How much is your inside reflected on your outside? Does your body or face usually express what is going on for you emotionally? Or do you find yourself presenting something different than what you feel to the world and those around you. When we are embodied, when we have a strong mind-body connection, we are more comfortable showing on the outside how we feel on the inside .
We all experience differences between our inner experience and outer expression. Sometimes this is part of our natural need for privacy in certain situations. But we can get stuck in an unhelpful pattern of minimizing and disregarding our emotional expression because of discomfort or social conditioning. This can happen for both challenging emotions like anger or fear, and with emotions we think of as more positive like joy. Women especially often learn to keep our emotional experiences inside, to keep ourselves small. Practicing embodiment and nurturing a mind-body connection helps us to bring our inner experience and outer expression into alignment. This important for our wellbeing because it allows our bodies to be a tool in sharing our world with others, increasing our emotional intelligence and supporting healthy relationships.
What stands in your way of living a more embodied and expressive life? What next step can you take to fully inhabiting your own skin?
Try this exercise
Show Instead of Tell* – in a private space take a moment to come into stillness. Tune into your breath, and soften your face and shoulders.
Use your body to tell the story of your morning. Imagine you are telling your friend about your morning. What happened? How did it go? What is frantic or slow? How did it leave you feelings? Show your imagined friend your morning through movement, no words.
Let yourself be surprised, allowing your body to share, express and speak the narrative. Pay attention to your body’s sensations and what is happening for you. If you feel lost or get stuck, come back to focus on your breath for a moment. Pay attention to how you are moving. What parts of your body move the most? Are their movements you are repeating? Are your movements large or small.
Take some time to reflect on your experience – maybe write about it in your journal. What did you notice? What surprised you? What feelings arose? What might be a good next step?
*from The Somatic Therapy Workbook by Livia Shapiro
Embodied Compassion Focused Psychotherapy
Sydney provides strengths-based support to people struggling with self worth, body image concerns and life transitions. With a focus on fostering a compassionate mindset, work with Sydney to feel good about yourself, find peace with your body and live your life to the fullest