embodiment

Welcome back, and Happy (almost) New Year. I hope Christmas has been easy on you and your resolutions for next year are gentle and leave lots of room for the wild possibility of what might happen. Let your grip on the outcome loosen, and allow yourself plenty of space for rest.

More Alive in 2025 is a new six-week in-person Holosomatic Body Therapy course that will begin with a few weeks of deep regulation of the nervous system before we begin to activate. Each week has a theme, so I’m going to deep dive into each topic and its importance over the next six newsletters. Class starts Tuesday, 21st January, at 6:30pm in Barefoot Body and Soul Studio, and you can find all the details, including booking, on my website here.

Week 1 - EMBODY

Embodiment is such a vast, nuanced concept. Re-embodiment after trauma can be so overwhelming that it might even halt our healing process. I firmly believe if we can’t be held by a trauma-informed practitioner in this process, we risk re-traumatisation. There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of videos on Instagram and TikTok that promise you’ll be back in your body if you just do “these three somatic exercises”. But the process of re-embodiment is a deep practice. It doesn’t mean it’s not accessible, or you should be afraid of it, but it does require careful consideration and preparation. It is from an embodied, deeply present state we can create change and growth within our mental and physical selves.

Throughout our lives, there is so much importance placed on our minds - how intelligent we are, how sharp our wit is, how quickly we can solve problems, the list is endless. Throughout our education, the majority of the examinations we take and assignments we submit are based on our intellect. We don’t progress as quickly if our minds aren’t attentive and able to retain vast swathes of information. Our bodies don’t really have a role in these 16+ years of schooling. So much emphasis is placed on the mind.

But the mind and body are intricately linked. The field of cognitive science now accepts that cognition is embodied, embedded, extended, and enactive (the 4E cognition model). It’s not just about growing in mental acumen; knowledge is a body-mind experience. But even though science is catching on and coming to an understanding of the deep connection between our bodies and minds, the way our society has progressed through technology and the mechanisation of many activities that would have required manual labour in the past has resulted in a disconnection from our bodies. Social media contributes to this disconnection as well, where we turn to experiences within the online world rather than connecting deeply with ourselves or people who are physically close to us.

According to the field of psychology, disembodiment refers to a disconnection from somatic feeling, an unawareness of the movement of the body, or the breakdown in understanding of the relationship between your own body and other bodies. To me, disembodiment is most keenly felt when I can’t disengage from repetitive thoughts, but when I exit the loop, I become aware of the gap it has created between my mind and body. When we exist in a state of disembodiment, our perception of time can also warp. We are thinking of a moment in the past, perhaps, when another driver cut into our lane or a friend said something that hurt us. In this way, we exist in the past and not the present and are thus unaware of what is happening not only in our bodies but also in the world around us. This is the default way of existing for many people, though, living as we do in an overstimulating, overwhelming world. The constant input is designed to activate our minds more than our bodies, keeping us detached from our bodies in a “numbed out” state. However, through repetitive, conscious connection, we can create a more balanced state of being where we are present in our body and our mind simultaneously.

Interoceptive awareness (the ability to sense the presence, functions, feelings and experiences of your interior body) is vital for physical and mental health. When our awareness is interrupted, we are less likely to be able to identify or regulate emotions. When we become less sensitive to the body’s signals, we are also at risk of leading a more sedentary lifestyle, the dangers of which are widely known. Lack of introceptive awareness also cuts us off from the body’s cues and “gut feelings”, the communication that can’t quite be explained but is very potent. And lastly, cultivating this awareness reminds us that we are connected to everyone around us and every living thing on our planet.

Embodiment is not a construct or some wacky notion; it is a state of being. It is as simple as noticing your breath and how it fills the depths of your belly right up to your chest. It is a gentle breeze that catches the hairs on your arm. It is sand between your toes. These are gentle invitations into deeper conversations with your body. So much can be learned by sitting still and asking your body what it wants to say - a state of deep listening, of paying attention. When we listen in this way, we can learn things that the mind doesn’t know - we can understand the concept of gravity, but feeling the sensations of our body in contact with the earth teaches the mind what it feels like to be grounded.

In our first class, we’ll be taking a deep dive into embodiment. We will gently and compassionately come into our bodies and witness how it feels to be deeply present with ourselves through breath, meditation and sound. By opening ourselves to all felt sensations, we will create space for understanding the interconnected nature of physical and emotional experiences within our bodies. In Holsomatic Body Therapy, your breath serves as a secure connection which facilitates the transition between parasympathetic (rest state) and sympathetic (activated state) nervous systems and in navigating the interplay between tension and resource. The intentional use of breath recharges the body with each inhale, and the exhale releases all that no longer serves us. Breathwork can allow us to connect with the subconscious to a deeper level of body-knowing, of felt sense. Through this practice, we can consciously create a more profound connection with ourselves. In learning how to fully connect with the parasympathetic nervous system (rest) in this first session, I hope to cultivate a deep body-mind connection so we can move into the activation element from a more grounded and aware state of being.

I’m always open to jumping on a free 15-minute intro call if you have any questions or would like to ask something specific about Holosomatic Body Therapy or More Alive in 2025. You can press the button below to connect to my website where there is a breakdown of each week of the course and booking.

Thank you for reading and I’ll be back soon with Week 2 - observation.

Lorna x