Enlivening the Inner World through Embodiment By Adrienne Edson
One of my favorite aspects of yoga is moving the body in combination with imagination.
I find the result to be a thrilling look into the vast realms within and an opportunity to get to know oneself with ever greater awareness and depth. In embodiment, there is a chance to feel into the moods, shades, and qualities that are alive, to move energy, to process, express, and explore hidden parts of self, and to bring all parts together into wholeness in the spirit of belonging.
The experience becomes a journey of the body in physical planes simultaneous with a journey of the soul in subtle energetic planes. It is vast and infinite. Oxford Languages defines embodiment as: “a tangible or visible form of an idea, quality or feeling.” In other words, embodiment communicates formlessness through form. Thoughts, sensations, emotions, all of our wonderments, longings, inquiries, hopes, dreams, aspects, qualities, all that stirs in our soul can be expressed into the art that is movement. More than just movement, I believe embodiment can occur through conscious stillness and through the experience of being present in our body, being present to the place where the soul experiences itself.
One way to practice embodiment is through asana – the yoga poses and forms, and the flow between them. When we practice, we participate in formlessness becoming form, and engage in form to enter into formlessness. While our inner worlds can express through embodiment, our embodied practice can explore that which is formless within us. In doing this we participate in being alive, in the process of the unfolding mystery that is both within and that we are part of.
To me, this is the purpose of life: to evolve in love. We can connect to it, get to know it, and participate in it, as we move in our bodies and in our souls.
I propose a view of embodiment through three steps: opening into authenticity, exploring all parts of self, and lovingly integrating all parts into wholeness.
First, we must arrive in authenticity. This is connection to our true nature, love, and an honest look at the qualities alive in the heart. What heart strings are pulling, what are the stirrings and longings alive and moving through and within us? Might it be that the longings are to know oneself more deeply? A heart dream or desire for union with soul, with source, with love, and to know the love that is an infinite well within? And so in this second step of embodiment, there is an invitation to explore all parts of self, so that they can be brought together into union, into wholeness of soul. Thus we partake in svadhyaya ‘self study’- the fourth niyama of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras.
Parts of self can include archetypal aspects, shadow aspects, and hidden and long-lost parts in the vast realm within. These aspects of self could be the parts of us, for example, that feel at times anxious or embarrassed, envious, sad, or scared, much like the characters of Inside Out. These could be parts of self that are perhaps considered taboo by societal voices. Parts that are more expressive, wild, or eccentric. They could be parts that are just out of eyesight or conscious knowing, our shadows, parts that govern our unconscious behavior until we see them with illumined clarity.
When we uncover these previously denied or repressed aspects, we have an opportunity to learn what those parts have to teach us for our soul’s growth. Through embodied exploration paired with imagination, one could personify aspects of oneself and engage in conversation to understand one’s soul more deeply.
For a personal example, there is a part of me that can’t seem to settle down. Perhaps this aspect feels like it isn’t accepted by societal standards of traditional family and work life , and so it is further denied, and in turn exasperated. I’ll personify this aspect as a restless adventurer. More specifically, as a sailor setting sails for new voyages. During a yoga practice, I could through imagination enter into vast oceanic realms within, drawn toward mystical islands. I could ask this sailor of my heart, “Why do you sail?”. And as my body is pulled from child’s pose into intuitive, interwoven spinal warm-ups, I could answer: “I feel a pull to explore this world so that I can know myself more. I fear that settling down will mean I won’t understand myself as vast and mystical as the great unknown.” Hearing myself say this, I might come to understand that I have a need for a unique and inspiring existence.
This brings me to the third step of embodiment: lovingly bringing all parts into wholeness, infusing them with heart, soul, aliveness, and belonging. I could welcome the restless adventurer to an island called home, where all fears of depravity of a unique and inspiring existence are quelched by an overwhelming sense of infinite mystery within. I could continue exploring inquiries of how to navigate rootedness and adventure and the vastness within through yoga asana of flowing sun salutation variations: moving from peaceful warrior, sweeping into side angle, peaceful warrior, into a dragonfly twist. Dancing through the air, moved by prana: breath, life-force, what fills the sails of my being and propels me on my way. The next poses would be like words in a story or paint strokes on a canvas to be revealed as they are lived out and embodied. I could lower into a squatting toe balance like descending into the mystical underworld island of Atlantis. I could become the boat that carries me in navasana, moving through the currents of my unconscious realm. And at the end of my embodiment practice, I could bring my hands together, thumb touching thumb and finger cradling as a gesture of wholeness.
Honoring the adventurer within through embodiment and imagination, I can explore and listen to what they have to teach me and integrate newfound wisdom into my reality.
Welcoming mystical parts of our soul like this into wholeness can bring with it a sense of belonging.
Story and Song to bolster the Embodiment Experience
By viewing all stories as a reflection of parts of our own souls and selves, all stories then can be mirrors of rich content for our soul’s journeys. Entering into a story can resonate chords of our own truths and help us to discover new depths and immeasurable treasures within. The practice can get us into our hearts, connecting us to the soul-self, the mysterious unfolding within, where one lives out the Hero’s Journey. The steps of Embodiment– of opening into authenticity, uncovering mystical parts of self, and bringing them together– can take the form of infinite stories. When one meets a story that kindles an awakening, it is a pull toward that which aligns with the evolution of love depicted for us in a unique expression. Stories can paint for us the multi-dimensional and ever-transforming canvas of our inner worlds, which through embodiment and imagination, we explore.
Song can connect us to the deepest place of our heart and express the truth of one’s power and longing for union with soul, source, and love. Reverberating one’s whole being with this truth and loving intention can move energy and integrate the soul journey: wisdom and true nature knowing into our whole being. When we sing or chant, we are in our bodies, connecting to subtle energetic layers, planes of being within. The vocal chords become the bridge between formlessness and form. Opening one’s voice to express sacred truth and authenticity can be an intimate connection of heart within to the world around us, and vice versa when we process our experience through the art of song.
The story of The Wolf Woman to Demonstrate Embodiment, Soul-Exploration, and Belonging The story of La Loba, the Wolf Woman, Chapter One from Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés is a beautiful story about gathering together parts of ourselves and breathing into them the quality of aliveness. In the story, the parts of ourselves are symbolized by bones scattered throughout the desert. The desert is our soul-psyche. The archetype who gathers up the bones is La Loba, the Wolf Woman. She lives in each of us. She gathers the bones and sings over them. By singing over them, the bones become enlivened, turning into a wolf running free.By participating in the story, one may experience the stages and purpose of embodiment:
1. First, one opens into the authentic heartspace, into the soul-psyche, through the desert landscape.
2. Next, one uncovers all of the bones, all of the dismantled parts of self.
3. Finally, the bones are brought together, sung over, and come to life.
When we sing our soul-song, the truth of our power and our longing for union with soul, source, and love, we reverberate what is most authentic within. It can bring to life that which has felt dried out as bones in a desert. By entering into a story, by becoming the wolf woman and the wolf, there is an opportunity to bring what may have been unconscious into the light and to work through subtle energetic blockages, to heal and empower our being.
Such is a soul journey experience. It is embodiment on multiple layers that allows one to participate in the process of love evolution. By opening into ourselves and exploring the vast soul within, we can get to know our own souls and selves with greater awareness and depth. Through loving integration, there can be a deep connection to love, trust, and a knowing of wholeness and belonging.
Embodiment practices are a mystical experience! Meaning, it is felt and understood through experiencing it firsthand in a bone-deep, heart-deep, space-between-cell-deep way. More than intellectual understanding, it must be lived. Do you hear the call?
Book References:
Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés, PhD.
The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell
We: Understanding the Psychology of Romantic Love by Robert Johnson
Man and His Symbols by Carl G. Jung and Associates
Music:
New Single Mystical Islands by Adrienne Edson, releases October 2nd
Trust by Rad Bhav
Music for Mushrooms by East Forest
Opportunity to Practice:
Day to Night Flow with Rad Bhav at Swan River
A two-hour yoga session that moves from a more energetic practice into a restorative session with live music by kirtan band Rad Bhav! The session will begin with the story of The Wolf Woman and a sacred earth song. The theme will be woven through the embodiment practice, which will move from a more dynamic flow into a restorative practice. In this unique and extraordinary soul-connecting experience, there will be a chance to explore and love all parts of self in the spirit of belonging.
Sunday, September 15th,
5-7pm
Sliding Scale: $11-44