Regina Ehlers is a passionate and experienced German-Brazilian yoga teacher and biodynamic craniosacral therapist who has lived and worked in São Paulo, Brazil, and Goa, India.

How bringing awareness to your body creates safety and healings

What is embodiment? The role of the body while experiencing the flow of life

To be embodied means to fully experience and inhabit our body, fostering a deep connection between physical sensations, emotions, and the present moment.

Our experiences in life are not just mental or emotional; they are deeply physical. In fact, our nervous system processes far more information than our conscious mind – and at much greater speeds. Have you ever instinctively caught a falling cup before realizing it was slipping? That’s your body's intelligence at work.

Our bodies store memories, emotions, and stress, whether we are consciously aware of it or not. When we experience trauma or prolonged stress, it leaves a lasting imprint on both our mind and body. For those who have undergone such experiences, reconnecting with the body can be both challenging and profoundly healing.

How does embodiment support healing? Reconnecting to a sense of aliveness

In today’s fast-paced world, we often live in a state of heightened alertness, making it difficult to notice and care for our body's signals like hunger, fatigue, and tension until they become overwhelming.

Similarly, trauma–whether physical, emotional, or psychological–can create chronic tension, defensive tightness, or even a protective disconnection from the body.

When we tune back into our body, we reestablish a sense of grounded safety and presence–essential conditions for healing.

“We often find it challenging to name an emotion, but everyone knows

the sensation of a rumbling belly or a tight chest. This tangible quality

of our physical experience is extremely powerful in our healing process

when explored gently and compassionately. They wait – sometimes in

silence, sometimes in pain – until we are ready to listen.”

Regina Ehlers

Understanding disconnection from the body: It's all about safety

When we don’t feel safe, our nervous system prepares us for survival: our heartbeat quickens, our breath becomes shallow, our mouth dries, and digestion slows. We are ready to fight or flee. If neither is possible, we freeze; our physiology shuts down.

When our nervous system is overwhelmed and unable to restore a sense of safety, the accumulated energy becomes trapped in our body, often leading to chronic tension, dissociation, numbness, or difficulty sensing and responding to bodily needs.

Early years: We are embodied from the start 

Our pre- and perinatal experiences, along with early preverbal childhood, are processed exclusively in the body. These are our most vulnerable years, where safety is essential for survival. Perceived threats at this stage leave lasting imprints on the body, often shaping adaptive patterns that persist into adulthood.

Coping with early trauma is complex because there are no words or stories attached to these experiences–only physical sensations and implicit memory.

Pause and check in

Before reading on, I invite you to take a moment and bring your attention to your body:

• How are you feeling right now?
• Are you sitting comfortably?
• Can you feel the support of your seat?
• Where are your feet? If they are touching the ground, how does that contact feel?
• Can you connect with your breath, following your inhalation and exhalation for a few moments?
• How does your belly move as you breathe?

What happens if you gently check in with your body? Noticing these sensations can help cultivate embodied awareness.

How embodiment supports healing: Learning to discern the past from the present

I remember one of my first Somatic Experiencing® sessions. I entered feeling completely fine, yet as I focused on my body, I noticed a tight diaphragm and heavy breathing. These sensations were real and intense, even though there was no immediate threat.

As my therapist gently encouraged me to stay present with these feelings, I became aware of her empathetic presence, which gave me the courage to explore further. Then, she asked if I could feel the chair supporting me or my feet on the ground. The moment I tuned into that physical support, my entire body shifted. I suddenly realized that the tension I carried was an old threat inside of me – not a reflection of my present reality. I was carrying the past in my body.

Understanding this on a felt, bodily level (rather than just intellectually) created a profound physiological shift, allowing my body to discharge trapped energy. I left the session feeling noticeably lighter.

When we are in a safe environment with an attuned, present therapist, we can gradually learn to be present with unpleasant or even scary sensations and embrace them, little by little. It requires a lot of courage, patience, and above all, self-compassion.

Ways to reconnect to your body

Healing through embodiment is an ongoing, gentle process. Here are some supportive practices that will all be incorporated into our unique SE Retreat in Mallorca:

• Yoga – Enhances body awareness through posture, breath, and movement, fostering connection to the body in action.
• Mindfulness & Meditation – Cultivates present-moment awareness and connection to bodily sensations.
• Family Constellation – Explores how trauma is stored in the body and passed through generations.
• Rolfing® – Releases tension and held patterns through deep tissue work and awareness education to realign the body and renegotiate its relationship to earth and sky.
• Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy – Restores balance through very gentle touch. Helps discover and let go of held patterns through the felt sense. 
• Somatic Experiencing® – Helps process trauma by exploring how it manifests in the body, allowing for the gentle release of trapped energy, emotions and thought patterns with self-compassion.)
  

Embark on a life-changing, body-centered healing journey

Join our Somatic Experiencing® Retreat at Dragonfly Retreats

If you're on a healing journey and feel called to explore embodiment, we offer all these modalities and more at Dragonfly Retreats. Check the backgrounds of our amazing Dragonfly Team members for more information. 

Healing is not about erasing or fixing our past. It is about learning to cultivate kindness, self-compassion, and patience. Breath by breath, moment by moment, we can release the past and reclaim the power to write our own story – from a place of presence, connection, and love.