Knock Knock, Who's There?

As I exhale deeply in downward dog, I hear the bedroom door creak open and close. 

Ugh, don’t they (meaning any of the other 6 people in our house since one daughter is doing yoga with me) know that I’m in the middle of teaching my class?

Two minutes later I’m holding plank and hear the door creak open and softly close.

At least the intruder is trying to be silent.

Four minutes later I’m balancing on one hand and one foot. “Creeeaaaak”, close.

Seriously, this is annoying. The one hour a week I look forward to EVERY other day of the week is getting interrupted. Deep breath, back to the present. FOCUS.

Five minutes later I’m looking right at the door when it opens two inches. With my best zen whisper, I mouth to my daughter doing yoga with me in to kindly find the perpetrator and beg them to stop.

Three minutes later, a note slips under the door with an SOS!! notice at the top.

This made me think of how many times our body comes knocking on our door trying to give us messages for what she wants and needs around food. Instead of listening to these gentle knocks, we ignore or try to make them go away because we think we know what our body really needs. 

Think about a time where your body was craving something sweet like chocolate or ice  cream. A gentle knock saying “hey, we need a little something” and you were thinking, I hear you body, but I’m going to take the high road and eat something “healthy” instead like a banana. Still sweet, but not so many calories or extra fat. You’re feeling kinda superior like you "won" against your body's primal request.

Guess what?

Your body will register that you didn’t listen and come back knocking loudly on your door. Maybe an hour later or ten hours later.

Knock, knock...Chocolate please!

You listen, but answer, Ok, how about a handful of carob chips?

Your body says ummmm, no.

Cue loud banging on the door which comes in the form of making you think about chocolate or ice cream all the time. It also makes anything with a higher carbohydrate or fat content taste EXTRA good (those quick calories are what a deprived body craves). 

BANG, BANG. Chocolate, please!

Fine, I’ll eat chocolate and maybe some other stuff, too, because now you somehow made this food taste even better than I remember. You know this feeling of staring down your pantry or refrigerator wanting ALL. THE. THINGS. 

See? Your body’s really clever. She won’t give up until you meet her needs whether it's a little chocolate, an extra serving at dinner or another sandwich at lunch. 

Better to just listen the first time. Listen and answer. This is very different than listen, but give a different answer. She's shifty, that body of yours. Just like my yoga intruder, she'll keep knocking until you answer. She won't give up or be fooled by you trying to "overcome" your desires around food, because you simply can't control or think your way around your body's deep biological needs and desires around food. 

When is it ok not to listen? The time when you realize the perpetrator's SOS!! sign just said, I’m bored, there’s nothing to do! Phew. No emergencies. 

Back to my downward dog. 

xoxo, 



PS. Join me for my online yoga program which has oodles of classes with (thankfully) zero interruptions during recordings. 

PPS. If you want to learn how to listen and respond to your body's cues without feeling shame, guilt or fear, I've got you covered in Peace Out Diets.