“Just listen to your body.”

It’s some of the most common advice given to postpartum parents - I’ll admit I’ve said this plenty in my classes as well! On the surface, it sounds compassionate and empowering. But for many people, it quickly becomes confusing, frustrating, or even paralyzing.

Because what happens when your body feels tired all the time?
Or when discomfort shows up in ways you don’t know how to interpret?
Or when “listening” seems to lead to doing less and less…until movement feels intimidating instead of supportive?

Listen to your body just isn’t practical if you don’t speak it’s language.

Listening Is Not the Same as Understanding

The idea that you should simply “listen to your body” assumes you already know how to interpret what it’s telling you. But most of us were never taught that skill, especially in the context of pregnancy or postpartum recovery.

Instead, we’ve been conditioned to ignore our bodies, override signals, or label sensations as good or bad without much nuance. So when someone says, “just listen,” it can feel like being handed a map written in a language you were never taught to read.

Listening is awareness.
Body literacy is comprehension.

Without literacy, listening alone can lead to second-guessing, fear, or avoidance.

Postpartum Bodies Send New and Unfamiliar Signals

During pregnancy and postpartum, many of the sensations you feel in your body will be unfamiliar.

You might notice:

• A sense of heaviness or pressure that doesn’t quite feel like pain

• Core weakness that shows up during everyday tasks

• Fatigue that isn’t fixed by rest alone

• Discomfort that changes day to day

Without context, these sensations can feel alarming, or easy to dismiss when they shouldn’t be.

Body literacy gives you the tools to ask better questions:

• Is this sensation asking for rest, support, or adaptation?

• Is this discomfort part of rebuilding capacity, or a sign to modify?

• What systems are involved here: breath, nervous system, pelvic floor, load?

That’s very different from simply deciding whether something feels “good” or “bad.”

When “Listening” Turns Into Avoidance or Pushing Through

In my classes, I often see people swing between two extremes.

On one end, listening to your body becomes a reason to avoid a movement entirely, because everything feels unfamiliar or uncomfortable and you’re scared of causing harm. Not to mention the fact that fitness influencers have probably convinced you that with just one wrong move, you’ll be peeing yourself til your 80. 

On the other end of the spectrum, we can justify pushing through sensations that don’t actually feel right, because discomfort has been normalized and we’re worried that if we do change, stop, or modify, we’ll never feel like ourselves again.

Neither extreme supports healing.

Body literacy lives in the middle. It helps you recognize which sensations are information, which are warning signs, and which are simply part of adaptation.

Body Literacy Is a Skill, Not a Personality Trait

Ok, maybe you can argue that a certain level of intuitive understanding is a part of human nature that we’ve somehow lost connection to.

But in reality, body literacy is learned. It’s developed through:

• Education and context

• Guided movement experiences

• Repeated check-ins that build trust

• Permission to experiment and adjust

You don’t need perfect intuition. It takes time to build a relationship with your body that’s informed, curious, and responsive.

Why This Matters for Long-Term Health

Body literacy isn’t just important during matrescence. It’s a foundational skill for how you’ll move, care for yourself, and relate to your body for the rest of your life.

When fitness focuses only on external goals, or relies on vague advice like “just do what feels right to you,” it misses an opportunity to teach skills that support lifelong health.

Body literacy helps you:

• Adapt movement across different seasons of life

• Respond to stress instead of overriding it

• Build strength without disconnecting from your body

• Trust yourself in moments of uncertainty

That’s not just fitness. That’s sustainable wellbeing. And isn’t that kind of the point?

Moving Beyond

“Listening to your body” isn’t wrong. It is incomplete.

What women need is support in learning how to interpret what their body tells them, so movement becomes a tool for connection, not confusion.

That’s the difference between guessing and understanding.
And it’s where real confidence is built.

If you’re tired of wondering what the heck your body is trying to tell you, you’re in the right place - we’re learning this together one step at a time.

Join the MomBod Fitness waitlist if you want a front row seat to my body literacy education, classes, and resources!