The Body Holds the Healing

Supply: © 2021 from the gathering of Cathy Malchiodi PhD

Embodiment is a time period that’s ubiquitous within the discipline of psychological well being. Its most simple definition refers to a tangible or seen type of an thought, high quality, or feeling. It’s the personification, incarnation, or manifestation of a means of being or attribute, reminiscent of “she is the embodiment of hope” or “their musical efficiency embodied pleasure and enthusiasm.”

In modern psychotherapy, the time period embodiment has taken on a barely completely different which means. Many therapists are actually aware of the concept that the “physique retains the rating” (van der Kolk, 1994; 2014). “Our points are in our tissues” (creator unknown) is one other phrase typically utilized by somatic educators and body-based practitioners (yoga, therapeutic massage, and others) to explain the significance of bodily consciousness.

These concepts influenced the definition of embodiment and what has change into generally known as embodied practices, significantly inside the discipline of traumatic stress. These practices underscore the significance of observing and noticing one’s inner felt sense. Embodiment implies that the central focus for emotional restore, transformation, and restoration is thru turning into conscious of our bodily being by way of the senses. It’s a option to embrace the physique as a spotlight for well being and well-being by way of self-appreciation and self-acceptance of what we bodily sense and really feel within the second (Malchiodi, 2020).

This attitude additionally proposes that embodiment is not only a one-time occasion however is an ongoing follow of building a relationship with one’s physique. It includes varied mind-body consciousness approaches (see Somatic Experiencing or the fields of expressive arts remedy or dance/motion, for instance) to maintain attention to how one’s physique responds and feels within the current second.

Physique-based consciousness is a type of “somatic intelligence” that will increase a person’s understanding of the connections between exteroception (exterior sensations) and interoception (the interior felt sense).

Trauma and the Disembodied Self

Specializing in the physique’s inner sensations is distressful for a lot of trauma survivors, significantly those that have skilled interpersonal violence or advanced trauma, or posttraumatic stress. They typically expertise a disconnection between exterior sensations and their inner felt sense. That is significantly true in dissociation associated to posttraumatic stress. Because of this, introducing embodied follow to people with traumatic stress will be sophisticated.

When trauma is especially extreme or continual, people report being “ungrounded,” unable to determine feelings, and disconnected from others. The overwhelming sensations of traumatic stress lead to feeling unsafe in a single’s personal physique and a scarcity of self-agency and boundaries to forestall additional trauma. People report feeling an excessive amount of (overwhelmed and activated) or too little (numb, withdrawn, or torpid), body-mind states that make a somatic focus tough and infrequently uncomfortable. Embodied moments can even evoke emotional states reminiscent of shame, guilt, or grief, making physique consciousness difficult.

These experiences mirror a “disembodied self.” Many people with traumatic stress observe how rapidly they will change into disembodied after they try and deal with their physique’s sensations. It takes on many varieties, together with an lack of ability to focus, fidgeting or restlessness, intellectualizing, or pushing one’s bodily limits, all methods to distract oneself from uncomfortable sensations. For others, the expertise of dissociation takes over to assist people shift away from what’s painful or emotionally excruciating.

These responses, as soon as acknowledged, can change into a place to begin for gradual engagement in somatic consciousness. Understanding {that a} tendency to disembody is a traditional survival response when uncomfortable emotions come up is a vital first step in embodiment, particularly with regards to traumatic stress. As soon as people start to determine uncomfortable sensations that naturally lead to withdrawal, avoidance, or activation, the method of introducing embodied moments turns into potential.

Cultivating Restorative Embodiment

When working with people challenged or activated by embodied approaches, I attempt to assist them study embodiment from a special perspective. My colleague Amber Elizabeth Grey, a dance/motion therapist, coined the phrase “proper to embody.” Grey implies that we every have a proper to inhabit our our bodies with security and self-agency and with pleasure, curiosity, and enlivenment.

When introducing the idea of embodiment, it is usually important to elucidate that somatic consciousness is not only concerning the identification of misery. It’s also about partaking our physique’s capability as a optimistic useful resource when distressed. I name this “restorative embodiment,” a somatic shift that helps us deal with what our our bodies can expertise to counteract activation and withdrawal.

In distinction to serving to people enhance tolerance for uncomfortable somatic sensations, restorative embodiment redirects consideration to increasing capability (see “Traumatic Stress and the Circle of Capacity”).

©2022 Cathy Malchiodi PhD

In distinction to different somatic therapies, restorative embodiment is what we centralize in expressive arts remedy. The core of expressive approaches is grounded in energetic participation in novel experiences that reacquaint people with curiosity, playfulness, efficacy, and pleasure (Malchiodi, 2022). In different phrases, embodiment shouldn’t be solely outlined as the event of bodily consciousness but in addition as an enlargement of the capability to inhabit one’s physique and thoughts in soothing, invigorating, and recuperative methods.

Embodiment as a Observe

Embodiment is a means of somatic self-discovery. It’s also a follow that’s enhanced by way of repetition, whether or not within the presence of a therapist or on one’s personal, as a type of self-care. Embodied practices assist one to reclaim capacities to acknowledge and launch misery. Maybe extra importantly, embodiment introduces prospects for restorative somatic consciousness—the physique’s capacity to awaken and reclaim the felt sense of the optimistic experiences that make life value dwelling.