4 Shape Styles that Foster Embodiment

Movements and Forms that encourage Interoception, Proprioception and generally feeling in your body

“The more you positively inhabit your body in nourishing and nurturing behaviors, the more likely it is that you will think about your body in a positive manner. The inverse appears to be true as well. That is, when an individual is not positively embodied, they may experience a sense of disconnection from their body, disturbance of body image or body dissatisfaction, substance-use problems, and disordered eating and other forms of dysregulation”. ~ Catherine Cook-Cottone, “Yoga as a Pathway to Prevention and Treatment,” Embodiment and Eating Disorders, Eds. McBride and Kwee, p. 250.

For a more detailed look at the definition of embodiment, you could check out this blog. But for now, let's look into movements that could support it…

Firstly, what is Interoception?

When learning about embodiment, you will likely encounter the term “interoception,” which is a way of describing the neurobiological process of noticing your inner life - how parts of your body feel, how you feel, emotionally, and your general internal state. It is the perception of what is going on within your body - your sensations, comfort, discomfort, the lack thereof and the feelings and emotions that arise from or manifest through these. ⁠When you tap into words to describe what you perceive during interoception, you are verbalizing your felt sense of the experience, be it a moment in general, a certain form or movement, the presence of another in the room and beyond.

Interoception used to just be limited to the physical sensations that you feel internally but has now been expanded to include emotions as well. It might perhaps best be defined by some sample questions that could be used to assess your current internal state and your capacity for interoceptive awareness: How do you feel in this position? Are you comfortable? Where are you breathing right now? What parts of your body move when you breathe? How do you feel when you notice your breath? Do you feel pain? Are you hungry or thirsty? Do you often not notice you're hungry, thirsty or uncomfortable for long periods of time? Do you feel tension here? Are you easily distracted when focusing on your breath or any internal feelings? Do you feel your body is a safe place? Where do you feel anger and how does it feel? Are you sad right now?

Interoception can be further divided into two types - implicit and explicit. Implicit interoception deals with unconscious bodily changes that attempt to maintain healthy balance in your body (or homeostasis), as a result of an action that you you're about to undertake or perceived circumstances. For instance, when your heartbeat changes because of your emotional state or vice versa. Implicit interoception is better elaborated via a quote from “Interoception and psychopathology: A developmental neuroscience perspective” by Murphy et al., which describes it as “when subconscious perception of internal states allows regulation of the bodily state, or when subconscious perception of internal states alters behavioural, neural or bodily responses in the absence of conscious awareness.”

Conversely, interoception is explicit when you are conscious of it. This is the type of interoceptive awareness that embodied movement, breath and awareness practices target. Fostering explicit interoception could have positive effects on your body's ability to have healthy homeostatic adaptation as well.

What is proprioception?

You may also hear the term proprioception when looking into embodiment. Proprioception is the perception of your body in space, the proximity and position of the parts of your body to each other and to other things in the environment, and how these all alter as you move and balance. It is about sensing internally where your body is in space and where your parts are in relation to each other. The focus is not on how you look in the mirror or how you look to someone else, but on self-awareness.

Proprioceptive awareness is a key element in yogic movement, and yoga has been shown to improve balance, which is a key aspect of proprioception (Pamela E. Jeter et al., “A Systematic Review of Yoga for Balance in a Healthy Population"). Not only does balance help in fostering embodiment, but a correlation (not a causation!) has been found between not being able to balance on one leg for ten seconds within three attempts and death - whatever the cause - within seven years (Araujo et al., “Successful 10-second one-legged stance performance predicts survival in middle-aged and older individuals”).

If interoception is overwhelming or difficult to access, a great starting point could be encouraging proprioceptive awareness - just noticing your body as you move, playing with balance, weight transfer and how parts of your body relate to other parts, developing a felt sense of alignment and how it feels to play with center of gravity and balance. When you think of encouraging proprioception in yoga, the emphasis on alignment can seem at odds with a desire to avoid prescriptive language and normative cueing styles that focus on perfection. However, it is entirely possible to encourage exploration of balance, bodily position and other proprioceptive factors without resorting to an overly commanding or external-posture-appearance approach. That said, promoting safety (like staying near a wall or chair when beginning to explore new balancing forms), and inviting awareness of when a form or movement causes pain or could produce injury in the long term are also not at odds with invitational or empowering language!

Some considerations when Designing or Seeking out yogic practices for embodiment

To recap, embodiment is a term to describe feeling in your body and being receptive to and respectful of your sensations and needs. You can encourage this by (1) practicing interoception, a word that means noticing what's happening within your body, and proprioception, which is noticing your body's movement in the space around. You take this information and then (2) make choices that (3) honor your body's needs and wants to encourage a feeling of (4) safety and (5) present moment awareness. Once these choices are made (i.e. Does this feel good? What do I want to do right now? Where do I wish to linger in this shape? Is this too much? Do I want to do something totally different?, etc.), you (6) take effective action toward these realizations. Ultimately, you are seeking to increase those little flashes of a flow-like state, (7) unity with your body in this moment, as, after all, your physicality is a part of the amalgam of you.

Interoceptive Language

Interoceptive language is crucial when facilitating yoga for embodiment. This image features some hallmarks you could look for when choosing a practice or creating one for others. You could also just flow to your own rhythm and shapes, letting these linguistic reminders set the tone, asking yourself what you notice, having an overall attitude of exploring, etc.

Invitational Language

Embodied yoga is not about strain, struggle or commands. It is about going to where you want to safely and comfortably go - meeting yourself, wherever you are, on the mat, that day. When facilitators or participants introduce or fall in to subjective shoulds, shame, guilt, or competition, it undermines interoception and proprioception, feeling truly safe and empowered, and many other factors that contribute to feeling in your body. This can happen with the “Burn-It Mentality,” which applies not only to specific force-laden phrases like “melt it off” or “don’t give in” but also to taking a prescriptive, right vs. wrong approach or an external view of the self in yoga - how you stack up against the others or maybe even yourself on a different day. If you aren't looking to practice embodied yoga or maybe feel more comfortable with more traditional instructional or directive styles for now, or if you perhaps already feel very embodied or would like to be challenged physically, there is nothing inherently wrong with practicing yoga that employs linguistic, sequencing and cuing styles that aren't invitational and interoceptive.

However, if bolstering your propensity for embodiment is something you're interested in, it is beneficial to look for sequences and facilitators that use invitational language. Directive and corrective “teacher” language as well as physical assists or verbal calling out (even if it is to compliment form), can take participants out of their internal experience and encourage comparison or personal expectations (“the instructor likes when I go deep in this posture, I’d better do it every time.”) They also don't leave the participant room to explore their own internal state and desires.

Invitational language offers cues and sequences as an option, using conditionals and less directive or commanding vocabulary. If a participant appears to be in a harmful expression of a shape, perhaps moving to the next one in the sequence, taking a safe version of the form yourself, offering alternatives and an invitation to explore them or to just notice the area of possibly harmful alignment, especially in relation to another - “if you would like, you’re welcome to explore the relation of your knee and ankle in this shape,” can be ways to maintain the invitational tone, while still encouraging healthy alignment and movement.

Choice Making / Empowerment

Remember the mantra - yoga practice NOT yoga perfect. Another good one is - aim to be in your zones of challenge and comfort, not your zone of overwhelm. If a form or movement hurts or you are competing with yourself or anyone else, it's not embodied yoga! At any time, if you want ANY (safe) pose other than the one featured at that moment, the essence of embodiment is to delight in and honor this wish. Because of this, it can be useful to offer choices to participants. Many yoga facilitators do this naturally when they offer modifications and variations. The key is to seek practices where the modifications and variations aren't presented as perhaps hierarchical versions of the idealized form, but more as options.

Aside from these traditional options that most learn in yoga teacher training, choice can also come in regarding how long you stay in a shape, if the shape is static or dynamic, if you pair it with breath and if so in what way, how far or deep you go into the shape, what you do with your arms, the intensity and pace of your movement in dynamic forms, if you decide to notice your body and if so what parts and which aspects and qualities and on and on. The opportunities for your choice are endless. It is an expedition. What feels good right now for you? It will be different than yesterday. It may also be completely different than what the facilitator is doing. Ask yourself: What does my body want right now? What do I need? Does this feel comfortable for me? Am I at ease?

Being at ease doesn't necessarily imply that you are in a relaxing, easy or restorative shape or sequence. It does mean that you are able to breath and that if you do do an activating or slightly mobilizing shape or dynamic movement, that you do not do so until breathing becomes belabored, heart rate becomes too elevated or you move too far into a sympathetic nervous or stress response. That said, an excellent way to build adaptability, nervous system resilience and toning can be to move in a gentle wave between slightly activating practices and back into more relaxing ones.

Ensuring a Safe, Non-triggering Environment

It can be difficult or even unattainable to tune into your body if you are pushing or forcing yourself, denying your needs. Celebrate your freedom to choose. Feel the space around you and take up as much or as little as you wish. If it's not overwhelming, notice the sensations this practice offers to you at every layer. Consider ways you could respect your boundaries. If you have a hard time knowing where they are, maybe playing it safe or being gentler with yourself that you would naturally be inclined to be. In embodied yoga, panting or endangering your body, be it by overextending, pushing into difficult or advanced twists, balances without support, inversions without proper build up or supporting musculature are not the goal. Embodied sequences can range from restorative to vinyasa, but even then, at the most active end, it would be a dynamic flow not a power or forceful practice.

Another important aspect of fostering safety is where you're doing yoga. If it is in your own space, what do you need to do to make it conducive to a feeling of safety? Perhaps it's the position of your mat, closing the door, choosing a certain time of day when there are less noises or there isn't anyone else that may come in and disturb you. What would make you more comfortable? Is it lighting candles or certain smells, specific props? This can apply when doing live yoga online. Are you okay to leave on the camera? Do you prefer to be in private sessions with the facilitator? If this isn't feasible or you actually like group sessions, are there certain types of other participants or aspects of a practice that may trigger you? If so, you could reach out to the facilitator, let them know, and see if it is possible to get involved with a cohort that you would feel more at ease with.

When doing yoga in public in a group, you might like to scan the environment, getting there early if necessary and possible. Perhaps your mat in a certain part of the room or in relation to others, certain facilitators and other participants make you feel most at ease. Maybe in public, you don't like to close your eyes, and that is okay.

All of these figure into your body's natural process of neuroception, in which your nervous system is taking in cues from the external environment, your internal states, filtering these through your memories and more to determine if your situation is safe. If you are prone to being triggered, or are already triggered, and you aren't sure yet what those triggers might be or how to sit with them, choosing the environment and setup and a qualified facilitatormay be really important.

What types of asanas or “yoga poses” and movements for embodiment?

Movements and forms from these types coupled with cues that encourage interoceptive and proprioceptive awareness are an excellent mixture to foster embodiment. Building this noticing and then offering choice based upon what participants notice is another way to move deeper into embodiment. This also encourages overall empowerment, agency and safety. You may notice that many shapes you might consider do not fall into only one category here. When creating or choosing sequences and practices for embodiment, these overarching shape styles are often combined within the same static or dynamic form.

Balancing Shapes

These postures help you to notice the feelings within your body to keep...balanced. They can also introduce lighthearted play (great for calming the nervous system) into the practice. The can foster a sense of grounding, as you connect with the earth to stay afloat. There are a variety of balancing forms, some of which are very advanced, but others are accessible even for beginner yogis.

For example, Warrior 3 or Warrior C (Virabhadrasana 3), is a standing balancing form. It aids in concentration and awareness of your body in space. Along with the other warrior poses, it is empowering, bringing vitality into the lower parts of the body (or the lower three chakras in yogic philosophy). Warrior 3 promotes grounding, feeling tethered, and in addition can aid in strengthening your self-concept. You may want to do another shape or use caution if you have high blood pressure, any back issues (including spondylitis, herniated disc), knee, foot or leg issues on the standing leg, vertigo or have a tendency toward migraines. If balancing is not yet possible in this form, perhaps not lowering the upper body to be parallel to the ground, practicing near a wall or with a chair in front could help.

Other accessible balancing shapes include tree and chair. You can also work on balancing by standing on a block and letting one leg hang down, swinging it (added bonus of being a great psoas release). Other ways to balance could be coming onto your tippy toes or onto your heels (even walking on your tip toes or heels), or doing some of the exploratory 360 movements below.

Grounding Shapes

Many shapes and movements can be seen as grounding. These can bring down overactive energies. They also increase feelings of safety and stability as you feel the sureness of the earth beneath you, re-centering your awareness. These can become excellent resources for managing stress and anxiety. From an Ayurvedic perspective, these shapes can bring down any Vata or overactive energies in the mind and channel the energy back through your body.

Any posture or movement done while lying, sitting or in general making significant contact with the ground can become a grounding shape. Balancing shapes (see above), where you have to use the points of contact with the ground to maintain the position, can also bolster a feeling of groundedness. Closed-chain shapes, in which there is a fixed point of contact with the ground - like postures where the feet or hands are fixed- and closed-chain containing shapes, where the energy in your body is contained via a sequence of fixed points of contact with the ground over the whole body - like a standing forward fold with head on a block and hands on the ground (wide-legged or legs hip width apart), child's pose or table top - can also be extremely grounding.

If you're not experiencing active dissociation or extremely frequent or intense episodes of dissociation, visualizations or metaphorical language that evoke imagery of tethering into the ground, perhaps like the roots of a tree, can also be beneficial. I particularly like to imagine roots emanating from my feet in tadasana, or standing mountain pose, as well as in tree. I envision roots coming from my hands and feet in downward dog and table top.

A good example of a dynamic, exploratory grounding form (again, combining several shape styles in one) is Easy Pose Side Bend, or Seated Side Bends. This seeks to establish some equilibrium in the left and right sides of your upper body. It encourages you to take up and explore the space around you. Being seated, grounding and rooting are heightened. Coordinating the stretch with breath also helps to tune in to your body and respiration. This is excellent for awakening and releasing your spine and muscles used in breathing (a great prep for any breath awareness or breathwork), helping to release stress, ground and calm your nervous system. If you are hypermobile, you're welcome to notice your elbows in this movement. You could keep a microbend in them to protect against hyperextension, if needed. Those with blood pressure irregularities or wrist, finger or neck issues could consider skipping or proceeding with caution.

Fluid, Exploratory, 360 Movements

Exploratory movements allow you to take up space, expanding or contracting to the current limits that suit you. They also help you get a sense of the space around, where you are in it and to sense yourself as you adjust weight and direction. Because these are fluid, they are choice-driven - you determine where, how and how long you move in a certain way.

One great example is All Four Corners, or a standing exploration of your space. You can begin to feel safer in your environment as you evaluate its boundaries and feel confident enough to do so, filling the parts of it you'd like to, lingering where you please and engaging in full body movements in an adventurous and open way. This is all about proprioception and choice, essential parts of trauma-informed yoga. Feeling in choice also helps to redirect the nervous system from a threat state, cultivating safety. For those with ankle, foot or toe injuries or issues, consider moving in a way that is pain-free.

Another nice exploratory movements is a 360 Cat/Cow in Table Top, or seated. In the Table Top version, you would rotate your hips and shoulders, even rolling your head in whatever safe way you like - this could be in a circle, from side to side, in unison or opposite directions, clockwise, counter clockwise - the possibilities are endless. With the seated version, this could more be using Cat/Cow upper body movements (the safely arched back with chin slightly up, with the safely rounded back and chin tucked), while simultaneously moving your whole torso in different directions or in a circular motion from your hips. Again, if you currently have any spine, neck or shoulder injuries or osteoporosis, this dynamic series may not be for you. Other options in this category include Exploratory Twisting, Shaking, Dancing or any Random Free Movement.

Movement with Breath

Coordinating movements with breath is an amazing way to begin to connect with your breath. This can be incredibly grounding and really begins to take the awareness inward, ensuring that you stay tuned in to your movements and respiration. In yogic philosophy, the breath is considered the gateway to the subtler layers of the self, and just bringing awareness to it can begin to slow you down, moving you out of a stress state and possibly into a calm, restful and healing state (this could be akin to a ventral vagal state, in the framework Polyvagal Theory). That said, noticing breath can cause discomfort or anxiety in some. That's why tying this in with movement makes beginning to tune into the breath more accessible.

A great dynamic sequence that can be paired with breath is Sunbird (pictured here) /Knee-to-Nose, or in total sometimes referred to as Bird Dog. This is a complex dynamic movement coordinated with breath. You combine balancing, while connecting with respiration. Your focus is on the Solar Plexus (Manipura Chakra, following the Chakra Model). You are engaging multiple areas of the body, requiring concentration, proprioception and interoception to coordinate and stay balanced. For me, the most fun is when I lose my balance and have to really hone in to regain equilibrium. If you are having wrist, shoulder, arm or trapezius problems on the standing arm, or knee issues on the planted knee, you could consider another pose for that side.

The opportunities for incorporating breath with movement are boundless. You could do this with any Cat/Cow permutation - seated, standing, in table top. In Seated Cat/Cow, you might tune into your spine and pelvis, sending flexibility and blood flow to the spine and the vagus nerve. This dynamic movement is excellent for nervous system health, and it creates less strain on the wrists and knees than the common Table Top version. If you have abdominal, neck, shoulder or ankle injuries, it may be best to avoid.

Notice that there is no rule that upon inhale you must arch back and upon exhale you must round forward. Part of incorporating breath with movement, in an embodiment framework, is actually playing around with different combinations, seeing what you are interested in that day. It may change or it may be a newfound pleasure. You can synchronize your inhales and exhales with any type of movement. For instance, just syncing your inhale with an opening movement (like hands flowing away from the center line or upwards) and syncing your exhale with a closing movement (like bringing them back to center or downwards). Here, it can be extremely embodying and calming to really focus on trying (not striving or forcing!) to make the movement last as long as your breath.

Benefits of yoga for Embodiment

Do you sometimes feel frustrated by difficulties around being present in yourself and in the moment, when desired? When you work towards embodiment, you may begin to more often feel in your body and/or become more receptive to your sensations and needs, perhaps beginning to honor them with your choices and actions.

As has probably become evident above, embodied yoga prioritizes how you perceive what's happening within your body as a result of movements, shapes and practices instead of attaining an idealized or advanced version of a form or exercise. When you’re ready and it’s safe to do so, embodiment can be an effective support in reframing your self-talk, self-concept, nudging toward self-care, and moving away from dwelling too much in the past or future or seeing the present through a lens of overwhelming or traumatic past experiences. In general, it can favor toning the nervous system, increasing resilience and adaptability, and opening up to interoceptive, proprioceptive and self- awareness. Embodiment could also aid in regulated neuroception, meaning that overtime it can support your nervous system to more accurately signal danger and safety, based upon present-moment input instead of triggers.

Contraindications of Yoga for Embodiment

A key facet of exploring embodiment is tuning in to the here and now of your experience and coming into your body, so that you can begin to regulate your nervous system and have more clarity on what is important and necessary for you in this moment. However, if you feel that you are flooded with intense feelings as a result of interoception and introspection, it might be healthy to take a step back and work on proprioceptive practices without too much emphasis on interoceptive awareness.

This would look like eliminating most if not all interoceptive language. Sometimes, even offering choices can be overwhelming. Perhaps, it could be beneficial to lessen choices, but focus on proprioceptive forms, while still maintaining invitational language. If proprioception is also triggering, it's also an option to get in touch or initiate a relationship with a mental health partner or other specialist, coming back to these practices when you feel you may be ready and with their approval. Trauma-sensitive practices, facilitated by certified providers or yoga in the context of therapy, could be more beneficial for now. In the interim, exteroception exercises (like 5-Sense Meditations) or walks/being in nature (noticing your surroundings via your senses, even a plant or the sky) could help in bringing you back to the present moment. If you find yourself triggered by an embodied practice without access or success with the above options in the short-term, distraction with something that is easy for you to get into, even a show, a phone call or whatever suits you, could help.

A note on safety...the suggestions for embodiment in this blog are intended for those who are in a stable place in recovery or who may not have a history of big T or complex trauma, eating disorders or body dysmorphia, but are experiencing symptoms of nervous system dysregulation, perhaps due to prolonged or repeated stress, an accumulation of little t traumas or other factors. These practices are not intended for anyone who may be using disembodiment as a necessary coping mechanism for physical, emotional, mental or other pain or trauma, those who have been recently triggered or experienced a traumatic event, those who have an active eating disorder or active moderate to intense body dysmorphia, where feelings of embodiment could trigger harmful behaviors. This is valid and should be honored. These embodiment practices, or an improved version of them, will always be here for you when/if you’re ready! In those instances, following some of the suggestions above could be best before delving into these. Maybe even just getting approval from your mental or physical health partner or team could be a way to ensure that your safety is a priority.

Where can I find practices about Embodiment?

Embodied Self-Compassion Series

Yoga Where U R Planted offers a variety of ways to learn more about and practice embodiment. The free Embodied Self-Compassion series is a great place to get started. You can sign up for that on the footer of every page or via the link above, and then you'll receive an extensive workbook plus four consecutive days of practices in your inbox that favor embodiment and self-compassion. This will add you to YWURP mailing list for updates on when blogs are released and events (like this month’s Free Live Journey “Exploring Embodiment”) are coming up.

Exploring Embodiment Live Event

You could join the YWURP community for 3 days of Exploring Embodiment. This event runs November 28th - 30th, with the live portion at 9:30am ET / 3:30pm CET (these practices will also be recorded). It is a FREE event to kick off the opening of Foundations Membership Registration. Exploring Embodiment will include:
Daily Live 25-Minute Practices That Encourage Interoception, Proprioception, Present Moment Awareness, Choice-Making, Anatomy Awareness and More
Daily Recorded Discussion on Relevant Themes
Indefinite Access to Recordings (Including of the Live Sessions) for Schedule Flexibility and Elimination of Manufactured Struggle or Urgency
Private Facebook Group
In-Group Exercises
Mini-Workbook
Additional Resources
Chance to Win Free Month of Foundations Membership

YWURP's Foundations Membership

You could also sign up for the Foundations Membership waitlist, with no commitment, (which also qualifies you for a 50% discount off the first month and locks you in to founding member's pricing for the duration of your membership). This will include:

~ Ever-expanding bank of pre-recorded practices ⁠
~ 1 x per week live small-group class or 1 x per month private class⁠
~ Community via closed forum and Facebook Group ⁠
~ Learning and self-inquiry via worksheets, workbooks, additional resources, our bookclub!⁠
~ Monthly live interaction via a Q&A on that month's themes and more, PLUS our monthly bookclub meeting. ⁠
~ Priority Access and Booking to all other YWURP offerings, with a member's discount⁠
~ Access to all past free live challenges and journeys ⁠
~ Member Registration Cycles open every 8 weeks⁠
~ Membership is billed every 4 weeks, with the opportunity to cancel at any time⁠
~ Original Members (those signing up for this first-ever cycle) will lock in a low price for the duration of their membership, as a way to say thank you for helping to build this from the grass up 🌱⁠
~ Trauma-informed and focused on building the foundation of embodiment, mindful self-compassion and self-care⁠
⁠~The information page has been updated to give lots of details, answer FAQs and of course, offer the chance to sign up for the waitlist, and get a 50% discount off your first month. ⁠
⁠Registration opens November 30th. First Membership Cycle begins December 8th! ⁠

YWURP Instagram and Facebook Lives

YWURP often explores issues that relate to embodiment, either with solo discussions led by Emily, or via chats with other yoga facilitators and experts. For instance, check out the Co-Live from November 17th, 2022, in which Emily and Yoga with Francesca founder chat about Yoga and the Nervous System. To be informed of upcoming lives, follow YWURP on Instagram or Facebook!