Embodied counselling is a type of therapy that is used across several different healing modalities. Practitioners working under Gestalt Psychotherapy, Somatic Psychotherapy, and BodyMind Therapy may apply embodiment concepts. More broadly, it is often used by psychotherapists, counsellors, spiritual practitioners, massage therapists, kahuna bodyworkers, sexological bodyworkers, somatic sex educators, yoga teachers, and other alternative healers who work somatically.
No matter the type of practitioner - alternative or traditional - if they are working from an embodied perspective, then they are engaging all aspects of the living body (soma) to facilitate real change within the physical form.
What is Embodiment? What Does it Mean to be Embodied?
Embodiment is about the communication with and the expression of our bodies. Using modest, effective practices that cultivate embodied awareness and promote abilities to be present and draw attention at progressively subtle levels, both practitioners and clients are better placed to live more connected, fuller, and energetic lives.
How Embodied Counselling Works
Embodied counselling seeks to improve our physical interaction with the world and help bring about greater awareness of life. While it may be true that we can all get through life either with or without awareness, we exclude so much from ourselves if we become disembodied and not consciously living in our bodies. Thus, this type of counselling educates by encouraging people to be aware of themselves and how to connect with feelings, thoughts, perceptions, and relations, and be present in the moment.
Remember, if we are disembodied then we are not living in the present moment.
The first step when making changes to our life or ourselves starts with needing to be aware and conscious of what we do, why we do it, and how we do it. Once we maintain awareness over our actions, we can then move forward with feeling and determining if journeying down a certain path serves our higher purpose, is for our greater good, and if not, then we are in a better position to stop, change course, and do things differently. When we have embodied this change process happens naturally.
What Does it Mean to be Disembodied?
When we find ourselves in a disembodied state, we can go through life like it is an assembly line in a factory, and we often feel disconnected, distant, numb, and unable to fully feel our senses and emotions.
The Dangers of Being Disembodied
Over the longer term, this can lead us to become anxious, depressed, insecure, neglectful of ourselves and our needs, or even place the needs of others ahead of our own to our detriment. This sense of emptiness and lack of direction forces many people to seek remedy and salvation through spending excessive time at work or the office, alcohol, food, drugs, gambling, illicit sex, or other rewards or addictions that stimulate a pleasure response.
Being disembodied keeps a person trapped in an infinite spiral of despair, where they will repeatedly make the same mistakes and find it increasingly difficult to escape. This is the prison of the disembodied state.
Connect With Your Body for Better Health
If you want to experience all there is in this lifetime, then your body is the best-designed vehicle for this ride. Therefore, it makes so much sense that we all learn how to best tune into it. Many people will quickly discover the more they tune into their body, the greater their perception of how much more embodied they are becoming, and how over time the benefits of which flow effortlessly into life.
How Embodied Counselling Works
This means when you are embodied you will feel safer, have greater trust, and have more connections with your body and therefore with yourself as well. Your experiences and interactions will resonate on a deeper level with you as you accept and trust what is going on around you and happening to you. This then leads to being more present in your moment and opening pathways to greater feelings and sensations, both emotional and physical.
In turn, this will direct you in pinpointing your internal needs and nurturing them fittingly through articulating your desires, needs, wants, and fears in a beneficial way as they present themselves, rather than lessening or reducing your needs and then begrudging others for not understanding them. By serving your body you will enhance your health, your ability to self-soothe, and take control of your emotions when feeling overwhelmed.
Recommended Texts for Learning More
Though I am certainly no seasoned expert on embodied counselling, if you are interested in learning more about this subject, I highly recommend you seek out the following two texts:
Aposhyan, S. (2004). Body-Mind Psychotherapy: Principles, Techniques, and Practical Applications. W. W. Norton & Company.
Barratt, B. (2010). The Emergence of Somatic Psychology and Bodymind Therapy. Palgrave Macmillan.
Sources:
The information contained above is provided for entertainment purposes only. The contents of this article are not intended to amount to advice on your personal situation and you should not rely on any of the contents of this article. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a result of the contents of this article. The Writer and Shoshin Therapies disclaim all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this article.
Comments