What is “Embodiment”and is it just a new health trend?
As a mom juggling endless responsibilities, you've probably felt disconnected from your own body. Between caring for little ones, managing households, and trying to maintain some sense of self, it's easy to live entirely "in your head." But what if I told you that reconnecting with your body could be the key to managing anxiety, reducing stress, and healing your relationship with yourself?
This is where embodiment comes in – a practice that's been quietly revolutionizing how we understand wellness, healing, and personal transformation.
What Exactly Is Embodiment?
Embodiment is the practice of being fully present in your physical body and aware of the constant dialogue between your mind, emotions, and physical sensations. It's about recognizing that your body isn't just a vessel carrying your brain around – it's an intelligent system that processes emotions, stores memories, and communicates valuable information about your inner state.
Think of embodiment as developing fluency in your body's language. Just as you learned to understand your baby's different cries, embodiment teaches you to interpret the subtle (and not-so-subtle) messages your body sends throughout the day.
The Science
Research in neuroscience and psychology has revealed fascinating insights about how our minds and bodies communicate:
Your Body Remembers Everything - Every experience you've had – from childhood memories to yesterday's stressful moment – leaves an imprint in your nervous system. (Isn’t that crazy to think about?!) Your body remembers trauma, but it also remembers joy, safety, and love. This is why certain scents can instantly transport you to your mom’s kitchen, or why your shoulders automatically tense when you hear your toddler's meltdown voice.
Emotions Are Physical Experiences - Anxiety isn't just a thought – it's a racing heart, shallow breathing, and tight shoulders. Joy isn't just happiness – it's lightness in your chest, relaxed facial muscles, and expansive breathing. Your emotions literally live in your body, which means you can work with physical sensations to shift emotional states.
Your Nervous System Is Your Operating System - Your Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) – the part that controls things like heart rate, breathing, and digestion – is constantly scanning for safety or threat. When you're embodied, you can consciously influence this system, moving from states of stress and hypervigilance to calm and connection (& how cool would it be to stay cool, calm and collected during our kids’ meltdowns?)
Why Embodiment Is So Healing for Moms
Motherhood can create a perfect storm of disconnection from our bodies. Pregnancy changes everything about how your body feels and functions. Sleep deprivation scrambles your nervous system. The constant focus on others' needs can make you forget you even have needs.
This disconnection can look like:
Chronic anxiety that seems to come from nowhere
Feeling "stuck" in your head with racing thoughts
Difficulty identifying what you actually need in any given moment
A complicated relationship with your post-baby body
Feeling overwhelmed by emotions with no clear way to process them
Embodiment offers a pathway back to yourself – not the person you were before kids, but a more integrated, aware version of who you are now.
The Core of Embodiment Practice
At the heart of embodiment is something called interoception – your ability to sense what's happening inside your body. This includes:
Noticing your heartbeat
Feeling tension or relaxation in your muscles
Sensing your breathing patterns
Recognizing hunger, thirst, or fatigue
Detecting emotional states through physical sensations
Most of us have weakened interoceptive abilities due to busy lifestyles, chronic stress, or learned patterns of ignoring our body's signals. Embodiment practices help rebuild this crucial connection with ourselves. When we begin to cultivate a loving awareness towards our body’s signals, we start to create a more supportive relationship with ourselves. Because let’s be honest, sometimes we are our our worst enemy.
Mindfulness Alone Is Not Enough (but, it’s the first step)
While mindfulness focuses on observing thoughts and feelings, embodiment goes one step further. It's about actively engaging with your physical experience to create change. When you're embodied, you're not just noticing that your shoulders are tense – you're breathing into that tension, moving to release it, and understanding what it might be telling you about your emotional state.
This makes embodiment particularly powerful for moms dealing with anxiety and stress. Instead of being at the mercy of anxious thoughts or overwhelming emotions, you have tools to work directly with your nervous system through your body.
Our Kids Are Directly Impacted by Our Emotional State
When you become more embodied, the benefits extend far beyond your own well-being. Children are incredibly attuned to their caregivers' nervous system states. When you're more regulated and present in your body, your children feel safer and more regulated too. You're literally modeling nervous system health for the next generation.
Starting Your Embodiment Journey
Embodiment isn't about achieving some perfect state of body awareness. It's about cultivating curiosity about your inner landscape and developing skills to work with whatever you find there. It's particularly relevant for mothers because it honors both the profound changes your body has undergone and its incredible wisdom and resilience.
In our next post, we'll explore the specific ways embodiment can transform your relationship with anxiety, stress, and your body – offering hope for those struggling with the mental and emotional challenges of motherhood.
Sasha Sharkh is a somatic yoga practitioner and mother of two who translates embodiment research into practical tools for real life. She believes your body's wisdom is your greatest untapped resource to finally feeling really good.
