Embodied Communication

I have made the experience, that our day-to-day communications become much more effective once we begin to feel at home within ourselves, with ourselves. This “coming back home” is most easily achieved by using our body-sense, our embodiment, in my experience.

Once we feel well with ourselves, it starts having a number of consequences:

  • We can (re-)act more relaxed in most situations and express ourselves more authentically and with more clarity. In this way our presence improves.
  • We can perceive our emotions first and then decide, whether we want to follow our impulses or whether they may not be helpful in that moment. In this way, we can gain control over our affects.
  • It becomes easier for us to observe our thoughts, to analyze them and check for their validity – this means practicing meta-cognition.
  • As we become more aware of and learn to better care for ourselves, we also learn to better understand the perspectives of others, and may even see them as enrichment in our lifes.
  • We can develop empathy and compassion by accessing inner strengths – thereby making truly supportive decisions.
  • With some practice we can also change our thinking and cognitive processes: We lear to perceive our environment with more clarity and more directly and to reduce our stereotypes and (unconscious) biases. In that way, we can actually act with true agility.
  • By moving part of our awareness into our body-sense mind, we are reducing the effect of the fixating structures of our concepts – thereby providing more space for our intuition and creativity.
  • Finally, we can realize much faster and more clearly how we are actually doing mentally, physically and emotionally in the current moment; we understand our needs, limits, clarity, strenghts, competencies, … and can better self-regulate.

Embodied Communication has one essential advantage, in my opinion, if compared to classical models of communication: I need to think and analyse less, how my words, gestures and facial expressions will be considered, what my words, gestures and facial expressions may affect another person or how I should understand the word, gestures and facial expressions of others. My own body-sense helps with all these tasks – and I will be perceived as more authentic.

Neuro science developed its own model: When we move into our body-sense, when we feel our body, we active the so-called Direct Experience Network (DEN). Activating the DEN results in a simultaneous reduction of the Default Mode Networks (DMN). The DMN is comprised of our autopilot, our stereotypes and (unconscious) biases as well as our patterns and habits.

Lene Handberg, the academc head of the Unity in Duality training in Inner Science of Mind and Phenomena (this is where I learned most about this approach) told us early on in the training: “If you are well grounded in body-sense mind [the perception of our physical feeling], you can go watch a horror movie or thriller [or a love movie, Woody Allen movie, … 😉 ] without being horrified or surprised.” Of course I tried it right away with the next movie: It was much more boring… 😉

I am often using Embodied Communication in my coachings. Embodied Mindfulness is part of my “Balance in the VUCA world” approaches. And often part of my workshops and seminars. The Art of Relating is closely linked to Embodied Communication.

Did I find your interest? Would you like to know more? With pleasure! Send me an email or call me at +49 170 803 6432.