Why Journal From An Embodied Place?
Four reasons to notice your body when your write and a quick practice you can do at your desk to help you do so
This month I had the pleasure of traveling to Alajuela, Costa Rica to lead a daily workshop on embodied journaling as part of a pilates retreat hosted by Pilates People. I designed the program to support retreat participants in making space for self-reflection, as well as to help them preserve their memories of Costa Rica. Because I did not know much about the participants, I designed this workshop for people with all levels of journaling experience — from none and a belief that they will have nothing to write about, to regular notebook keepers. At the heart of this program is my belief that the best way to write, whether we are writing for ourselves or for an audience, is to write from an embodied place.
We think of writing as a cerebral act but it is a physical act as well, whether we are writing with a pen and a notebook or typing away on a keyboard. Our bodies, seated, standing or even lying down, manipulate tools that get the stories that are inside of us down on the page. Yet when we write we tend to only mind our thoughts. It can be very tempting to just tap into our what we are thinking and put it down on paper.
But if we can resist that urge. and write from an embodied place — meaning that we are paying attention to what it feels like in our body as we write — our reflective writing practice will take us deeper, be more honest, be better for our bodies, and be more healing. Here’s why:
We Feel Our Feelings
Our nervous systems are taking in information about what is happening around us at all times. It then sends signals to our endocrine and movement systems to help us respond. This can produce sensations in our body that tell us how we really feel about something before we start to pick it apart with our prefrontal cortex. This is important because among other things, our prefrontal cortex thinks about thinking, and filters our feelings through what other people’s opinion of us are. If we are journaling to process something or to figure out our authentic goals, wishes, and dreams, then we need to listen to our unfiltered feelings too.
Physical Wellness
Embodied writing can help protect us from repetitive use injuries or other sorts of desk dweller ailments because it allows us to notice more subtle pain signals. In school, some jobs, and certain social settings, we often forgo comfort in order to follow the rules. Over time we can forget to tend to our physical needs even when it is okay to do so, and this can come at a cost. We can burn out, get small injuries like blisters, or larger scale repetitive stress injuries like carpal tunnel, if we don’t notice and care for our bodies.
Nervous System Wellness
When we recount an unpleasant or worse experience in any sort of writing we may be doing, and we are not paying attention to our bodies, we may not notice if we are working ourselves up into a lather more than processing and integrating the experience. When we seek catharsis through journaling, or we are writing an upsetting story, we can overwhelm ourselves. We might begin to feel spacy, drained, irritable, or hypervigilant. These are all signs that we are becoming overwhelmed and that our limbic system is about to take over for our big-thinking prefrontal cortex. In a limbic state we will not be able to process anything. We will be best suited to fight, flight, freeze, or collapse.
However, if we are staying embodied and noticing what our body is telling us, as we journal, we are equipped to know when we are headed toward a limbic state, and we can pause and re-regulate. Then we can make an informed decision to either go back to writing or skip it for now.
Capturing the Moment More Completely
This is a lovely reason to journal from an embodied place. You are generally documenting and reflecting on your experiences and things that interest you. When you bring those experiences to mind, and stay in your body, you will be better able to capture many sensorial details — like colors, scents, textures. When you revisit your journal your memories will be richer for it.
And remember, we feel our feelings, so if you are able to stay in your body as you recall an experience with great detail, you will be better able to know how you really felt about something as opposed to what you think you felt about something.
Our imaginations are powerful and when we take ourselves back in time using a lot of sensorial details, we can feel the same feelings in our body again: butterflies in the stomach, relaxed shoulders, or an open gaze. We can transport our nervous systems back to the moment and we can tap into how we truly felt.
Try it!
Being able to get into your body with ease takes practice, but there are a thousand ways in. Here is movement-based approach we explored on retreat for you to try:
- Set up with a proud seat or stance. Notice yourself on the cushion or floor. Give more weight to what is below you.
- Scan and notice your body. Are you comfortable? If not, ask yourself what might need to be more comfortable and take a moment to provide yourself with that comfort. You may need to change your position, sip water, or use the restroom. Whatever it is you need to do, please prioritize your physical comfort for this practice.
- Once you are comfortable, return to your proud seat or stance. Stack your head above your heart, your heart above your pelvis, and allow your shoulders to fall away from your ears.
- Bring your palms together at your heart center and actively press them together, keeping your elbows high. Take a breath, and then release the press, keeping your palms together.
- Press a second time, being sure to breathe and pause. Release. Press again and this time notice what happens to your arm position as you press.
- Press a third time and notice what happens in your upper back and the tops of your shoulders as you press, hold, breathe, and then release. Continue to press, hold, breathe, notice, and release at your own pace.
- Release your palms.
- Now extend one arm out in front of you with your palm facing up. Try to keep your shoulders down and away from your ears. With your other hand apply pressure to your fingers to stretch your wrist. Notice how it feels to stretch. Please only stretch as much as feels good to you. If you notice you are holding your breath or your shoulders are creeping up, decrease the stretch and notice how that feels in your shoulders or ribcage.
- Switch sides. Notice how even though you are stretching your wrists and forearms, if and how the rest of your body responds. Notice shifts in your position, breath, sensations, or feelings.
- Release the stretch.
- Keeping a proud posture bring your chin towards your chest. Notice the back of your neck. Slowly come up.
- Keeping a proud posture, slowly lower an ear toward the same shoulder. Notice the stretch. Notice your breath. Decrease the stretch if you are not breathing. Come up to center.
- Repeat on the other side. Come up to center.
- Carefully gaze upwards, keeping your shoulders away from your ears and then slowly tuck your chin again and come up to center.
- Scan your body and notice yourself. Ask yourself how you are feeling right now both physically and emotionally.
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