Readings: Embodiment & Grounding
Interoception = Embodiment
Mindfulness is the practice of paying attention, on purpose, to what’s happening in the present moment. It turns out that a new offshoot of this time-tested practice, mindfulness in the body, is highly effective in emotional regulation. Neuroscientists are studying this form of mindfulness in the body; they call it interoception, but another word for it is embodiment. To demystify this transformative practice, think of it as the act of paying deep and curious attention to what’s happening in the body from one moment to the next—without needing to change what we find. – Bo Forbes
Embodiment = Connected to Our Sensate Experience
We all begin life fully embodied, that is to say, connected to our sensate experience. My teacher Ray Worring used to describe this as “polymorphously sensuous,” which is to say that every part of the body has the capacity for feeling. He contended that we have been culturally indoctrinated to limit this heightened awareness and experience of the body to a few square inches of sexualized anatomy, while the rest of the body becomes dull, unfelt, and ultimately unheard. When we restore ourselves to this whole-bodied sensuousness we are experiencing sensations such as warm air passing over the hairs on our arms, or cool water flowing down the throat, or a tiny sharpness in the back muscles. We start to feel ourselves in and as life—reconnected to the source of our own animation. – Donna Farhi
Experiencing Mind, Breath & Body in Same Place at the Same Time
When we are grounded, we are experiencing our mind, breath, and our body in the same place at the same time—we are embodied. This allows us to be relaxed and present in a way that nothing else does. – Jillian Pransky