Understanding Embodiment In A Disconnected World
Summary: This article explores Hillary McBride’s ‘The Wisdom of Your Body’. This profound read delves into the body’s role in healing, the impact of trauma, and the importance of movement. McBride’s insights encourage a deeper connection with our bodies and thoughtful emotional processing.
Today, I want to share insights from the book The Wisdom of Your Body by Hillary McBride. It was an enlightening read, and I hope to convey some of its key messages to those who couldn’t attend. While I’ll highlight some edited points from the book, I highly recommend reading it yourself. McBride’s profound advice is likely to resonate differently with each of us, as healing is a deeply personal journey.
The Wisdom of Your Body is both bold and poetic, exploring the sacred nature of our bodies in today’s world. McBride guides us through understanding our bodies from a personal perspective, emphasising the importance of our relationship with ourselves. The book delves into themes such as trauma, healing, bodily sensations, pain, sexuality, and spirituality, making it a comprehensive exploration of embodiment.
This book prompted significant reflection for me, especially with the self-reflection exercises at the end of each chapter. Although I’ll touch on a few themes below, the book is rich with insights that you’ll likely find intriguing if you decide to read it!
Embodiment And What It Means To Be ‘Embodied’
McBride opens her book by underscoring how much our bodies contribute to our lives. She mentions that our bodies facilitate “human thriving, connection to ourselves and others, and the fullness of pleasure, wisdom, empathy and justice,” among other experiences (p. 2). She argues that “being fully connected to the body is about being fully alive” (p. 6).
However, embodiment isn’t easy for everyone. Those who have experienced trauma or illness may find their bodies feel disconnected from their true selves. For individuals with diabetes, the challenge is even greater. They live in their bodies yet must frequently measure and medicate it, creating a complicated relationship.
Personally, I’ve struggled with feeling that my body is somewhat separate from me, often perceiving it as a liability. McBride suggests that the body inherently knows how to live in a connected and present way. She encourages dialoguing with our bodies to uncover what they are trying to communicate. This idea intrigues me, though I’m still unsure what this dialogue should look like. Should I journal my body’s responses, or simply listen and interpret?
The Traumatised Body
In The Wisdom of Your Body, McBride explores how trauma affects bodily function. She provides a helpful diagram of the stress response, which consists of four stages: safety, social engagement, mobilization, and shutdown. When stressed, we first seek social support. If that fails, we move into the fight-flight-freeze response. If that doesn’t work, the body shuts down.
The Shutdown Response And Depression
The Mobilization Stage and Movement
McBride highlights that when stress peaks at the mobilization stage, movement can help return us to a safer state. Movement dissipates nervous system energy, preventing further stress escalation and supporting overall well-being. McBride emphasizes that movement, rather than exercise, is crucial for physical, mental, emotional, and relational health (p. 239). Gentle, enjoyable movement is preferred over more punishing exercise routines (p. 241).
Feelings
McBride dedicates a chapter to “Feeling Feelings,” offering guidance on processing emotions. She identifies seven primary emotions—anger, excitement, sadness, disgust, joy, fear, and sexual excitement—and suggests that each has its own circuitry and function. This concept reminded me of Candace Pert’s work on neuropeptides and their association with emotions. Could insulin, for instance, be linked to anger?
McBride’s advice on understanding and processing emotions is invaluable. She provides strategies for developing a grounding toolkit and recognizing bodily responses to emotions, which I highly recommend exploring.
Thoughts And Language
McBride discusses the connection between thoughts and bodily experiences, coining the term “bodymind” to describe this integrated system. Our language affects our physiology, which made me reconsider terms like “diabetic.” If our language shapes our body’s state, could referring to ourselves as “people with diabetes” foster a healthier self-perception?
As McBride suggests, we should focus on nurturing our identity beyond diabetes. By living fully and embracing our broader selves, we allow new ways of thinking and being to emerge.
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Natalie is a blogger with Type 1 Diabetes. Natalie’s special gifts are questioning the status quo and being a rebel. She is using these gifts to question medical ‘knowledge’ and find a true cure for Type 1 Diabetes.
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