What's your BQ?

You've heard of IQ, right? You may have even taken one of those online tests that's supposed to tell you where you stand: genius, above average, normal intelligence.

You may also have heard of EQ: Emotional Intelligence. Your ability to sense, define, and control your emotions and those of others. Some of our favorite stars like Oprah Winfrey are touted as having high EQ.

But do you know what your BQ is?

Before I reveal what BQ is, let me pose a few questions: When was the last time you stopped and paid attention to your body? Tuned in to the rhythm of your breath? Stopped to check in with how you're really feeling before you reached for a snack or the next cup of coffee?

If it's been awhile since you've checked in, you're not alone. In the Western world, disconnection from our bodies can be traced back to Plato in ancient Greece (and maybe further). For Plato, the body was a distraction and an obstacle for the mind. And can we honestly say we believe much different some 2400 years later?

Most of us don't make a concerted effort to get the right amount of sleep, eat proper portions of vegetables, or move enough throughout the day. We wind up with muscular imbalances that cause things like back, shoulder, hip, and knee pain--which make us even less likely to move as we fear movement will make them worse. We suffer from altered breathing patterns which affect our mental and emotional states. We're plagued by chronic pain, which we try to "fix" with medications and--if you're lucky--a handful of weeks in physical therapy.

All because we're out of touch with our BQ.

BQ is the concept of Body Intelligence. Our ability to sense, interpret, understand, and guide the sensations and actions of our bodies. It's our knowledge of and ability to care for our bodies. It isn't measured on a scale or by a number like IQ. Instead, it's traced through three pillars:

Body awareness -- Your ability to receive and accurately interpret the sensations of your body, as well as your awareness of how external sources (food, caffeine, weather, etc) affect your body.

Body knowledge -- Your knowledge of your body (physiology, anatomy, etc) and your knowledge of how to take care of your body (requirements like nutrition, rest, exercise, etc), and how this knowledge is applied within your own unique being.

Body engagement -- Put simply, it's doing right by your body. Consistently engaging in the best actions for your best health for where you are in your life. Your healthcare routines: things like exercise, rest, good posture, and nutrition.

These three are interwoven. Body knowledge can help make you more aware of what sensations are happening, or body awareness may clue you in on how best to engage your body on a particular day and body engagement can help improve body awareness. One pillar can't really happen without working with the others, and we need all three to help us be our healthiest selves.

Body Awareness

Try closing your eyes or setting a soft gaze for a few minutes and tuning in to your body. What parts of you are touching the surface you're sitting on? Can you mentally trace your outline in space? Can you trace your breath as it comes in through your nose, down your throat and into your expanding lungs? Can you feel your heartbeat? Is there anywhere that feels uncomfortable? Anywhere that feels perfectly at ease?

Our bodies are full of receptors that feed us all kinds of information about both our external and internal environments. Body awareness includes our ability to sense where we are in space (proprioception), to sense injury or potential injury (nociception), to sense things in our internal environment like breathing, heart rate, digestive processes (interoception), and our five senses (exteroception). Body awareness also involves our ability to accurately interpret and and understand these signals.

If you're not already into somatosensory science (the science of body sensations), you might be wondering what I mean by that last point. What do I mean "accurately interpret and understand these sensations"? I touch something hot, the signal gets sent to my brain, and it says, "Hey, that's hot! Take your hand away!" Right?

Yes and no. The signals our body sends--and the way they're interpreted in the nervous system and brain--don't always correlate to the level of urgency, threat, or injury. Think about the pain of a paper cut. It's usually surprisingly intense. Yet, for most of us, it's not a life-threatening injury. Altered ability to receive and interpret signals from within our body has been shown in migraines, chronic pain, alchohol and substance abuse, OCD, PTSD, anxiety, depression, autism spectrum disorder, eating disorders, and more! Often, as we try something new, our body doesn't understand what's happening, so it send up signals that are interpreted as pain or fear, when really it's just getting used to a new movement. The same can be true with taste. Some sources say you have to try a food 10 times before you can actually determine if you like it!

The more you can tune in to the sensations of your body and spend time whittling out their details--is this pain or discomfort? where is this located? what brought it on? etc--the more accurately you can begin to interpret these signals.

Body awareness can go even further: to becoming aware of our habits, posture, and how external things (foods, allergens, stimulants) affect us. Learning to recognize things like eating dairy makes you break out or reaching for that third cup of coffee causes you to sleep poorly that night.

Body Knowledge

You don't have to be a somatic science nerd like me to have body knowledge. Have you ever been in pigeon pose in a yoga class and as you switch to the second side, the instructor says, "Now this side may feel really different"? Not only is the instructor inviting you to be aware of the differences in your body, but they're also helping you building body knowledge by noticing which side is tighter/has more or less sensation.

As you build awareness, you learn things about your own, unique body: allergies/intolerances, endurance, sleep needs, imbalances, etc. Each of our bodies is different, and while there are general guidelines for health, part of body knowledge is understanding your unique needs.

Now, don't get me wrong, body knowledge also has to do with learning some of the anatomy and physiology of your body. The more you know, the better-informed choices and actions you can take. Most of us got little (if any) anatomy in school, and learning little bits of exercise science can be incredibly helpful when you start to move more and suddenly something hurts. We all have little musculoskeletal imbalances from how we sleep, our normal posture habits, and past injuries. Learning your imbalances and training to improve them can go a long way toward injury prevention.

Likewise, learning your physiology (how your organs, cardiorespiratory, and nervous systems work) can be incredibly empowering. I'm not saying go be your own doctor (we've all learned just how dangerous surfing WebMD can be), but learning more about how your breathing affects your heart rate and vice versa can help you learn to self-regulate so that you can control things like anxiety when they arise.

Body Engagement

Okay, truth time: how many hours did you spend sitting today? Did you exercise? Did you floss your teeth? Did you have more vegetables than cups of coffee?

Body engagement is all about how we're engaging with and taking care of our bodies. But without the first two pillars--body awareness and body knowledge--it's hard to engage your body in the right way for you. You may follow guidelines on exercise and food consumption, but in order to do the best by your body, you have to be aware of what's going on with it--acne, aches and pains, muscle tension, fatigue--and learn what's right or not-quite-right for you. This takes inquiry and time spent consciously engaging with your body.

I'll repeat that, because for most of us, this is something new: Learning to take care of your body takes inquiry and time spent consciously engaging with your body. Most of us spend the majority of our lives ignoring our bodies as we go about our jobs and leisure activities. We stuff food in because we know we're supposed to or because we're bored or because we have a particular craving or need to self-soothe (I once opened a jar of pickles--my comfort food--and my roommate immediately asked me, "What's wrong?"). Then we're surprised, worried, or even angry when our back or shoulder hurts, or we blow out a knee suddenly deciding to play soccer again after 20 years, or we realize we've gained several pant sizes.

The more you can engage with your body--trying to move in ways that your unique body needs, eat the foods that fuel it the right way, sleep enough, etc--the higher your BQ will be, and the healthier you'll be.

And not just physically. Exercise can impact our brains, increasing cognitive function (helping you think better). Being able to affect your stress levels through practices like breath work can help to reduce the harmful effects of long-term stress which are physical as well as mental and emotional. Even our emotions can be tied to our bodies. I know I've suddenly found myself in tears a few times when moving: sometimes on a yoga mat, sometimes on a run, and once while punching a heavy bag. In fact, in his book Focusing, Eugene Gendlin wrote that tapping into what he called the "felt sense" in the body was the key to productive therapy--not analyzing the problem via the mind, but rather feeling become aware of, and shifting it via the body.

Body Intelligence builds and shifts throughout our lifetimes. Your body may need something completely different at 20 than at 30 or at 70. It's an inquiry that's never complete. But, the beauty is, you have your body for your lifetime so you can continue inquiring, investigating, and exploring. And body intelligence can make that relationship smoother and healthier.

So, what's your BQ? And, more importantly, how can you begin to improve it?

Sources:

What Is Your Body Intelligence? by Margaret Moore

Working with Body Intelligence (BQ) and Self-Attunement by Maggie Phillips

The Humanistic Psychologist - Body Intelligence Scale: Defining and Measuring the Intelligence of the Body by Rosemarie Anderson

Trends in Neuroscience - The Emerging Science of Interoception: Sensing, Integrating, Interpreting, and Regulating Signals within the Self by Chen et al.

Focusing by Eugene Gendlin

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