Well•come, kin. Pause, and take a deep, calming breath with me. In... and out... As you breathe, remind yourself of your innate wisdom and wholeness. With each breath—be here. Fully present, as we embark on this journey together.

LaShaun Certified behavior analyst, founding former Director of The University of South Florida’s (USF) Wellness Resource Center, Founder of GLOW Women’s Gathering with credentials in Neuroscience for Business from MIT Sloan.

Oh, these bodies…What’s your relationship with yours?
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Is it keeping score? (Van der Kolk)
Is it a divine fellow traveler and consort? (Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés)
Is is matter as appetite and something to be suppressed or subdued (Traditions)
Is it a temple you're temple-ing?

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​I used to think of the body as ‘lesser’ than the spirit and soul.
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I know how easy it is to live a few inches above yourself.
To conduct life from the neck up.
To praise insight while overriding sensation.

Many of us were taught (explicitly or by cultural osmosis) that the body was suspect. Loud. Needy. Something to manage rather than befriend.
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Most of us hold a mash-up of teachings. Sacred. Suspicious. Useful. Inconvenient.
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In this season of life I’m learning body acceptance, the sapience of eldering, and embracing the body as a source of wisdom and joy.

I’m also learning that the the body is an honest narrator. ​
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The fizz behind your eyes when the presentation lands.
The mutiny in your left knee halfway up the stairs.
That heat bloom when a particular so&so enters the room.
The joy residue after the conversation about sparkly ideas.
​Truth-telling. Data.
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So what do we do with it? Attune. ​
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Attunement is what we do with data that matters.
Attunement asks different questions than we’re used to.

Not What should I do?
But: What’s happening, exactly? Where? How strong? How fast?Y
ou’ll notice the micro-flinches. The subtle yes. The faint recoil.
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Your body knows when you’re living in resonance.
It also knows when you’re contorting yourself into shapes that impress but cost too much.
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I encourage you to invite a new learning (slowly, imperfectly) to treat your body as collaborator.
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Modern neuroscience calls this interoception: the brain’s ongoing process of sensing signals from inside the body: heart rate, breath, muscle tension, visceral tone, and using them to guide emotion, judgment, and decision-making.

Your brain is constantly running forecasts:
​Is this safe? Worth it? Depleting? Alive?
​and the body supplies the data stream that keeps those predictions honest. When we ignore sensation, the brain doesn’t stop predicting. It just does it with incomplete information.
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That’s when we get misfires.
Overcommitment. Burnout. That familiar “I don’t know why I said yes” feeling.

Attunement corrects the signal.

In network neuroscience terms, body attunement strengthens communication between large-scale brain networks responsible for

• salience (what matters)
• regulation (how much)
• and, meaning-making (why)

When those networks are coherent, you’ll show better emotional regulation, faster recovery from stress, and—this part surprises people—clearer values-based choices.
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Research over the last few years has shown that positive affect isn’t just a mood state. It’s information. Subtle bodily cues of interest, ease, or vitality reliably predict persistence, creativity, and better long-term outcomes.
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Which means the body isn’t merely keeping score of pain.
​ It’s also tracking aliveness.

Notice.
Pause.
Notice more finely.
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And here’s the thing: midlife, post-initiation, post-overfunctioning, aging doesn’t dull the body’s wisdom. It can clarify it.
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Stay with your body. Not in a posture of worship.
Just attention + attunement.

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A Practice in Attunement

(Begin with the body. Let thinking come second.)

Somatic “Feeling” Questions

(Answer with sensation, not story.)

• Where in my body is there signal right now: pressure, warmth, flutter, ache, pull?
• Is this sensation sharp or diffuse? Local or spreading? Brief or lingering?
• If this feeling had a direction, would it be leaning in… or edging away?
• What changes if I slow my breath by just ten percent, does the sensation soften, intensify, relocate?
• If my body could finish this sentence, it would say: Pay attention to ___.

Pause.
Again.
Notice.

Reflective “Thinking” Questions

(Only after the body has spoken.)

• What information might this sensation be offering before words arrived?
• Where have I felt this signal before—and what happened when I listened? When I didn’t?
• If I trusted this bodily data for the next small decision, what would shift?
• What am I habitually overriding here—energy, capacity, desire, truth?
• What would it look like to treat this sensation as guidance rather than inconvenience?

Let the answers be incomplete.
Let them be provisional.
Let them be honest.

A Final Integration Question

(For the women who like their wisdom actionable.)

• What is one micro-adjustment I could make today (timing, boundary, posture, pace) that would bring me back into alignment?

Nothing dramatic.
Nothing performative.
Just accurate.

Because attunement isn’t about becoming someone new.
It’s about returning—again and again—to the quiet authority that’s been speaking through your body all along.

And if you listen closely enough, long enough, gently enough:
you may notice you no longer need to ask permission to trust yourself.
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If anything you’ve read here has been resonant, nourishing, or of service to you in a meaningful way, please do, share this email. I appreciate your reciprocity.

In sharing, you contribute to a bigger picture - a world pulsating with well-being and wholeness. I'm grateful for you!

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p.s.
​May you attune where truth registers first in your body: Reader, and believe what answers back.
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