The Value of Direct Experience Over Abstract Concepts #embodiment #theory
Embodiment is the dynamic, personal experience of living and being alive; discerned by engaging the subjective texture of unfolding experience, that is unique to each person in each moment.
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Embodiment: Defined
Embodiment is a term used in various fields, from cognitive science and philosophy to psychotherapy and neurobiology. This article will define …
Embodiment is the dynamic, personal experience of living and being alive; discerned by engaging the subjective texture of unfolding experience, that is unique to each person in each moment.
“dynamic” refers to spontaneous, complex, co-evolving interactions
“personal” refers to these experiences being wholly subjective
“living and being alive” refers to experience from living a biological life
“discerned” refers to a quality of attention that builds subjective granularity
“engaging” refers to a quality of action that “participates” with experience
“subjective texture” refers to changes in attention and awareness
“unfolding experience” refers to the incrementalism of passing time
“unique to person” refers to the vast diversity of human subjectivity
“unique to moment” refers to the variation in affect precipitated by context
Embodiment: A Framework
Embodiment is Direct Experience
Embodiment Includes Mental Activity
Embodiment is Dynamic, Adaptive
Embodiment offers a unified experience, suggesting that thoughts, emotions, body sensations, movement and postures are all intimately interconnected and mutually influential. This perspective, contrasting the dualistic approach of considering the mind and body as distinct entities or worthy adversaries, moves directly into experience and subjective interactions with the world.
Embodiment refers to the act of experiencing and expressing emotions, thoughts, and sensations through one’s physical body, in relationship with others.
By becoming dynamically embodied, a person can develop a greater sense of self-awareness, self-acceptance, emotional capacity and flexibility. This happens through a conscious, active and ongoing connection with thoughts, emotions, body sensations, movement and postures in dynamic exchange with people, places and things.
Embodiment means our physical bodies are not just passive containers for our thoughts and emotions, but are active in shaping those experiences and perceptions. And visa versa.
Embodiment allows individuals to shift their usual frame of reference and directly experience the objects of their awareness without the influence of preexisting ideas or interpretations. It values the subjective perception of the present moment as what is real and worthy of attention.
Embodiment is dynamic, adaptive and alive. Embodiment cannot fixed, static or prescribed.
Embodiment is the personal experience of being alive, and as such embodiment is in constant flux and change. Humans grow and age; we live in different environments and context; time unfolds, everything decays and deteriorates. Maintaining, or prescribing “a way” of embodiment, can only be a narrow part of embodiment.
Embodiment is Direct Experience
Feeling and sensing direct experience, in the here-and-now, might include these qualities, experiences or processes (Fogel, 2013):
Interoception: Sensations interpreted as coming from one’s own body (originating in specific ergoreceptors that assess the condition of the skin, muscles, joints, teeth, bones, fluid electrolytes and water, and viscera)
Heat/cold
Itch/tickle/pinch
State of contraction/tension/ache/burn in striated muscles of face, neck, trunk, and limbs
Thirst/hunger
Dull/sharp pain
Cramping
Air hunger, difficulty/ease breathing
Visceral urgency, gut & bladder
Tension/relaxation
Cell rupture
Allergens and noxious chemicals
Immune system invasion
Exteroception: Sensations interpreted as coming from outside of one’s body, i.e., characteristics of living and nonliving things in the world (The five sense organs)
Touch: Vibration, pressure, texture
Vision: Color, movement speed and direction of objects, size and shape recognition
Smell
Taste
Audition: Quality of sound, movement and location, pitch
Embodiment Includes Mental Activity
Embodiment includes the physical experience of mental processes. To feel “thinking activity” as sensation encourages a focus on the direct experience of the “thinking” action, not on the content or narrative of the thoughts themselves. Here are some generalized examples of some different, often overlapping embodied patterns of thinking experience, which can impact and shape embodiment:
Racing: thoughts are rapidly moving or changing; anxiety, stress, or mania
Blank: "blank mind," fatigue, shock; frozen
Dissociative: outside their own body, detached from thoughts or emotions
Obsessive: persistent, involuntarily thoughts; often distressing
Ruminative: repeatedly thinking about the same thing, over and over
Creative: generating new, innovative ideas; often not linear
Focused: thoughts directed towards specific task or goal.; concentration
Intrusive: unwelcome involuntary thoughts, images, or unpleasant ideas
Calm or Meditative: slow or peaceful to the mind
Daydreaming: not connected to the immediate situation; fantasies
Remember, these are merely examples, and the actual experience of thought is profoundly personal and can vary greatly from one person to another; and, change within each person from moment to moment.
Embodiment is Dynamic, Adaptive
Embodiment is akin to a jazz band or a dance troupe, where individual elements harmoniously interact and together create the rhythm, the sounds, the music and the movement. Much like the musicians or the dancers, subjective aspects of our embodiment - be it physical, cognitive, or emotional - has a unique role to play. These elements don't operate in isolation; rather, they work in concert, much like how musicians synchronize their instruments or dancers coordinate their movements. The interplay generates the richness of the music or the beauty of the dance, just as the interaction among our embodied aspects creates the fullness of our human experience. Moreover, both jazz and dance often involve improvisation - a response to the immediate environment, a spontaneous creation. Similarly, our embodiment is continually evolving, adapting and responding to the ever-changing world around us.
Complex systems, like the brain, are not static—they are inherently dynamic.
— Luiz Pessoa, PhD
Professor at the Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park
The complexity of embodiment, existing between predictability and randomness, mirrors the dynamic rhythm of life. As we continually adapt to our environment, our experiences gain emotional depth, creating discernible states of being. Perception and attention, critical aspects of our embodied existence, have a dynamic, fluid and interactive nature. They prime for, or might be the earliest beginnings of, action.
Perception shapes our understanding of the world through sensory experiences, based on the landscape of our immediate environment, past experiences, expectations, norms we imagine, patterns we are used to experiencing. This process is inherently influenced by our physical bodies, our cognitive processes, and our emotional states, all working together to create our subjective experience of reality.
Attention is the ever-shifting mental / conscious awareness spotlight that selectively illuminates parts of our landscape, guided by external cues and internal goals: sensations, thoughts, environmental cues, etc. Shifting attention enables us to focus on specific elements within the sensory overload of our environments. Shifting attention can be an active or passive experience, or both. This ability to adjust focus, whether rapidly or gradually, consciously or unconsciously, allows us to interact effectively with our complex and ever-changing world.
Action encapsulates the intentional and reactive movements prompted by internal or external stimuli. Action manifests as overt behaviors—conscious movements, like raising a hand or speaking—that directly mirror our thoughts and emotions. Action is also subtle and often “unconscious” as fleeting facial expressions, subtle postural adjustments, or slight variations in breathing patterns corresponding to emotional shifts.
Perception, attention and action interaction in a constant dance of dynamic adaptation to our perpetually evolving internal and external milieu.
Embodiment Example: Responsive ER Physician
Take, for example a hypothetical emergency room physician, who steps into the bustling chaos of the ER shift. This is a busy shift, the unit is short-staffed and busy with emergencies. The clamor of beeping monitors, hurried footsteps, and hushed conversations fills the air. Her senses are heightened - the sharp smell of antiseptic, the flicker of fluorescent lights, the cold touch of her stethoscope. These experiences ar familiar to this doctor, but today the subjective experience of the doctor is approaching an “overload threshold” that she senses and feels. She is ready, though.
She quickly scans the room, her attention honing in on a nurse waving her over to a critically injured patient. This immediate sensory input, along with her internal goals and knowledge, drive her focus to this pressing situation, shutting out peripheral distractions. Her attention is precise, akin to a spotlight on a darkened stage, illuminating only the essential elements.
Her body responds to the high-stress environment, adrenaline surging through her veins. Her heart races, her breath quickens, her hands steady themselves - an orchestrated symphony of physiological responses preparing her for action. Her emotional state alters as well, a mix of concern for her patient and the intense focus required for her task.
She recalls past experiences, drawing on years of training and countless hours in similar situations. This cognitive repository, a reservoir of learned patterns and reactions, enables her to respond effectively and efficiently. Her embodiment interweaves these aspects of her being - the physical, emotional, and cognitive - forming a unified response to the high-stress situation.
As she begins treatment, she maintains an acute awareness of her environment. She remains vigilant, her attention shifting fluidly as new information emerges, ready to adapt her actions in response to changing circumstances. Despite the external chaos, she remains centered, he embodiment dynamically adjusting to the demands of his profession, a harmonious dance amidst the cacophony.
Cultivating Embodiment: Slow Down
The first step is subtle and small, and involves acknowledging the presence of an emotional situation or response. It requires a “moment of noticing,” which “turns on” awareness of what is happening around and within a person. The slowing down process is much less effort or hassle than most people imagine.
Cultivating Embodiment: Discern
Building upon that moment of awareness, the discernment step involves delving deeper into the enjoyment of experiencing … even if this last less than a second. By lingering with affective experience: the emotions, thoughts, and physical sensations of the moment, a person grows their embodiment and can better perceive their complex interplay of emotions, thoughts, and sensations happening simultaneously.
Cultivating Embodiment: Differentiate
When a person can differentiate the affective complexity of their own internal world, they can more easily form a permeable, flexible emotional boundary between self and others. A person can recognize and empathize with others' emotions without being consumed by them. They have self-agency and more choice.
Reading List and References
Craig, A. D. (2002, August 1). How do you feel? Interoception: the sense of the physiological condition of the body. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 3(8), 655–666. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn894
Craig, A. D. (B.). (2008). Interoception and emotion: A neuroanatomical perspective. In M. Lewis, J. M. Haviland-Jones, & L. F. Barrett (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (pp. 272–292). The Guilford Press.
Fogel, A. (2013, May 31). Body Sense: The Science and Practice of Embodied Self-Awareness.
Pessoa. (2023, February 22). The Brains Blog. The Brains Blog. https://philosophyofbrains.com/2023/02/22/entangled-brains.aspx
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Stephen Buehler, MA, MFT is a psychotherapist, consultant, and crisis response expert with 30+ years of experience across healthcare, mental health, nonprofits, high-pressure consulting and legal environments, and fast-moving, unstructured creative and sales-driven sectors. As a founding member of emotive.energy, Stephen supports leaders, teams, and organizations in building emotional agility, responding skillfully to disruption, addressing burnout, and realigning around purpose and shared values. Stephen also hosts the emotive.energy podcast, where dancers, scientists, doctors, clowns, coaches, athletes, and everyday people explore how emotion and impulse shape the way we feel, live, work, and relate.
20,000+ hours of consultation with healthcare leaders, teams and providers on team wellness, collaboration, workplace bullying, community disasters and organizational crisis
20+ years providing psychotherapy to individuals, couples, groups, families; expert in disaster mental health & crisis response
300+ critical incidents and community disasters, leading just-in-time emotional support and follow-up care for affected leaders, doctors, nurses and teams
25+ years of engaged development in embodied, relational, and experiential forms of counseling psychology— with deep focus and passion for Gestalt Psychotherapy, Formative Psychology®, family systems theory, play therapy and psychodynamic thought
Lifelong immersion in athletics, yoga, movement, and somatic practices—including lived experience with degenerative disease and chronic pain—integrating body awareness at both gross and subtle levels
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