18/07/2026
“What does my body need in this very moment?"
The question that evolved into *When the Body Whispers*
It began almost a decade ago with this simple question.
I'd found myself on the Greek island of Amorgos on a wellness retreat. A few months later, I was invited back to speak at the first Elysia Convention about meditation and mindfulness for people living with chronic stress and long-term illness.
The irony wasn't lost on me.
As I prepared my talk, I realised I had rarely stopped long enough to ask myself that same question.
At the time, life was full. I was working across multiple clinical roles, as a GP, in upper GI endoscopy, emergency medicine, and leading work in mental health and homelessness. At home, I was also helping to care for my father. Even my downtime had a purpose. I'd escape to the Lake District for a day on the fells, but also pick up an out-of-hours shift.
The mountains gave me moments of stillness. They reminded me what it felt like to simply be. But I hadn't yet learnt how to carry that stillness into everyday life.
Instead, I was constantly moving on to the next task, the next responsibility, the next achievement. My nervous system had become so used to operating on high alert that it simply felt normal.
So I began asking myself one question.
“What does my body need in this very moment?"
Not just in quiet moments, but in the middle of busy clinics, difficult conversations, overwhelming days and times of stress.
I realised things like I’d waited hours before taking a sip of water. I’d missed lunch due to busy on calls or simply not having time. In heightened stressful moments in clinical settings I hadn’t taken moments to process. I’d stopped taking care of the basics and was constantly pushing through.
It led me to explore the science of the nervous system, trauma, chronic stress, inflammation and chronic illness. But it also led me somewhere much closer to home.
I realised I'd spent years encouraging my patients to look after themselves while becoming increasingly disconnected from my own needs. In many ways, I had become the doctor who practised “Do as I say, not as I do."
I also realised that much of my twenties and thirties had been spent in survival mode.
From the outside, I was building a career, caring for others and achieving the goals I'd set myself. Beneath the surface, however, my nervous system had adapted to constant pressure. Survival had become my normal.
Learning to regulate my nervous system took years of curiosity, science, reflection and lived experience. It taught me that health depends on creating the conditions in which the body feels safe enough to regulate, adapt, heal and thrive.
That journey became *When the Body Whispers*.
I don't have all the answers. I’m constantly learning and developing deeper understanding. But I do know what it feels like to become disconnected from your own body.
Possibly one of the most important questions we can ask ourselves is still one of the simplest:
“What does my body need in this very moment?"
Sometimes the body does whisper long before it shouts.
My hope is that this book helps more people hear those whispers, and gives them permission to ask themselves the same question.
“What does my body need in this very moment?"
https://amzn.eu/d/0dArowRR
https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/When-the-Body-Whispers-by-Dr-Jasmin-Tzortzakakis-Malik/9781997730453
