To be embodied!

What does it mean to be EMBODIED?
What does it really mean to BE in your body?
To come home to, feel alive in, thrive in your body?
In your body just as it is?

So many of the women I work with know what it is like to NOT be in their bodies. They know how far from home they feel in the bodies they occupy. Many of the women I work with feel so disembodied because their lives have been affected by illness, pain, trauma, injury, abuse, or the so many other things that signal their bodies are not a safe place. And as a woman who has survived various kinds of emotional and physical trauma, I know personally the pain of feeling unsafe in my own body.

When I begin working with a new woman, I commonly hear, “I want to come home to my body again.” Because I know personally the courage it takes to want to be alive and safe in your own body, we start right there, simply by acknowledging the desire and longing for embodiment, aliveness, and safety (because I, and likely you too if you are reading this, know all too well how much easier it sometimes feels to not want more).

So, this becomes our work together… helping each woman I support learn how to come home to her body in a way that is safe, appropriately paced, and secure. Almost always, this is a process of supporting her in re-authoring and reclaiming her sovereignty and authority over her body and being. The work is often slow, tender, and vulnerable, especially when the trauma has been severe. But that is totally appropriate.

Sometimes we begin by just being present in a place, or with a sound, or with a scene. This helps the nervous system learn, slowly and safely, that this body can be here. That in this present moment, this body will not be hurt. That this body’s needs will be met. And over time, as each woman begins to feel safe, in a way that is right for her, we may begin to bring the attention a bit closer into her body. Maybe by feeling some sensations, or by one hand holding the other, so she can learn how to be present with and regulate safe touch and connection.

Being embodied is not about being that wild, vivacious goddess our social media often makes it out to be. Being embodied is more often the experience of learning to be in relationship with your body, on its terms, as it is, with the ability to be present and available for its needs in that moment.

Being embodied is to be, to feel, to know.