1372: My Body Knows Its Limits by Page Hill Starzinger

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

American Public Media

Arts, Performing Arts

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 13 October 2025

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today’s poem is My Body Knows its Limits by Page Hill Starzinger.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I know we often think of our intelligence as being related to our brains. Smart people are called “brainy.” Wise approaches to problem-solving are called “mindful.” But the body has its own intelligence. Some things we know, because we intuit them—as we say, we feel them in our gut. I sense when I’m in danger, or when someone is lying to me. I might get a prickle on the back of my neck, or a speeding up of my pulse, or an uneasy feeling in my stomach. I sense when I can trust someone, too. My nervous system relaxes around them.”

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Transcript

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1:05.8	I'm Maggie Smith, and this is the slowdown.
1:19.6	Thank you. Maggie Smith, and this is the slowdown. I think a lot about the human body and what it makes possible, the experiences I'm able to have because of my physical form.
1:30.8	I wasn't an athlete growing up. I was in my own head a lot instead.
1:37.3	So I've always felt like the real me isn't my body, but my mind, my thoughts, my feelings, my perceptions, my memories.
1:48.2	But without my body, what thoughts, feelings, perceptions, or memories would I have?
1:56.5	I feel joyful walking on a warm day because I can feel the sunlight on my skin
2:03.2	and see the trees and the sky
2:06.3	and hear the birds and the cicadas.
2:10.3	I'm having those sensory experiences
2:13.1	thanks to my body and my brain.
2:18.2	I know we often think of our intelligence as being related to our brains.
	...

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