The Body Knows

About The Body Knows

Trading self-improvement for self-trust and rooting personal development in collective liberation. The Body Knows is where we — Ana and Leona — share the things we learned the hard way about mind body healing, somatics and embodiment, and why trying to “fix yourself” never really works. We’re not selling five-step plans, and we’re definitely not pretending we have our shit together. We are coming back to the wild, wise truth that your body was never the problem. It’s been the compass all along. If that makes you exhale, hit subscribe on YouTube, Substack, or your favorite podcast app. thebodyknows.substack.com (https://thebodyknows.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Ana Ally & Leona Waller

Category

education · health & fitness

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

26 Jun 2025

Latest episode

21 Jul 2026

Latest episodes

25 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   21 Jul 2026

   The 5 best pieces of relationship advice I've ever gotten - TBK #23

   Most of us were taught that the way to be close to someone is to be “easy to love”: agreeable, low-maintenance, undemanding. Actually, that’s a very good way to ensure no one really knows you, and you feel pretty lonely in your relationships. In this one, Leona makes the case that the closeness you're craving isn't built by smoothing yourself into the most palatable version of you. It's built by revealing the unsmoothed truth — your wants, your boundaries, the fears underneath both, and sometimes just the fact that you're confused. Every awkward, vulnerable, unflattering thing you've been carefully editing out is the exact thing that lets someone actually know you. Which starts with you being able to see these things for yourself. Specifically Leona gets into: - Why you totally can ask (not expect) a partner to hold your boundaries for you - Her experience with a week-long "flirtationship" with a hard off-switch - Why telling someone what you want is a kindness to them, not a self-indulgence - How boundaries, which seem like a buzzkill, are actually a foundation for safety AND turn-on - What to do when you can't even name what you're feeling, except confused 🌀 TEMPLE OF YES https://www.eroticreclamation.com/temple-of-yes (https://www.eroticreclamation.com/temple-of-yes) 🌀 EPISODES THAT DEEPEN THIS TOPIC TBK 17: When being “nice” stops working (boundaries deep dive!) (https://thebodyknows.substack.com/p/you-need-to-get-out-of-your-head)https://thebodyknows.substack.com/p/when-being-nice-stops-working-tbk (https://thebodyknows.substack.com/p/when-being-nice-stops-working-tbk) Erotic Reclamation Podcast: When Intimacy is Frictiony and You’re Not Sure Why - https://open.substack.com/pub/eroticreclamation/p/when-intimacy-is-frictiony-and-youre (https://open.substack.com/pub/eroticreclamation/p/when-intimacy-is-frictiony-and-youre) What is Energetic Sex? - https://open.substack.com/pub/eroticreclamation/p/what-is-energetic-sex (https://open.substack.com/pub/eroticreclamation/p/what-is-energetic-sex) Foreplay and Precare - https://open.substack.com/pub/eroticreclamation/p/foreplay-and-precare (https://open.substack.com/pub/eroticreclamation/p/foreplay-and-precare) 🌀 OUR LINKS Join our mailing list for upcoming programs here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdJPQ28Eip5h6YGhlQODPkeqvrJZeZhqpZ-XIVxZbMixb-Pxw/viewform (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdJPQ28Eip5h6YGhlQODPkeqvrJZeZhqpZ-XIVxZbMixb-Pxw/viewform) Thank and support us for our work by buying us a coffee here: https://ko-fi.com/thebodyknows (https://ko-fi.com/thebodyknows) Follow Ana on IG at https://www.instagram.com/roam.and.rise (https://www.instagram.com/roam.and.rise) And Leona on IG at https://www.instagram.com/leonachaseslions (https://www.instagram.com/leonachaseslions) 🌀 TIMESTAMPS 0:00 – A moment that made Leona go: wait, you can communicate that?? 2:18 – Intimacy is built on sharing your wants and needs, not suppressing them. 6:23 – There is no way things have to be in romance. There’s what you want, what they want, and where those things overlap. 9:48 – Telling your partner your desires isn’t selfish. It sets them up for success. 11:56 – Making things off-limits is actually freeing and relaxing and titillating all at the same time. In other words, not lame. 17:25 – You don’t have to be perfect or healed or 100% clear on what you want. You just have to communicate. 20:27 – A place where you can learn and practice creating this level of intimacy: Temple of Yes Retreat in Austin, Texas (early-bird ends Aug 1, 2026) 🌀 The Body Knows is where we — Ana Ally and Leona Waller‬ — say the quiet parts out loud about healing, somatics, and why trying to “fix yourself” never really works. We’re not selling five-step plans, and we’re definitely not pretending we have our s**t together. We're coming back to the wild, wise truth that your body was never the problem. It’s been the compass all along. ✨ Subscribe for: → New episodes every other week → Embodied truth, not performance → A little irreverence, a lot of nervous system wisdom Get full access to The Body Knows at thebodyknows.substack.com/subscribe (https://thebodyknows.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

2. 

   25 Jun 2026

   Time management is for machines. Energy management is for creatures - TBK #22

   You've optimized the morning routine. You've color-coded the calendar. You've calculated how to squeeze every drop of productivity out of every hour… but now the problem is finding the energy to actually do all the shit you’ve listed. This is because time management treats you like a machine, something that can produce on demand. But you're not a machine. You're a creature. An apple tree doesn't need a timesheet to go apples, it needs sun, water, good soil, and a supportive ecosystem. So the smartest thing we can do is start managing our energy instead, cultivating the vitality that makes us ready and excited to meet our goals. But before you start googling “vitality routines”, remember that what fills you up is not what fills the next person up. Ana comes alive from warmth, slowness, cuddles. Leona comes alive dancing barefoot in the backyard at 8am. The only way to find yours to actually spend some time in your body, feeling the difference between nourishment, forcing, and numbing. We also get into: - Ojas, the Ayurvedic word for the deep lifeforce that sleep alone won't refill - How forcing "self-care" (the clean eating, the cold plunge, the routine) can drain you - How many morning routines are built for a certain type of person, which may not be you - The difference between nourishment and vegging out of the couch - How to actually receive the nourishment in our self-care Stop trying to keep yourself running. Start figuring out what makes you overflow. 🌀 EPISODES THAT DEEPEN THIS TOPIC TBK 13: You need to get out of your head (but not to where you think) https://thebodyknows.substack.com/p/you-need-to-get-out-of-your-head (https://thebodyknows.substack.com/p/you-need-to-get-out-of-your-head) TBK 11: Medicine is whatever brings you back to wholeness https://thebodyknows.substack.com/p/medicine-is-whatever-brings-you-back (https://thebodyknows.substack.com/p/medicine-is-whatever-brings-you-back) TBK 5: What somatics helps with, and how to get started (learning to tune your sensitivity to your body and surroundings) https://thebodyknows.substack.com/p/what-somatics-helps-with-and-how (https://thebodyknows.substack.com/p/what-somatics-helps-with-and-how) 🌀 OUR LINKS Join our mailing list for upcoming programs here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdJPQ28Eip5h6YGhlQODPkeqvrJZeZhqpZ-XIVxZbMixb-Pxw/viewform (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdJPQ28Eip5h6YGhlQODPkeqvrJZeZhqpZ-XIVxZbMixb-Pxw/viewform) Thank and support us for our work by buying us a coffee here: https://ko-fi.com/thebodyknows (https://ko-fi.com/thebodyknows) Follow Ana on IG  at https://www.instagram.com/roam.and.rise (https://www.instagram.com/roam.and.rise) And Leona on IG at https://www.instagram.com/leonachaseslions (https://www.instagram.com/leonachaseslions) 🌀 TIMESTAMPS 0:00 — What is energy management vs time management? An apple metaphor 5:35 — Ojas: the Ayurvedic understanding of vitality 8:56 — Nourishment isn’t one-size-fits-all 11:48 — When “self-care” becomes its own kind of stress 15:20 — Some people refuel through relaxation, some refuel through excitement. 16:57 — How to tell something is nourishing, rather than just numbing 18:55 — The master list: easy go-tos that fill many people up 19:35 — How to actually receive the full nourishment of the present moment 24:07 — Unhinged but effective: the weirder side of energy management 🌀 The Body Knows is where we — Ana Ally and Leona Waller‬ — say the quiet parts out loud about healing, somatics, and why trying to “fix yourself” never really works. We’re not selling five-step plans, and we’re definitely not pretending we have our shit together. We're coming back to the wild, wise truth that your body was never the problem. It’s been the compass all along. ✨ Subscribe for: → New episodes every other week → Embodied truth, not performance → A little irreverence, a lot of nervous system wisdom Get full access to The Body Knows at thebodyknows.substack.com/subscribe (https://thebodyknows.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

3. 

   19 May 2026

   You're not anxiously attached. You're reacting exactly as you were trained to - TBK #21

   You’re spiraling about a man… again. You know you have anxious attachment, you’ve tried putting your phone on airplane mode, or sending screenshots to your friends to see what they think. But you’re done with this pattern, but can’t seem to get out of it. Here's why nothing has stuck: you've been handed top-down tools for a bottom-up problem. You can't behavior-modify your way out of a nervous system that was wired from childhood to source your sense of worth and safety from outside yourself. Your anxiety isn't a personal failure. It's an appropriate response to being raised in a system that taught you you’re valuable only when you have a man’s attention. In this episode, Ana and Leona unpack why anxious attachment is a symptom — not the problem — and what it actually takes to start building the self-respect that was never anyone else's to give. Specifically, we get into: - how to start listening to your body’s anxiety rather than “fixing” it - The difference between self-love (bubble baths) and self-respect (who gets access to you) - The sentence most women don't even question: "my desirability is determined by their desire for me" - How to tell the difference between your past trauma being triggered and your body picking up on something real (hint: it's usually both) - The first somatic practice to start with if you've never done this work before 🌀 EPISODES THAT DEEPEN THIS TOPIC TBK 17: When “being nice” stops working (learning to hold standards and boundaries) https://thebodyknows.substack.com/p/when-being-nice-stops-working-tbk (https://thebodyknows.substack.com/p/when-being-nice-stops-working-tbk) TBK 4: “When this happens, I feel this”: a simpler way to say the hard stuff https://thebodyknows.substack.com/p/when-this-happens-i-feel-this-a-simpler (https://thebodyknows.substack.com/p/when-this-happens-i-feel-this-a-simpler) TBK 10: Step-by-step tools for discharging stress, anger, and overwhelm https://open.substack.com/pub/thebodyknows/p/just-relax-doesnt-work-when-youre (https://open.substack.com/pub/thebodyknows/p/just-relax-doesnt-work-when-youre) TBK 5: What somatics helps with, and how to get started (learning to tune your sensitivity to your body and surroundings) https://thebodyknows.substack.com/p/what-somatics-helps-with-and-how (https://thebodyknows.substack.com/p/what-somatics-helps-with-and-how) TBK 16: The somatic reframe that ended my war with chronic illness https://thebodyknows.substack.com/p/the-somatic-reframe-that-ended-my (https://thebodyknows.substack.com/p/the-somatic-reframe-that-ended-my) 🌀 OUR LINKS Join our mailing list for upcoming programs here (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdJPQ28Eip5h6YGhlQODPkeqvrJZeZhqpZ-XIVxZbMixb-Pxw/viewform)! Thank and support us for our work by buying us a coffee here (https://ko-fi.com/thebodyknows)! Follow Ana on IG here (https://www.instagram.com/roam.and.rise) and Leona on IG here (https://www.instagram.com/leonachaseslions). 🌀 TIMESTAMPS 00:00 — Oh hello, anxious attachment 01:26 — The system we were raised in: sourcing safety, belonging, and dignity from the male gaze 10:03 — How this shows up as anxiety in your body (and why the appropriate response isn't to calm down) 13:25 — Anxious attachment as an adaptive childhood survival strategy 17:23 — How the patriarchy entrenches anxious attachment in women 23:05 — So much of women’s empowerment online still centers men 27:20 — What it feels like to center yourself in a healthy way (versus narcissistic) 31:32 — The first step: reclaiming our bodies and our inner authority 38:39 — Learning to evaluate what’s happening rather than react by trying to change yourself 43:39 — Figuring out what’s an internal problem (me problem) versus an external problem (them problem) 51:03 — Learning the signals of your nervous system: I feel safe versus I feel something is off 🌀 The Body Knows is where we — Ana Ally and Leona Waller‬ — say the quiet parts out loud about healing, somatics, and why trying to “fix yourself” never really works. We’re not selling five-step plans, and we’re definitely not pretending we have our s**t together. We're coming back to the wild, wise truth that your body was never the problem. It’s been the compass all along. ✨ Subscribe for: → New episodes every other week → Embodied truth, not performance → A little irreverence, a lot of nervous system wisdom Get full access to The Body Knows at thebodyknows.substack.com/subscribe (https://thebodyknows.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

7 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

7 ratings

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Guest appearances

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