Embodiment is a principle that affects us all; we innately engage in embodiment practice in every moment. It is the foundation of how we become ourselves and recognising how constant embodiment practice influences us is key to transforming our lives.
An embodiment practice explains how we become who we are through the influences that surround us. It illustrates how we ’embody’ ourselves within the context of our culture, ideology, history and environment.
How surrounding influences shape us
The Oxford dictionary explains embodiment as, “the representation of something in a tangible or visible form.” This applies to our visible human form, which represents the many energies within our make-up.
Our energies fluctuate from dense three-dimensional (3D) forms that we can see and touch, to lighter energies that contribute to our character. Most of us cannot physically see and touch these lighter energies.
Did you know that you are constantly engaging in embodiment practice? You do, all of the time! But how?
We have layers within ourselves, with the inner core representing our ultimate self. Other layers reflect everything that has come before us, like a cloud shape reflecting the dynamic influences that surround it and which are within it.
Have you ever thought about how you arrived at this precise moment in time? How did our bodies, with all their physical characteristics, get to be where we are right now?
Your mind thinks its thoughts and is witnessed by your inner core, while your remarkable body executes approximately 37 billion trillion biochemical reactions every second. Mind boggling!! All this occurs within a self regulated system that continuously provides feedback for development and growth. It’s truly remarkable.
What’s even more remarkable is our uniqueness. We are all different, even if we happen to be twins, triplets or quadruplets! Yes, bodies may look the same; however, they are not truly identical, otherwise, they would be clones!
We are all unique, one of a kind!
Bringing the outside in and the inside out through embodiment practice
Our bodies constantly interact with their environments. Be it internal cells and organelles communicating and relating to areas outside their membranes or our bodies, enveloped by skin and hair, interacting with its surroundings.
All these interactions share a common quality; they pull the outside in while pushing the inside out, using an innate intelligence that we do not fully understand.
This exchange with our environment has paved the way for theories of evolution, showing how species adapt to their environment over time. This concept is rooted in Charles Darwins and Alfred Russell Wallace’s popularisation of Natural Selection theory, which has evolved alongside advancements in technology and science.
Developing fish!
Genetic mutation explains how species change over time and how new information passes down to future generations, via genetic code (DNA). These mutations occur as a body reacts to its environment through a process called epigenetics, which is the effect of environmental cues and stresses on gene expression to improve survival prospects.
Consider the first fish emerging from the water, ever so slowly developing its fins into legs and changing its gut (technically open air bladders still used today by freshwater fish when their gills do not function well), into lungs.
The fish’s body interacted with the environment, slowly changing its DNA, and consequently, its physical characteristics.
We cannot see evolution happening because it takes a very long time, thousands, even millions, of years. Excuse my diversion into evolutionary theory! It serves as a good example of how the body reacts with the environment. Bringing the outside in and making changes that are expressed on the outside, bringing the inside out. This is the basis of embodiment.
We embody what is surrounds us, using information to make changes and express them accordingly. Our bodies innately perform an embodiment practice. However, this is not just restricted to our physical bodies but also works on our non 3D layers.
Lighter energetic qualities of embodiment practice
Science shows that the physical world is a collection of energy forms collapsed into 3D shapes. However, other, less dense energetic qualities surround us and contribute to who we are. Think emotions, feelings, thoughts, and the electromagnetic field surrounding us fuelled by the heart’s beating. These qualities perform an embodied practice with our bodies and minds, bring the outside in and the inside out.
For example, our personality grows with us and is a dynamic reflection of how we see and represent reality. Person + reality = personality! I say dynamic because our personality can change due to many factors which are often (but not solely) led by our emotions, feelings, opinions and beliefs.
These are not physical, dense 3D objects but are ethereal pieces of energy that act upon our bodies and minds. Influences affecting these energetic qualities determine how the energy is in motion (e-motion) within the body and mind and affect what mental associations you associate to your beliefs and opinions.
Your reaction to all of this brings the outside in and determines the assimilation process of these energetic snippets which then fuel parts of our personalities. Especially when the snippets energetically condense down into 3D physical expressions; bringing the inside out.
In summary, whatever acts upon your body and mind, be it physical, energetic, cosmic, cultural etc, will be absorbed and embody various aspects. You will not intentionally choose what you absorb but your body and mind in its unique way, influenced by all that has gone before, will choose.
Think about that for a minute….
Everything that acts upon your body and mind has the potential to become part of you. This is the essence of an embodiment practice. Everything that you are is a product of what has acted upon you up to this point.
You may not realise it, as it happens in such a minuscule manner and out of sight. The body and mind follow ‘rules’ that are undefined and definitely not fully understood. Everything acts upon you, even the concept of beauty you witness.
If there were no rules, we would be all things at all times. Perhaps that is what enlightenment is: negating the rules to be oneself without being influenced (even subconsciously) by the outside world!
Embodiment choice
How do the body and mind choose what to embody? By following pathways that are familiar and energetically homeostatic, reinforced by repetition. You will never look at ………..(fill in the blank) that you have each week or day in the same way again!
Food is a good example: as the saying goes; ‘you are what you eat’. Which is true. The nutrients you put into your body are the building blocks your body uses to reconstruct your cells and body parts in order to maintain physical homeostasis and subsequently your health.
Repeated ingestion of inadequate or detrimental material will influence the way the body expresses itself, because the body embodies that which is brought in from the outside.
Embodiment choice and its many layers
The above example relates to the physical aspect. However, this is also true for mental and emotional qualities. Repeated experiences can become part of you through embodiment practice.
Whether this expresses itself positively or negatively depends on the type of experience and how it is dealt with, internalised and expressed again. This explains why families and surrounding environments are crucial to a developing child and why culture profoundly influences our lives.
Culture is an entity we internalise and embody, which we then churn out of ourselves as part of our personality and lifestyle.
We often perceive the outside as the truth of our lives, yet it reflects only what we express from within ourselves and what we subsequently reabsorb. It is a never-ending cycle and an important one because it is an innate principle which all of our bodies and minds follow; it is how we learn, grow, develop and evolve.
The power of embodiment practice
Embodiment is a very powerful concept and like flowing water, its power lies in the repetition of its action. It is simple yet complex when considering all the elements you embody within a lifetime and how they affect your body, character, health and mind.
You also affect the embodiment practice of others in a web that connects us all. Quite often we view the outside as separate from ourselves, something for someone else to deal with. Yet, the outside inevitably becomes the inside, affecting many layers.
It takes time but that does not mean we should ignore it just because we do not see the effects happening instantaneously.
These forces are constantly shape us as human beings. You will never see your surroundings in the same way again!! Remember, what you consume, be that physically such as food or non physical (including ideas, opinions, emotions etc), your mind and body will innately adjust to it. That is just what they do.
Embodiment practice as a medium of change
Embodiment practice also provides a medium for change. Understanding its impact and becoming conscious of embodiment practice allows you to be aware of the transformative secrets of this process. It shows you how to make changes in your environment to include elements you want to embody and reduce those elements you do not wish to embody.
You can create alternative ‘outsides’ that foster the qualities you value and aspire to, which then naturally become embodied on the ‘inside’. This helps you grow as a person and as a soul. That is the basis of all practices that bring consciousness to the innate workings of the body and mind.
I hope you enjoyed this post and found insights you may not have considered before.