Benefits
“The experience of oneself in the world as a cognisant being does not solely emerge from neural activity within the brain. Instead, it involves a complex interplay of brain, body and environment, and the seamless integration of interoceptive, proprioceptive (including vestibular), kinaesthetic, tactile, and spatial information.”
Evidence-based research over the past 60 years supports the positive impacts of embodied modalities by showing that practices that pay attention to moving, sound and vocalising, sensing/feeling through touch, and imaginative and visceral sensitivities are highly effective in shifting mood, changing state, igniting creativity, and cultivating care and connection. Furthermore, research in education shows the positive impacts of embodied modalities on refreshing and energising focus, enhancing learning agility, cultivating agency and building self-confidence (see references).
Embodied Practice emerges from fields including experiential anatomy, somatic & creative arts therapies, neurophysiology and body-mind philosophy. The practice utilises body-oriented, awareness-based strategies that may include but is not limited to Body-Mind Centering©, yoga, performance practices, Alexander Technique, mindfulness meditation, improvisation, martial arts, extended vocal technique, Focussing, Contact Improvisation and Social Presencing Theatre to name but a few.
Embodied practice is beneficial for:
Reducing stress, worry and anxiety
Inspiring creativity and play
Modulating the nervous system and re-patterning behaviours
Managing and processing trauma
Sustaining physical activity and improving coordination and agility
Increasing general mental and physical health
Cultivating self-confidence and personal agency
Relieving geriatric disease symptoms
Improving sleep
Benefits for Life include:
Gaining a clearer sense of life purpose
Having more choice in how you pay attention and what you pay attention to
Becoming absorbed in the things you love
Building stronger connectedness with others and environment
Cultivating present moment awareness & focus
Growing your mojo
Being less governed by time
Activating creativity
Giving yourself a break from projecting and worrying about what could happen
Moving through perceived blocks and finding powerful solutions to resolve
Spending less time ‘in your head’ and more time ‘in your body’
Managing your physical and mental health
For more benefits specific to mental wellbeing read here.
Benefits For Study & professional learning include:
Enhancing learning agility
Cultivating agency & self confidence
Empowering your voice - vocally & conceptually
Generating access to multiple intelligences - we call this poly-intelligence
Recognising learning resistances & discovering ways to move through these safely & constructively
Refreshing enthusiasm for study and professional learning
Energising focus
Attuning to senses, others and environments differently
Accessing embodied creative processes
Enhancing memory
"When the brain proliferates options, it gets off the path of least resistance and reaches more widely into its networks. Instead of running set algorithms, the brain bends, breaks & blends its storehouse of experiences, imagining what-ifs."
~ David Eagleman - neuroscientist & Anthony Brandt - composer, (2017)