Embodiment: Pathways Back Home to the Body

May 30

Written by: Amy Jubb, M.A., Registered Psychologist


Can you remember when you last felt the sun on your face and took a few moments to soak in that feeling? Or really enjoyed a delicious meal? These are examples of embodied experiences – where you are deeply connected to the present moment through an experience in the body. In holistic health, embodiment is key, integrating our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual aspects.

In today’s fast-paced world, it’s easy to become disconnected from our bodies and lost in our thoughts. We’re constantly juggling responsibilities between work, school, and family life. Additionally, most of us have been trained to ignore our internal sensations to fit in and meet society’s expectations. While this might help us get things done, it comes at a significant cost. Many people end up feeling anxious or depressed and turn to coping mechanisms like regularly using substances, overworking, or engaging in excessive screen time.

In traditional therapy, cognitive approaches can help change how we think, which is incredibly useful, but isn’t often enough for the deepest levels of healing. As relational beings, we often need attuned and supportive people in our life to help us shift from overthinking to reconnecting with our bodies and trusting in the emotions that arise. That’s where embodiment practices come in. They offer a unique pathway to connection, wholeness, and health.

How Does Embodiment Work?

Embodiment develops through three sensory feedback systems:

Exteroception: Sensing the world around us through our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin. Mindfulness exercises that focus on noticing specific external sensations engage exteroception.

Proprioception: Our body’s ability to sense its own position and movement in space, using information from our joints and inner ear. Activities like yoga or dance therapy enhance proprioception.

Interoception: Sensing the internal state of our body, like hunger, thirst, alertness, body temperature, pain, and tension. It provides feedback about our emotional experiences by sending information from our muscles, organs, and connective tissues to our brain. Practices like mindful eating can improve interoception.

Together, these sensory systems help us develop a deeper sense of embodiment, supporting a holistic approach to healing and self-awareness.

Benefits of Embodiment Practices

Embodiment practices are beneficial for any one who desires more presence in their life - by tuning into the body’s inner and outer sensations it is possible to quiet the often noisy mind and bring a sense of calm. For this reason, embodiment practices are particularly effective for managing stress and anxiety. They can help us move away from ruminating thoughts and habitual behaviours, grounding us in the present moment. These practices are also beneficial for treating eating disorders and substance addiction by reconnecting us with our body’s natural signals for hunger, rest, and play.

How To Practice Embodiment

Almost any movement or focus on physical sensation can become an embodiment exercise. The key is to engage mindfully, paying attention to the body’s senses—smell, sight, touch, taste, and sound. Simple activities like taking a shower, cooking, or gardening can become powerful healing tools when done slowly and with full presence.

Imagine taking a shower. Instead of rushing through it, really feel the water on your skin, notice the scent of the soap, and listen to the sound of the water. By fully engaging your senses, you can transform this everyday activity into a grounding practice.

Music and Movement

Integrating music and movement in therapy can greatly enhance emotional healing. This combination provides a non-verbal way to express emotions, which can be especially helpful for those who find it hard to articulate their feelings.
Moving rhythmically to music helps reduce stress and anxiety by promoting relaxation and releasing endorphins which are the body’s natural mood lifters. Aligning your breath and movement with the music’s rhythm can calm your nervous system and improve your well-being.

Combining music and movement also strengthens the mind-body connection, which is key to embodiment work. This practice heightens awareness of physical sensations and emotions, leading to better self-regulation and emotional resilience. Group activities like dance therapy create a sense of community and support, vital for emotional healing.

Music can evoke a wide range of emotions and, when paired with movement, transform negative feelings into positive ones. This supports the embodiment process through physical expression and sensory experiences.

By incorporating music and movement into therapy, clients can experience holistic healing that addresses both emotional and physical well-being. This combination fosters a deep sense of embodiment, empowering individuals to express themselves, connect with others, and find resilience in their bodies.

Yoga

Yoga serves as a powerful pathway to embodiment, offering a holistic approach to emotional and physical healing. Through breath control, meditation, and physical postures, yoga promotes relaxation and reduces stress, helping to lower cortisol levels and calm the nervous system.

Yoga enhances emotional regulation through mindful movements and breathing techniques. These practices increase awareness of the body and emotions, enabling individuals to respond more calmly to stressors. This increased awareness fosters a strong mind-body connection, the essence of embodiment work.

For trauma survivors, yoga can provide a safe way to reconnect with their bodies and release stored tension and trauma.This reconnection is crucial for integrating physical and emotional healing and it can occur in a gentle and slow process

Incorporating yoga into therapy supports a holistic approach nurturing both mind and body. As a pathway to embodiment, yoga promotes well-being and resilience, empowering individuals to fully inhabit their bodies and engage with the world around them.

Breathwork

Breathwork is another effective tool that helps calm the nervous system and connect the mind and body. By focusing on your breathing, you can become more aware of your physical sensations and in tune with your emotions.

Techniques like diaphragmatic breathing can be incredibly calming, which is where you focus on filling the lungs with more air and slowly releasing through exhalation. Another great technique is the 4-7-8 breath where you inhale for 4 counts, hold the breath for 7 counts and release the breath over 8 counts and you repeat this 3 times. Not only does this form of breathing help ground you, it can also help you focus on your physical sensations, bringing you back from overthinking. These techniques activate your parasympathetic nervous system, which promotes relaxation and bodily awareness.

Holotropic breathwork involves faster, deeper breathing patterns, which can lead to powerful emotional and physical releases. This type of breathwork can be used for moving intense emotion through the body and releasing tension.

The overall goal of breathwork is to use the body’s natural resources to connect inwards. The type of breathwork that a person uses will be dependent on what their goal is - whether that is to experience a sense of calm, to move emotion through the body or to feel energized.

Psychedelics

Psychedelics are gaining traction in the world of therapy. When combined with embodiment practices, they offer profound personal exploration and healing. Substances like ketamine, psilocybin, and MDMA can break down barriers between the conscious and unconscious mind, revealing deep-rooted emotions that need releasing.

In therapeutic settings, psychedelics enhance self-awareness and deepen connections to the world. Paired with breathwork and meditation, these experiences become grounded in the body, fostering whole body healing. This combination amplifies therapeutic effects and provides a framework for navigating insights that go beyond traditional cognitive therapy.

Psilocybin is becoming more common due to decriminalization and research, while MDMA is most often studied for PTSD treatment. Ketamine is also gaining popularity - its dissociative effects can create a state of enhanced body awareness, allowing patients to reconnect with their physical sensations and tap into a sense of wellbeing which provides a feeling of safety in the body. This makes ketamine a valuable tool in holistic mental health approaches, especially with embodiment practices.

It's important to note that psychedelic experiences can be intense and aren’t for everyone. Many therapists are unable to work with psychedelics directly due to legal restrictions, but some offer pre- and post-psychedelic support. If you’re interested, explore this with a therapist who has knowledge in this area to see what options might exist.

Take-Home Message

Embodiment practices deepen self-compassion and understanding, paving the way for deep healing and personal transformation. Whether it’s through the use of psychedelics, yoga, dance, or breathwork, integrating powerful embodiment techniques can be transformational. By exploring the mind-body connection, we can embark on a journey of self-discovery, heal ourselves and enhance our connection to the world around us.

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