One of the most common definitions of mindfulness is that it’s paying attention to the present moment non-judgmentally. Indeed, much of what mindfulness teachers advise comes down to sitting with our thoughts and emotions, letting them be, without reactions and judgment. This is the first step to healing, they say. However, traditional mindfulness has certain limitations which many therapists are beginning to recognize. That’s why the need for a new approach called embodied mindfulness is becoming increasingly recognized.
Embodied mindfulness is about using our bodies to release those emotions that are holding us back from achieving tranquility. It helps us heal our unresolved and traumatic issues, which are not always clear to the conscious part of ourselves. Through practicing embodied mindfulness we can tap into our primitive brain where traumas are stored. It is a great approach for anyone who cannot sit with and passively observe their strong emotions, or cannot feel their bodies at all.
Limitations of Mindfulness
If you’ve ever been traumatized (and let’s face it, who hasn’t?), whether it’s from your upbringing, school days, past relationships, jobs, or abuse of any kind, two things might happen to you when you try mindfulness:
The first one is that you can’t really feel your body or its sensations. This happens to many. In order to protect themselves from feeling unpleasant emotions, many people have learned to disconnect themselves from their bodies. This is a dangerous self-preservation strategy because when you can’t feel the bad, you can’t feel the good either. Numbing as a coping mechanism is very present in our modern overwhelming world.
The second thing that can happen is that your physical sensations, i.e. emotions become so strong and painful that you simply can’t handle them. This can then further increase your feelings of anxiety, depression, panic, etc. Many people have reported this experience.
Also, traditional forms of mindfulness were initially intended as a spiritual practice and not as a tool for working with contemporary mental health issues. I’m sure we can agree that stress wasn’t a predominant problem in the mind (and body) of a Buddhist monk. That’s why the spiritual teacher Osho, who although criticized by many for his teachings, did one thing well: he adapted meditation for the oversaturated modern world. “His revolutionary meditation techniques are designed to first release the accumulated stresses of body and mind, so that it is then easier to experience inner silence. (Bansal, Mittal and Seth)”
(And speaking of stress, try Yoga Nidra to see how it can help you with your stress levels. We’ve included a 10 minute guided meditation to help you get started.)
Sometimes It’s Ok to Judge
Also, we shouldn’t observe all our physical sensation without judgments, as traditional mindfulness indicates. Some of them are valuable sources of information that we need to act on. The famous gut feeling, for example, should not be disregarded as just another physical sensation because we now know that human beings have a second brain stored in their gastrointestinal system. As Van der Kolk, the author of the book “The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma” and one of the leading experts on traumatic stress, points out, “Our gut feelings signal what is safe, life sustaining, or threatening; even if we cannot quite explain why we feel a particular way.”
Some time ago I dated a guy, and every time I was around him I had pain in my guts. Interestingly, the pain would subside whenever I wasn’t around him. Having just finished my yoga teacher training, did the 10 day Buddhist silent retreat and so on, I was still pretty inexperienced and took all the teachings literally, as absolute truths. I assumed that these sensations in my belly were some issues of mine that I needed to work with and had nothing to do with the guy. Finally, this relationship, which turned out to be very dysfunctional, ended. It was only then that I realized what had been going on with my body.
Why We Need Embodied Mindfulness
Not all emotions will pass if we simply sit with them and observe. This especially applies to traumatized people. Traumas change how our brains wire, they affect our physiology, and our ability to analyze ourselves. When working with unresolved and traumatic issues, we must be aware that only so much is connected with the conscious part of ourselves. A big part of healing has to do with the unconscious parts of the brain which keeps “interpreting the world as being dangerous and frightening and feeling helpless. You know you shouldn’t feel that way, but you do, and that makes you feel defective and ashamed (Van der Kolk).” I would also add — guilty and defensive.
That’s also the reason why mindful communication, although a great ideal to strive for, doesn’t always work. Head here to learn more about the steps for practicing mindful communication – it might a relationship saver.) First, we might not know what we are feeling and needing until we let it all out. And many of us feel judged if we express the full intensity of our emotions. This especially applies in relationships, because we might look ugly. What we and our close people need to understand at that moment is that these ugly behaviors are the result of our most primal aches and pains. It’s as if our most primitive being is in danger. We’re not always supposed to be calm and moderate when our emotions are hurting us deeply. Only when our loved ones accept, and in turn help us accept our inner Beast, can our true Beauty come out. However, be mindful about not hurting your loved ones. One thing I’ve found to be helpful is that you don’t direct the release of your emotions at your loved one, but in the space away from them.
Releasing Your Emotions
Indeed, for many people, strong emotions need to be released and expressed. That’s why psychomotor therapies, such as yoga, dance, and qigong have proved useful. They tap into the primitive brain where trauma is stored. This then creates the space where mindfulness can help us heal.
Embodied mindfulness invited us to express this pent-up emotional energy in our bodies and create space for other more harmonious and joyous states and emotions to arise. While mindfulness is vital, we still need to move our energy in the way that our body’s inner wisdom asks us to. This release of emotional energies allows us to tap into other levels of our consciousness.
(There is lots embodiment can teach us – so we wrote a separate piece on it. See it here.)
Yoga as an Embodied Mindfulness Practice
According to Van der Kolk, out of all the methods he has tried with his patients, yoga has proved to be most successful in releasing those emotions we usually do not want to feel. “When you’re a traumatized person, you feel like nothing will ever change. When you do yoga, you put yourself in some uncomfortable pose and, before too long, it’s going to be over. And you get that sense of time which is a very important thing in helping to overcome trauma. Sucky things happen to people all the time. And the way you move through life, you say, ‘Ok, today it sucks, but tomorrow is another day.’ You have this sense of time that allows you to have that perspective.
When you get traumatized, the perspective of ‘this too shall pass’ disappears. So, reestablishing that sense of time that yoga does well is an important part of what it can do for people. Yoga really helps people to contain themselves and to safely experience their bodies. It makes it possible for people to feel things that they may be afraid to feel. When you get traumatized, you don’t really want to feel what you feel and know what you know. And that is at the core of the problem. Yoga makes it safe for you to experience yourself, even though your experience may not be all that great.”
Yoga Helps You Face Your Emotions
Another great tool of yoga that Van der Kolk stresses is working with your breath. So, for example, the teacher tells you to hold a pose for 5 breaths. On the first breath, you might start thinking, “Oh, I can’t do this,” or “I don’t like this.” But then you take another breath, and another breath, and another and another, and you’re done. You did it! And you say to yourself, “Wow, I did it.” So, it creates a safe container for you to do the things that you normally wouldn’t.
However, yoga might not immediately make you feel better. When you start doing it, you might begin to notice that all those emotions you were trying to avoid start coming up. You might start feeling anxious, helpless, etc. “But what yoga does for you is that it gives you the courage to begin to face your sensations,” Van der Kolk says.
How to Practice Embodied Mindfulness
There are many poses and movement practices based on embodied mindfulness. For now, we will just present you with a few of them which you can practice by yourself any time.
Caterpillar Pose for Calming Down
This pose calms the nervous system down, which all too often is overactive in people holding some kind of trauma in their bodies. Simply, sit on a cushion with your legs stretched in front of you. If this is too strenuous, you can bend the legs slightly. You can even place some cushions or blankets under the knees. Start bending your torso towards your legs, keeping the legs relaxed and the back round. Rest your hands on the floor by the legs. Remember, it’s not about going as low as you can, but simply about relaxing and surrendering to gravity.
Hold this pose for as long as you can, even up to 5 or 15 minutes. Just stay there and surrender to whatever comes up. Your mind might not quieten at once, but even if it continues with its chatter, you will still reap the benefits of the pose. As you stay there, notice what is happening to the body as it becomes more and more relaxed. Once you’re comfortable there, begin to explore different parts of the body — the neck, the legs, the back, and the belly, and what’s happening there. Observe any sensations arising and changing.
Rabbit Pose for Anger
This is a great pose for whenever you are feeling anger, frustration, or anything else you don’t know how to describe but it sure doesn’t feel nice.
Begin by sitting on your heels. On the next exhale, reach out and hold the ankles so that the thumbs are on the top of the ankles and the fingers are under them. Engage your core. Place the very top of your head on the ground so that it’s close to your knees. Lift your hips as high as you can. Remember to keep most of the bodyweight on your knees, not on your head. You want to feel a gentle pressure on the head as it’s pressing into the floor, but not too much. Stay here for 5-10 breaths. On an inhale start lifting the spine up one vertebra at a time. Head is the last to come up. And, finally, release the hands. Stay here for a bit, noticing how you are now. Repeat as many times as necessary until you start feeling better.
Plank Pose for Releasing Unpleasant Emotions
If you’re experiencing discomfort in your body or loads of unpleasant emotions and you’re not even sure what they are, try the good old plank pose. It will help you mindfully discharge them. Place your wrists under your shoulders, lift your knees and straighten your legs. Remember that the body should be in one line, from head to toes. If your wrists begin to hurt, push the space between the index fingers and the thumbs into the ground. Bring your upper arms towards your back and then spread the shoulder blades away from each other. Pull your belly in and engage your core muscles. Direct the tailbone towards the heels, and heels towards an imaginary wall behind you.
Stay there for as long as you can, having a goal of 30 seconds, 1 minute, or 2 minutes. Set a timer to help you know how long you’ve been there. And of course, remember to breathe. Observe what’s going on in different parts of your body. Shifting your focus from one place to another, and then feel your whole body as one. Remember, this “torture” is of the good kind. When done, relax into the ground, surrendering all your tension and unwanted emotions to the floor under you. And I mean this literally: give-it-to-the-floor.
Embodied Mindfulness Practice for Relationships
Start by grounding your awareness in your body. Use your legs to do this. Notice how stable and strong they are. They are holding the rest of your body. Press your feet into the ground and feel as if your gluing the soles of your feet to the ground. Keep your attention there for a little while. When you’re reading this, notice that this article is in the center of your focus and the space you’re in is in the background of it. In the same way, place your thoughts and emotions in the background while turning the focus of your attention to the person you are with. As you listen or talk to this person, start switching your attention back and forth, from yourself and the other person. Can you balance your attention between these two?
Next, notice any sense of connection between you two. Instead of thinking in terms of ‘me’ and ‘you’, shift your focus to ‘us’, on the feeling of you two being together. Notice how this feels.
Now, begin to widen your awareness to the space between and around you two. Notice the space where you two are and everything going on in the background — the ambient, the sounds, the silence.
Lastly, start shifting your attention between these 4 reference points: your embodiment, balanced attention between you and the other, the sense of “us” or connection, and the wider space where you are.
As with everything else, it will be strange in the beginning but after some time of practicing, it will become natural to you.
(This practice has been adapted from Oren Jay Sofer’s book “Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach to Nonviolent Communication.”)
(And to learn more about how mindfulness and meditation can help you nurture your relationships, see this post.)
Conclusion: If Mindfulness Doesn’t Seem Like Your Cup of Tea, Try Embodied Mindfulness Instead
Mindfulness has helped thousands if not millions of people around the world. However, it has certain limitations, especially for those of us who have experienced a trauma of some kind. There are easier, more body-intuitive ways to go about it. So, if you’ve tried mindfulness and struggled with it, don’t beat yourself up. Try embodied mindfulness instead and notice what happens. Good luck!
Tatjana Glogovac, Senior Contributor At L’Aquila Active
Learn more about Tatjana by reading her bio below.
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