What is embodiment?
One of the most common questions I receive when I tell someone I’m an embodiment guide is
“what is that?”
Whether you’ve been here for a while, or if you are new to me, I feel this is something that is worth sharing again.
As a concept, embodiment is the process whereby our physical bodies incorporate traces of previous experiences.
The root of the word really holds it all for me.
Embody is a verb, from em- (1) "in" + body (n.)
And in the 1540’s it was used in reference to a soul or spirit.
It evolved to the ability to "express, arrange or exemplify intelligently or perceptibly;"
I see embodiment as the way we all move through life, but the difference is the awareness we bring to the experience.
When I bring this to the work that I do - archetypal work, healing the inner maiden, which is to bring the focus to the emotional source of the patterns that emerge in our lives and relationships - the embodied approach means that we move with all parts of us, as we trace previous experiences. And so embodiment may be physical, cognitive or emotional and refers to the processes whereby a person's life experiences are literally incorporated into their body.
I sometimes hear the word disembodied, but to me it's more that we have lost ourselves, that we are disconnected from the full spectrum of sensations, emotions, consciousness that we can experience as human beings.
When I look at our culture, I see and feel a heavy focus on the cerebral.
And when I get questions like this, I understand why.
It makes sense, seeing as this is what our culture has been built on. But where we are going in the future is going to be based on a new perspective - the direct felt experience. On feeling, sensations, emotions, gnosis. But beyond and beneath the question I feel a curiosity that is growing.
Another way we can look at how to explore the word embodiment is playing with other terms that give us access to the experience of it.
Because embodiment is also “a tangible or visible form of an idea, quality, or feeling.”
We can feel embodiment in the way things are personified.
In symbols.
In the way that things intersect and incarnate.
In how things are expressed.
In how things evoke a response in us.
I believe that this is the way that we are going to evolve.
When we are able to open, to feel, and connect with the intelligence of our bodies, but also their wisdom.
When we live our lives from this place, and not just from the mind, things shift.
I know that it's not for everyone, this is clear.
It is for the few, for the human beings who feel this shift coming and who know in their bones that their human experience in technicolour will be felt by people who have no words or understanding for what is happening.
As an embodiment guide, I work with every layer of the human being as a way for my clients to understand and connect to the power, the mystery and beauty they are.