Embodied Awareness Practice with Inbar

It’s been a very long time since I posted here and a lot has changed in the world. I’ve been to Israel for almost 2 months in the autum, hoping to stay there until the end of the year when the war started, I decided to return to the uk where my nervous system felt more safe.

It’s not been easy to return and experience all the grief and sadness from a far. It’s not been easy to witness all the hatred directed at Israel and the Jewish people (and at me personally) during this time, even the kind disguised as pro-peace (I post more about this in my photography account).

It’s not been easy to embody and it’s not been easy to practice awareness.

It’s not been easy to hold boundaries around people, it’s not been easy to regulate, it’s not been easy to self-care or self-soothe.

To experience the grief of war from another land is very isolating and that’s been the experience for me in the last couple of months.

The practice of embodied awareness (via the realization process) asks us to attune and meditate on the quality of self which is a subtle quality we can all experience when we make deep contact with ourselves.

Absolutely every time I remind myself to attune to it - I remind myself that I am human, that I have the right to be here, that I have the strength to be here, that I have the love and the integrity to be here.

I feel it. I embody it. I am it.

I’m slowly coming back to my practice as a facilitator and a guide.

At the moment I have space for 2 new clients for 1:1 sessions (online) and in the new year I will start a group practice you can join in person (in Ryde) or on zoom.

In the private sessions we start to land in the body, allow the mind to rest so we can feel our emotions, and then we find ground within ourselves that’s stable and calm.

If you need some emotional support during this time - get in touch, you don’t have to feel it alone.

With care,
Inbar

I’m captured by this quote from poet Mark Nepo:

"I've learned that loving your self requires a courage unlike any other. It requires us to believe in and stay loyal to something no one else can see that keeps us in the world - our own self worth."

A lot can be said about self-worth.

There is a lot of shame and shadow attached to “loving yourself” in our society.

We learned to serve and sacrifice ourselves at work and in social dynamics as a survival tactic.

I remember growing up and suppressing myself in order to not stand out.

I can still hear myself dismiss others for loving themselves "too much"…. We say “she’s so full of herself” when we want to make someone small (or ourselves big).

The programmed belief that you are “selfish” if you love yourself, or that you overshadow others when you do… is distorted.

This quote -
loving your self requires courage …
to stay loyal to something no one else can see…
your own self-worth.

It blows my mind.

It’s a lifelong practice to untangle and uncover yourself and your worth, it takes a lot of courage to sort through undermining voices in your head and mend the broken pieces of your heart.

Have courage because life wants you to thrive.

❤️

Image lovingly captured by the talented Inbar Gold

In my personal experience we spend our days trying to get nourishment from an outside resource.

This is something I’ve been unconsciously doing all my life and I think it’s quite “normal” in modern society.

Looking for inspiration and validation from other people.

Looking for comfort in food and other substances.

Looking for NS regulation from TV, and media.

I think this is related to the fact that our survival is so dependant on our parents and the adults in our lives.

Albeit necessary for our healthy development, the problem as I see it, is the way modern society had us become so reliant on outside resources and people that we lose connection with ourselves, and with truth.

It’s fear mongering and energy sucking.

It’s constant comparing and looking for advice.

It’s being emotionally unavailable and busy all the time.

It’s being tired and running on empty.

Sounds like you?

The tool that helped me find myself again is somatic movement and embodied meditation.

Embodied Awareness is a daily practice I dedicate my life to.

It’s a daily practice to notice when I’m not in my body and when I’m not resourced and to rehydrate myself.

So what can you do?

Find a moment in your day to dedicate to “Somatic Hydration” - it can be 2-3 minutes just to notice beauty.

If you can, make it a daily ritual - in the beginning, you might just sleep, but over time you will find more space and more juice, flow, and creativity.

Let me know what you find, and if you need 1:1 support, I’m always here.

With love,
Inbar

So true ❤️

"I've learned that loving your self requires a courage unlike any other. It requires us to believe in and stay loyal to something no one else can see that keeps us in the world - our own self worth." 💗

Happy Valentine's Day, my friends. Sending you all love, today and always.

Following the pleasure path:
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Us humans we are very intelligent.
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We like to understand and "make sense".
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We like to connect the dots and be clever.
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We like answers and results.
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I certainly do.
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But what happens when we find ourselves in uncertainty?
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What happens when we can’t make sense of our feelings or we can't explain our way out of darkness?
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My way out of the "thinking mind" is going into the body.
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My way into the body is through the pleasure path.
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Instead of thinking "what's wrong", I think "what's right".
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Instead of going into mental loops in my mind, I go out of the house or move around in space.
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Instead of looking for solutions, I look for beauty.
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Oftentimes, this little adjustment towards pleasure opens us up to spaciousness and clarity.
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It can be a small and faint whisper but pleasure is there - either in the body or out in the world.
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Soften your gaze, relax your belly, feel the movement of your breath and look for pleasure or beauty.
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Let me know what you find

What happens in an Inner Knowing session?
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Well... that's up to you.
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I believe in client sovereignty 👑
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I know that embodied healing requires trust and time, so these sessions are designed to be navigated by you.
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🌱Some of the time we will talk - I believe speaking helps relieve trapped energy and sometimes all you need is to vent.
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🌿Some of the time we will listen - I believe that by listening to your own words and narrative, you come to a distilled clarity all on your own.
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🌷Some of the time we embody - I believe that dropping into to the body is a resource and a healing ground for our emotional life, so sometimes I will lead us there.
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The think to know is that a session is for you first.
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I offer my guidance and make suggestions.
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I light and reflect back when needed.
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I offer my knowledge and tools when appropriate.

Inner knowing session helps you find YOU.

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I think a lot about the type of support I offer my clients and how to describe what happens in a session.
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When it comes to healing spaces, I think "real healing" happens in dialogue, in connection.
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The way I work is by offering an embodied ground for self-reflection, exploring an inner dialogue and finding a truth that underlines our thoughts.
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One of my clients described her core being as a delicate pearl, forming over time, from a visceral need to protect herself.
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I love this image.
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I believe that our experiences - painful and beautiful alike - are what made us who we are.
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I believe that true transformation happens when we open up to accept and love who we became, without shaming or irradicating parts we don't like.
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What I offer my clients is a space that can hold both:
validation and acceptance, as well as curiosity and potential.
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I believe this is the healing ground for growth and transformation, so I offer a holding hand and embodied guidance to support that inquiry.
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I'd love to hear from you if this sounds like something you would like to explore.
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With love
Inbar.

If you're anything like me, you might be feeling a little confused or unsure lately.

You might find that what you thought you want is no longer what you want.

You might find that who you thought you were is no longer who you are.

I’m feeling it viscerally,
I find it hard to embody,
I find it hard to stay present
and relax…

There is a sense that something is moving,

but it’s an undercurrent,

not a wave.

It brings up questions in me:

How to stay loving towards my self when “I don’t know”?

How to stay attuned to my needs and my environment when I’m lost?

How to trust when trusting is tested?
The answers are not straightforward, there is no formula.

The questions are the process,
awareness softens the edges,
the answers bubble to the surface
when we listen.

If this resonates with you and you need someone to talk to, feel free to reach out - the January offer of the first Inner Knowing session (online) is still £45 instead of £55 - I'd love to be a holding hand on your journey.

Clarity emerges from within 🌀

With love,
Inbar

I enjoyed receiving this Oracle message reminder on a frozen December day ❄️🌕♊️

“Pushing things forward impulsively will not only prevent success but potentially cause more trouble than you're prepared to handle.

Moving too quickly will only yield unripe fruit with a bitter taste.

Slow down. Breathe. Meditate.

You're not a human doing, you're a human being.

Just be.

Everything will work out if you can apply the brakes and become more aware of what's happening in this moment.

A calm focus on the now, breathing in the beauty of your surroundings, will restore your power to consciously co-create your world.

All fruits ripen in their own time.”

~𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘈𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘈𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 ~

In my last newsletter, I wrote about the experience of facing something undesirable and the contractions we make in our bodies as we brace ourselves for the impact.

I think that over time we learn to “brace” ourselves in many ways and thus we contract our tissue in expectation of the potential pain, heartbreak or failure.

We hold our breath, contract our hearts, close our minds and numb our sensing bodies.

It takes a great deal of practice to untangle learned holding and bracing patterns.

A lot of self-acceptance and love are required in the process.

Self-parenting qualities are called for.

Patience and care.

The way I see it, we can’t soften without a stable ground to soften towards.

So if we want to surrender and open, our practice is to create stability from within.

One that could meet our melting hearts and our softening bodies as we unravel, and simultaneously be the absorbing mother earth and alchemist that catalyses expression and beauty.

One that we recognise as our own, a stable ground for healing.

~
About my practice:

Embodied Awareness is an ongoing exploration of the somatically-aware body and being.

Trained as a Psychosexual Somatics® Therapy coach (PST), I offer sessions that strengthen inner knowing and stabilise the nervous system as well as deeper somatic work for women to connect with their sensing body through pleasure, poetry and beauty.

I am currently training in 'The Realisation Process' a healing modality and teachings for building inner foundations and embodying qualities of ourselves that we disowned over time.

If this sounds like something you would like to try please get in touch - I offer reduced rates (£35 per session instead of £55) for those who are interested in being guided as I train.

If you would like to receive my monthly newsletter and stay connected, send me a PM with your email - I'd love to add you!

With love,
Inbar

Photo by the talented Inbar Gold

If you're interested in learning more about my coaching practice, in this talk I did recently at the Veganlifestyleshowiow I presented the competences of embodied awareness as I understand them and guided a little demo and mediation to get into the body.

Embodied Awareness talk 15.10.22 "In a society that values reason above felt sense how do we learn to "trust our gut" and regain Body Sovereignty?" In this talk I discuss some of the reasons...

The problem with the word pleasure is that we immediately associate it with s3x and in most cases, we’ve been taught that s3x is “bad”.

When something is labelled as “bad” we want very little to do with it, we stay as far away from it as possible. Or we feel alive and “play with fire” when we like “bad” things.

But what happens when you think of pleasure as “good”? Are you allowed to feel good?

Sadly, a puritanic take on life is the underlining tone of our human experience for a lot of us - we are simply not allowed to feel good, and if we do - it should come as a reward for hard work.

One of the fears of going into the body in the Embodied Awareness Practice (or somatic in general) is that you will be met with pain, discomfort, and unease.

Often pain is the most available and load sensation, as we’ve been “conditioned” to associate it with the “right” feeling to feel (hard work).

I want to suggest a different way; pain is there, yes, but it is not the only feeling, and certainly not the right one.

The way I see it, Pleasure is a human birthright and following the path of pleasure instead of pain is where healing and change (even miracles) happen.

When we focus our attention where we feel open and good, we relax - this creates a ripple effect in the body, as your cells expand and release - tension can begin to dissolve.

Pleasure as orientation.

Following the path of pleasure can create new pathways and opportunities in external life as well as internal.

When we isolate pleasure to a simple sensation, we open up to experience it as expression:
Creativity
Flow
Satisfaction
Happiness
Love
Joy

These emerge naturally, from within, when we open to pleasure.

Pleasure is a sensation is personal - it can feel:
Expansive
Fluid
Yummy
Subtle
Tingly
Scratchy
(and many more)

In the program for women ‘My Lovely Body’ we start to dismantle the conditioned mind, remove the armour of protection and melt the tension we’ve been holding on to.

We begin to have an intimate dialogue with ourselves as we become closer to our bodies.

We follow the path of pleasure to find movement and flow, subtleties, beauty, and release.

Link in bio.

May schedule is feeling so JUICY! 🍇

💧Starting this Wednesday with the body hydration hour to Defrost Yourself (4th + 18th May at 6pm UK) - give your body the medicine it needs - relax & rest, loving self-touch, and gentle movement.

🍑 This coming Sunday (8th) I will lead a Body-Image Constellation workshop which is all about feeling into the relationship you have with your body (and how to connect with it more) - I'm very excited about this one (more on it in another video - watch this space!)

🌱And on the 22nd there is a Guest Workshop I've been waiting for - will teach us Mayan technique for abdominal self-massage, all through the lens of connecting with our belly space, tapping into intuition and personal power.

To view the schedule and purchase your tickets
https://www.inbarjeffery.com/calendar

I look forward to embodying with you!

Inbar x

Being yourself doesn’t mean becoming someone new or uncovering a "forgotten" better self.

It means exactly what it means - be who you are. It’s recognising, accepting, and loving everything that you are, and seeing the intelligence in everything that makes you, you.

If you are resistant, it’s intelligent.
If you are afraid, it’s intelligent
If you are angry, it’s intelligent

To be yourself you don’t need to NOT be these things, or not feel them. You don’t need to not be sad, jealous, or resentful. It’s actually, by embracing and being those things wholeheartedly, that you become YOURSELF.

Because, you have a good reason for your “no” and your doubt. You have a good reason for your pushback and your cold heart. That good reason in its core is Loving; it’s an invitation for you to connect with love as a ground of your being (albeit in a roundabout way).

I also felt (and still do!) like these “shameful” parts of myself are not welcome, not loved, or understood. My mind tells me many stories about that.

But when I started to love my limitations, enjoy my roaring angst, and express my sadness… that’s when I started to feel more like myself, aligned in my heart.

When I look at parts of myself I cannot change as my intelligent wholeness, my spirit comes back alive and loves me for it - it’s a muscle to be strengthened.

The support I offer women is the holding of the potential for self-love.

I help women align their heads & hearts, with their personal power & s€xual nature because I know how, as women, we are conditioned to ignore our aligned selves and undermine our own nature with reason.

The session space is an invitation to really be yourself - you don’t need to change, or put on a show. If you fall asleep in one of my classes or if you want to air out your frustration during a session, that’s all within the realm of 'being yourself', and it’s so refreshing, and such a relief to JUST BE.

If this speaks to you, and you’d like to find out more, get in touch - I offer an obligation-free discovery call to discuss options and compatibility, it’s always good to speak first.

Link in bio to book your slot or send me a DM.

With care
Inbar

Insight into my daily touch practice. It’s actually pretty simple, if you follow your natural impulse for pleasure, you will find opening, expansion and ease.

Try this every morning or during the day when you feel a bit numb. It helps me mobilise myself towards creativity and flow.

Let me know how it goes 💃🏻 Enjoy!









https://www.instagram.com/reel/CcDcykBqTxz/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Watch this reel by embodied_awareness_practice on Instagram Kayne • Clouds

Is feeling stiff and contracted something you are familiar with?
Is feeling numb and dull an everyday experience for you?
Do you suffer from depression often?

The way I understand the effects of trauma on the body (trauma occurs when an action wasn't able to actualize), the body tissue is impacted - something has to physically change (contract) in order to prevent a certain movement from happening.

Over the past 2 years, we've intentionally made our bodies small and contracted, numb and dull so that we avoid contact and avoid feeling.

Instead of moving around freely, touching things and enjoying people, we had to freeze our bodies and harden our hearts.

It's time to unfreeze!

I created a short instructional video with 3 steps on how to release tension from the body, awaken your flesh and free up some space in your heart.

I do this practice daily to help me mobilze tension in the body, create forward movement and help me feel better during the day, every day.

Link in the first comment - while you are there, feel free to subscribe and help me grow my channel and reach more people.

Join me this Thursday to unfreeze & defrost 🌷