Why is it that an email from your perfectly nice manager automatically triggers your fight or flight response? How come the smell of a rose perfume brings you instant calm? Why do you feel so flustered when you’re wearing a different jacket to the one you usually wear? 

If your answer to all of the above is ‘No clue, sorry,’ you could probably do with being a bit more in tune with your body and mind. Something that could help you do that is getting to know your ‘body barometers’, says Angela D Coleman, a holistic health expert and author of The Art Of Chilling Out For Women.

“How you respond to situations is rooted deep in your personal history,” writes Coleman in her new book. “These are your body barometers.”

Think of your body barometers as an extension of your gut instinct or intuition. Your physical and emotional responses to places, people, things, sensory information… all of these can be important indicators. Of what? It very much depends. Sometimes your reaction simply suggests that you’ve not been looking after yourself and your body needs some rest. Think about that time you burst into tears when your belt loop got stuck on a drawer handle, but really it was because you were plain old exhausted. Other times, it can hint that you’re perhaps not in the right place or with the wrong people. If you always feel a sense of unease when your mate’s boyfriend is around, something might be simmering beneath the surface. 

“When we pay attention to the physical sensations that we experience as we move about, our body’s wisdom can provide very useful information, especially about what actions we should take next and whether an activity is healthy, unhealthy or neutral,” Coleman tells Stylist. 

Pay special attention to negative feedback from your body, such as heightened anxiety, and try to figure out where it’s coming from. “The fight or flight instinct is a very real survival mechanism,” Coleman explains. “If you are consistently in survival mode, your body will be consistently stressed. It’s important to see how this impacts your body and its response mechanism. This is what awareness of body barometers can do — it empowers you to save yourself.”

The key to decoding these messages is first noticing them, and then beginning to understand them. It can help to journal about your emotions and physical reactions, so you can more easily see patterns, and work through certain responses with a therapist. Ultimately, the very act of tapping into these feelings and being curious about what your body might be telling you is a step in the right direction.

Coleman suggests paying greater attention to your physical body. Try doing a body scan, up from the tips of your toes to the top of your head. How does each part of you feel? Is there any pain or discomfort? And when you are out in the world and have a physical response to something or someone, notice that. 

“For example, when your heartbeat increases, when your throat tightens, when your stomach suddenly churns or tightens to restrict your breath… these are all red flags that you are in an environment that your body does not like; your body is begging you to change something right away,” Coleman notes.

Sometimes, your body barometers will be off-balance. You’ll find yourself reacting with anxiety in situations that aren’t dangerous or feeling rage at times that don’t deserve it. Tracking your emotions can help you notice this, but once you do, it’s important to work with a professional to work out why this is happening, whether it’s a deeper trauma or a health condition. 

But the first step, again, is to notice what your body and brain are doing, without judgment. Self-knowledge is power. Tune in and see what your body barometers are saying. 

Angela D Coleman is the author of The Art Of Chilling Out For Women, a holistic health expert and the founder of global nonprofit Sisterhood Agenda.

Main image: Getty