Your Body Knows First with Elizabeth Janowski

What if your body knows what you want before your mind can explain it? Artist, photographer, movement teacher, and Permission Project creator Elizabeth “Liz” Janowski joins Elaine to explore why authentic inner knowing often begins below the neck—and how freeform movement can help you hear it. Liz shares how motherhood led her back into her body, why desire is a life-giving force, and how years of social conditioning can make women override their own yeses and nos. You’ll discover simple ways to slow down, notice sensation, use touch and music intentionally, and create enough inner safety to recognize what feels true for you. This conversation invites you to stop outsourcing your knowing, treat your body as a trusted partner, and reconnect with the clarity, coherence, pleasure, and self-trust that become available when mind, body, and spirit are aligned.

Topics Covered (with timestamps) 0:00 What if your body already knows the answers you’re searching for? 3:55 Three conscious breaths, the episode Intention, and noticing Divine signals in the body 7:35 Why freeform movement is not about learning dance moves—it’s about authentic expression 9:07 “The body knows first”: desire, social conditioning, and learning what you actually want 10:24 How motherhood led Liz to movement and the creation of the Permission Project 13:00 Using the body as a receiver for intuition, inner knowing, and “warmer/colder” guidance 15:34 Liz’s definition of abundance: alignment and coherence of mind, body, and spirit 18:55 The body stories women carry—and how pleasing others can drown out your authentic response 21:01 Why safety, slowness, and embodiment can expand the story you hold about yourself 24:31 Coming home to the body in a screen-driven world—and expressing your unique yes 26:16 Touch, self-validation, and creating the feeling you want from within 28:56 Two simple practices to hear your body: sensory pleasure and making space to feel 32:34 How listening to your body can reduce reactivity and reveal what is really happening 33:39 Liz’s music-compilation gift for dropping into your body and clarifying desire 37:04 A final reminder: give yourself grace, listen a little more, and bring your body to the party

Key Takeaways (Skimmable Wins) Your body may register a true yes or no before your thinking mind has words for it. Desire is not something to suppress; it can be a life-giving signal that helps you recognize what is aligned for you. Freeform movement creates a way to express emotions and experiences that may be difficult to reach through thought alone. Self-trust grows when you create enough safety and quiet to notice sensation instead of automatically responding to other people’s needs and expectations. Small sensory choices—comfortable fabric, warm water, affectionate touch, music, rest—can help you rebuild an intimate relationship with your own preferences. Abundance can be experienced as coherence: mind, body, and spirit arriving at the same wholehearted yes.

Step-by-Step Process Shared Come Home to Your Body Create signals of safety → slow down, get comfortable, reduce expectations, and give yourself space to feel. Notice what feels good → pay attention to texture, temperature, taste, touch, music, beauty, and other sensory cues. Let yourself feel what is present → rather than immediately managing or overriding emotion, give it room to move through you. Listen for the yes and the no → notice what expands, contracts, excites, settles, or feels distinctly “not for me.” Express what you discover → move, reach out, ask for affection, have the conversation, or make a choice that honors your authentic response.

Listen to the episode for Liz’s lived examples and Elaine’s reflections on using the body as a receiver for inner guidance.

Questions Answered in This Episode How can I tell what my body is trying to communicate before my mind talks me out of it? Why do so many women lose touch with what they genuinely want? How can freeform movemen