A Practice: The Path to Living an Embodied Life
There is deep meaning that is created when one takes up the path of living an embodied life.
When we descend from the mind into the direct experience of the body, we can access our troubles, joys, and deep-seated desires with clarity. We can know ourselves in truth, and we can find our path to healing and freedom.
In order to even begin this type of processing, a few key elements need to be established.
A willingness to listen to the body.
A curiosity to what shows up in the body.
An attitude of kindness towards our experience.
Many people feel “numb” in their bodies — a lack of sensations, feelings, and emotions. I, too, have felt this numbness in my own gut and heart. I consider this the result of an overactive mind. If we are living life solely based on the mind’s thoughts, perceptions, and interpretations of our everyday experiences, and when we aren’t actively considering, “How does this feel in my body?” then we are easily prone to feeling internally numb — dormant, lifeless, empty.
For many of us, it isn’t until some major life event happens that the body shows up screaming. We feel that strike in our gut, or our heart feels like it is soaring, or we feel the deep well of grief in our solar plexus. Should we only consider the body when it is so loud that it is impossible to ignore?
My thought is no.
Because in denying the body on a daily basis we are denying our existence, our aliveness, and our humanity.
The more I have actively chosen to dive into my embodied experience, the more aware I have become of my needs, fears, and desires. I can understand who I am, where my wounding is, and what is lacking love and attention.
With awareness comes clarity. With clarity comes direction. With direction comes healing.
I have been working towards building a positive, loving relationship with myself—with ALL parts of me. I have been actively choosing activities, relationships, and a life path that create openness and vitality rather than a tightening of stress and anxiety. My gauge is my body — I attune to the nature of responses that occur within.
“BECAUSE DIVINE ENERGY IS INHERENT IN OUR BIOLOGICAL SYSTEM, EVERY THOUGHT THAT CROSSES OUR MINDS, EVERY BELIEF WE NURTURE, EVERY MEMORY TO WHICH WE CLING TRANSLATES INTO A POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE COMMAND ON OUR BODIES AND SPIRITS” (MYSS, PG. 67).
The language of the deep body is subtle. If the mind is like rapid-fire, the body is like the deep waters of the ocean. This means that in order to combat the feeling of numbness, the body needs to be approached with hefty doses of both patience and kindness.
I remember sitting in the meditation hall at a week-long silent retreat when we were invited to feel into our hearts. I noticed that I felt totally numb in my heart. I couldn’t feel anything. I wasn’t going to settle for that, because I knew beneath the surface there was something. I allowed my attention to rest on my heart. I breathed. My mind moved from, “C’mon, what is wrong with me?” to “It’s okay, let’s just be with this.” As I continued to bring kind attention to my heart, it felt like the hard outer shell began to break, slowly. I began to feel waves of sensation — pulsing, expansion, warmth, depth. My heart began to come alive, simply through kind awareness. Soon, it felt like it was rupturing at the seams and I could feel a well of emotion—my aliveness and my connectivity to everyone and everything.
I feel my own experience of this life becoming more brilliant, dynamic, vibrant, and vital from my attention to embodiment. Therefore, I have made it my life’s work to help others sense the life-changing nature of embodiment. In my sessions, I invite people inward to explore what is showing up for them as we release and open the physical body. I invite them to experience their bodies less like a machine, and more like this ever-shifting manifestation of who they are—history, thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, and experiences.
So, we come into the body. We slow down. We get curious about what is happening, right here, right now. We listen to the body with loving awareness. When we do this, we are creating an environment for our depths to unravel, shift, and awaken. My therapist calls this “surgery”. We are wildly shifting our internal landscape.
It is an act of courage to move from “the mental level into the physical level, into your body, to feel the truth viscerally and cellularly, and to believe it wholly” (Myss, p. 42).
*This post is in great reverence and gratitude to my meditation, dance and Hellerwork teachers along the way, as well as my therapist. My growth and understanding is dependent on the generosity of these wonderful humans.
**A human being who has experienced intense trauma may not feel safe diving deeply into the body. For these people, it is suggested to seek out professional supervision and guidance before attempting to explore your deep body. Much of what I speak of here requires parasympathetic nervous system activation, which is difficult to attain if there is a lack of feeling safe when diving deeply into an embodied experience.
***Recommended Reading: Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing by Caoline Myss, PH.D. Eastern Body, Western Mind: Psychology and the Chakra System as a Path to the Self by Anodea Judith.
© Theresa Elwell, 2019.