Let’s consider the belly. You know, that space in your body between your rib cage and pelvic area? Everyone has one. Look around, you will see belly’s abound! They come in a variety of shapes and sizes. They contain the power to turn food into the energy we need to live. In women, the belly also contains the sacred womb-space that holds the potential to create new human life. Not to mention many other important bits and bobs that contribute to our health and wellbeing that reside in the general belly area. The more that I think about it, I’ve come to see the belly is a place of power in our body.
Sadly it is rarely recognized as such. The belly is much maligned these days and many people’s interest in the belly has nothing to do with ‘honouring’ or ‘loving’ or even ‘connecting’ to it. No…most of us have a relationship with the belly that is defined by dislike and shame. We have goals of reducing, of shaping, of banishing. For many of the people I work with, their negative feelings about their body are intrinsically tied to their feelings about their belly.
And that is such a shame. Because the belly can be an amazing ally in our quest for body sovereignty, if we are willing to do work to once again connect to this sacred centre of power.
Lately I’ve been re-reading The Woman’s Belly Book: Finding Your True Center for More Energy, Confidence and Pleasure by Lisa Sarasohn and I’ve begun to understand more clearly the power of the belly and why it is important to reclaim a positive relationship with this sacred centre of our body. Sarasohn believes that the belly not only contains our centre of gravity, which provides the basis for interacting with the world on a physical level, but that the belly also the centre of our electromagnetic field, the space where we process information gathered from all our senses. This electromagnetic field residing in the belly provides access to our inner knowledge, our intuition. The belly is, after all, where our ‘gut feelings’ lie. It houses the inner knowledge that provides us guidance from deep within. If we can once again connect to this sacred centre and honour our belly, Sarasohn suggests that we can bring more vitality, pleasure, creativity, confidence into our life. Our relationships will be enhanced, we will develop inner guidance and experience a clarifying sense of purpose.
Certainly, our journey to body sovereignty can only be enhanced by tapping into this inner wisdom and power. For instance, reconnecting with the physical sensations in the belly support our efforts at mindfulness- becoming aware of and responding to our body’s signals. Self Compassion is also enhance when we learn to recognize and respond without judgement to emotions that can make themselves at home in the belly. Finally, our ability to think critically and make decisions is greatly improved when we have access to the intuitive knowledge held in our belly.
I invite you to consider how you relate to your belly. Do you have a positive connection? Adversarial? Indifferent? What impact does your relationship with your belly have on how you feel about your body in general? Do you think your well being would benefit from healing your relationship with your belly? If you are looking for opportunities to heal your relationship with your belly, establishing a deep and relaxed breathing pattern is a good place to start. Take the time to physically locate your body’s centre and bring your awareness to it regularly, with a sense of curiously and compassion. Make a practice of checking in with your centre and find out what’s going on. I highly recommend the Woman’s Belly book, which offers many wonderful exercises and an in-depth exploration of how our health and wellbeing is tied to our relationship with our belly and helps us unpack the societal influences that have shaped our relationship with the belly and why reclaiming it is vital to our health and wellbeing.
Thank you for reading!