Exploring Embodiment
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When we talk about embodiment, sometimes it becomes clearer when we look at the opposite. While we still have physical bodies, not all of us fully inhabit them. Many live predominantly from the neck up, burdened by to-do lists and extended workdays which can lead to some becoming chronically disembodied.
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Embodiment involves engaging with our emotions, sensations, movements and impulses in the present moment. It is an on going journey of developing heightened bodily sensitivity and awareness, rather than a fixed state of being “embodied”. Being embodied is an experience that is felt within.
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Our bodies hold memories of every interaction, circumstance, and event, we’ve encountered. By directly connecting with our nervous system, we can bypass the conscious influences we have and gain access to the unconscious mind.
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When we can build the capacity to notice and explore the messages our bodies communicate, then we can start to harness the power of healing. Our conscious awareness received this information about what needs attention and resolution for wholeness. Instead of seeing experiences as problems, they are important insights and messages guiding us forward.
The body is innately intelligent. By reconnecting to the body, our “body awareness helps us to access an internal source of wisdom that guides the healing process” (Ron Kurtz).
Through consistent embodiment practices, we develop a deep internal awareness, improving emotional regulation, enhancing relationships and unlocking our natural healing potential. The key lies in strengthening our somatic resources and fostering body awareness, even in unfamiliar situations. Slowly and at a tolerable pace, we begin to understand our nervous system states and narratives. This enables us to mindfully embrace challenging and sometimes overwhelming sensations with attentiveness and resilience.
By actively regulating our response to discomfort and bodily sensations instead of avoiding them, we interrupt conditioned habitual reactions and create opportunities for positive change.
Embodiment coaching invites clients to explore inner narratives and beliefs through mindful body awareness. Life’s stressors and challenges often create patterns of tension in the body. Body awareness becomes the pathway that allows us to access an internal source of wisdom. When clients engage body awareness and healing movements tailored to their preferred pace, the healing process begins.
Allan Schore noted embodiment work, “allow[s] our client to reexperience dysregulating effects in effectively tolerable doses in the context of a safe environment, so that overwhelming feelings can be regulated and integrated into the client's emotional life”.
Many well-being approaches today primarily focus on traditional mindset and talk therapy, which can be beneficial but often lack the tools for true bodily change. However through somatic work we can complete stress responses, build trust in our automatic bodily sensations and facilitate greater emotional tolerance to allow for holistic healing to take place.
Remember, you are not just a mind residing within a body; you are an embodied being, an integrated whole where your thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations merge to shape your unique experience of the world.