Embodiment

The first practice I want to talk about is called embodiment. It is about fully inhabiting and coming home to your body.  Think of it as moving your awareness into your body while in a slightly meditative state.

Meditation is a quintessential masculine practice. It is sitting in stillness and silence while being observant and aware. I love meditation and I think all men and women should engage in some meditative practice regularly. And while I still love to sit in a silent, traditional meditation occasionally, I have moved my meditative practices into an embodied meditation most of the time nowadays. 

This can be done in multiple ways using breath, visualization, movement, etc. 

Most of us live in a masculine dominant society which means that we spend most of our time being analytical, logical, always in “thinking mode” with “to-do lists”, time in front of screens and a hustle culture. 

Being out of balance–too much in the head(masculine) and not enough in the body(feminine) over time can lead to too much energy in our upper body manifesting as headaches, neck tension & strain, shoulder tension, etc. 

This is true for both men and women. Men will benefit from dropping their awareness down into their bodies from time to time. But for women, it is absolutely essential that they do this for their own well being. Because at a woman’s core her essence is feminine and most women are absolutely starved in this area, leading to a breakdown of her well being in her physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. 

A woman's power lies in her heart and womb/pelvis area. In Taoism there is a beautiful way that they think about this, they teach that a woman's source of being is in her womb(physical organ yes, but ultimately the energy of the area itself, so a hysterectomy does not mean this source of being is lost). They say that it is the “soil” from which she grows everything. 

That is much more appealing to me as a woman, than our overly clinical and technical view of a woman's pelvic health in our culture.

Embodiment practices help us to fully drop into our bodies. This reconnects us with the intelligence of our bodies, our intuition, our wisdom and our power as women. Our body has deep wisdom and intuition–that innate knowing that we literally feel in our body. 

Okay, the first practice I will describe is a simple breathing exercise.
1- Sit comfortably and breathe slowly with your eyes closed. 

2- Settle into the present moment and feel your breath. Relax your jaw and mouth. We hold a lot of tension in our jaw. Open your mouth slightly, massage your jaw joint, consciously relax it while you breathe.

3- Next move your attention into your belly, put your hands on it. Women especially hold a lot of tension in our belly, we’re always sucking it in! Breathe deeply into your belly, soften it and let it expand a little with your breath. 

4- Next move your awareness and breathe down further, into your yoni, all the way down into your pelvic bowl. Breathe deeply and slowly, allowing your yoni to relax and expand a little with each breath. 

5- Relax your whole body. Imagine a warm light pouring over each part of your body as you go down, from head to toe. Soften, breath into, relax and open every part of your body. 

You can do this anytime you want for as long as you want. 

A quick note about the word yoni. It is the Sanskrit word for the vagina, but it includes all of a woman’s genitalia. It means: sacred cave or sacred space. It is meant to bring more honor and reverence to a woman’s genitalia and womb. I prefer it a hundred times to the many other options out there and so it is the word I use. 

Our yoni is the root and source of our power and vitality as women. Our womb is the place where all life begins. It is where spirit comes into physical form. Our yoni is the gateway through which life enters the world. It is a portal, quite literally. It is a very magical place! Yet most women never, or rarely, pay attention to and nourish this part of their body. 

The next practice is feminine dance.

This is a great way to cultivate more body awareness and invite more flow and fluidity into the body. Feminine dance focuses specifically on the fluid, circular, undulating movements. They invite more softness and openness into the body. 

The more we can soften our body and open it, the more that juicy, feminine, yin energy can move through us. 

This is not about choreography or being a good dancer. This is about intuitively moving your body. Focus on moving in a way that feels good–not what “looks” good. Create a curvy S wave in your body. Look up a belly dancing video online and learn to move your hips in that circular movement. Do it after your breathing exercise above, or just do it in the kitchen while you make dinner. That’s where I do it the most. Put on some music and have fun with it. You may find your husband enticed into the kitchen to…help make dinner. 

The next practice is a breast massage. 

This may or may not feel a little awkward for you, but it is a beautiful way to awaken the energy in your chest, release some of the armoring and walls you’ve built around your heart and open up to the flow of love. In Taoism a woman’s breasts are seen as the emissive aspect of her heart. This is literally put into action when she breastfeeds her baby. Breast massage is a great way to open our heart center. 

Again, it is not so much about technique, but what feels good. Use a lovely smelling oil and focus on opening your heart during the massage. Melt and rub away anything that is blocking your heart and keeping it closed. Be gentle with yourself–there could be tears. Pay attention to any intuitive thoughts that come to you while doing this. 

If you have not ever done anything like these practices, it will likely feel awkward when you first start to do them. But I would encourage you to push through that and keep doing it. It really does produce good fruit, but only if you actually do it. 

Embodiment only works if you do the practices. Learning and knowing about them will not bring you back into your body.