There’s a quiet place beneath your ribs: a warm, rhythmic space where breath, blood, and feeling meet. It’s your belly.
And maybe, like so many of us, you’ve ignored her. Flattened her. Silenced her growls, her grief, her wisdom.

But what if your belly isn’t a problem to fix, but a center to love?
What if softness, not control is the medicine?

In my work with the body, I’ve witnessed again and again how touch, especially to the belly can awaken something ancient: safety, warmth, trust. Your belly remembers everything, but she also forgives everything. She just wants to be met.

And the most beautiful way to begin?
With your own hands. And one simple phrase:

“I love you, belly.”

A Simple Practice: Tracing “I LOVE YOU” into Your Belly

This gentle self-massage is more than just support for digestion. It’s an invitation into relationship—with your body, your breath, your buried tenderness.

Begin

Lie down somewhere cozy.
Rub your hands together until warm. Maybe add a drop of oil or balm you love.
Place both hands on your belly and take a slow breath.

The Sequence

“I” Stroke:
Use your right hand to gently stroke down the left side of your belly.
Say (silently or aloud): I.
Simple. Direct. Honest.
“LOVE” Stroke:
Move across the top of the belly from right to left, then down the left side again, tracing an upside-down “L.”
Say: LOVE.
Let it land. Let it soften.
“YOU” Stroke:
Starting at your lower right belly, stroke up, across, and then down the left side forming a big “U.”
Say: YOU.
Three words. One offering.

Repeat this sequence 3–5 times. Go slow. Breathe deep.

Then rest your hands over your navel. Listen.
Maybe whisper:
I love you, belly.
Again. And again. Until she hears you.

The Gut Holds More Than Your Food

Your gut is not just a digestive machine.
It’s an emotional and intuitive powerhouse.
It holds the tension of years you’ve tried to hold it all together.
It carries grief you didn’t know where to place.
It senses before your mind understands.
It protects, digests, remembers, and dreams.

Touching your belly is not just a physical act, it’s a listening.
A way of saying: I’m here now. You don’t have to hold this alone anymore.

I love you, belly.
Begin here.

With care,
Marie-Sophie

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