Physical Education

When we talk about our bodies, we almost always talk about what we see. But what if we could actually experience our bodies—and feel a whole lot better in them—by using a sense we might not even know we possess? Let us help you unlock the answer.

I‘VE BEEN THINKING A LOT ABOUT THE climax of the 1979 horror movie When a Stranger Calls. A babysitter is terrorized by phone calls from a man asking, with growing urgency, “Have you checked the children? Why haven’t you checked the children?” She eventually alerts the police, and after a stomach-churning wait, the sergeant rings back, warning her: “We’ve traced the call...and it’s coming from inside the house!”

A similar exclamation can be made for the modern ailments that haunt us. During a recent marital rough patch, I developed puffy eyes and an eyelid twitch. And while I calmed the bags with a caffeine-infused roller ball, I avoided treating the twitch. (Have you checked the eye twitch? Why haven’t you checked the eye twitch?) Metaphorically, the body is our house, the only thing we will ever truly own. Yet we neglect the guts of those homes in a host of ways. We’re having less sex than ever before. Consistent restorative sleep bedevils us. Reports of chronic pain are on the rise, anxiety is a blight on our central nervous systems, and burnout is so rampant it was just recognized as a syndrome.

This all sounds awfully depressing, and it is. But just as frustrating? The lion’s share of chatter about our bodies still revolves around our exterior and how dissatisfied we are with our looks. Research, however, shows that female body acceptance has improved. And yet the superficial narrative persists. Ironically, the less in touch we are with our inner selves, the more likely we are to have poor body image and eating disorders.