Plus That: Embodied Intention, Part 3

Embodied Intention in 3 Parts! This is Part 3 of a 3-part series of prompts that invite you to connect to an intention for the new year in your body. You can find Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

The past couple of weeks, we’ve been exploring embodied intention. While resolutions are goal- and results-oriented, an embodied intention is sensation and process-centered.

In wellness culture, sometimes embodiment is connected only to the pleasurable, gauzy, sweet sensations. And while it is part of embodiment to actually feel the water on your skin in the shower and taste the grapefruit in your breakfast, embodiment is not only that. When I practice embodiment, I mean to inhabit all the sensations and feelings as much as I can.

Given this “all the feels” approach, in the first two weeks of this series, we connected to More That and Less This. More That is the sensation of YES; those things we want to continue. Less This is the sensation of No which shows us what we want to stop.

This week, we’re adding in: Plus That. Plus That may be a feeling or experience that you once had but have lost. Plus That may be something that you’ve heard about but not experienced yourself. Plus That may be represented by your One Word for the year or another intention that you’ve set.

Here’s a writing prompt to help you connect with what you want to remember or discover.

Plus That.

You remind me of something. Something that I used to feel myself
Something that I used to feel
Like a heartbeat racing
Like a new beginning
You remind me of something else
Something that I used to feel
Something like what I've been missing

~ Emily King, Remind Me

After getting clear on what you want more of and what you're ready to let go of, what then? What's missing? What do you want to add in?

It may be, like in Emily King's song, something you used to feel that you've been missing. Or it may be something you've heard about but haven't experienced (or don't remember experiencing).

Here's where a One Word or other intention-setting practice can help us connect to the feeling we want to fold into our days. The invitation is to consider what you're missing and you want to add in and then make a list of as many ways as you can imagine that you could connect to that feeling. There's just no telling what life will dish up, and if we think broadly about the feeling we're after, the more ways we'll be able to embody our intention.

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Feeling all the feels is an essential part of embodiment and living in a mindful, intuitive way. Glennon Doyle talks about her experience in embodiment in her recent interview on the Ten Percent Happier podcast – it was one of the best conversations about the topic I’ve heard.

Embodied intention is a choice to feel all of it: the Yes, the No and the Plus. Whether you use a One Word or come at it another way, embodying what we want to create and experience is a change to enrich not just the whole year but all the moments in it.

More That: Embodied Intention, Part 1

Embodied Intention in 3 Parts! This is Part 1 of a 3-part series of prompts that invite you to connect to an intention for the new year in your body. Read Part 2 here and Part 3 here.

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As pretty much everybody everywhere on the interwebs and beyond is happy to tell you: January is a good time to set an intention for the new year.

Resolutions, which are goal oriented, don’t tend to stick much past February. But intentions which are more sensation or state-oriented (how do I want to feel?), have a much better chance of moving with you through the year.

The One Word practice is one (but not the only) way of intention setting and you could absolutely do the One Word or any intention practice completely from your head. My experience is that when we take it a step further and make our intentions sensation-centered, they become something we can connect to more easily and regularly.

Intention often begins in the mind but an intention you feel in your bones can act as a guide. We can feel it. I can ask myself when making a decision, for example, When I think about doing this/not doing this, do I feel [insert your word or intention here]? An embodied intention is one that you can tune into no matter what is happening around you.

In the next three weeks, we will consider what you want more of, less of and to add to your days. I’ll invite you to connect with the what of those things but also the sensation of those things. Each week, I’ll offer a writing prompt to get you into the real deal feels of your intention.

To begin: what do you want more of? What do you want to bring with you from last year?

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More That.

Think back over the past year (or more) and remember the times when you felt in the flow and you felt good. What relationships and experiences gave you the feeling of YES?

Write down as many activities, people, images, conversations and habits that filled you up as you can. Set it aside then come back and see if you can remember more.

Pick one or two strong YES memories and write down some details about that experience. In particular, recall how it felt in your body? What physical sensations did you feel when you were in the flow? What does YES feel like, very specifically, in your body? Is it warm or cool? Tingly or expansive? Where do you feel it? In your belly? your heart? your hands? Is it different in different situations or the same?

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“What a year for a new year! Last one left us lying in a mess.” ~ Dan Wilson, What A Year For A New Year

Sometimes at the end of a year, we look back and can only remember when things went sideways and exploded in a dumpster fire. But the truth is, no matter how bad the year was, there were some good things, too. Take some time to re-member, re-embody those good things and bring them along, maybe even more of them, into 2024.