What is Embodiment?
I started practicing yoga in college over 15 years ago. I had never really enjoyed working out in the gym so it was a major game-changer for me to move my body in a way that unlocked a feeling of wholeness and strength. Throughout the following decade, I practiced every yoga style I came across in NYC, Brooklyn, Arizona, Connecticut, New Jersey and while visiting other cities. I won’t go back to Bikram though. (Check out this series for the fascinating story on Bikram’s life, empire and downfall.)
I became a yoga instructor after having my first baby. I focused mostly on prenatal yoga and kids yoga because that was my life. I taught pregnancy yoga through two of my own pregnancies. I brought my babies and toddlers with me to work and it was great fun. My second child took his first steps right after one of our kids yoga classes. I even hosted a yoga and gardening camp at my home in New Jersey right before I conceived my third baby.
After the birth of my third child and our decision to discontinue baby-making, I delved into a deep self-exploration of the feminine. I started with the books, Wild Feminine and Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom. I started a practice of vaginal steaming and yoni egg expermintation. I finally realized how powerful the female menstrual cycle is with The Fifth Vital Sign and Wild Power and my sister and I started our Feminist Book Group. I still enjoyed yoga but I was starting to see it as it was originally intended-a discipline created for adolescent, male bodies to entertain and compete. And thus, there wasn’t much left in it for me.
Then, I found Jasmine Rose and her unique and original teachings of Shakti Yoga. This slow, pelvic/vaginal/womb/yoni-led practice awakened something in me. During her immersion workshops I practiced for two hours or more at a time! And afterwards, I felt so deeply rested. More than I had ever felt after a savasana. I was able to enter the altered state of consciousness that I can only compare to deep sexual pleasure and the birthing process. I did not return to conventional yoga for many months after I discovered Shakti Yoga. In fact, I could not bring myself to “work out” or exercise at all in the way I had been conditioned to do 5-7 days per week since my adolescence.
It was from this place that I was inspired to begin teaching my own version of yoga for the female body. I call it Feminine Embodiment: Yoga for Women (although that might change after I complete Jasmine’s teacher training).
Embodiment to me is when we let our bodies lead completely. Embodiment is when we feel sensations before we label them as emotions.
Embodiment practice helps us to tune into our innate physical, Earth-based wisdom.
We all have it, but we’re so used to intellectualizing and over-thinking that we’re disconnected from our bodies. It is the opposite of dissociation. I had begun to realize that I was accustomed to disassociating more than a good yogini would like to admit. I disassociated from my body at uncomfortable medical exams, during sex, while scrolling Instagram, and even during massage therapy. I pushed myself when my yoni really didn’t want to. Many of us are embodied when we’re cooking (lots of senses engaged), gardening, doing breath work, and playing with our kids. We’re often disembodied when we’re using our smartphones, in a rush to finish something or get out the door, feeling pain or discomfort, or talking to someone who intimidates us.
And to get more specific, feminine embodiment simply means tuning into those feminine energetic qualities that we ALL have but usually are not prioritized in our culture (receptivity, compassion, creativity, peace, nurturing, authenticity, intuition, wisdom). But we must tune in without intellectualizing or problem-solving (masculine qualities). We tune in by moving our hips, imitating animals, sighing deeply, dancing freely, and making sounds that are normally not socially acceptable.