'Consciously Female'
Most people are aware that there's a connection between the mind and the body. The problem is, many women don't know how to make the most of that very important relationship.
Dr. Tracy Gaudet says it is possible by to live better by listening to your body and your soul. She explains how in her new book, "Consciously Female," and co-anchor Rene Syler spoke with her about it on The Early Show Monday.
To read an excerpt, click here.
The first and most important question: How do we become consciously female?
"It is so easy, in this day and culture, to be disconnected from our bodies and our own souls," says Gaudet. "If you think about it, we are plugged in all of the time. We have cell phones and pagers and voicemail. We're dealing with everything external to ourselves, and very often we're not paying attention and not listening to what's happening in our own bodies or in our own souls."
To help women become "consciously female," Gaudet offers a few steps:
At least once a day, as a part of your routine, simply stop everything you are doing. Close your eyes, take five minutes, take a few breaths. Turn yourself into the body. Notice how your body is really feeling. Notice what state it is in. Are you exhausted? Starting to get a sore throat? How do you feel in your body today?
When you are not paying attention, you could be going about your day and be floored with a bad headache that you had all day.
Then turn your attention to your nonphysical self, your soul. Are you upbeat or blue? More depressed? Maybe you are feeling more moody so you know you will have to be more patient with your husband and kids that day.
The quick check allows you to be more in touch with your body and soul so there is no blow-up at the end of the day. This allows you to take care of yourself in a better way.
The act of expressing thoughts on paper can't be truly helpful unless you feel confident enough to make no-holds-barred entries in the journal. Give your feelings a voice and think about why you are feeling that way. There are even studies that show health benefits for people that journal about their painful life experiences. Processing it means that your body doesn't have to hold on to it. You are able to explore more deeply things that are on your mind.
Gaudet says the emotions that come up at PMS that you think are just hormones need to be explored. Many times these are real problems and real thoughts that need to be dealt with.
Becoming a conscious female requires being a conscious eater. Conscious eating starts by paying attention to why you are eating. Try consciously eating for the first five minutes of one of your meals.
Conscious eating begins before you put anything in your mouth. Before you take a bite, take a breath and notice how you feel. Is your body actually hungry? Or is it something else - like tired? And what about your soul? Most of our eating happens because of our emotional state because we are not tuned in.
If you are not paying attention, you could eat 10 cookies. But if you are paying attention and understand why, you could feel really full after two cookies. Is it sad or lonely or in need of some TLC? Then, when you eat, notice all of your senses. Taste it in the beginning. This step will inadvertently change how you eat, causing you to eat less.
The first step in examining your body is to simply stand naked in front of a mirror. Notice your general appearance, and then your skin, breasts, your posture. There are some parts of your body people never even look at.
At first, do this once a week for a month so that you can notice the changes. If you are pregnant, continue to do it weekly. If not, just do it monthly. This tool can help you notice important changes that can even be life saving - like noticing changes in your skin that could be precancerous, or in pregnancy noticing swelling in your face and hands that can be a sign of preeclampsia, or noticing changes in how often your baby moves.