THE RECIPROCAL NATURE OF EMBODIMENT

To embody is to feel something fully, letting go of “should” and “have to” thoughts and pressures to create a space where you can be your truest self. It is alignment that you feel so deeply that it serves as a guide, a compass, for how you live your life. When you achieve this level of expression it often leads to joy through being in a state of flow, ease through supporting your values instead of struggling to meet the standards of others, and fulfillment through being connected to your higher purpose.

My experiences with embodiment organize themselves into three types of expression. I have felt intellectual embodiment as a result of having a vision and setting goals, physical embodiment in a flow state where preparation meets opportunity, most often as an athlete, and spiritual embodiment in moments of synergy between my deepest beliefs and my actions. This stratification serves not only as a tool to organize my thoughts on this subject, but also a way of tracing the experience of embodiment from the somatic roots, upward through thoughts and reactions, and onward to its highest and most transcendent manifestations.

“Fast running isn’t forced. You have to relax and let the run come out of you.” – Desiree Linden

On a physical level, embodiment feels like strength. Your body becomes attuned to the concept, the task, or the role. A parent feels this when they bond with their child through an embrace, the grasp of a tiny hand around a finger, or the gift of having an infant fall asleep over your heart. An artist experiences physical embodiment when the words, colors, or music flow out of them in a seamless cascade of inspiration and expression. And an athlete feels it when the challenge is effortless. Even though the body is pushed to its limits and experiences fatigue and stress, the task itself seems joyful and in-synch.

One of my own experiences with physical embodiment felt like a synchronous confluence of exertion and ability. It was a day when my training aligned with a sort of cosmic rhythm, and the more I asked of my body the more it was able to respond. I recall seeing my own shadow as I glided along the ground and thinking it was someone else. My sensations were as if I inhabited a different body. The moment was both serene and deeply intense. I ran on a fine line between control and destruction. And I realized later that the perception that I ran in someone else’s body that day was actually an experience of complete embodiment of the athlete I could be. I had not planned it. I had simply relaxed into the moment and let the physical expression be set free.

“The value of identity of course is so often with it comes purpose.”- Richard Grant

Intellectual embodiment is the alignment of how you define yourself and your actions. We all play many roles in our lives. And to embody any one of those roles is to embrace a part of what provides you clarity and purpose. 

You may see yourself in a particular way in your work, another way with your children, and yet another way with your partner. Perhaps you choose to prioritize one of these to the exclusion of another. Or you may strive to balance all of them. And of course, you may not choose any of these but instead focus on some other life purpose that is meaningful to you.

Intellectual embodiment begins with claiming something as important. To name what you stand for, how you want to show up in the world, is to have a vision for that part of your life. Vision serves as a compass, showing you when you are living in harmony with and in support of your higher purpose.

This sort of embodiment often feels like pride. You have articulated to yourself and others what you stand for and then aligned yourself with that purpose. But far from being a hubristic pride, one based in arrogance and superiority, this is the authentic pride of accomplishment that is the result of focus and hard work.

During this era of my life, I am witnessing our children as caring, hard-working, and open-minded adults who contribute so much not only to the lives of my wife and I but also to the greater good. It is often that we turn to one another and say, “we must have done something right”.  To me that represents intellectual embodiment, the synchronicity of seeing your thoughts and intentions made manifest in the world.

“Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart ...Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.” - Carl Jung 

Of course, it is impossible to separate the body, mind, and spirit. They are all one. You may experience something as a physical sensation or have a thought about something, but ultimately, they are connected. What you feel physically affects your thoughts, and what you think and dream about creates a reaction in your body, and both feed energy into or drain energy from your spirit.

If that connection is true, then it could be that spiritual embodiment occurs when the mind, body, and spirit are in synch. On a somatic level, an embodied experience feels like flow and ease, the tactile satisfaction of an outward expression of some inner drive. Intellectual embodiment is knowledge that what you are doing, how you are living, is in step with who you are. That alone could make your spirit soar.

But it’s possible that spiritual embodiment relies on an even deeper connection. Maybe this sort of transcendence happens when what you are doing also aligns with what you believe the universe is seeking. This includes not only your vision for yourself and your life, but how your life connects to every other life on Earth.

Love is an easy example for illustrating this idea. A parent can have the physical connection of holding their child and the intellectual satisfaction of having dared to love, and teach, and unconditionally nurture. But to experience the spiritual embodiment of what it is to be a parent means connecting your role as a parent to what it means to nurture a life in the more general, universal sense. It means seeing yourself as a part of the larger whole of passing along love from one generation to the next and understanding how in doing that you positively tip the balance of love among all people and other living things on Earth. You nurture another living being, who learns to love in return and will pass that gift along to the world, which in turn will be passed along again and again even after you are no longer here.

The definition of embodiment is “a tangible or visible form of an idea, quality, or feeling”. But take a deeper look and an amazing reciprocity is revealed. Yes, you can express your thoughts, feelings, and beliefs in tangible, physical ways, becoming the outward expression of your convictions as a parent, artist, partner, and whatever else you see in yourself. But you can also experience a physical act, some specific behavior, as resonate or not resonate with your thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. In this way the experience of embodiment is not the part that is tangible or visible. It is an inner sense of peace and alignment that serves as powerful evidence that how you are living is a mirror of who you are.

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