A key aspect of embodiment

I’ve been meaning to write about slowing down for a while now.
Partially because this is a recurring theme in my own life, and also because this is a major theme in my coaching sessions and conversations with students.

You see, it is really hard to talk about embodiment and not to mention the role of our pace and rhythms in this process of coming back to our bodies.

That is because mind and body have different speeds.
The mind is so fast and has such a sense of urgency, that it can be easy to believe our bodies and our actions, should follow that same pace.

Well, the body is way slower than the mind, and if we really want to integrate these complementary aspects of ourselves, it might be helpful to learn to slow things way down, so we can actually notice what is going on with the body.

Recently I came across these words from Somatic Experiencing founder, Dr. Peter A. Levine, that might contribute to our reflection here:

“Embodiment is about gaining, through the vehicle of awareness, the capacity to feel the ambient physical sensations of unfettered energy and aliveness as they pulse through our bodies. It is here that mind and body, thought and feeling, psyche and spirit, are held together, welded in an undifferentiated unity of experience.”

And how else can we develop our awareness if not by slowing things down?

I mean, in a time in history where we are constantly bombarded with information from the news, social media, television, radio, etc.
A time that has made us become aware of events that are happening in another part of the globe almost instantaneously.
A time in which we are expected to be on top of burning topics of this age all the time: global warming, racism, gender, politics, vaccines, refugee crisis, etc.
And if we are not, we are seen as outdated, uninformed and even alienated.
It seems that not knowing, not having a clear opinion, not choosing a side is not an option anymore. Can you feel the pressure?

Holding the complexities of our times is not just a matter of the mind. I strongly believe that we cannot try to understand and find solutions for these issues if we are not attuned to the somatic experience that these topics bring up to us.

In this context, slowing down is becoming harder and harder and I believe this is also a result of our collective fragmentation, of our severe disconnection from our bodies, from nature and from the planet itself. It is a result of centuries of treating the wisdom of our bodies as less important, less developed and less encouraged. It is the result of over stimulating the mind, in ways that seem unsustainable.

“When I am every day all day all body and no mind, when I am physically, wholly, and completely, in this world with the birds, the deer, the sky, the wind, the trees… this shining moment in the now, devoid of mental rumination.”

David Budbill in This shining moment in the now.

Well, dear one, this blog post is an invitation to hitting the brake.
An invitation to acknowledging that slowing down is one of the most needed medicines of our times.

To understanding that lingering longer in the lush landscape of the present moment will allow us to reconnect with our animal instincts, to reconnect and track our feelings and sensations and, as a result, to be able to know our needs, desires, limits and boundaries all the time.

And this is deeply healing and empowering.

My gut feeling is that taking the time to rest, to breathe intentionally and to bring in pauses in between our thoughts and spoken words, will enable us to stay more present in the now. And when we are more present within ourselves, we naturally become more present in our communities – and that is key to finding ways to deal with the complexities of our times.

I’d love to hear how this lands to you.

xoxo, Marina