Your body can tell you a lot

I’ve known for decades that I need to listen carefully to my body when it comes to my health and fitness.

But it’s only in the past few years that I’ve realised my body can also tell me a lot about my relationships at work, my self-awareness and even my communication with others.

The other day I had a meeting with a new client.
On the surface, it went well. Good energy. Smart conversation. Clear next steps.

And yet, as I walked away, something felt slightly off.

Nothing dramatic. Just a subtle unease.

Over the next 24 hours I noticed my shoulders were tighter than usual. My stomach felt a little jittery. Not anxious exactly. Just unsettled.

Old me would have powered on and ignored it.

Instead, I paused.

There’s a growing body of research in neuroscience and psychology suggesting that our bodies often register signals before our conscious minds catch up.
Antonio Damasio calls them “somatic markers”.
They are physical cues that help guide decision making, often below the level of our conscious awareness.

In other words, your body sometimes knows things before you do.

So I reflected.

And gradually I realised the sensations were likely to be linked to the meeting.
I had an intuition that something important hadn’t been said. Not dishonestly. Just not fully.

In our next session, I named it. Carefully. Objectively.

I said I’d noticed I felt a little unsettled after our last conversation and wondered if there was anything unspoken that would be important for our work together.

She sat quietly for a few seconds.

Then she smiled and said, “You know Miles, I think your body may be onto something.”

She shared something she had held back. It shifted the whole frame of our work.

By the end of the session, my shoulders had relaxed and my stomach was back to normal.
The tension was gone.
And we were both agreed we were clearer, more aligned and better equipped for the journey ahead.

Self-awareness is not just cognitive. It can also be physiological.

Many leaders are highly intelligent, articulate and strategic.
But they can override their internal signals.
Tight chest. Shallow breathing. Jaw clenching. That slight knot in the stomach.

Those signals are data.

In my coaching, we often explore not just what someone is thinking, but what they are feeling in their body when they talk about a decision, a conflict or a risk.

Very often, that’s where the truth lives.

It doesn’t mean we blindly follow every sensation.
It means we get curious about them.

Sometimes your body is just tired.

And sometimes it’s wise.