E063 | Effortless doesn’t mean passive. It means precise.

What if doing more is the very thing that’s keeping you sick?

Most women with chronic symptoms are stuck—not because they’re undisciplined—but because they’ve been taught to override their body instead of listen to it.

You’ve followed all the steps. You’ve cut the foods, taken the tests, pushed through the pain. But you’re still not feeling better. That’s because healing isn’t about doing more—it’s about doing the right things with clarity, timing, and trust.

BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING TO THIS PODCAST EPISODE, YOU'LL DISCOVER:

• Why “effortless” doesn’t mean passive—it means body-led, precise, and sustainable
• What the real root issue is when symptoms persist (and why pushing harder isn’t solving it)
• A simple 2-minute body-scan practice that reconnects you to your body before every meal

If this episode felt like a permission slip to finally slow down and tune in, share it with a friend who needs to hear it.

OTHER LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Join our free Facebook group: Embrace Your Healing Journey
📚 Book: The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down by Haemin Sunim
🔍 Learn about the BODY WISE HEALING™ Framework
🌿 Explore the coaching programmes

💌 Write to me at anindita@aninditarungta.com. I'd love to hear from you!

Chapters

• 2:46 The Silent Epidemic of Undiagnosed Patients
• 3:13 The Disconnect Between Health and Well-being
• 7:35 Limitations of Conventional Medicine
• 9:45 Symptoms as Communication
• 10:33 The Misinterpretation of Symptoms
• 16:16 The Need for a Safe Healing Environment
• 17:11 Key Takeaways and Conclusion

Transcript

You've been told to push harder, to run more tests, to cut out more food, to try more protocols. But what if the answer to healing wasn't in the doing more, but actually in doing the right things? And in today's episode, I am actually debunking the myth that effortless healing means sitting back and doing nothing because real healing is not passive. It's deeply intentional, and it's about learning to listen before you act, and to discern before you dive in and to pause so that your body can lead the way. 

So if healing still feels like a full time job, then this episode is for you. If you follow the protocols, you've cut out the foods you have done, the tests that your practitioners have asked you to, and you still not seeing the results, you know. This is probably the reason because you are not being told that healing is not just about doing more, it's about doing less, but with more clarity and with more intention. And in this episode, I will show you why. Effortless does not mean passive or easy. It means precise. It is rooted in your body's wisdom and it's body led. You will walk away with a powerful reframe that could change how you approach your entire wellness journey. Let's stop chasing, healing and start co-creating it. 

Welcome to Embrace Your Healing Journey, a podcast for women with autoimmune and other chronic conditions to help them navigate their illness without fear of isolation and uncertainty, and find relief from their symptoms. Your body is your guide and ally in healing. If you are ready to embrace this journey with compassion and awareness, then this show is for you. Tune in weekly as I, a Functional medicine Certified Health Coach, deliver tips and insights that demystify the healing process, guiding you towards the relief you deserve so that you can feel healthy and happy once more. So if you caught the latest episode 62 Why Willpower Isn't Healing You, you'll remember we talked about why how trying hard isn't the answer when your body is in survival mode. And today we are taking it one step further. Today we are talking about what if willpower is not the medicine? Then what is? Because the answer is not more force, it's more precision. And I'll show you how to start tuning in instead of pushing through. 

 I'll start with a beautiful book. It's a it's an excerpt from this book. It's called The Things You Can Only See When You Slow Down. It's by Heamin Sunim. He's a Zen Buddhist teacher from South Korea who went to the US to study film. But life had other plans for him, and he ended up following a spiritual path, and he taught Buddhism as well for a while, and he has written several books. The first chapter of this book is is called why Am I So Busy? And it captures the essence of the of this episode. 

He says there is a famous Buddhist saying that everyone appears as Buddhas in the eyes of the Buddha, and everyone appears as pigs in the eyes of a pig. It suggests that the world is experienced according to the state of one's mind. When your mind is joyful and compassionate, the world is true. When your mind is filled with negative thoughts, the world appears negative too. When you feel overwhelmed and busy, remember that you are not powerless. When your mind rests, the world also rests. He goes on to say, we know the world only through the window of our mind. When our mind is noisy, the world is as well. When our mind is peaceful, the world is true. Knowing our minds is just as important as trying to change the world. I wish you could see my true nature beyond my body and labels. There is a river of tenderness and vulnerability beyond stereotypes and assumptions. There is a value of openness and authenticity beyond memory and ego. There is an ocean of awareness and compassion. The wise do not fight the world in the most relaxed and playful manner. They simply embody the truth that they are one with it. 

That's pressure. And that pressure is really, really hard to deal with because then every food choice has to be perfect. Every supplement has to be just right, every symptom has to be tracked, and it becomes like a test. But precision does not come from pressure. It comes from presence. It comes from attunement. It's come from tuning into your body. Uh, otherwise, you know, it comes from understanding what how your body feels, what it is asking for, and how to meet it with clarity instead of control. So that's the problem, not the symptoms, not your labs, not your willpower. It's the hyper vigilance. Uh, that's constant, uh, thing of, you know, looking for all these things that makes you miss the quiet wisdom in your body signals. So, you know, because you actually might have tried many of these things, all the things that you were supposed to have done. So you have done the elimination diet. You have spent thousands on tests with fancy acronyms. You have cleaned up your skincare, swapped your cookware, installed air filters, you meditate, your you journal, you've taken the adaptogens, anti-inflammatories, and you've pushed yourself to be a good patient or a perfect student or a committed healer. But all of it is built on one assumption that if you try harder, then you will finally get better. 

And when that does not happen, you are actually left wondering, is it just me? Did I do something wrong? Did I miss something? But it's not you, and it's just that you've been trying to micromanage your healing. When your body actually needs is some space. It needs stillness. There are signals. It needs your attention, your presence. So the common approach, whether it's functional medicine or in some cases or the conventional approach, teaches you, you know, teaches you to chase results. It doesn't teach you how to, uh, tune yourself into tune, tune into your body. And healing does not come from this kind of constant chasing. It comes from doing the right thing at the right time and in the right way. And it can only happen when your body leads the way.

 So here's what you need to do. Instead, you stop trying to fix your body and you start following its lead. It means that you learn how to pause before you push, to notice before you react, and to lead your healing with clarity and self-trust. And that can only come with practice. And that means that you you know, sometimes you need to sort of switch from the protocol mode to the presence mode. And inside my body wise healing framework that I take my clients through in my group program. We begin with precision. We don't begin with pressure, right? That's not really helpful or sustainable. And you have to rebuild your inner compass to be able to be guided by your own body. And you learn how to decode your symptoms as signals, and you build rituals that feel like support. They should not be feeling like punishment. 

So this is one micro practice I want you to try today. It's a very, very brief body scan and I would like you to do it before you eat anything. You don't need any fancy equipment, literally nothing. You just need your breath. You need a you need. To pause before your next meal. Close your eyes and place your hand on your belly or your heart and ask, what am I feeling right now? Physically, emotionally and energetically? That's it. Ask this question. Not what should I eat? Not what did the plan say? 

Just what my body needs as this moment. No fixing, no changing and no judgment. You might actually be surprised by what comes up, right? It might be tension in your chest, a wave of sadness, a craving for comfort, or simply the relief of being acknowledged. And here's what it does for you. It shifts you from autopilot into alignment. It retrains your nervous system to feel safe in the body, and it teaches you that healing starts with awareness, not action. Action comes later. Awareness has to come first. Do this once today, then again tomorrow, and your body will start to notice. And you can do it before your meals. And you can start doing it at other times in the day when you're feeling quite stressed. 

Because the truth is, most women aren't stuck because they're in discipline. They're stuck because they have never been taught a better way. They've been told that healing is only about effort, but what it is actually about much before effort is attunement. When you start tuning into your body instead of overriding it, everything changes. When your symptoms stop feeling like random punishments, they actually start feeling like helpful signals. Peace that most wellness programs completely miss. 

Healing is not just physical, it's relational. It's about the relationship that you build with your body. Moment by moment. And this is why it matters so much. Because when you learn to listen with precision instead of panic, you stop chasing your health and you start co-creating it with your body. And this is exactly what we do inside the body wise healing framework. And it's exactly what I take you through. The one is to one Healing roadmap session because you don't need more protocols. You need the right lens so that your next step is simple, aligned, and sustainable according to what your body actually needs. So here's the body wise wrap up of what we covered today. 

Number one, healing that feels effortless isn't lazy or passive. It's deeply intentional. 

Number two, the real reason or symptoms persist isn't a lack of effort. It's disconnection. 

Number three, everything you've tried, from protocols to perfection has left you exhausted. But that's not because you fail, but because the approach itself was unsustainable. 

Number four, there is a better way. And that begins with listening. And that's when healing becomes possible and you start co-creating it with your body. 

Number five Quick win the two minute pre meal body scan that I shared with you that you can do before every meal. And also any time that you are feeling disconnected and stressed. And if this episode has made you feel seen, like somebody finally put words to what you have been feeling, make sure to share it. Its on your favorite podcast app. You can share it with somebody who needs to listen to this message.

 And you can also join me for a Healing Roadmap session. It's a 1 to 1 deep dive. Decode your top symptoms. We uncover what your body is trying to tell you and map out your personalized, body led action plan to move forward. I have shared the  link in the show notes below, and you can just sign up for this, roadmap. Uh, it's a limited number of spots that I put out every month because healing is not about doing more. It's about doing right for you, and your body is waiting for you to listen. 

If you're ready to get started, make sure that you sign up for this session. Uh, if you like this episode, check out episode 62 Why Willpower Isn't Healing You and the body. Let's shift that finally will. It's a perfect prelude to today's conversation. If you want to understand why your body is being stuck on the loop of chronic symptoms.