What Does Embody Mean? And How Can It Benefit Us?

5 min readJun 3, 2024

I once had a dream. I was at a large gathering, a party of some kind. A crowd of people surrounded a woman. She seemed to have an almost golden aura around her.

Then she turned toward me. I glanced at her, and her glowing eyes intrigued me. Surprisingly, this didn’t scare me.

The dream made such an impression on me, and I can still remember it clearly to this day.

So, what does this have to do with this story? Maybe she was the closest thing I’ve ever seen to embodiment. She embodied kindness and goodness, which radiated from within her.

To embody is to express, personify, or exemplify in concrete form.

It means to embrace or comprise.

At its core, “embody” means to express something through bodily or material form: your body or physical being. It involves using the bodily form in our words, actions, and behavior as a tangible way to express ourselves and the ideas we believe in.

Rose colored contents:

Embodiment might be challenging. But why?

So often, we’re scattered. Our minds and bodies aren’t connected.

Have you ever found this to be true?

Our energy seems conflicted and confused. We see our minds run wild, and we live with the effect of endless, meaningless thinking. Our head is saying one thing, and our heart is saying another.

Still, only when we’re connected in mind, body, and spirit can we experience our vibrational alignment.

To take it one step further, Gary Zukav says in Seat of the Soul, “When the personality comes fully to serve the energy of its soul, that is authentic empowerment.”

The personality is the mind and body. And when both are aligned with the soul, we can reach a powerful level of embodiment.

Interestingly, being embodied is our natural state.

Sara Pruett Arey says, “In fact, embodiment is the natural state. Look at it this way: embodiment means that you’re naturally in your body. Your consciousness is in your body. It’s when we get scared that we start getting in our heads about things.”

This all makes sense when you think about babies. They are fully embodied! When they see something funny, like a bouquet of balloons, they smile, laugh, and squeal! They express themselves fully and without hesitation.

Somehow, as we get older, we learn to disconnect. We lose ourselves in our thoughts. Our minds take over, and we learn to judge ourselves and our environment.

How embodiment works with the law of attraction:

We read repeatedly, “You don’t attract what you want. You attract who you are.”

This is an excellent example of embodiment.

By aligning your thoughts with the feelings in your body, you can emit a clear signal to the universe. The universe doesn’t have to question it.

Picture a lightbulb flickering in a lamp. If one signal to the bulb tells it to brighten more with kindness, and another sends signals of insecurity and fear, the bulb will stay dim.

And, if the same scenario, the second signal sends radiant energy of kindness, the bulb will glow with clarity.

And the brighter the glow, the easier for the universe to see. When we are fully aligned within, we are potent attractors!

Embodiment represents an integrated state of being.

“To truly be well, to feel whole, no aspect of who you are, as a spiritually embodied human being can be discounted or ignored. A true sense of wellness is an integrated relationship between every layer of your being, so much that your entire essence realigns into its real and natural state of wholeness,” says Anna Conversano.

When you become embodied, you accept, acknowledge, and align all parts of yourself and pull them into the light of your being.

Taking action: How do you become and remain embodied?

First, decide who you want to be in the world.

Next, consider how this fully actualized version of yourself would behave. Think of how she would think and feel. How would she respond to different circumstances?

Now, consider the part of you that chose this ‘way to be.’ Consider that this intention is derived from a timeless part of you that exists in another dimension. This is coming from your soul.

Decide to go all in and embody this way of being. It’s more than questioning, ‘Do I deserve this?’ or, ‘Am I good enough?’ It’s saying, ‘I know who I am. And I will be her in every action I take.’

Visualize yourself whole, healthy, and radiant. See your entire being emanating the energy of love and joy.

Be willing to step into this way of being and see how your life might change.

A deeper dive into embodiment:

The practice of embodiment is connected with somatic healing. Many experts share helpful and informative research on how to move more deeply within yourself and discover the wisdom and power of the body.

One resource is The Embody Lab.

And leading expert in the field is Dr. Peter Levine.

My personal experience with embodiment:

I recognize that I’m just scratching the surface of this very complex and fascinating concept.

What I’ve learned to be true is that embodiment is the highest goal and state of being.

When I think of the times in my life when things seemed to come together effortlessly, I remember feeling so aligned internally. Everything I was thinking connected seamlessly with how I was feeling and the actions I was taking.

This has become my focused area of learning right now, as I believe embodiment holds the key to living the most fulfilled life in all ways.

So, what did you think of this story?

Let me know in the comments below!