Do you have a difficult relationship with your body? Do you live more in your head than your body? Do you often check out or disassociate? Are you struggling with a chronic illness or pain? If so, an embodiment ritual might help bring your spirit, mind and body back in alignment.

“Enlightenment needs embodiment. Wide-open insight needs deep-rooted instinct. As above, so below” –Kris Franken

From the get go, 2022 was a difficult year for my body. On January 9th, a car ran over the back of my heal, and the wound got infected. I was diagnosed with a connective tissue disorder (h-EDS) in fall of 2021, and tests that I did for that revealed I had was suffering from mold toxicity. This led to months of detoxing, more testing, and negotiating with my landlord (and eventually getting the mold remediated in the fall). I fell and dislocated my shoulder (which I’m prone to, but hadn’t happened in 13 years). A moderately bad case of covid in the summer exhausted me and weakened my lungs…

Embodiment and reconciling my spirit (which would be happy floating as light) and body has been a long-term intention of mine, and was one of the reasons I moved to the Bay Area in 2010 to open a holistic healing practice. With everything happening, however, I found myself resisting being in my body, slipping into old distractive habits. For my birthday in December, I decided to create an embodiment ritual, which I did at Muir beach in Marin, CA. In the rest of the blog post, I’ll be describing what I did/said, and ways you might be able to adapt this to your needs. In terms of location, the ritual can be done anywhere, as long as it’s a place you feel ease in, and there aren’t distractions. If indoors, setting up the space in a way that feels special to you (that can be with music, candles, at an altar, etc.) may be supportive.

Pre-ritual clearing of grief or fear.

If there’s pain, grief or fear when you think about embodiment (or being more in your body), then this might be a helpful precursor to doing the ritual. You can write down or name out loud what you are afraid of or grieving, and then give it to something outside of yourself. This can be a guide, an element, God/Goddess, your higher/wise self, the universe…

Mine was grief at what I’d been through that year and how it had changed the intentions I’d originally had for it:

I give my grief to the ocean, the sun, the wind and the sand.

To the ocean: may you take me to the depths of my sorrows, cleanse me of the old stories and contracts, and bring me back to the surface, for the

Sun to warm my heart, dry my tears, return me to the brightness of my own spirit,

For the wind to fluff out my aura and my wings, and remind me I was born to fly

For the sand to show me support that is both soft and firm, yielding and loving

For this part, you can also do my “Tapping on blocks to Embodiment” video (see below).

Embodiment Ritual

This is intended as a reconciliation practice between two or more parts that feel split and/or at odds. That may be your mind and body, your spirit and your body (as in my case), your heart and mind. It may also be a combination of all three. I find it helpful to use objects that symbolize both. I found a shell for my spirit, a jagged and unique rock for my body, and then another rock that had aspects of both for what I wanted to birth from the union. You can also write words, find images, make a drawing, dance or sing each one, or whatever your natural expression is.

  1. Gratitude

Here, I took the opportunity to express my gratitude to each part. You can also have the two parts express gratitude to each other. For me, that was blended into their apology.

For my spirit:

I love your ability to fly. How brightly you shine. Your fairy nature. The compassionate heart that wings your flight. Your connection to source. The way you help others find their light. Your eternal optimism.

For my body:

I love your sensitivity and attunement to the world around you. I love your patience and forgiveness when I push you too hard. I love how much you try. Everything you do for me despite the lack of connective tissue support. You are a wonderful companion for me, a beautiful reflection of the spirit you’re a temporary refuge for.

  1. Repair

This is an opportunity for you to do any repair that might feel helpful with either or both parts. And, if it feels relevant, for them with each other. Again, I’ve included my words for inspiration, but please adapt it to what feels appropriate for you. Although I’m an amalgam of my body and spirit, for me there was a difference between what I wanted to say to each, and what they had to say to each other, but that might not be the case for you.

Me to my spirit:

I’m sorry if I’ve turned away from you in my pain, if I’ve stopped trusting you or believing in you as much. For the times I’ve checked out and abandoned you.

Me to my body:

I’m sorry for abandoning you when you needed me the most. For not prioritizing taking care of you. For taking you for granted and neglecting you.

Spirit to my body:

I’m sorry for undervaluing you. Resenting you. Thinking you weigh me down. Holding past traumas against you. For forgetting what a gift it is to be in a body. That embodiment was my choice because how else will I hear the ocean, feel the sun, dance, know the joy of touch, taste delicious food…

Body to spirit:

I’m sorry I forget I am not all there is. That I get so caught up in the toil and pain of being a body that I stop believing in you. That I don’t turn to you for healing.

  1. Vows

Here, each part is expressing what they are vowing moving forward. I expressed these as one would in a sacred ceremony between two people who love each other might, but again, you can do this in whatever way feels aligned for you.

Spirit to my body:

I vow to honor, love, cherish and respect you as my chosen companion.

Body to my spirit:

I vow to remember you are my eternal companion. To let you carry me through the burdens of this life. To keep releasing the traumas—both mine and inherited.

My vow to both:

I vow to do my best to stay present in the pain. To honor and make space/find support for my grief. To continue tapping into spirit and source to lift us up as often as possible. To cherish and nurture my body, to love it unconditionally rather than trying to fix/make it better. In sickness, in health, in joy, in sorrow.

  1. Naming what you want to bring in

This part is an opportunity for you to name what you want to birth for yourself through this union/reconciliation between the two or more parts.

From this union, I’m birthing balance. Joy. Trust. Ease. Slowness. Stretching. Embodied wisdom. Limitlessness. Being a beautiful, graceful bridge between worlds. To thrive in co-empowered relationship.

© Jenny Brav