In the contexts of mental health, personal wellbeing, self-improvement, and perhaps spiritual growth, embodiment is a skill. It can be learned and improved upon with awareness, and it can only happen in the present moment. Embodiment can be further broken down into three skills.
“Embodiment… is the ability to sense, accept, and express the various states of the body as they manifest in the present moment.”
The first skill of embodiment is the ability to sense the states of one’s own being. This includes emotions, posture, tension, calmness, numbness, biological needs, vital energy, and so on. So clearly this skill can be further broken down into more specific such skills, which differ for and within every individual. Noting that these differences are normal can help to disarm the maladies that come with comparing oneself to others, and therefore also have a clearer picture of one’s own nuanced skillset.
The second skill of embodiment is the ability to allow the states of being to be just what they are. This happens by identifying these states as part of one’s experience, or accepting sensations and emotions with the willingness to face it all. Again the actual embodimental acceptance can only happen in the present moment; although the content of the state can be inspired by something from the past, present, or future. The opposite of this would be to resist what is already happening.
The third skill of embodiment is the ability to inhabit the present states of being. This may unfold as expression by word, action, and/or by some internal rectification such as a “shift in energy”. What this last stage of embodiment looks like is a matter of your own discernment and can vary greatly from one situation to the next.
[video: What is Embodiment? (coming soon)]So let’s talk about that, because there is perhaps a fourth skill that I should mention here that is related to embodiment, but maybe isn’t exactly a part of embodiment as it’s defined here. It has to do with embodying appropriately. It is up to you what is appropriate and what is not; I’m just pointing out that discerning what to embody (and in what way) is its own skill, and it’s a skill that will impact whether your embodimental process is getting positive results or not.
Of course, this assumes that you want to deepen in embodiment. Maybe you don’t, and that’s fine too. Maybe the whole thing sounds overwhelming. There’s no shame in that. We’re all where we’re at. And if you’re reading this, you’re obviously here, and perhaps you’re here for a reason. Maybe you’re just curious. Curious is a great place to be, so if that’s you, please check out some of these relevant articles: