From Struggle to Strength: The Practice That Changes Everything
Embodiment… as silly as it sounds, I never fully understood what this word meant. Up until this evening, my definition would have been: “Embodiment means to bring a quality, emotion, or idea into the physical — a way to bring the unseen into the seen.” And while that is correct, it doesn’t fully capture the power behind the word.
A running back in a football game embodies agility, power, and speed. He is able to juke out, plow by, or run away from eleven players on the opposing team as he strives for his team’s goal line. A talented musician is able to embody his or her internal emotions and express them through music to the listener in a way that emotionally moves them. An actor is able to fully embody the personality, traits, and flaws of a character in order to accurately play out a story.
What I have just recently realized is that the way to sustainable and recurring growth is through embodiment. The above are examples of physical embodiment. However, there is also an aspect of spiritual embodiment.
My entire adult life, I have been plagued by various addictions that I’ve had to break free from and shake off my back. What I’ve learned through each of these journeys is the strength of my own power. At the core of alcoholic addiction, a person gives every ounce of their power to a substance because they feel they can’t handle whatever is thrown at them. In my case — and I am sure this is true for many — it wasn’t until I learned to sit with the un-comfortability and be one with it, to alchemize it through embodiment, that I was able to fully let go of alcohol and let it wash away into a figment of the past.
And here is where things get interesting. A lot — and I mean most — of my spiritual growth has come from learning to sit with un-comfortability while knowing things will be better on the other side. It’s tapping into that higher power within myself, or embodying the power that exists within. The simplest and easiest example of this is meditation. People often tell me, “I can’t just sit there. My mind just runs, and I give up.” I mean, that is just it — you give up. It’s not until you learn, through simply sitting without distractions, to let your mind run and become comfortable with the uncomfortable that you will learn to let go. Eventually, the mind will settle, and you will embody peace.
We can take this practice even further, because once we learn to embody peace, we learn to embody so much more. I truly believe peace is just the beginning.
I’m currently working on embodying the full spectrum of a child of God, because that is who I am. I am not a person who needs to be limited by my emotions or feelings — I am the awareness of those emotions and feelings. With that realization, I can learn to embody the power it takes to reject a craving from the depths of addiction. With that realization, I can begin to embody the courage it takes to stand in front of a group of people and lead a retreat or facilitate a breathwork session. As I grow and remember more fully who I am with each passing moment, I am able to meet my fears with love. Another way to say it would be that I am able to embody love more and more fully. And I believe that is the purpose of each one of our lives.
So, at the end of the day, it all comes down to a simple question:
Will you embody love or fear?