Embodied Yoga - Coming Home

"An embodied yoga practice sees the body as not just a brain taxi, or as something to be transcended, but as an integral aspect of how we exist". Mark Walsh

Embodied Yoga helps us become more attuned to notice how our body responds to emotional triggers and environmental stimuli through changes in the physical sensations and feelings you experience.

During a yoga practice the focus is on improving our awareness of our physical sensations and how our body responds.

This initially begins with experiencing how our body reacts to different postures, noticing how our muscles engage and support us, and which areas stretch, contract or relax.

When we improve our awareness of bodily sensations and reactions, we are building an embodied practice that contains the qualities of trust, love, kindness and compassion, for self and others.

These can be the qualities we have with a best friend, family member, or partner. Sadly we don't always have the same relationship with ourselves.

An Embodied Yoga practice is a practice where we return home to ourselves, to our center. A place to feel safe and secure with ourselves.

Embodied Yoga is less about the appearance, and those hard to obtain postures that are used widely to 'promote' yoga. It's more about the feelings.

Through the body you are able to witness, observe, and be conscious of your whole self.

By bringing the felt sensations of your body into consciousness you begin to expand your ability to recognise how you feel off the yoga mat as well.

Feeling into the body, being aware of sensations that they weren’t aware of before, is where the process of transformation begins. Embodied yoga encourages us to trust and to be true to ourselves and our direct experience, without judgement and critcism.

You can practice yoga in a way which isn’t embodied, tho traditional yoga teachings always incorporates how our mind engages and responds to your breath. As your experience grows, your awareness will develop beyond these purely physical aspects.

I too have been to many classes where no emphasises was placed on bodily sensations at all. Even during my teacher training the emphasis was always on alignment, posture and breath.

Gradually after each class my awareness through yoga grew. I could feel less physical and emotional tension. I was more aware of the length of my back, it's upright posture and it's ease of movement. But the key piece was missing.

Identifying that these sensations were present before and during my practice but my attention hadn't been drawn to them. Now the jig saw is complete! I bring my whole self to class, not just my body. I know how I feel before, during and after each practice.

Self enquiry: How do you experience movement in your mind, body, breath, and emotions?

As a BodyWorker & Energy Healer with over 20 years experience of working with famililes, individuals and groups with high levels of stress, dis-ease and trauma, I have always taken a therapeutic appraoch to sensing and feeling into the body whether through Yoga, BodyWork or Energy Healing.

Troon Yoga is a great place to start your practice of coming home to the body through T

rauma Informed, Embodied Yoga.