mental health, spirituality, and embodiment
“It was when I stopped searching for home within others and lifted the foundations of home within myself I found there were no roots more intimate than those between a mind and body that have decided to be whole.”
Lately, I often find myself contemplating the relationship between spirituality and mental health. Daily, I bear witness to the bravery it takes to turn toward pain in pursuit of healing, and the transcendence on the other side of this courage. I witness amazing people reaching deep within themselves to access their innate strength and wisdom, tapping into the core of who they are and shedding layers of pain that have blurred their self-perception. This, to me, can’t be fully explained by the theories and interventions we use in therapy. It points to something deeper that is also happening, a transcendent process that is intrinsic and available to us as humans. For me, I experience this as a spiritual process. I also consider how people who are healing and softening where they used to be shut-down in self-protection almost always experience flourishing in their relationships with self and others as a result of their internal work. I understand spirituality as being rooted in an experience of connection with ourselves, with others and with the world around us.
As I evolve as a therapist and continually deepen into my practice of somatic (body-based) therapies, I am find myself captivated by the idea of embodiment (becoming more aware of life as experienced through my body and my senses) as it relates to mental health. My experience, both personally and as a therapist, has led me to view embodiment as the place where spirituality and mental health converge. Our bodies hold everything; our earliest memories, our deepest joys, and our biggest pain and traumas. More often than not, we recognize mental health issues as expressed through the body, who communicates to us through experiences like panic and anxiety, or depression and dissociation. Our bodies are also the birthplace of our felt, sensory experiences of healing, which is echoed in our language (i.e. “I feel like a weight has been lifted off my chest”).
Unfortunately, our access to these experiences can be dampened by the fact that we are deeply conditioned to be disembodied. Even referring to our minds and bodies as separate entities is evidence of this and there is so much conditioning from our earliest years that contributes to our devaluation of our physicality and an overwhelming preference for facts, logic, and left-brain thinking. I feel so encouraged by the movement I see happening now where health care providers across different disciplines are moving toward greater awareness of our bodies as multifaceted systems that are not separate from, but contain it all and impact upon one another, but we have a long way to go.
It feels increasingly true to me that the experience of embodiment is the place where spirituality and mental health converge in the center of who we are. As I contemplate my lived experience of this convergence, I feel moved by what it tells me about my body and yours… that they are good, they tell the truth, and they are innately wired to be a resource for our healing.
There is nothing more rewarding to me than supporting others in connecting more deeply with themselves in this way and witnessing the empowering intimacy of, in the beautiful words of poet Rupi Kaur: ‘a mind and body that have decided to be whole.’
- jessica forrey