When Your Body Knows Before Your Mind: Following the Pull

Laura Gates
Jan 2
6 min read

Sometimes the universe doesn't send gentle whispers. Sometimes it sends physical symptoms so strong you can't ignore them. My conversation with executive coach Jana Hendrickson reminded me that our bodies often know the truth long before our rational minds catch up.

The Day Paris Made Her Sick

Jana was 21 years old, driving toward Paris with her boyfriend. He had a prestigious stone masonry interview waiting, they had friends expecting them, and everything was lined up perfectly on paper.

But the closer they got to the city, the sicker she became.

Massive headaches. Hyperventilation. No logical reason.

"I'm so sorry," she told him when they arrived at their friend's apartment at 11 PM, "but I cannot stay here. I feel like I need to go to the hospital."

They made a choice that night. They could leave Paris, but they had to pick a direction. Her best language skills were in English, so they headed north toward England. They slept in the car and took the ferry the next morning.

Within three weeks, everything fell into place. He had a job. She had a job. They moved their entire lives to England instead of France.

"That ability to listen to your body's wisdom, that somatic knowing," I said to her. "And being able to voice that, and him being able to honor that. You honored something in yourself at 21 that many of us spend decades learning to recognize."

Because here's what I've learned through this podcast: you're going to hear stories about people who didn't listen to those warning signs. Jana trusted something she couldn't explain, and her boyfriend gave up a career-defining opportunity to honor her intuition.

The Wedding Day Vision Nobody Spoke

But Jana's story doesn't stop there. Sometimes we get the signs and we don't follow them, and that's part of the journey too.

On the morning of her wedding to that same boyfriend, she woke up in a beautiful castle room. And she had a vision of telling her best friend they were going to get divorced.

Her wedding planner pulled her aside before the ceremony: "When you get to the bottom of the stairs with your dad, you have to give your fiancé a really big hug because he seems really shaky and nervous."

Five years later, he told her why: "I did not want to get married."

They both knew on their wedding day. But they went through with it anyway.

"I feel like the universe needed us to have this experience for whatever reason," Jana told me. "There was so much goodness in those five years. It wasn't a waste of time. It really matured both of us in different ways."

I love that perspective. It's not failure to not listen to the signs. Sometimes the journey through that decision is exactly what we need.

The Parallel Path We Didn't Know We Were Walking

After 11 years in England, Jana felt pulled toward the United States. She went to Chris Guillebeau's World Domination Summit in Portland.

That's when I realized: I was there too.

We might have been sitting next to each other during that moment when the whole audience sang "Don't Stop Believing" with Brené Brown. We attended the same talks. Met the same people. Were inspired by the same speakers.

And we had no idea.

Jana decided to create what she wanted to see in the world. She launched a personal development conference in Berlin called "Alive in Berlin."

But standing on stage talking about feeling alive, she felt like a hypocrite. She wasn't alive in her own relationship.

A year later at World Domination Summit, a speaker asked: "If you get really honest, what does your future self know you have to do?"

The first thing in her brain: divorce.

She returned home in July 2014 and said to her husband: "Honey, I love you and I have to leave."

Over the next four years, Jana became completely nomadic. Just her, a laptop, and a suitcase. She followed synchronicities from Bali to Kenya to Hawaii. She tested the belief that you have to work hard to make money by having as much fun as possible and working less. She had her best financial year ever.

And in Los Angeles, at a training she only attended because a friend suggested it might ease her into another workshop, she met her now-husband Chris.

[Listen to the full conversation to hear about the dream Jana had years earlier involving blue passports and an American male voice, long before she knew she'd marry an American and move to the United States.]

How Do You Know When You're Being Pulled?

Fast forward to 2021. Jana kept seeing this woman on Instagram talking about unschooling her daughters in Michigan. The life looked perfect.

They moved sight unseen, across 2,000 miles, within five weeks of even knowing about the place.

When they arrived at their house, Jana cried for an hour and a half. "I knew this was where we were supposed to be."

I wanted to understand this better. How do you know when you're being pulled versus when you're just afraid?

"Usually it comes with equal measures of being scared and being excited," she said.

That stopped me. Because so many people think that if they're afraid, it means they shouldn't do the thing.

"I think fear is definitely an indicator that that's an area we need to explore," she explained. "You know what you need to do, and there might be a whole raft of reasons why you shouldn't do it. And yet you cannot not do the thing."

It may seem wrong to people. It may cause friction. It may be inconvenient or expensive. It may not make sense on paper.

And yet there's a knowing in your chest. You just know in your heart it's right.

Our Journeys Matter More Than We Know

As Jana was talking, I realized: we've been on parallel paths this whole time.

In 2011, I signed up for B-School with Marie Forleo. I read The 4-Hour Work Week. I went to World Domination Summit.

And when Jana moved to Michigan in 2021, I was watching. Her photos. Her joy.

It inspired my own move in 2022.

"I felt your joy," I told her. "I saw your journey unfold, and it gave me courage to make that leap. Our journeys matter. Our courageous leaps encourage the next person's courageous leap."

Jana smiled. "Sharing our own story is one service we can do to the world."

But here's what people don't see: the messy middle. The years of brewing and stewing before the leap.

"I think people think that insight and wisdom are going to descend from on high, this sudden flash of knowing," I said. "But my experience is more that it's this gradual knowing."

Jana agreed completely. Her divorce took at least two years of clarity work. They'd had trouble for eight years.

"The discomfort of the in-between is very real," she said. "People might want to avoid it or have an expectation that it should be faster or clearer. But sometimes we have to sit in that uncomfortable not knowing place before the knowing can emerge."

Years later, Jana returned to Paris with her second husband Chris. They had a wonderful time.

"It wasn't the wrong place," she said. "It was just the wrong time."

My Takeaway

This conversation reminded me that our bodies hold wisdom our minds can't always access. When Jana got sick driving toward Paris, her body was screaming what her mind didn't yet know. When she had that vision on her wedding day, the universe was whispering information she wasn't ready to act on.

And both were perfect.

Because surrendering to the signs isn't about always following them perfectly. Sometimes we get the signs and we don't follow them, and there's wisdom in those five years too. Sometimes we need the messy middle. Sometimes it takes years of brewing before we're ready for the leap.

What matters is developing the courage to listen. To honor that pull in your chest that says "I cannot not do this thing." To trust that even when you can't see the whole path, the next step will reveal itself.

Jana and I were on parallel paths for over a decade without knowing it. We might have sat next to each other at World Domination Summit. We definitely influenced each other from afar through social media.

And now, finally, we've had this conversation.

The timing is perfect. It always is.

Listen to the full episode of "Surrendering to the Signs" to hear about the dream Jana had years earlier involving blue passports and an American male voice that predicted her future, her baptism at seven months pregnant that gave her a clean slate, and why she believes AI will never replace the human quality of presence in coaching.

Find Jana on Instagram at @iamjanahendrickson or connect with her on LinkedIn. She's currently pursuing her PhD in professional coaching and human development and researching the intersection of executive development and spirituality.