What Is EmbodiYoga?
Unearthing and intellectualizing the concepts behind this beautiful practice
It’s one thing to understand something with the mind, quite another to know it with the body. Currently enrolled in EmbodiYoga Advanced Teacher Training, I decided to write about embodiment weekly, at a minimum, to document the process and hopefully make others curious about it. I’ll be certified as an RYT 500 at the end of this journey and will have a body of work to reflect on as the years go by.
We are only 4 weekends in and have 14 weekends to go. What I’ve learned so far has been mind blowing.
Today I am going to outline some of the concepts of EmbodiYoga.
Embodiment is a directly-perceived experience of the body, but the initial path in is through the mind.
We cognitively understand what we are trying to learn, by visualizing and intellectualizing, and eventually we move into somaticization and finally embodiment.
A few principles …
- Alignment of the body is context-based. It’s about the relationship between things. Everything in the body is related. The parts of our body are not ‘parts’ at all. Every single part of us started from a single cell. As my teacher says, the thing never forgot itself. Sooooo, alignment always considers the whole over the parts. There is no perfect asana, ascetically speaking. Each person will and should look different in the same asana.
- Movement travels from one end to the other. Yoga is a living, moving art. The body in movement is always reacting to different forces.
- When people move we are looking at their history.
- Every cell in our body has it’s own tone. Cellular tone is a researched fact. Bonding with the Earth is one practice that works on cellular tone.
- By using the body, we reprogram the mind. The nervous system only records. We introduce something new to the body and the nervous system creates a new pattern …. MORE CHOICE.
Enough for today. In my next post, I’ll explain how we actively meet the earth — or don’t. Lots of concepts to intellectualize there. In the meantime, practice the Arriving Sequence. It’s beautiful.
Until next time, at least visualize yourself living in an embodied way. Feel your body from the inside, instead of conceptualizing it from the outside. It’s the first step!
Thanks for reading. Did you enjoy? Please tap the 💚 to recommend it to others. Namaste …
ABOUT & OFFERINGS
Hi! I’m Heather, a writer and yoga educator from SE Ohio. I share daily-ish here as part of my spiritual practice, and am working on my first book, Yoga Prayers. Download the first 25 pages, A Prelude to Yoga Prayers, for a brief introduction into yoga history and philosophy — and let me know what you think!
