When Your Body Wants More From You
After two years of working in a crisis and immediate response social work setting, my body began to express signs of deep stress. At various points my hair began to fall out, my heart had palpitations, my stomach was often in knots and my immune system was shot. Overall I could tell my nervous system was charged up at most times and was ready to jump into action, even when all my mind wanted to do was rest.
My body was trying to send me signals, “we are not okay,” “we need more care,” “something needs to change.” My high stress environment caused me to separate from my body, focusing more in my head on the potential dangers of my job than feeling whole and comfortable. I finally started to listen to what my body was trying to communicate and began to learn more about embodiment practices.
Embodiment practices are not just for people who are experiencing the extreme symptoms that I was. In fact, it’s better to incorporate embodiment practices while you are not having such high physical stress so they can help you prevent high body disconnection and maintain physical calm.
"The goal is simply to listen to the wisdom of the spirit that often comes through the wisdom of the body." - Douglas Abrams, referring to Desmond Tutu's walking practice in The Book of Joy.
What is embodiment?
Embodiment is a practice of strengthening your connection and relationship with your physical body. It is a way to tangibly express emotions, thoughts, and spiritual struggles. It can help us learn to “drop in” from non-physical aspects (like our mind and spirit) back into our body to bring awareness to our physical form. Embodiment is not about solving or fixing but about kin-keeping with our bodies. In contrast, disembodiment would be feeling stuck in your head or non-physical consciousness.
In various settings, embodiment can be referred to as different things. Often mental health practitioners think of embodiment as somatic therapy, defined as “a holistic approach to mental health that addresses both the mind and the body. It prioritizes the mind-body connection, exploring the ways that our physical health affects our mental health and vice versa,” (Therapist.com, 2023). Some clinicians also referred to this just as the mind-body connection, the psycho-somatic connection, or connect it to polyvagal theory. Other scientists and physicians may refer to these ideas as psychoneuroimmunology, behavioral neuroscience, or medical intuition. Physical therapists, massage therapists and other bodyworkers may refer to embodiment as “body talk.” Choose the term that best aligns with your own understanding and conceptualization, I personally like embodiment as it feels less like jargon and leaves room to acknowledge the spiritual connection.
What is embodiment good for?
Embodiment helps us focus on physical sensations in order to better understand our internal state. It helps us strengthen our connections to our bodies, our intuition, and sense of self-trust. It can help us cope with pain, physical discomfort, and calm our nervous systems. It encourages our bodies to be healthier by not staying in fight, flight, or freeze states and by promoting physical movement. It can help us deal with issues such as low self-worth, exposure to trauma (including cultural trauma), and shadow work.
Types of practices
Yoga Asana - Yoga asana is utilizing yoga postures and poses in conjunction with breathwork and the theory of yoga. Simple put yoga sana “feels good in your body,” (One Flow Yoga, 2023).
Ecstatic Dance - this is a practice where you embrace spontaneity and intuition to let your body guide your movements. Check out a video here.
Massage (Including Self-Massage) - Connect with your body through touch, through your hands, through those of a loved one, a professional masseuse, or even some type of assistive device. Feel out the parts of your body that are holding tension and those that feel “nothing.” Lean into the “nothing” places as little pockets of peacefulness in your body. Don’t have a lot of time? Start by simply massaging your own hands for 1-2 minutes as a break between work or your usual tasks.
Intimacy (Including sexual intimacy and tantric yoga) - Lean into your intuition, your body sensations, what feels good. Connect deeply with your body and without passing judgment. As feelings of self consciousness or body shaming may come up, acknowledge them, thank your mind for trying to help you be aware of something and tell it you do not need that alert right now.
Breathwork - Contrary to common believe, breath is so much more active in our bodies than just with our lungs. Breathwork can help you connect to many different areas of your body if you are aware. Notice the sensations in your nasal passages on an inhale, or the warmth through your mouth on an exhale. Notice the way your belly can fill with air on an inhale and your diaphragm moves up on an exhale.
Square/Box breathing became a popularized breathwork technique with the Navy Seals because of the way it helps you “reset” your body during heightened stress. Try out a video here.
Meditation - Connect your mind, body, and spirit through a body awareness or body scan meditation. This includes becoming intensely focused on specific areas of your body one at a time. Try out a video here.
Grounding exercises - These focus on helping your body root into the present moment and the physical supports of your body around you. A grounding exercise may include planting your feet firmly on the ground to notice the way the floor/ground supports you. It could also be siting in a chair and noticing the way the chair supports your weight. It can also include tapping into your physical senses to place yourself in the reality of your environment. Try out a video here.
Resourcing - Your body is full of knowledge and resources already. It knows what calm and relaxed feels like, even if in the moment you feel heightened and tense. Next time you feel relaxed or full of joy, pause to save this feeling as a resource for the future. Notice all the physical sensations in your body, do you feel light? Grounded? Warm or cool? Do you feel a specific color for your energy? Do you feel a tingling or energy in specific areas? Write this down or save it as a voice memo. Call on these sensations next time your body feels tense. Remind yourself that the good feelings are inside you to access.
Movement - Pick a way to move your body that you can do without another goal. Move for the sake of moving or for the sake of joy and play. For example some people feel a sense of calm while running, while others only run for the sake of exercise or losing weight. If you are the later, that’s your clue to pick something else. Movement could simply be doing some stretches before bed or consciously rolling your shoulders to relax built up tension. Check out this video for some creative ideas.