that I am a raw fooder, I experience body wisdom every
day. Like sunshine leading me down a trail, I follow wherever
this feeling takes me. No longer do I eat what the books tell
me to. Gone are the days when I live my life according to
the latest study. I eat a carrot perfectly, my front teeth
breaking off a chunk, and my molars grinding it into pulp
and juice in the back of my mouth. I pull an apple from a
tree, brush it off on my shirt and savor the aroma and nostalgia
before I bite in - the sweet and sour flavors are thrilling.
I scan trail edges for young dandelion leaves, their bitterness
satisfying on my palate as I walk along. No one can tell me
there is any better way to feed my body.
The first glimpse of awareness is never the last. To experience
body wisdom, even once, is to know that there is another source
of information available. When the body is nutritionally satisfied,
it will tell you. Follow the feeling and find out for yourself
where it leads. Take control. Refuse what you know is not
right. But be gentle. Be quiet. Becoming intimate with body
wisdom takes time and listening. And like any seed germinated
with love and pure materials, the yield potential has no limits.
Raw and Living Food Articles and Links to Articles:
On Site Articles:
Raw Health
Fruits, Roots, Stems, Greens, Flowers, and Nuts
Growing Food
Lifestyle
Off Site Articles:
Raw Health
Fasting and Cleanses
Growing Food
Misc.
Free Books Online:
- Soil and
Health Library - This is a specialist library about holistic agriculture,
holistic health and self-sufficient homestead living. Most of the titles in
this library are out of print. Many are quite hard to find. Here are a few
by Shelton:
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