Embodiment Guide & Yoga Teacher
The Neuryogini
What is Embodiment Practice?
"Trauma victims cannot recover until they become familiar with and befriend the sensations in their bodies. Being frightened means that you live in a body that is always on guard. Angry people live in angry bodies. The bodies of [abuse] victims are tense and defensive until they find a way to relax and feel safe. In order to change, people need to become aware of their sensations and the way that their bodies interact with the world around them. Physical self-awareness is the first step in releasing the tyranny of the past."
-Bessel A. van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
What it is
Embodiment practice described in as few words as possible: "noticing feeling".
During embodiment practice, one is guided to notice sensations and feelings in their body. This could be feeling aches, soreness, or openness. It is also noticing where an emotion around a memory sits in one's body, such as, "When I think of a big fight I had with a friend, I feel pressure in my chest."
Embodiment sessions are a conversation between you and me as we explore your feelings and sensations in a comfortable and safe way to help you feel more connected to and safer in your body.
As someone with trauma who's also in therapy, I know firsthand that talk therapy has limits. Conceptualizing and talking about what I went through has been a HUGE help in my healing journey. However, my trauma and memories of my trauma are full of feelings and body sensations: helplessness, fear, racing heart, etc. There's only so much talking can do. At a certain point, we need to feel and integrate. Embodiment practice helps us retune our nervous systems from fight-or-flight to safe-and-healing.
What it isn't
I am not a therapist. I do not diagnose or treat specific diagnoses. Because of my education and trainings, I have a working knowledge of most diagnoses and general treatment which I will use to gauge when we have left my area of expertise and entered an area better suited for a trained therapist or counselor. Embodiment practice is a wonderful compliment to talk therapy, especially if you have higher needs.