What is embodiment?
7 reasons why you should care.
“To truly experience life, stop thinking and start listening. Embodiment is about presence.”
Embodiment can mean many different things and presents itself through countless lenses. For me, embodiment is about connection—to the self, the earth, the ether. Before we can connect to the energy of everything around us, I find it essential to start with whats happening within.
So many people are disconnected from themselves; they know more about their iPhones than their own being. This vessel—your body—is part of the mysterious gift of your soul’s humanness. Why not dive in and explore it?
And because we all enjoy a good listicle, here are my top seven reasons why you should care about being embodied:
To actually experience the present moment.
Without embodiment, it’s easy to slip into thoughts of what’s next or what’s already passed. Embodiment allows you to fully immerse yourself in the here and now.
Take a few minutes to pause and consider the layers of your being:
What are you experiencing in your physical body?
What are you experiencing emotionally?
How alive does your energy—your prana, chi, or life-force—feel?
What are you noticing in the void—the empty space around you and within you, the darkness?
What are you conscious of in this moment? Expand your awareness outside of you and see what’s there. Imagine you’re on a beautiful mushroom journey if it helps.
To be present is a gift. Connect to your body, and connect to life.
The question you’re sitting with—the answer is in the body.
Life offers endless inquiries for exploration, some small and some profound. You may have been conditioned to seek answers outside yourself. While ChatGPT is a profound technological advancement, it cannot tell you whether or not you should keep eating or if you’re full. Books and podcasts can educate you about how to start investing, but they cannot tell you whether or not you should take a risk and move to a new city. Your therapist, coach, friend can listen and help reflect back your experience, but they cannot answer what the meaning of life is for you.
The body holds answers if you’re willing to listen. Go inside and trust what arises. Let go of logic for a moment. Life isn’t always meant to make sense—it’s meant to be felt.
For women—join the alternative lovers WhatsApp community where I hold a monthly chat & embodiment practice.
If you want a better sex life.
Sex doesn’t happen in the mind—though it may start there. The physical act of sex happens in the body, and through your senses. If you want to have more pleasure, start learning what gives you pleasure! Maybe its kissing the back of your neck. Licking the inside of your thigh. Being oiled down. Being spanked. Showering together. Maybe smelling rose essential oil turns you on. Whatever it is, wonderful, it’s all welcome, but you need to spend time in your body discovering what is pleasurable if you want to have better sex.
The next time you feel desire coursing through your veins, slow down and feeeeeel it. Don’t rush to the finish line, savor the experience, the moment, and your body.
To experience sexuality beyond intercourse.
“There is no energy whatsoever without the element of sexuality.”
Carl Jung
Most people hear the word sex and start imagining lingerie, fast, sweaty, passionate intercourse, and orgasms (if this isn’t you, I applaud you, let’s be friends). The great news is, sex is an energy—sexual energy. This energy is also known as your your life-force, it’s what makes you feel alive and purposeful in this life. Head to the Tenderloin in San Francisco or Skid Row in LA and you’ll experience the depletion of life-force energy (sending love to all the lost souls in these spaces). Through embodiment you connect to this energy—it’s often when you’re in flow—and harness it.
Blocks like trauma, shame, and repression can dim this energy. The good news? These can be removed, cleansed, and healed. When you reconnect with this energy, you remember that everything is alive—and aliveness is sexual energy! When you start feeling this energy daily, you transcend the purely physical experience of sex, tapping into its spiritual essence. This opens the door to channeling sexual energy into higher pursuits like creative expression, building a thriving business, personal transformation, and deep spiritual awakening.
Because connecting to yourself helps you better understand and empathize with others.
Embodiment begins with self-connection. It’s about turning inward to understand your own needs and shadows. This can feel selfish, but it’s necessary.
How can you truly support or empathize with others if you haven’t first looked within? When you see where you’re ignoring your needs or abandoning yourself, you can start showing up authentically—with boundaries.
Here’s your invitation to be selfish, with love.
Want support on your journey? Join my partner and I for the SELF retreat July 23-30 in Peru! We have 2 beds left!
Because it feels good. And looks good.
Your body is a temple, so why not enjoy it. Embodiment allows you to move, dance, sing and experience life fully through your senses.
When’s the last time you allowed yourself to express what your were feeling? If you think, “I can’t dance/sing/etc”, I invite you to let go of that belief. You are a unique expression of the divine and you have a unique essence to share with this world.
Think of someone who radiates confidence and comfort in their own skin. Embodiment is magnetic. Why not let that person be you? In a previous life, I was a burlesque performer, and this art form offered me profound freedom of expression and self-love. The empowering meaning behind burlesque lies in its celebration of the body as a sacred, emotive vessel—a temple of creativity and magic. Maybe striptease on stage isn’t your thing, but what could you do that invites you to experience and honor your body as a temple?
BECAUSE YOU CARE ABOUT YOURSELF.
Even if you don’t believe it in this moment, your highest self does.
When you take care of yourself, you feel better. For me, embodiment means honoring my body and experiencing life through it. I used to think dissociation was fun: drinking, binge-watching, eating my feelings instead of feeling them. I wanted to escape. Now, presence is my joy.
Feeling everything and realizing I can hold it all—that’s embodiment. It has required surrendering to what’s happening and allowing energy to move through me. And I’ll be honest, I still believe in intentional dissociation, sometimes we just need a fucking break.
Learning to expand your capacity to be present with everything as it is? That’s the ultimate embodiment. And it’s waiting for you.
Thank you for your support of my work, please consider sharing this post with someone you love! Sending love for your journey through embodiment.
Keep listening,
