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Somatic Therapy & Counselling in Surrey, BC & Online

What is Embodiment (and Am I Doing it Right?)

What would change for you if you knew you were already embodied? Here's my hot take on the popular concept of embodiment.

BODY AWARENESSSOMATIC PHILOSOPHYEMBODIMENTSOMATIC PRACTICES

Andree Patenaude

6/4/20245 min read

woman with short hair and eyes closed showing embodiment practices
woman with short hair and eyes closed showing embodiment practices

Understanding Embodiment

Have you ever seen the beautiful people on instagram talking about 'embodiment?' They talk about feminine embodiment... or embodiment coaching....or how to be more embodied.....

Don't get me wrong, I love the concept of embodiment. I just find it to be a bit overwhelming.

When I think of this type of embodiment, I see myself in a movie montage: I'm gloriously frolicking (probably in a tropical place), and all of my self-consciousness has vanished.

I'm wearing silky robes.... glowing and at one with my feminine energy. I'm finally...free. Finally embodied.

And then I snap to reality.

I start to feel down on myself... because I'm probably actually on the couch in my favourite sweatpants eating popcorn.

Not exactly the vision of embodiment...right?

Popular conversations around embodiment can be a bit of a double edged sword. For me, it can feel like I must always improve or change in order to be 'embodied'.

Like... some people out there are embodied, and maybe one day I'll get there, but for now I'm just...me.

This concept can make us feel less-than, like we're just striving and failing.

And then our impulse for healing becomes a rejection of ourselves, and the chase begins to fix ourselves like we're a problem to be solved.

... sounds like a fight or flight response, right?

Let's try a different lens:

A deeper somatic worldview is that we're all already embodied.

We often hear the term 'embodiment' in self-help and spiritual spaces. There's talk that some people are embodied, and others aren't.

That it's better somehow to 'be in your body.'

A more nuanced and trauma-informed view of embodiment is that our nervous system is always trying to take care of us, and our entire experience is in-bodied.

At its core, embodiment means representing something through our physical being. It's how we hold ourselves, how we move, how we behave and express.

Our felt sense will always take the shape of our inner experience, even if it's not the ideal vision for ourselves...even if it's uncomfortable.

You are not doing it wrong.

If we're numb and we can't feel ourselves, that's a kind of embodiment too. It's a message from our body that it's all too much.

I like to remind clients that our body and mind aren't separate. So when our thoughts are racing and we're confused and overwhelmed, that's a nervous system response that has been informed by our body.

For example, it's possible that our body hasn't felt like a safe place in the past, and when we turn our attention towards our felt experience, its too overwhelming. We might respond by numbing out or shutting down.

Our system is working hard to take care of us by creating an embodiment of numbness. That numbness is embodiment working for us.

It's neither right nor wrong, it just is. It's our current embodiment, and it makes sense.

There's no need to try to be embodied because it's an inherent part of our existence.

Sure, we might want to feel differently, and we're going to get to that.

It's important to first realize that we are always embodying something, whether we're aware of it or not. It shows up in our energy and our physical presence.

It's how our body responds to the stressors and joys of being human.

And it's always changing.

To change anything, we need to credit ourselves for what we're already doing:

  1. Acknowledge that your actions and behaviours make sense based on your life experience so far.

  2. By accepting this, we can ease some of the pressure we place on ourselves and start to feel a sense of self-compassion that nourishes our process.

  3. Once we acknowledge that we're already embodied, the question is, what are we currently embodying, and does it align with our values and desires?


Our Somatic Shape

Our somatic shape is the felt sense of ourselves in time and space. It is the culmination of our thoughts, emotions, beliefs, conditioning, sensations, body posture and interaction with the environment.....

For example, maybe my typical somatic shape is that I feel like a blob. A slow....blobby....blob. Sticky and slow and weighed down.

Sure, I might want to be fluid, flowing, and free. I might desire my somatic shape to be more that of a dancer: swirling and joyful and open and free. But my experience is being the blob.

First I have to understand that I am embodying 'the blob' in an attempt to take care of myself in some way.

When things just feel like too much energy, too much stimulation, too much information, of course my system is going to slow me down and numb me out.

Moving Forward with Intention

Once we see that our current form makes sense, we can begin to move forward on purpose.

That's where somatic work comes in. We can begin to teach our body a new way of being.

We start to attune ourselves to the felt sense of our desired state, and anchor in that experience so our brain recognizes it.

We start to take baby steps towards the grand vision of our embodiment.

What we typically think of as 'embodiment' is more like a desired state, and we must first acknowledge what is true for us now as an equally valid type of embodiment.

This is a courageous step - to actually begin to feel what is true for us. To tend to those feelings as we would a small child needing support. To say "I see you, and I get why you're doing this. Do you want to do something different now?"

And as the layers of self-judgement start to fall away, we start to feel a sense of relief, freeing up energy to move us towards our desired state.

Noticing our somatic shape is one of the primary goals of somatic therapy. From there we watch as our inner experience naturally shifts and changes shape.

Check in with yourself - does this resonate with you? What is your experience of embodiment?

Read on for a practice you can do at home to explore your Somatic Shape.

A Practice for Sensing Your Somatic Shape

drawing of current embodiment and somatic shape
drawing of current embodiment and somatic shape
  1. Supplies: Grab some markers or pencil crayons and a piece of paper.


  2. Current Somatic Shape: On one side of your paper draw your 'Current Somatic Shape.'

    There's no wrong way to do this... choose the colors, shapes and designs that represent how you currently feel in your felt experience.

    You might include words, sensations, emotions, and beliefs.

    Don't overthink it, just hold the intention to draw your current somatic shape and see what comes through. What do you notice within yourself as you are drawing?


  3. Desired Somatic Shape: On the other side of the paper, draw your 'Desired Somatic Shape.'

    Draw how you want to feel in your embodied experience.

    You might include words, emotions, sensations and beliefs.

    Don't overthink it, just hold the intention to draw your desired shape and see what comes through. What do you notice within yourself as you are drawing?

  4. Reflect: Look at these drawings side-by-side. What are you reflecting on as you complete this practice?


Note: Though you will notice some themes, your somatic shape is always changing! Try this again in a month or so to see how you're shifting over time. This is a great practice to track your experience of growth and self-image over time.

drawing of desired somatic shape embodiment
drawing of desired somatic shape embodiment