BODY LANGUAGE

Transform your well-being by listening to how you feel.

- EVIE LEATHAM

At some point during the lockdown, I had not gone outside for four days and I could feel my body’s rebellion. My partner pushed me out of the door and I walked and walked, and it felt euphoric: the cool breeze; my muscles moving, alive with purpose; my thoughts keeping pace with my steps. It was a seized opportunity to nurture that primordial mind-body connection from which everyday life before lockdown often distracted me.

In the face of a global pandemic, we have been united by our fallible, fragile biology, and the idea of well-being has taken on a deeper meaning. What has been put into sharp relief is not how we look, but how we feel within.

The tyranny of performative and elitist wellness trends has shifted to a gentler, more holistic sense of well-being. Exercise has become as much about emotional and spiritual health as physical. I find I am kinder to myself and more forgiving, exercising when I intuitively need it, not simply because my phone guilts me with a reminder.

With fewer distractions, I have had the space to gain a deeper understanding of my body. I can discern biological rhythms that previously went unnoticed, from palpable hormonal changes to an acute awareness of whether I am stressed or jittery, irritable or hungry, tired or wired. Without long commutes and office distractions dictating the day, the ticking of the body's internal clock can make itself heard.

During this past year of such quiet existence, social media has lost little of its influence. However, we are editing ourselves far less. #FilterDrop campaigns are challenging the pressure to appear ‘perfect’ online, and women are sharing openly about periods, body shape, scars and stretch marks, menopause, body hair, and the realities of the changes associated with pregnancy and childbirth.