Listen - London Health Optimisation Summit Takeaway

I spent the majority of my weekend in London Business Design Centre in Islington, attending the London Health Optimisation Summit, listening to talks on all areas of health and trying out all sorts of supplements, machines and gadgets. I'm not going to lie; An event like this one is pretty up there for me. Spending a weekend with likeminded people, networking, listening to wise people and trying out the newest advances on the health market - I was in heaven!

My list of takeaways from the weekend is very, very long. So much brilliance gathered in one place - frankly, I'm still a bit high (and utterly exhausted). But one thing kept coming back to me; What about our inner knowing?

A few of the speakers I was lucky enough to experience live, mentioned this with their own words (Peter Crone and Barbara O'Neill to name a few), but especially in the expo area I experienced what some would describe as complete marketing overload. It was all about 'this gadget will calm your nervous system, this will make your brain stronger, this will detox your liver, this can scan your body for parasites, this will make your muscles work harder, this will help your microbiome, this will energise you, this will deliver oxygen, this will raise your frequency, this will shield your energy '. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love several of these things! But in my opinion they are not need to haves - they are nice to haves. And to be fair to the event this was an optimisation summit, and most of these things are there to help optimise health, but I'm sure you get where I'm going.

Especially the last 30 minutes of the last day was really interesting, with people frantically running around to try everything and purchase all the show specials before the doors closed. To some degree I feel like I witnessed reality on speed. Instagram ads gone wild. And I wonder how many people came home with things they didn't really need in the first place.

Which brings me back to my point. What about our inner knowing?

How did health become such a massive industry? When did we stop tuning in and just listening to our bodies?

Is my nervous system running wild? Maybe I need to calm down, meditate, hum (more on that here), sleep, talk it out. Am I feeling ill? Maybe some garlic, lemon and a good nights sleep would do the trick. Maybe something emotional is going on? Am I angry? Maybe it's time to work on setting boundaries and/or speaking up? Do I feel weak? Maybe it's time to work on strength. Am I experiencing brain fog or other worrying signals that my brain is struggling? Maybe it's time to take a look at my lifestyle, balance my hormones and/or work on elimination pathways in order to allow my body to detoxify better. Am I feeling down? Has something particular happened? What are my relationships like? Do I feel like I have a purpose? Am I moving my body? The list goes on.

We don't need gadgets for these things. Sometimes we need people/experts, but we generally (in my opinion) don't need things. What we do need is to get quiet and we need to listen. Without interrupting. Listen all the way to the end. To our bodies, to ourselves and to those around us. Really listen. Listen to the whispers before they become screams. Listen to the words in between the lines. Listen to the emotions underneath the surface. Listen.

In this very noisy world, where we are bombarded with ads and information all the time, it's easy to get swept away into the idea that someone else knows better than you do. So I encourage you to get really quiet and simply listen. Your body is smart; If you really listen, it will tell you exactly what it needs.