Embodied leadership is Life serving Life
A shift towards a more compassionate, collaborative, and sustainable world.
Bringing essence into form
I’ve been working on my definition of embodied leadership for a very long time. It’s something that started as a feeling, a sense that a deeper way of leading is possible and needed in order to face the complex challenges we encounter today.
Any creator or visionary leader knows that the process of bringing something ineffable and ethereal into form can be a labor of love, and this is no exception. How does one express the essence of a thing in a way that is accessible and understandable? When language fails to meet our need to convey something so rich and nuanced and textured?
Well, you end up starting a blog that is really just a long, rambling poem. (hi, it’s me.)
If you know me, you know that I intensely resist being put into simple boxes. One of the things that pained me the most about working for the government was having to translate everything into plain language that was acceptable to the dominant culture.
Yes, I value accessibility greatly. And, my self-expression is anything but plain. It’s a tightrope I walk. How do I honor my soul’s expression while remaining inclusive? I don’t have the answer, but I think pondering the question keeps me open, and that’s good enough for me.
I digress.
In this post I want to bring two threads together that I care deeply about: embodied leadership and menstrual cycle awareness.
If you read my post last week, you’ll know that I believe we are all cyclical beings and regardless of your menstruation status I think we would all benefit if we affirmed the impact that cycles have on our bodies and therefore, our leadership.
Let’s dive in.
Your body is an untapped resource for wisdom and transformation
For context, when I talk about Life with a capital ‘L’, I am referring to Spirit, Source, Divine Love, The Universe. Whatever name you use, it’s the animating force that brings all things into existence. I also want to be clear that in my world, a leader is anyone who takes responsibility for creating the future, regardless of their job title or employment status.
Embodied leadership is a style of leadership that emphasizes the role of your body in shaping thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. It involves being present and aware of your physical sensations and emotions, as well as those of others, and using this awareness to guide leadership decisions and actions.
Our body’s sensations are Life’s fundamental language - energy - moving through us. When we are aware and attuned to Life’s fundamental language, we are engaging in a dialogue between Life, Soul, body and mind. We’re conversing with the Divine.
As a leader, this gives us access to additional information that is critical for decision making, communication, and creating positive and inclusive environments. This information is trans-rational - it exists beyond the rational mind - but we can partner with our mind to make sense of it in a way that is practical for our leadership needs.
Your body is also a powerful tool for self-awareness and sustainable transformation. It points you in the direction of your most authentic self: your longing, your desires, your values, your purpose, your vision. Your sensations give you clues as to what matters the most to you on the deepest level.
Your body also shows you where you still require healing, where you store your trauma, and all of the ways that you armor yourself against the world.
When engaged mindfully and with intent, your body is a potent resource for creating lasting transformation. Instead of mind-training and will-power domination, you can leverage the intelligence that already exists in your body. You can allow your body to show you the path to change, instead of trying to force your body to come along with the mind’s strategy. You can build a partnership between body and mind that serves you instead of drains you.
Embodied leadership is generative and life-affirming
When we are authentically embodied, making aligned decisions and actions, and taking responsibility for our healing, we naturally create outcomes that are more intentional, generative and life-affirming.
Life will always aim to create more Life, or create conditions in which Life can thrive. When you are creating outcomes from that place of deep aliveness in your body, your leadership results will likely benefit all beings and the planet.
Moreover, when you lead from this place, you become exponentially more magnetic, influential and empowered. Not only are you purposeful with your actions, behaviors and results. You are also more capable of collaboration, partnership and authentic relating. People want to help you bring your vision to life because their deep aliveness resonates with yours.
By being more attuned to nonverbal cues and listening actively, you can better understand the perspectives and needs of your team members, family, partners, stakeholders and colleagues. You naturally build high-trust relationships and inclusive environments that thrive on collaboration.
To summarize, embodied leadership is about being connected to the deep Source of aliveness that exists in your body. This connection gives you access to information and resources that help you find your purpose, hold a compelling and life-affirming vision, create outcomes that matter, build high-trust and inclusive environments, and collaborate with others.
Embodied leaders honor natural cycles
Cycle awareness, including menstrual cycle awareness, is a key practice in embodied leadership. It involves being aware of and attuned to life’s natural rhythms and cycles, and how those cycles affect us in varying capacities.
All humans are cyclical beings. We exist in micro- and macro-cycles that have an inter-weaving influence on us holistically. Our energy, mood, emotions, capacities, strengths and vulnerabilities are all affected by them. To deny this would be to deny a very critical part of our human nature.
Embodied leaders are not only attuned to their own cyclical changes, they are also aware of how others are affected by their cyclical nature, too. They affirm that this is a natural process and build environments that honor the ebbs and flows of it.
For the purposes of this blog post, we are going to focus on the menstrual cycle, which has a non-hormonal cycle twin: the lunar cycle. Refer to last week’s post to get a break-down of how these are related. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to consider beginning your own cycle awareness practice, regardless of your menstruation status. You can find instructions for this in last week’s post.
If you do not have a menstrual cycle, you can follow any one of the cycles I illustrated above. Or you can begin by keeping a daily log of your three-word check in and your needs (refer to the menstrual cycle awareness template I gave last week), and determine your unique cyclical pattern after you have collected enough data.
Menstrual cycle awareness involves understanding the biological, psychological and spiritual changes that occur throughout the menstrual cycle and how these changes can impact mood, energy levels, and cognitive function.
By incorporating menstrual cycle awareness into your leadership practice, you can better understand and respond to the needs and capacities of your body, mind and spirit and those of their team or family members. This can lead to a more empathetic and inclusive leadership style that acknowledges the natural variability of the human experience.
In addition, menstrual cycle awareness can help you plan and schedule your work in a way that is aligned with your natural rhythms and cycles. For example, scheduling more intense or challenging tasks during the follicular (Inner Spring) and ovulatory (Inner Summer) phases of the menstrual cycle, when energy levels and cognitive function tend to be higher, and scheduling more rest and self-care during the luteal (Inner Autumn) and menstrual (Inner Winter) phases, when energy levels and mood may be lower.
Workplaces that affirm these natural fluctuations in capacity, energy, insight, intuition and cognitive function are not only more equitable and inclusive, they are also tapped into a deep well of power that our dominant workplace cultures lack.
Imagine this scenario. Your workplace has a Period Policy that includes paid-time off for when your menstrual symptoms are painful, you have a monthly stipend to pay for period products, your employee assistance program includes menstrual health coaching and medical services, and there is an employee resource group that acts as your Red Anchor Council. You are encouraged to schedule your high-demand work activities for a time when you are best resourced to do it, and to decline meeting invites when your cycles asks you to draw inward. Your executive leadership team leans on the Red Anchor Council to provide critical input to all of their major problems. As part of this Red Anchor Council, you are asked to take the major questions the company is dealing with into your bleeding time, because they know that you are especially sensitive to psychic and trans-rational knowledge during that time, and they value that in their decision-making. There is a structure and process for you to give your input, and the executive leadership team acts on it, resulting in innovative and deeply inclusive solutions.
Sheesh, I can’t wait to be a CEO some day.
Embodied leadership has major ripples
If more leaders practiced embodied leadership, we could see significant positive changes in our world. Leaders who are more aware of their own bodies and emotions, as well as those of their team members, are likely to make decisions that are more grounded in empathy, compassion, and a deep understanding of the human experience. This could lead to more inclusive and collaborative work environments, where individuals are valued for their unique contributions and experiences.
Leaders who practice embodied leadership may also be more attuned to the impact of their decisions on the well-being of their team members, family, communities, and other beings and the planet. This could lead to a greater emphasis on sustainability, social justice, and ethical practices in the workplace.
In addition, leaders who practice menstrual cycle awareness may be more supportive of policies and practices that acknowledge, accommodate and leverage the natural rhythms, needs, and intelligence of the human body. This could lead to a more compassionate and inclusive workplace culture that supports the holistic well-being of all team members and celebrates their natural gifts.
If more leaders practiced embodied leadership, we could see a shift towards a more compassionate, collaborative, and sustainable world.
There are many ways to practice embodied leadership, and sharing those practices are a major reason I started this blog. Connecting with our longing, engaging in ceremony and self-designed rituals, and practicing cycle awareness are all threads that hold an embodied leader in their practice.
If you resonate with the style of leadership that I describe here, and you desire to participate in creating the world that our deep aliveness knows is possible, then you are in the right place. Everything I share here is in service to Life, and I hope you find it serves you too.
May this publication serve all beings everywhere.
Soulful blessings,
Emily
If you are ready to take your embodied leadership practice to the next level, I encourage you to schedule a complementary consultation today. These are cost-free and no-pressure connection calls where we explore your longing and vision, you get to experience my coaching style on a current challenge you’re working through, and we determine if there is resonance in us working together. It’s completely risk-free, and you will definitely walk away with more clarity about what is most important to you right now. You can schedule that here.
And, if you decide that you want to move forward with working together, I am running a special through the month of May to celebrate the launch of this blog and my heal.me practitioner profile (which has been a labor of love lemme tell ya!)
Individual coaching and embodiment sessions are 10% off with the option of saving 20% if you package them. Ask me about details during our consultation!
And if you are local to Sacramento, save the date for an in-person half-day retreat on June 11th where we will learn to honor the cycles that we have, reclaim our instinctual power, and embrace the ancient wisdom of our bodies. More details to follow.