What does it mean to be embodied?

The term "embodied" may be one you're familiar with or it may be new to you. I want to take the opportunity to clarify what I mean when I use the term embodiment.

But first, indulge me in a story...

To start with a little history about my experience, I began practicing yoga in 1999 when I was 15. Initially and on the surface level, it was just a physical practice that I gravitated to as a result of coming from a gymnastic background. To my 15-year-old self, it was like "adult gymnastics," and I was "good" at it because I was so flexible.

As I look back on my experience, I know that I was drawn to the practice on a spiritual level. Beneath my conscious understanding, I was connecting to my Spirit - using my body as the tool - in a way that I couldn't comprehend at the time.

I spent years doing yoga of various kinds on videos, in gyms, and in studios. It wasn't until 2010 when I met Sandra Vanatko of Indra's Grace Yoga - who I would come to call my primary yoga teacher - that I saw yoga being lived as a lifestyle. It wasn't just a side gig that ended when she left the mat. It was a way of being for her. This was the first time that I made the conscious connection of what it means to embody a practice as opposed to just doing an exercise.

As my yoga practice became more intentional and integrated into my lifestyle, I started diving deeper into the more cathartic practices such as Kundalini yoga and healing breathwork. Although my experiences were powerful and included a ton of felt sensations in my body, time after time, I would hear other peoples' stories about these incredible transcendental experiences they would have as a result of their practice, and I started to feel inferior. This was compounded by the fact that, by this time, I had become a yoga teacher. My ego went into overdrive wondering how I could call myself a teacher when I wasn't even able to experience these same experiences as some of my students. It was a dark time for me.

Fortunately, in the universe's perfect timing, I began to meet other teachers who helped me provide context for my experiences. CranioSacral therapy was also an incredible tool in learning how to communicate with my body. I went from feeling as though my experiences were limited by my body to realizing that my body was my most powerful spiritual and intuitive tool!

I began to lean into my physical experience and tap into it for the gift that it was instead of comparing my experience to others. I learned how to directly communicate with my body as a means for receiving insight and wisdom. And, then - once I released my need for them - the transcendental experiences came.

So, I say all of this to very clearly state that everyone's experience is going to be different, AND it doesn't mean that any experience is less meaningful or spiritual. Some people may be more visual, some may be more somatic, some may just get a sense of "knowing," and many of us will receive information in a combination of ways. Any and ALL are valid.

I spent years thinking my experience was "less than" only to find out that I was sitting on an untapped gold mine. I'm here to help you find your gold through the process of embodying spiritual practices.

So, back to the question: What does it mean to be embodied?

One official definition of embodiment is this:

The processes whereby a person's life experiences are literally incorporated into their body. (source)

I love this definition from Andrea Ferretti:

As stated so perfectly by Andrea, Embodiment begins with the simple yet radical act of remembering that you have a body. We are so disconnected from our bodies and spend our days being led around by our minds that some of us completely forget that we have bodies! So, the first step of embodiment is to just remember that you have a body. Simple. Radical. We do this through mind-body practices such as yoga, breathwork, and meditation - practices that serve as the foundation of this course.

Once we remember we have a body, for me, to be embodied is to operate from a place of deep inner-knowing beyond conceptual thought. It's a process of dropping from the head to the heart. Shifting from what we could call "thinking knowing" to "feeling knowing."

When we are embodied, we are operating from this space of having been there because we truly have. We are not just knowing something and repeating it from our brain, but operating from a place of experience. 

When we are embodied, we are responding to life from a program that is deeper than logical thought. It's something we've absorbed through experience and assimilated into our cells. 

Embodiment is tapping into the infinite wisdom available to us through the access point of our physical body. In other words, we get to the point where we can easily send our awareness into any part of the body and tap into the infinite wisdom stored there. 

Ultimately, embodiment is our birthright and our natural state. It's the process of being intimately connected with your physical body and feeling everything deeply and fully. A courageous act, to be sure.

Tying embodiment into Connect, Remember, Elevate:

Once we truly begin to embody our spiritual practice, the interconnectedness of all things becomes more and more clear to us. We begin to feel the energy that animates us within everything, thus bringing about this beautiful remembrance that we are all One. What we do affects all of humanity, so let's elevate our consciousness for the benefit of all beings!

This is why I have called the course the Spiritual Embodiment Masterclass.

We will continue to unpack the idea of embodiment through this course. Thank you for answering the call and being on this ride.