Your Hormones Are Speaking - Are You Listening?
Your Monday morning happiness prompt 🧡
Good morning, lovely soul.
I want you to take a moment and just notice your body. Perhaps it’s your shoulders, tight from yesterday’s tension. Maybe your stomach, gurgling or unsettled. Or the subtle heaviness in your lower back that you’ve been ignoring all week. Maybe you’ve just woken up feeling a little off, as if the world hasn’t quite aligned with your rhythm yet.
Wherever your attention lands, know that your body is trying to tell you something. Every twinge, flush, ache, or mood shift is a form of communication. Hormones, of course, are the most obvious messengers - but so are energy patterns, muscle memory, and even your emotional history.
We live in a culture that teaches us to push through, to soldier on, to suppress discomfort and “just get on with it.” But your body isn’t your enemy. Your fatigue, your anxiety, your irregular cycles - these are messages, not malfunctions. They are whispers that something needs attention, care, or shift. And yet, many of us miss them because we’ve been trained to prioritise doing over being, thinking over sensing.
I remember a time in my late twenties, when I was deep in hormonal therapy for endometriosis. My body felt alien to me - suddenly unpredictable, unreliable, even rebellious. Yet I was relentless in my work, pushing through every flare, ignoring the whispers of exhaustion and discomfort. I didn’t yet understand that these sensations were not interruptions but invitations - calls to slow down, to listen, to learn.
Over time, through both experience and study, I came to see that every bodily signal had a meaning, a lesson, and a way to restore harmony. This insight forms the heart of the work I do now, helping women to reconnect with their bodies, their cycles, and their own innate wisdom.
Why Your Body Speaks
From a physiological standpoint, hormones are communication molecules — tiny messengers that travel through your bloodstream, influencing everything from your mood to your metabolism. Oestrogen, progesterone, cortisol, testosterone, thyroid hormones — all of them play intricate roles in your energy levels, sleep quality, appetite, emotional resilience, and cognitive clarity.
They don’t operate in isolation; they interact with each other, your nervous system, and your lifestyle in a symphony that is constantly shifting. When that balance is disrupted — whether through stress, diet, sleep deprivation, or the natural ageing process — the body responds. You feel it as fatigue, irritability, digestive issues, or emotional turbulence.
TCM offers another layer of insight. Your liver, in TCM, governs the smooth flow of qi and blood. When liver energy is stagnated - often due to stress, suppressed emotions, or irregular routines - the body manifests tension, mood swings, and menstrual irregularities. The kidney system, which in TCM governs vitality, longevity, and reproductive energy, becomes more sensitive during midlife transitions, signalling through fatigue, lower back discomfort, and hot flushes.
These are not problems to fix; they are your body’s way of saying, “Pay attention. Nurture me.”
Somatic psychology teaches us that our bodies hold emotional memory. Trauma, stress, and unprocessed feelings are stored in tissues, muscles, and fascia.
That tight shoulder, that flutter in your chest, that knot in your stomach - these are not random. They are physical echoes of emotional and energetic experiences, waiting to be acknowledged, felt, and released.
When we attune to these sensations with curiosity rather than judgement, we gain access to profound information about our inner world and our current needs.
Body-Held Knowledge and Energetic Insight
Consider how your body behaves before your period, or during a particularly stressful week, or when sleep has been poor. Perhaps you notice irritability, cravings, heaviness, or a sense of fogginess.
These are not nuisances; they are signals that your system is balancing, adapting, and communicating its state to you. The wisdom held in the body is subtle but consistent. TCM frames these signals as the balance and fluid shifting of yin and yang, of qi (vital energy) and blood, of organ systems speaking to each other.
For example:
Liver stagnation may show as irritability, breast tenderness, or bloating.
Kidney yin deficiency might feel like night sweats, lower back tension, or fatigue.
Heart and lung imbalances can present as anxiety, shallow breathing, or a sense of unease.
Your task is not to diagnose yourself but to tune in and notice patterns. This is the somatic work - observing without judgment, feeling without fixing.
When you start to recognise these patterns, you can respond in ways that restore flow rather than resistance.
I often guide women to notice subtle shifts in posture, breath, and movement. A slump in the shoulders may indicate stress or overwhelm. Tight hips may hold anger or suppressed grief. Shallow breathing signals tension and fatigue.
By gently shifting the body - stretching, breathwork, or mindful movement - you release held tension and encourage the smooth flow of qi and blood. Over time, these small adjustments ripple through your hormonal and energetic systems, creating profound changes in mood, clarity, and vitality.
Things to do today
Today, let’s do a mini “hormone check-in” together. Set aside 10–15 minutes somewhere quiet and warm (very important this week!), with your phone off and a glass of water by your side:
Settle into your body - sit or lie down somewhere comfortable. Close your eyes. Take three long, deliberate breaths, feeling your ribcage expand and soften.
Scan for tension - starting from your head down to your feet, notice any areas of tightness, ache, or discomfort. Don’t judge them, just acknowledge. Perhaps your shoulders are tight, your stomach fluttery, or your lower back heavy.
Name the sensation - silently say to yourself, “This is my body communicating. I hear you.”
Respond with care - place your hands on the area that feels most tense. Breathe into it. Perhaps stretch gently, sip warm water, or place a warm compress. This small gesture signals to your nervous system and your hormonal system that you are listening and responding.
Journal briefly — write down one observation: a tension, a pattern, or even a surprising sensation. Ask yourself, “What might my body be asking for today?”
This is not about perfection; it’s about attuning to your inner wisdom and giving yourself permission to respond with care rather than resistance.
Reflection
Take a moment to consider: how often have you ignored the whispers of your body, waiting until the signals became shouts? What might shift if you approached each twinge, flush, or fatigue as a message rather than a problem?
Write down one thing your body has been trying to tell you recently. Sit with it. Listen to the sensation, the memory, the energy it brings.
Breathe into it.
Perhaps your body is inviting you to rest, to nourish, or to release something old.
Allow yourself to be present with that invitation. This is the beginning of deep alignment - between your hormones, your body, and your life.
Closing Note
Your body is speaking - not to punish, not to warn, not to fail - but to guide. Your experience matters.
Our bodies are always communicating things to us!