Shownotes
Read the full episode + resources here:
https://becomingnatural.com/listening-to-your-body
What if the body was designed to communicate long before something breaks?
In this deeply encouraging episode, we explore the quiet but powerful language your body speaks every single day — and why learning to recognize those early signals can shape your long-term health, resilience, and overall quality of life.
Many women have been taught to push through fatigue, override stress, and dismiss subtle discomfort as “normal adulthood.” But the body rarely begins with pain. More often, it whispers through tension, brain fog, sleep disruption, emotional sensitivity, or persistent exhaustion.
Understanding these signals is not about becoming hyper-aware — it is about becoming wise stewards of the body God entrusted to us.
Inside this episode, you’ll learn:
• Why pain is usually not the first sign something is wrong
• How the brain increases signals when quieter ones are ignored
• The neuroscience of interoception — your built-in awareness system
• What chronic “go mode” does to digestion, inflammation, and clear thinking
• Why rest is not weakness — it is biological design
• How small, caring responses today can protect your future health
Scripture reminds us in Psalm 139 that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. That truth is not only spiritual — it is biological. Your body is intentional, responsive, and protective by design.
When we stop treating the body like a machine to manage and begin receiving it as a message to steward, our care becomes gentler… and often far more effective.
I’ve linked several studies below if you enjoy exploring the research for yourself.
Friend, your body is not working against you — it is working for you in thousands of unseen ways.
Press play to rediscover the wisdom woven into your design.
Hosted by Penelope Sampler
Natural Wellness • Chronic Illness Journey • Faith & Wellness
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📌 Note: I share what I’ve learned on my own journey — the things that have supported me in hard seasons. I offer personal experience, thoughtful research, and lots of encouragement. This podcast isn’t medical advice, and it shouldn’t replace care from a qualified professional. Always talk to someone you trust before making changes to your health routine.
© Becoming Natural Podcast.
Transcripts
68 Listening to Your Body: Strong Language for Quality of Life
I often refer to “listening to your body” and in the last few episodes I have certainly emphasized it more. I realized that perhaps someone who is more on the healthy side may not completely understand what that means or how it feels. I had a GI dr once that told me his Crohns patients were his most reliable patients when reporting their symptoms because we were forced to listen to our bodies. I knew exactly where food was at any given moment because as it passed thru a narrowing, or a “stricture” in Crohns terminology, it hurt like the dickens. And I had multiple strictures between my stomach and colon. I learned more about my bowels and bowel movements than I ever wanted to know.
More commonly, when you have a headache, do you reach for the pill bottle or do you drink water? A headache is the body’s native language. Its calling for attention for a reason. But many of us, self included think taking an ibuprofen is what we need, when what if we really just need more water and the headache is rooted in dehydration?
What about joint pain? This is a big one. My rheumotologist tole me my joint pain was due to having multiple autoimmune diseases and I would be on pain meds for life. I changed my diet and without a single pill (and cold turkey might I add off pain meds) my debilitating joint pain disappeared within a WEEK! A WEEK friends. Do not accept age as the norm for pain. Aging means we are increasing our toxin load, but getting old doesn’t mean we HAVE to have joint pain among other things. Joint pain for me was a sign that my body was being overtaken by yeast.
I shared with you when we were talking about L-theanine a few weeks ago that my friends stomach pain wasn’t GI related at all. It was her body that had been whispering for over a year with a little burning here and there that turned into SHOUTING with her curled up in a ball in terrible stomach pain and nausea. Her body was overwhelmed. Her stomach pain started out as a warning sign to slow down her nervous system. Give her body some stillness. But she muscled thru, took a few antacids and weeks turned into months and the whisper eventually became something she could no longer ignore. And her anxiety was actually the issue and it had been pushed to the back burner for too long.
Isn’t it interesting how often that happens?
Have you ever noticed that our bodies are incredibly polite?
They rarely barge into the room yelling. More often, they tap us gently on the shoulder.
A little tension in your neck.
An afternoon slump that makes you wonder if someone quietly swapped your brain for mashed potatoes.
A knee that pops when you stand — and you pause just long enough to think, Well… that was new.
Nothing dramatic. Nothing urgent.
So we keep moving.
Because if you’re anything like me — and most women I know — you probably didn’t grow up being taught how to understand your body. You were taught how to be dependable… how to be strong… how to care for everyone else… and how to finish what you started even when your tank was running low.
Somewhere along the way, pushing through started to look a lot like maturity. And not pushing thru did not win you any stars for being Mother of the year. Or Employee of the Month. Just keep swimming became our motto.
But what if those small sensations are not just inconveniences… but invitations?
Your body is not interrupting your life… it is trying to preserve it.
Psalm 139 tells us we are fearfully and wonderfully made, and I don’t believe that is just spiritual poetry — I believe it is biological truth. The body is intentional. Thoughtful. Constantly communicating.
Scientists use the word interoception to describe this internal awareness — your brain is always receiving updates from inside your body. Hunger, thirst, muscle tension, fatigue, even that quiet sense that says, Maybe we need a slower pace today.
What many people don’t realize is that pain is rarely the opening line in the disease process.
Pain is usually what happens when earlier messages didn’t get much attention.
Not because you failed… but because the body loves you enough to get louder when necessary.
The body will whisper for as long as it can… but love eventually raises its voice.
That is not deserting you.
That is your body going into protective mode.
When you really stop to think about it, it feels an awful lot like mercy.
God designed feedback into our bodies long before something breaks.
When Did We Forget This Language?
Watch a toddler for about five minutes and you’ll see it clearly.
When they are tired — they melt down.
When they are overstimulated — everyone knows.
When something feels off — they do not power through to prove a point.
They respond. Melt down always indicates “naptime” for a toddler, does it not?
Yet as we grow, many of us drift away from that awareness. Not intentionally… just gradually. Or we muscle thru fatigue and deprive our body of the rest it desperately needs.
We skip meals because we’re busy.
Stay up too late because it’s the only quiet we get. (Speaking to me!)
Call exhaustion “normal.”
Treat tension like it’s simply part of adulthood.
And slowly, we stop recognizing the language our bodies are speaking. That language is lost in translation and it falls on deaf ears.
But here is the hopeful part — the brain is wonderfully adaptable, which means it can relearn what was forgotten.
There’s a phrase in neuroscience:
“Neurons that fire together, wire together.”
Whatever we spend time practicing becomes easier for the brain to continue. Be that listening to the whispers, learning good habits, letting go of old habits and fixing what needs to be fixed before that whisper becomes shouting.
So when you repeatedly override the need for rest… your brain adjusts.
When you ignore tension… it adapts.
When you push past fatigue… it learns to work around it.
Your brain is not trying to sabotage you.
It is trying to help you survive the life you’ve shown it.
But when quieter signals don’t seem to shift your pace, the brain has a way of increasing the volume.
Think of a smoke detector. It doesn’t begin with a blaring alarm. First there’s the faint smell… maybe a little smoke.
The alarm is escalation — not introduction.
Our bodies tend to operate much the same way.
The Cost of Living in Constant “Go Mode”
Most women are not struggling because they are weak.
They are tired because they have been strong for too long without enough support.
God designed our nervous systems with two beautiful rhythms: one for action and one for restoration.
The action state releases stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline — helpful chemicals that allow you to meet deadlines, care for your family, and respond when life demands something quickly.
But when that state quietly becomes our permanent mode of operation, the body begins prioritizing survival over maintenance.
Digestion slows.
Sleep becomes lighter.
Inflammation can rise.
Clear thinking becomes harder to reach.
Have you ever walked into a room and completely forgotten why you were there?
Or what we call “giving a mouse a cookie”? Im a champ at this. I head to get something in the basement, check the mail on the way, open the bills, go to the computer to respond to a letter I received from insurance and before I know it I am cleaning out my inbox and realize I never responded to the letter or made it to the basement. Please tell me I am not alone.
That is not you losing your edge.
Often it is a brain that has been running in high-alert mode for too long.
Under stress, blood flow actually shifts toward safety centers and away from the thoughtful, planning parts of the brain. Your body is not malfunctioning.
It is protecting you.
===This is an amazing example of how our bodies work to protect us: When blood flow favors survival centers over the prefrontal cortex, people commonly experience:
Brain fog. Thoughts feel slower. Harder to organize. Forgetfulness
You know the word… but can’t grab it. Emotional reactivity
Smaller things feel bigger than they normally would.
Shorter patience Because regulation requires prefrontal support.
Decision fatigue Even simple choices feel oddly exhausting.
This is why a chronically stressed person is not functioning at their intellectual best — not because they lack capability, but because their brain is protecting them. You are not losing capacity — your brain is reallocating resources.
Still… we were never designed to live as though every day were an emergency.
Even Jesus stepped away from crowds that needed Him.
If the Savior of the world did not heal everyone in a single afternoon… we can loosen our grip on the belief that we must do everything without pause.
Rest is not a sign that you are falling behind — it may be the very place God is catching up with you.
Many of the sensations we minimize are simply early expressions of a body asking for care.
Fatigue is often one of the first. It can reflect nutrient needs, accumulated stress, hormonal shifts, or just the honest reality that being human requires repair.
Fatigue is not a character flaw.
It is communication in our native language.
Brain fog often follows. Your brain uses tremendous energy, and when resources are stretched thin — from poor sleep, inflammation, or emotional strain — it creates a protective buffer.
Instead of criticizing yourself, it can be far more life-giving to gently wonder what support might help.
Even the pops and clicks during movement are frequently less about damage and more about adaptation. Muscles tighten when the nervous system senses strain, connective tissue becomes less elastic under chronic stress or dehydration, and the body adjusts to guard you.
Protection again… not betrayal.
And the skin — the skin is fascinating. Research shows stress alone can increase histamine release, meaning emotional load can quite literally show up on the surface. When the brain senses pressure, it signals the immune system to become more alert. Specialized cells in the skin release histamine — the same chemical involved in allergic reactions — which can lead to itching, redness, hives, or flare-ups of conditions like eczema or psoriasis.
It’s one of the clearest reminders that our bodies are deeply connected; what we carry emotionally is not separate from what we experience physically no matter how hard we try to deny it. Sometimes the skin isn’t just reacting… it’s revealing that the nervous system has been holding more than it was meant to carry.
Our design is beautifully integrated.
No part of our body operates in isolation.
Yet many of us don’t pause until something dramatic demands it — a migraine, an injury, a moment when the body says, We really can’t keep doing this.
But those moments are often the final paragraph of a conversation that began much earlier.
Burnout rarely arrives suddenly — it is usually the echo of signals we learned to ignore.
Emotional Turn
I want to speak gently to the woman who has been telling herself, “This is just what adulthood feels like.”
The one who is always a little more tired than she lets on.
The one who keeps showing up beautifully for everyone else… while quietly hoping someone might notice she’s carrying too much.
Friend — your strength was never meant to require your depletion.
You are allowed to care for the body that carries your calling.
Rest Is Not a Reward — It Is Design
Healing, immune balance, hormone regulation, cellular repair — all of these flourish when the body senses safety.
You cannot rush your way into restoration.
At some point, if rest is continually postponed, the body may insist upon it.
Not as punishment.
As protection.
Sabbath was never about restriction — it was about sustainability.
Before this sounds like one more thing to manage, let me ease your heart:
This is not about hyper-awareness.
Start with curiosity instead of criticism.
Rather than asking, “Why is my body doing this to me?” try wondering, “What might this be pointing toward?”
Small, caring responses matter more than dramatic life overhauls.
These quiet choices send a powerful message through the nervous system and
Over time, the brain reshapes its expectations based on what it experiences consistently.
Scripture tells us in I Corinthians 6:19-20 that our bodies are temples — not something to ignore, not something to push past, but something worthy of tending. Not because we worship the body… but because we honor the God who designed our body. When we stop treating the body like a machine to manage and begin receiving it as a message to steward… everything about our care becomes gentler.
Please dont’ let me lull you to sleep here. This is such great information that I firmly believe everyone needs to hear.
Your body is NOT working against you.
It is working FOR you in thousands of unseen ways.
Those early nudges are not interruptions.
They are grace.
Evidence of a Creator who built feedback into your design so that immediate breakdown would not have to be the first signal.
God is present even here — in the design, in the signaling, in the invitation to care for what He has entrusted to you. You have been entrusted with an incredible vessel — the very body God chose for you to live this life in. And if we’re honest, many of us haven’t always treated it with the care it deserves. Sometimes we push it, ignore it, or fill it with things that don’t truly support it.
But stewardship goes beyond what we eat or how we rest. It also includes what we allow into our minds. What we watch… what we listen to… what we absorb throughout the day — these are not neutral inputs. They shape our nervous system, influence our stress levels, and affect how our bodies respond.
Protecting the body isn’t only physical. It’s also about guarding the environments we create for our hearts and minds.
The brain is always listening to what you allow in — and the body responds accordingly.
So this week, choose one sensation you’ve been brushing aside. Nothing dramatic — just something small. If you don’t have anything to address, count your blessings! And be mindful in the future of those tiny whispers, an itch here, an ache there. They are not random. It’s a language we simply have to re-learn.
Respond with kindness where you can this week.
You don’t have to overhaul your life overnight… Just become a little more present. More aware.
Because very often…
when we recognize the language early…
the body never needs to raise its voice. And the future you will be eternally grateful to the current you for stopping and correcting what needs attention to redirect your body down a healthier path. It may seem small now. But what is a small whisper now can creep up and becoming an alarming siren if it continues to be dismissed.
Thank you so much LORD for the wisdom woven into our bodies — responsive, protective, and capable of renewal. Teach us to move at a pace that allows us to notice Your design. Give us discernment to care for ourselves without guilt, and the freedom to embrace rest as part of the rhythm You created from the beginning. Amen.
If something in today’s conversation spoke to your heart, consider sharing it with someone who may need that same encouragement. And if this podcast has been a steady voice in your week, leaving a rating or review is one of the kindest ways you can help it reach more women.
Thank you for being here… for spending part of your day with me… and for taking small, faithful steps toward living well. Keep becoming, one small step at a time
