I’m often asked this question, and others like it.  ‘What does the term embodiment actually mean?’ ‘If I can feel my body, does that mean I am embodied?’ ‘I’m IN my body, so am I not by default embodied?’

Yes, and — the practice of living in an embodied way is purposeful, and for most of us, requires a measure of applied attention. This is particularly true here in North America, where for centuries the body has been sidelined — in part due to Descartes’ claim that body and mind are separate and can function as completely distinct entities.

We now know the opposite is true. Body and mind are inherently linked in more ways than we’ve yet fully mapped. Modern research is confirming what many cultures have known for generations: that mind, brain, and body are not and cannot be separate. Embodiment acknowledges the mind as something interwoven throughout the entire being — a holistic system that weaves into every other system of the body.

Put another way, embodiment refers to the relationship between the entire body-mind system and the way the body-mind relates to the surrounding environment, circumstances, and events.

This is evidenced in the ability to experience life — not just through the capacity to think about it or tell a story about it, but also through sensation, emotion, image, and meaning that can be noticed through and with the body.

living ‘above the neck’

Most of us have spent so much time in our heads that it has simply become the default. It doesn’t feel like a choice — it just feels like how things are. A few everyday examples:

•  You finish your meal realising you barely tasted it — your mind was elsewhere the entire time.
•  Someone asks how you’re doing and you reply with what you’ve been doing. A felt sense is harder to access than an explanation.
•  You notice something was wrong only in retrospect, rather than in the moment it was happening.
•  Stillness feels vaguely uncomfortable. Quiet makes your mind louder. The body at rest feels like something to get through rather than settle into.

None of this is a character flaw. For many of us, living in the head was the most available way to cope or make sense of the world.  The body learned to wait.

some signs of less connection with your body

This isn’t a diagnostic checklist — simply an invitation to notice. If several of these feel familiar, you’re in good company with most of our society due to emphasis on the mental, logical and cognitive.

•  You startle easily, or conversely, feel very little.
•  Physical cues — hunger, tension, fatigue — only register when they’ve become hard to ignore.
•  You feel emotions after the fact more often than in the moment.
•  Being asked ‘what do you notice in your body right now?’ feels genuinely difficult to answer.
•  Touch or physical sensation can feel distant, muted, or disconnected from ‘you’.

embodiment practices

Embodiment practices bring awareness to the body-mind system on a moment-to-moment basis. Founded in mindfulness, they are more precise endeavours specifically aimed at listening to and deciphering the messages of the body.

Connecting to the physical body via movement, dance, tai chi, and yoga, as well as to more subtle systems through mindfulness, meditation, and breathwork, are common in embodiment work. There are also a number of therapeutic approaches that use embodiment as a foundational tenet — Somatic Experiencing®, Hakomi® and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy to name a few.

For example: by focusing on the inner experience of breath, body temperature, sensation, and feeling, an individual can begin to understand themselves more precisely in the moment — to remain more aware even in more challenging circumstances.

Over time, someone can come to know their own system well enough to notice an emotional state arising before going fully into it — to make small adjustments that keep them within a range that feels manageable, rather than reactive.

It’s a truly fascinating process to witness: the innate wisdom of the body-mind, its intricacies and its brilliance in managing information that the thinking mind sometimes cannot make sense of. Each person’s journey of becoming more embodied is experiential — and best undertaken with patience, curiosity, and compassion.

how sessions support this 

In somatic therapy sessions, we work with embodiment directly — not by talking about the body, but by bringing attention into it in real time. This could be noticing where ease lives, or where holding happens, following a sensation rather than interpreting it, or giving space to an impulse that arises.

It’s unhurried work, setting aside what is already known and paying quiet unhurried attention to what is less known, yet unconsciously stored in the nervous system.  For many clients it’s the piece that has been missing.

If you’re curious, you might want to read more about Somatic Experiencing®, or reach out for a free 20-minute consult.