coming home to your body & being
The element of Earth and the direction of North brings us back to the magnetism of the earth herself and of our bodies. We often use analogies of the compass and aligning with our true north in life. What if this a deeper reference back to our experience of life through the physical, within and without? Many great teachers and practices bring us back to the body and the wisdom within it - yoga, breathwork, nutrition and natural medicine.
“In the beginning was the word…and the word was made flesh”.
What if this well-known piece of scripture is highlighting the importance and power of embodiment (in body we are meant to be)? All of our interactions, connections, highs, lows and exchanges are felt and experienced through the physical. It is through our relationships with ourselves, our past and future, our loved ones and the world as a whole that we learn, grow, evolve and enrich our lives. All of our pains and wounds of separation, limitation and lack occur when we do not feel safe and secure in the body. Paradoxically, to feel safe we then lean toward familiar, ‘safe’ patterns of avoidance detachment, numbing, addiction, attachment etc. which keep us stuck in loops of suffering and separation.
We no longer have to isolate ourselves to become ‘enlightened or evolved’ or learn from a distance from the ‘guru’ or 'God'. That may have been the first step by previous teachers but now we heal and lead from our most natural expression. Anchored and grounded in the intricate, intuitive and wise whole self, connecting and collaborating and guided by more recent somatic research and teachings to support us (and our deeper remembrance).
“The body is the primary sacred text and teacher”
Our greatest healing, shifts and transformations come in real time, in real experience and in really living from our truth. In those real time moments when we choose nurture and nourishment over neglect and mistreatment of our whole and holy self. In remembering that we are not born in or from sin and don’t need to spend a lifetime punishing the body. When we come back to our root systems, we can explore how safe and secure our foundations are. We can determine what is working for us and what is not, what is nourishing us and what is depleting and debilitating our growth and fulfilment?
As we work more closely with the element of earth - we come into deeper connection with our body and innate intelligence. We are reminded of the power of our roots, the systems that support our growth, connection and expression (and the ones that don’t) and where we need to prune and detach from the old and consciously re-root. As we move forward our roots must be founded on our true values and our most natural essence and expression. Often as we re-root and re-establish an aspect of ourselves on solid ground, another part of us dies and we are called to re-route on our path of life. Note that both re-rooting, death and consequently rebirth happens within the rich, fertile and dark soil and earth.
Before we have a nervous system, we have cells and fluids that are feeding the nervous system. From this perspective, the nervous system is a recording system and it takes all the cellular fluid information and puts in into patterns. ... Embodiment is the cells’ awareness of themselves. It is a direct experience; there is no intermediary steps or translations. There is no guide or witness. There is the fully known consciousness of the experienced moment initiated from the cells themselves. In this instance the brain is the last to know. There is complete knowing. There is peaceful comprehension. Out of this embodiment process emerges feeling, thinking, witnessing, understanding. The source of this process is love.
- Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen
Our body and cells are record and memory carriers, supporting and enhancing our journey. The more we explore and honour this we see where we have become stuck in patterns of stress, survival or suffering. Our body moves into a space of dysregulation to alert us of something that needs our attention – something doesn’t feel right, this isn’t safe, we got hurt the last time etc. If we continue to ignore these internal messages, the nervous system oscillates within waves of dysregulation and often then into patterns of dysfunction. The patterns of dysfunction are then expressed within our relationship with ourselves and others. It doesn’t feel safe in our bodies because we are not listening and trusting our natural instincts and responses.
We then acquire masks and filters to hide our true identity and expression to ensure ‘safety’, however it is a false sense of security and will never nurture and nourish us. Without the nourishment we need to thrive we settle for relationships that are deficient and built upon attachment, dependency, avoidance and dysfunction. This is emphasised by societal programming of perfect relationships like that of rom coms and family movies contrasting with the drama of soaps and reality TV and the shame, guilt and secrecy of not living up to some standard. With the addition of traumatising events or experiences in our lives and little or no modelling of how to connect with our body and express our natural selves, it is no wonder we don’t feel safe or trust our bodies.
Our natural ability to self-regulate and the importance of co-regulation has been hidden or forgotten for a long time. Fortunately, we are remembering the intelligence, the intuition, the instincts and the deeper sensory perceptions we have access to within the physical self. Simple practices to connect with our bodies can offer deep insight and remembrance. Witnessing patterns, understanding and compassionately making space to feel and heal is the medicine to break the patterns and re-root more solid foundations for our relationship with our body and whole self and then with others. Allowing ourselves to find the best ways to self soothe and regulate our nervous systems is paramount. As is co-regulation, which allows us to connect with safety in our environment and the support system within. Retreating to nature is our inner knowing bringing us back to the most harmonious, abundant and steady co-regulating guide and guru.