Embodiment
Embodiment is really just being and living through all of you. Using your body and mind together. It’s a conscious gathering of our experiences, feelings, thoughts and sensations. It may seem simple but most of us are more aware and alerted to our thoughts and emotions than our body feeling sensations. They are both very different worlds, bringing information, insights and intuitions from different perspectives. One could be seen as more analytical and factual and the other intuitive and reflective. One comes from the brain's predictive thinking, the other from being present to ourselves. We really need both.
As somatic therapists, we often talk about being in our body not because that’s where the focus should be, but because it’s what we all forget and struggle with most. We live in a thinking world and life demands our thinking, but sometimes we need to not think and just be present to ourselves. Maybe our thinking could benefit from being grounded in our body.
Besides the demands of life, trauma can also disconnect us. In repairing this disconnection that trauma brings, most of our healing is in finding ourselves and trusting ourselves again. Trusting our mind and thoughts as well as our body and feeling sensations. When our nervous system becomes dysregulated by traumatic experiences, we lose connection and trust in our body. Healing the effects of trauma on our nervous system rebuilds this trust and helps us feel a sense of control again. This healing allows us to become more embodied.
We need both our body and mind.
Embodiment is also being able to live our truth and live authentically. Once you’ve reconnected with yourself and rebuilt trust then it’s the journey of discovering trust in relation to others. Being authentic in a relationship requires the foundation of trusting yourself. Don’t fall into the trap of only trusting yourself when others accept you. Your validity does not come from what others think of you, it only comes from how you see yourself.
Being embodied also means that you trust and validate yourself, that you trust your purpose and value to this world. That you care about your life and how you live in this world. That you understand your values and beliefs. That you don’t need others to validate you and that you can hold your own when in the presence of others.
As we begin a new year, we can find ways to bring more healing into our lives, so we can become more embodied and authentic. A healing support for others.
Giselle Lamberth
Embodiment Institute Somatic Healing Programs
Clinical Social Worker, Somatic Psychotherapist