Body ThankYouology is designed to strengthen the relationship you have with your body.  As children, we generally aren’t taught to feel our own power about our health and well-being.  That is the doctor’s job.  If we were raised in a home environment that stressed the importance of good nutrition and exercise, that is a good start toward taking responsibility for one’s health.

We know our body best.  When we believe we have the ability to create our health and well-being, we have unlimited potential in the results.  The power of our thoughts alone can have a major influence in the quality of our life.

Practicing Body ThankYouology

Thank You Body Talk
Imagine you are comforting a child.  Your voice is soft.  You are offering soothing words.  You are gentle.  Use this same approach with your body.  Feel the preciousness of your body.  Admire its strength, its fragileness.  Be sensitive to what your body likes and doesn’t.  Feel compassion.  Encourage it to succeed.   Celebrate enthusiastically with your body all of its accomplishments such as maintaining a new exercise routine or diet program.

Thank You Thoughts
You can have fun with thank you thoughts for your body with this simple suggestion.  Make a list from A – Z of adjectives that begin with the same letter as each part of your body.  For example: adorable arm, beautiful brain, and lovely liver.  Using descriptive adjectives increases the power of your appreciation toward your body and its functions.

Once you have created your A – Z list of adjectives, use it to praise your body with thank you affirmations such as thank you happy heart. Recite your customized affirmations during any activity such as walking, climbing stairs, driving the car and doing household chores.  Sing your thank you affirmations if you are so inclined.  If you enjoy writing poetry, try thank you rhymes like this one: Thank you to my exciting eyes and thank you to my precious pancreas—you are such a prize!

Thank You Words
Saying thank you to your body also means paying attention to what you say about it such as the phrase, pain in the neck, bad back or that makes me sick. Another worth omitting in conversation is: I would give my right arm to have (fill in the blank).  I won’t trade my body parts for anything and I prefer to live for something rather than to die for it.  Even though these may be figures of speech, your body responds to what it hears.

Thank You Living
Lifestyle choices provide many opportunities to express appreciation to your body.  Are you eating a nutritious diet, taking daily walks and drinking lots of water?  Is there a balance between the demands of your day to keep stress, fear and anxiety out of your mind, body and spirit?  Are you conscious of your breath and do you take time to simply breathe?  “Spiritus” means breath in Latin.  Slow, deep breaths are the ultimate in saying thank you to your body.