Embodiment Practices

Any practice that acknowledges the body with consciousness and respect can help you develop a relationship with your body and a sense of being more whole.

This can include simple things like noticing your body, being aware of physical sensations, and learning the language of the body. E.g. putting words or images to bodily experiences.

Embodiment also encompasses active practices performed with conscious awareness and in a responsive manner. For instance, tapping, Qigong, yoga, dance, workouts, movement and trauma release exercises (TRE).

Or simply being aware of how your body moves in space and your environment as you go about the mundane tasks of living.

Starting with these sorts of actions can help you to build connection and awareness and be therapeutically beneficial when you’ve been estranged or disconnected from your body. 

However, if you’ve experienced trauma and never done any body-focused exploration before, then I advise you to approach this work with some care, patience. If there’s been a habit of detaching from the body due to trauma, all of a sudden paying attention to it can reflexively unleash more force than you’re capable of dealing with.

This article, Body as Resource, goes a little broader on this topic.

Go steady and with radical self-care.