Living in Alignment With Your Light

I see the word “embodied” used an awful lot lately, and I admit it is one of my favorite words when describing how we come to heal.

But what exactly does this word really mean and how to you become embodied?!

Let’s break it down.

Merriam-Webster definitions of embody include to give a body to; to deprive of spirituality; to represent in human or animal form. 

In terms of healing, I think of the term to mean inhabiting your body by connecting with your felt sense of it. This sounds nice, but It sounds rather vague, right?

When I coach clients or do somatic trauma work in my private practice, I literally guide people to notice their physical sensations. This is easier said than done.

I invite them to bring their awareness over and over to notice specific sensations in their body. 

Sensation is THE language of the nervous system. 

Tingling, tension, tightness, throbbing, heat, emptiness, heaviness, cold, flutteriness, numbness, twitching, itchiness, etc.

The body holds ALL our experiences including ones outside of conscious memory (e.g.: under anesthesia, dissociation) and pre-verbal/pre-conscious memory (birth to when the hippocampus begins to record “narrative” memory). 

Unprocessed emotion (aka pain/trauma) resides in the body. This is why time does NOT heal all wounds. We think that since it’s been 20 years since that bad thing happened to us, we should be over it. That’s just not the way we’re wired.

So, when you can sustain awareness of your inner sensations, and tolerate whatever arises, emotions will emerge, your body might want to move, words may want to come out, and tears may want to flow. Yes, I know you may be terrified of all this, but consider how it would be at then end of your life to realize you did not live the life you wanted because you were afraid to feel. That is more terrifying to me!

What do we do when we notice these things wanting to happen? We buffer! We push down the things wanting to come up and out by bracing, tightening, changing the subject, laughing, dissociating. 

This is called disconnection. Which leads to less embodiment. Which leads to living from our heads, physical health issues, clumsiness, mental health issues, relationship issues, and generally feeling like a victim of your life.

When you’re able to sustain awareness and tolerate your body releasing the energy of unprocessed emotion, you unblock your own connection to your felt sense in your body. This is your inner knowing, your intuition, your instinct, your inner light.

Embodiment is living in alignment with your truth.