If you haven’t been taught, or you’ve spent a long time disconnected, how would you know what “being in your body” actually means? What does it look like?
These ideas can be a bit abstract and mystical.
Here are 5 simple steps which might allow you to gently and gradually notice and inhabit your physical body.
PEOPLE AND RELATIONSHIPS
Your brain, the body budget keeper, keeps careful watch of vital resources: oxygen, water, salt, glucose, and other ingredients that keep you alive and well.
If we view the physical manifestations of stress, fear and anxiety with an evolutionary lens (i.e that our nervous systems are preparing us to fight or flee in response to a perceived threat) then naturally the clever human system has an effective process of discharging these physiological changes (using up stress hormones etc). The whole point of the threat state is the system preparing you to fight for your rights or run for your life) so the body anticipates movement.
When we run, dance, hug or laugh we send a very simple and clear message through our whole system: not only am I safe in this moment, I am thriving. The system rewards us by increasing our capacity to engage, share, learn and love.
We can learn to send the same messages through the system in any moment via our breath.
My favorite definition of Embodiment comes from Hillary McBride, in The Wisdom of your Body, who describes it as:
the experience of being a body in a social context
Dr Hillary McBride
It can be helpful to know that your reactions, behaviour, emotional responses and thought patterns in any moment will likely occur much faster than you can control with any positive thinking or snazzy distraction technique. Its really helpful to have strategies available, but the truth is, your experience is determined much less via conscious choice and much more by your early experience and the way your nervous system learned to respond to the world.
There is lots of information and discussion out there about mindfulness and the impact that learning to be more present and in the moment, has on our health.
The main interest of your autonomic nervous system (ANS) is your safety.
If you are ever anxious, frightened, sad, unsettled, overwhelmed or angry, but logically can’t make sense why, you might feel frustrated or betrayed by your body and mind… like they’re conspiring against you to make life hard.
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