Taking Care with Deanna Badong

Deanna Badong runs Community Operations for Inner Workout. She's also a yogi, a grad student studying data analytics, and a person with high levels of body awareness.

Deanna's had the chance to do the Take Care assessment a few times, and body awareness is consistently a stand out area for her.

In Take Care, body awareness falls under the Physical dimension of wellbeing. The core question of the sub-dimension is Do you know what works, and what doesn't work, for your body?

The answer to that question changes depending on our internal and external environments, which is why it's so important to cultivate body awareness.

Read Deanna's surprising tip for strengthening this sub-dimension, or watch the conversation below.

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How Deanna builds body awareness

Journaling and observation are key

Deanna was quick to note that when we think about the Physical dimension, our minds often go straight to movement.

But what helped Deanna get to know her body was asking, "How do certain things make me feel?"

Asking this question regularly, and journaling the answers helped her notice patterns in her physical preferences.

Note the highs and the lows

If journaling about your body doesn't feel natural, Deanna recommends reflecting on the really good days and the really tough days.

What are all the things that happened on a day where your body felt balanced and energized? Did you engage in mindful movement? Were there certain foods or outfits that supported you?

These observations don't have to be essays. "It doesn't have to be some big to do, you know? You don't have to light a candle and make the ambience all nice. You can literally just put it on your phone. Sometimes I just  opened up the Notes app and I texted it to to myself."

Don't be afraid to test and learn

Building body awareness is an unfolding process. A data scientist at heart, Deanna ended with this advice, "I just highly recommend taking track and, you know, seeing yourself as kind of a science experiment and experimenting with your life because you're in control of it."

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You can stay connected with Deanna Badong on Instagram.

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