To me, it means experiencing the joy of living in a human body. Regardless of whether that human body is currently experiencing health or sickness, pleasure or pain, hot or cold, etc. Being present to the sensations, wisdom, and experience of life in a body. Many of us spend a lot of our time thinking with our heads. Embodiment is broadly the experience of mindfulness, presence, and awareness of the experiences in the physical body.

There is much about the dominant mainstream culture which is very oppressive, but it is normalized, so it is hard to imagine how life could be any other way.  We may feel free because we feel we have the freedom to choose our employment, where we live, what we buy, with whom we spend our time, etc.  However, we live under great pressure to earn sufficient money to pay off debt, save for retirement, purchase a home, etc.  If we have children, the pressure is even greater to ensure we can pay for our children’s education, healthcare, etc.  If we feel we are not doing this adequately well, many of us secretly feel very insecure about our value in society when our monetary income tells us that we are not so valuable as others.  We may feel that the pressure to pay for housing, buy food, healthcare etc is just a normal part of life.  It is a very oppressive part of our modern life.  Just imagine for a moment what your life could be life if this pressure was not there?  Imagine if there were also no societal expectations or pressures that “someone like you” should achieve certain “levels of success”?  Who would you be if you were allowed to be who you are?  Does entertaining this idea start to feel like liberation?  I can not guarantee complete freedom from oppression, but just becoming aware of our oppression is a first step towards freedom. 

I identify as a cis-gendered, white, heterosexual, first language English speaking, able bodied, middle class, 48-year-old, woman with a masters degree and United States passport. I acknowledge that most of these identities grant me a great deal of privilege in many different contexts throughout the world.  However, I have coached several people with more marginalized identities than I have and have received positive feedback. While I clearly do not have first-hand experience of life as a person of color, non-gender-conforming person or any other marginalized identities which I don’t share, I have educated myself on the impacts of white supremacist, capitalist, imperialist patriarchy on various marginalized people. I will not claim that I will definitely be able to support you in your unique story and situation, but I will do my best to respect, honor and create space for your unique experiences.  I am also very open to receiving feedback if I make you feel unsafe or disrespected.

Liberation is about you getting in touch with what is right for you, and doing that. It would not be liberatory at all for me to tell you what liberation should be for you, or judge your ideas of liberation. Revolutionary acts look completely different to everyone.  I meet everyone exactly where they are without judgment.  Even starting an embodiment practice and regaining your connection to your own body is a liberatory act.  Trusting your intuition, getting to know your neighbor, planting a tree, eating whole foods, or asking about the origins of your chocolate are all revolutionary.  No revolution is too big or too small.  The ripple effect from all of these small acts can be huge.  As each one of us takes small steps towards living a life more in alignment with how we want to express ourselves in the world, we transform society.  Each person living a life of joy gives more people permission to find and express their joy in the world.