What is Embodiment? And Why it is Important for our Culture…..
What Does Embodiment Mean?
Five Keys to Embodiment and Why it’s Important for Our Culture
What does embodiment mean? Are you dedicated to learning about yourself, your body, your core wounds and shadow side so you can be a better person, feel more connected to self and others and love boldly and courageously? If you answered YES, then read on. If you answered no, may this article shed some light on the magnificence of embodiment.
What is embodiment?
Embodiment encompasses a plethora of ideas and is better understood and felt through the body. With that being said, a simple umbrella definition for embodiment is the mind body arts, and as a society, embodiment is what the world needs now. Hallelujah that it is currently at the forefront of our culture (more on that later).
“A simple umbrella definition for embodiment is the mind body arts.”
Do you remember the #metoo hashtag and its significance? For a hot moment, #metoo was splashed everywhere in the news, billboards, stories you name it. Tarana Burke, an incredible woman who started the #metoo movement, said she did it with the hopes of raising the awareness of the amount of women who had been abused. The #metoo went viral and became a global movement. Thank you Tarana for it gave us as a collective something that we needed to look at and heal.
“Thank you Tarana Burke, founder of the #metoo movement. Your work gave us as a collective, something that we needed to look at and heal.”
For that, we are all grateful. Shedding the light on a big collective shadow that had been lurking in the dark has brought about huge shifts in humanity.
In the same way that the #metoo hashtag was seen everywhere, nowadays, embodiment is too. The repeated use of the ‘E’ word has raised awareness and curiosity and has helped to reveal another current challenge that our society is facing on a massive scale: disconnection. I will share more about that in a moment but first, let’s diver deeper into embodiment.
As an embodiment geek and educator, I frequently get asked, “What is embodiment?” There are many definitions and it depends on who you are speaking to. Each person defines embodiment differently, yet, each person’s definition has a similar theme: the body.
Aside from embodiment being the study of the body as a subject and not an object, here are several definitions from people who teach embodiment:
Embodiment is “showing up in the best way for what wants to be expressed through this body that we were given. Doing the best with this container that we have been given to connect and create,” Michelle Boule.
Embodiment is “a state in which the whole of your intelligence is brought into coherence. It’s the bridge between the self and the mindful present and when its brought into integrity,” Phillip Shepard (one of my favorite teachers)
Embodiment is, “my point of leverage, my truth; access to beauty, truth, and goodness. It is opening to what wants to happen truthfully in the moment,” Dylan Newcomb.
To me, embodiment is ‘erotic intelligence.’ The word erotic tends to elicit ideas in relation to porn, obscenity or sex, however, erotic intelligence is not that all; it encompasses sensual intelligence, emotional intelligence, body attunement, radical self-love, social intelligence, and creative imagination.
Embodiment is ultimately a way to heal yourself and the collective; in addition, it is a tool to be used as a path toward self-actualization (fulfillment of one's talents and potentialities). It is the ability to be fully present; to be fully aware (of the seen and the unseen); to feel your feelings; to integrate and regulate the body and mind; to know and speak your truth, and feel deeply connected to self, Source and everything all at once. WOW, that is a lot. I know.
All of the above definitions have facets of truth. From reading them, you can conclude that embodiment is something that is hard to define. And, erotic intelligence is the way in which I teach embodiment, however, there are 5 key ingredients to embodiment.
Here are the Main Ingredients of Embodiment:
1. AWARENESS
To be embodied, one has deep awareness and is tuned into what is referred to as a felt sense. A felt sense is a term coined by Eugene Gendlin, a philosopher and psychologist. It is your ability to feel the physical sensations of the body. It is sensual aliveness and a profound sensitivity to your body’s language.
“Awareness is sensual aliveness and a profound sensitivity to your body’s language.”
Most people are not aware at this level of the body’s wisdom and what the body is trying to communicate to them through physical sensations.
To provide you with an example: You might say, “I am a sad.” How do you know you are sad? What is your body feeling to indicate to you that you are sad? Possibly heat or a tingling around the heart, maybe a rush of warm energy to the face or somewhere else in your body.
With awareness comes the ability to feel what we are feeling. This is such a key part to embodiment.
2. BREATH
Breath is what gives us life. It is such a powerful tool. Our breath always matches our state of being. Ever notice what happens to your breath when you are angry? How about when you are tired? When you are angry, your breath is more than likely short. When you are tired, your breath is probably slow.
If you stop or hold your breath, you will feel less. The magnificent aspect about breath is that your state of being reflects your breath AND your breath reflects your state of being. With that said, if you can become a master of your breath, then you can become a master of your being state. Voila!
3. MOVEMENT
Even in stillness there is movement. Our bodies are divine perfection. Our bodies were designed for movement. For the mere fact that we are living, breathing animals, there is movement. Breath is movement. When we breathe, the rib cage expands, the diaphragm, lungs, and heart move, and the blood circulates.
“Our bodies were designed for movement.”
A healthy person has a fluid moving body. People who sit in front of a desk or those who don’t move as a part of their routine, begin to lose the fluidity in their movements. When we cease to move, stagnation sets in, we feel less and disease begins to set in.
4. SOUND
Sound is preverbal. In the beginning, there was sound. Nature produces a myriad of sounds. Infants communicate through sound via their physical sensations of what they see, hear, feel, taste, and smell. We express ourselves through sound, via the voice. It is natural to want to sigh when we are exhausted, scream when we are afraid, or moan with pleasure. These are natural instincts. But somehow we were taught to, “stop being so loud,” or “stop making those funny noises.” Sound helps to release tension, stress and pain and equalizes your energy. It is such an essential part of our existence, but somewhere along our life’s journey we learned to minimize our sound.
“As often as you can, make sounds that feel good. Express yourself.”
5. CONNECTION
This includes connection with self, another and the earth.
Self-connection. Embodiment is having an extreme connection with ourselves. On the path to embodiment, we become deeply aware of all that is happening in our bodies (which includes the mind). When we begin to attune to what is happening on a deep body level, we observe when something feels good, or if something feels bad. There is a tendency of our culture to avoid pain at all costs. So, if something feels good, we want more of it. If something feels bad, we tend to ignore it and turn away from it and instead lean into our pleasure activities: television, endless scrolling, drinking, eating, sex, or other vices. Or in order to not feel the pain we direct bring our attention up into the head and try to ‘think’ our way out of the uncomfortableness or pain. The point is, is to give attention to these sensations and feelings as a way to understand ourselves- not to ignore them. In a way, “Embodiment forces us to be with our truth.”
“Embodiment forces us to be with our truth.”
What we do with our discovered truth is a whole other topic. However, embodiment allows us the opportunity for full self-acceptance. This can be challenging because we try to fix and change things but we must first lovingly accept what is.
Connection With Another. In connecting with another, we have the opportunity for intimacy, which includes touch, or we can shun away from it. We are born for connection. We would die if left alone. It is a fact. We need each other. To be able to see the honest reflection of ourselves in the eyes of another person is such a gift. And it is this reflection that enables us to become aware of all the places that we hide from ourselves.
“To be able to see the honest reflection of ourselves in the eyes of another person is such a gift.”
You know that feeling, when you have someone’s full, undivided attention? It’s called presence. Ah, presence. With it we are able to ground in the here and now. With an embrace, connection and presence with another, what feelings arise? Intimacy with another person allows us to for a moment to not be so self absorbed, tune into another and feel that we are not alone. For that moment, we get a shared experience of staying anchored in ourselves and yet fully present with the other. Connection and intimacy allows us to feel even deeper, and when we feel more we have care.
Connection with Earth. When we get out into nature and experience the splendor of the Earth, we have a sense of being our true self. It is because we are being reflected back all of the wildness that lives within each and every one of us. It is a vital connection with which some of us have lost touch with or have not had much access to. On the path of embodiment, when we deepen our bodily awareness, know, accept and care for ourselves and each other more, that extends out into our Mama Earth which is the mother of all mothers and that which sustains us. Once we use up all of Her resources, we will cease to exist.
“Embodiment has a direct correlation to the care and respect of our Mama Earth.”
Why is Embodiment Important?
As I alluded to earlier, embodiment is at the forefront of today’s society. This heightened awareness is a necessity because embodiment and what it entails is the exact thing that our world needs right now. And, desperately! Why? Because as a culture we are disembodied (not in our bodies) and disconnected, especially since the advent of social media and smartphones. Social and emotional learning has dropped drastically because of the information age, smartphones, and social media. With the decline of social and emotional learning and the fact that we are disconnected from our bodies and not in touch with our feelings and emotions, we are in big trouble. Embodiment is the panacea to our cultural neurosis. If we can not love, accept, connect and know ourselves, how are we able to open up, be vulnerable, love, connect or care for another? This disconnection is happening on an individual level, imagine what it is doing on a collective level. We are witnessing what it is doing on a collective level right now. We are becoming desensitized and roboticized. And now with Co-vid 19, there is an even greater level of disconnection and disembodiment at hand. Embodiment heals.
It is quite amazing how far we have come in the field of body mind connection. It was once thought that the mind was a ‘computer program’ separate from the body. There was a time when it was thought in the education, science, and therapy world of psychology (the scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those affecting behavior) that the mind was the only way in which to understand ourselves and our behavior.
Research by George Lakoff, a cognitive linguist and philosopher, showed that cognition, semantics and language are influenced and determined by our bodily experiences in the physical world; that language comes from physical interactions during the first several years of life, and that metaphors are based on the physiology of emotions. This is importance because it shows how significantly the body and its sensations and experiences have shaped human culture. Hence, knowing and listening to the body’s wisdom is of great importance.
Today we now have surmounting evidence that proves that the body and mind are inherently connected and influence each other. Do not neglect the body as it houses our mind (cognition), our emotions, our perceptions, our relating and our expression (behavior). These things have been inherent in our bodies from the beginning of our lives. Get in touch with your body. To be embodied is to understand what it is to be human.
Enjoy the wonders of your human form, the body, and use embodiment and all that it entails as a path to awaken love for love is why we are all here: to care for ourselves, each other, and the Earth.
* * Receive this free 8 Minutes to Bliss Guided Embodiment Practice- connect, dance and move with the bliss that is you!
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Jennevieve Ybarra
jennevieveybarra.com
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