New Year Resolutions: Embody Your Dreams and Desires with Somatic Body Poetry

​As a new year dawns, many of us in Perth find ourselves crafting resolutions, sketching out visions of an improved, upgraded, better version of Self . We set intentions to be healthier, exercise more, pursue creative projects, new business ideas, nourish our relationships, and Yet, how many of these resolutions truly become reality? And since we are creatures of habit, for most of us, our new year resolutions remain aspirations, floating somewhere in the realm of 'should' or 'want', rather than become a tangible, solid new reality.

​The key to achieving your dreams and desires as an unfolding reality, lies not just in willpower and the mental realm, but in the innate somatic ability of your body to re-imagine, re-form and redesign its very own expression and experience. Integrated applied somatic bodywork offers a powerful, tangible pathway to self-actualisation, laying a bridge between intentions and our lived experience.

​The Realms Beyond Mental Goals: How Somatic Embodiment Reshapes Reality

​When we think about our new year resolutions we tend to engage cognitive strategies – we make plans, schedule, even begin saying positive affirmations. And while all valuable in their own way, these cognitive approaches can fall short if we leave out the full somatic Self - the Body. Bessel Van Der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps the Score and leading expert in trauma, speaks about our experiences, both positive and negative, are deeply imprinted in our physiology, in the organism that is the body. Our dreams and desires, too, have a physical resonance, a felt sense that can either propel us forward or hold us back.

​Embodiment practices in somatic bodywork invite us to move beyond mere intellectual realms and directly into experiential relationship with our goals. Rather than just thinking about being more confident, we somatically learn to feel confidence - in our posture, our breath, the way we hold ourselves. This engagement with the body’s own language is where change truly happens.

​Body Poetry: The Language of Your Inner Landscape

​Here I am going to drop a term you may previously heard or it may be a new concept to you - Body Poetry. In somatic therapy, we often move beyond clinical terminology into the realm of the 'poetic', and this is because the body’s language is rarely linear or literal. When we attempt to embody a dream or an archetype, we essentially engage in a form of living poetry or storytelling.

​Early somatic pioneers like Eugene Gendlin, who coined the term 'Focusing' describe the body's communication through a 'felt sense'. This felt sense is often best articulated through poetic metaphors: a 'fluttering of wings' in the chest when anticipating something new, a 'heavy stone' in the belly when holding grief, or a 'radiant sun' at the solar plexus when feeling joy.

​By using body poetry, we give these sensations a name and a narrative. This helps us externalise and expand our experience beyond the body:

• ​Externalisation: Describing a chronic tension as a 'tightly coiled spring waiting for spring' allows you to relate to the sensation without being consumed by it - a healthy distance is created.
  

• ​Expansion: If you are trying to embody 'Freedom', imagining your breath as 'an incoming tide clearing shells from a white sandy shore' is a poetic instruction that the nervous system understands more deeply than the intellectual command to 'relax'. The body responds to imagery, metaphor and embedded felt sensations.
  

​Archetypes, Desires, and the Somatic Blueprint

​Literature on somatic embodiment, drawing on depth psychology and the work of Jungian analysts like Marion Woodman, highlights the concept of archetypes – universal patterns of experience and behavior that reside within the human collective unconscious. Woodman particularly utilised the poetic and the mythic to help individuals move through bodily 'armor'.

​When we intend to embody a new desire, we are often tapping into an archetypal energy. For instance, the desire to start a new business might connect to the 'Innovator' or 'Creator' archetype; a longing for deeper connection might resonate with the 'Lover' or 'Community Builder'. Somatic embodiment practices provide a concrete method to access and integrate these archetypal energies through the body's poetic language.

​Consider the archetype of the Warrior: embodying courage, determination, and clear boundaries. A somatic practice here may involve:

• ​Grounding: Feeling the soles of your feet firmly connected to the earth, sensing stability and strength, perhaps imagining them as roots anchoring to purpose.

• ​Postural Alignment: Lengthening of the spine, broadening the chest, allowing the shoulders to soften yet remain stable, adopting a 'mountain peak' posture.

• ​Breathwork: Engaging a deep, diaphragmatic breath that fuels a sense of inner flow, like 'a steady stream within', constantly feeding motion and energy.

• ​Movement and Sequence: Experimenting with movements that feel strong, decisive, and purposeful, perhaps adopting a stance that evokes the warrior spirit, feeling the body as a shield, and ideas as shooting arrows.
  

​Similarly, to embody the Nurturer archetype, we might explore softening the belly, opening the heart space, and cultivating a gentle, rhythmic breath, allowing for a felt sense of compassion and care, perhaps with the poetic internal felt sense of the heart as a blooming ecosystem, abundant with medicine flora.

​From Aspiration to Action: The Embodied Path

​By engaging somatic body poetry, you are not just thinking about the goal - you are actively rewiring your nervous system and reshaping your internal landscape which in turn influences the outside landscape. When your body truly feels and somatically experiences the essence of your goals, aspirations transform from distant ideals to integrated aspects of reality.

​This integrated approach makes achieving your New Year resolutions not just possible, but intrinsically felt. When the desire for clarity is embodied, you naturally make clearer decisions. When the desire for creativity is embodied, you find yourself drawn to creative expression with less effort.

​ If you are curious about somatic bodywork, body poetry and the embodiment of your dreams and desires, reach out to me today and allow me to guide you on how to embody your goals through a profound, transformative, somatic process. Allow your body to be the fertile garden, where your goals and desires can grow into a vibrant, living reality. ​Elijah Forest Therapy Fremantle Clinic Elijah Forest Therapy clinic is nestled at 38 George Street, East Fremantle, within Nourish Me Wholefoods health hub and cafe. Our counselling rooms offer a safe space to explore, feel, be held and discover. Sessions are offered as supportive therapeutic containers that nurture and support clients' goals and aspirations. Integrated Bodywork & somatic counselling Expand. Thrive.