Listening to the Body’s Secret Language

As I was working on the Salon for the Turquoise Trail Community this month—the topic of which I feel I have been researching my entire lifetime—all about the body as oracle it had me remembering a lot of my life experiences with my body and how bodies work. How I came to where I am today.

Early Encounters with the Body as Oracle

When I was just sixteen, while my friends were absorbed in the usual rhythms of high school, I found myself drawn toward something different—natural medicine and the symbolic wisdom of the body. Inspired by Louise Hay, I began to see that pain and illness could hold meaning, that symptoms were not random but messages.

At my alternative high school, I had the freedom to design my own learning path. I spent those years immersed in holistic healing, studying herbalism and homeopathy with Matthew Wood, an internationally recognized herbalist and author and other local herbalists in my community.

Not long after, I discovered the world of bodywork. Under the guidance of Sister Rosalind, a pioneer in Swedish massage, I learned how touch could become a pathway to healing and connection.

By nineteen, I was part of the Minnesota homebirth movement, training as a doula at the side of a radical midwife, and carrying with me the inspiration of Ina May Gaskin’s Spiritual Midwifery. Birth work showed me the raw, untamed power of the body, and the sacredness of listening to its rhythms.

Life’s Seasons and Lessons

Life, of course, has its seasons.

I had my first child at the age of 20 and my second at 23, both at home with midwives. I was very in touch with my body and attending other women and caring for myself and my babies deepened my respect and understanding of food and healthy living.

Unfortunately, my relationship with the father of my children was troubled and I discovered he was having an affair. I became a single mother, and with a toddler and a new baby—and without the experience or the space to handle all the emotions and loss of safety of that time—I buried a lot deep inside.

I felt I had to in order to keep going and care for my children and our needs.

At thirty, now married, my then husband and I bought a farm, and my focus shifted. I entered nursing school, diving deep into anatomy and physiology, captivated by the exquisite design of the body. Fascinated with more formal learning and my capacity to learn and perform.

Yet even as I studied its wonders, my own body was crying out. I had a headache daily for five years, lower back pain bent me over each morning, and autoimmune flares mirrored a life stretched out of balance.

Returning to Spiritual Practices

In 2011, I returned to the spiritual practices I had set aside after the losses of my early 20s—journaling, art, shamanic journeying, mindfulness—and began training as a holistic coach.

At first, as often happens, the symptoms grew louder. But with time, something shifted. As I set boundaries, reclaimed my voice, and shaped a life that felt congruent with who I truly was, I experienced the mystery of spontaneous healing.

One morning, after confronting a deep boundary issue within my family, I woke to find that the chronic back pain that had plagued me for years was simply gone. Not long after, my endocrinologist told me there was no need for further appointments—my autoimmune condition was not only in remission but non existent.

The Body as Oracle

I share this not as a miracle story, but as lived truth: the body is a wise oracle. It speaks in symbols, in pain, in patterns, in whispers and roars. When we ignore it, it grows louder. When we listen and respond with honesty and alignment, it reveals its capacity for profound healing.

The body is not just flesh and bone. It is the secret language of our soul, always speaking—always waiting for us to listen. I continue to have flares of this or that, but it doesn’t ever scare me—I know it is a message, and I am happy to listen.

✨ Reflection for You:

Take a moment today to notice what your body is communicating. What whispers, sensations, or messages have you been missing? Listening is the first step toward profound alignment and healing.