Ciao from Firenze! Ok, admittedly, I wanted to write this reflection during the time of my birthday, as a commemoration of things I’ve learned and how I’ve grown over the past year. One could say I’m just a little bit off schedule (my birthday was in May). However, if there’s something I’ve learned about Italian culture is that lateness is…subjective.
I’ve started to embrace Italian Standard Time which pretty much means that, as long as you show up at some point, you’re not late. In this case, as long as my reflection is written, technically it’s not late, right?
All jokes aside, I’ve been reflecting on the many changes over the past year. There are many obvious changes like moving out of the country (twice), learning an entirely new culture and language, meeting new people and worldviews, in addition to navigating the loss of a parent and learning to manage symptoms of C-PTSD.
What isn’t so apparent are the inner shifts that have taken place. Despite the massive external changes I have undergone, I believe the changes that have surpassed crossing the ocean are the shifts that have taken place within me.
For the first time in my life, I truly belong to myself.
Truthfully, I didn’t even know this was what I had been searching for all along, until I felt it inside. A feeling of wholeness. It felt like a sacred return to a place I didn’t even know existed. I came to a blaring realization: We do not heal because we are broken. We heal because we have forgotten that we are already whole.
Wholeness isn’t earned.
Wholeness isn’t something we become.
Wholeness cannot be taken away.
Wholeness is remembered.
It is reclaimed.
This is the sacred return.
A return to love. A return to presence. A return to the miraculous aliveness that is within each one of us. This is what it means to heal.
This path and understanding was not linear, to say the least. Ironically, I had to leave everything I’d ever known to find my way back home to myself and discover this inner-belonging. Truly, wholeness and belonging is what we were made for and healing is possible for all. This is the sacred return to ourselves. Wholeness is a state of embodiment. And that is what we will be practicing today.
So…What is embodiment?
In short, embodiment is the felt sense of aliveness that is within each one of us. It is the integration of our earth body and energetic field. The tingling energy in your fingertips; the rhythmic cadence of your heartbeat; the ever-continuous flow of your breath. This energy field reveals a much deeper truth: the incredible miracle it is to be alive. This is the felt sense of embodiment.
Below I will share 2 of my favorite embodiment practices: one for connecting with the earth body, and one for connecting with your “subtle body”, your energetic field.
Earth Body - Connecting with the physical
Embodiment practice #1
Finding Ground: I personally love practicing this exercise seated beneath a tree. I like to imagine I am taking root into the earth below me, while connecting to the stability and energy of the trees.
(Please note the following exercise is modified from the book “The Wakeful Body” by Willa Blythe Baker). Read through the directions first, then do the practice.
Come into a comfortable position, either seated or lying down. Notice the feeling of your body connected to the surface below you. Allow each exhale to invite more ease and relaxation into your body. Inhale ease, exhale ease. Soften. Eyelids are heavy. Jaw, neck, shoulders relaxed. Arms heavy by your side, or resting atop your legs. Feel them getting heavier as you lengthen your exhales. Feel your hips and legs sinking deeper into the ground, as though they are melting into the earth. Complete relaxation of your muscles.
In this state of complete relaxation, can you sense gravity’s pull, not as an idea but as a feeling? Can you feel your body’s natural groundedness and stability? Let all of your attention rest here.
When your mind becomes restless or wanders into thought, let your body’s groundedness draw your mind back, like a magnet. Notice how your body teaches your mind to be stable and still. You might say the body is capable of exerting its own gravitational pull on the mind. Spend 5 minutes in this practice.
Subtle Body: Awakening to the natural vibration of aliveness.
Embodiment practice #2:
Awakening aliveness: This practice can be done anywhere, but I recommend a place where you can connect to nature sounds: by a river, near trees, or another preferred space. Read through the following exercise before the practice so that you don’t interrupt the flow to read the directions.
Find a comfortable position. Close your eyes. With your eyes closed, use your senses to “take in” your environment: what do you hear? what is the temperature of the air on your skin? do you sense movement near or far? are there any smells? Allow this internal field of awareness to draw you in to the present moment.
Now rub your hands together vigorously for 10-15 seconds. Feel the heat build in your hands as you stir up this energy inside. After 15 seconds or so, bring your hands together in a prayer position in front of your chest and feel the pulsing vibration within your hands and fingertips. Feel this aliveness.
Stay here until you feel the temperature and pulse in your hands return to their natural state. Open your eyes when you feel ready. Throughout the day, notice if you can sense this tingling sensation in your fingertips. May this remind you of the sacred aliveness within you.
As you continue to practice, you will likely find other ways that you naturally experience embodiment throughout your day as well. On my daily walking commute, I pass by a small field. Each time I am drawn in to presence and aliveness as I watch the beautiful flow of swaying trees. Each time, this deepens my breath and it feels like coming back home. Nature has a vibratory aliveness and so do you.
Wholeness and belonging are never far away. In the deepest parts of our being, wholeness simply awaits us. Each time we return to love, to presence, to the miracle of our aliveness, we return to wholeness. Still, unmoveable, ever abiding.
May you return to presence.
May you return to love.
May you return to aliveness.
May you return to…you.