Embodiment- Mark Walsh on reintegrating our bodies into Western Civilization.

Mark Walsh is an expert on embodiment. He trains people globally on integrating their bodies into their leadership and way of life. He has done this with people across a whole range of settings from Western corporate life through to the slums of Brazil, and HIV awareness charity in East Africa and conflict resolution on […]

Mark Walsh is an expert on embodiment. He trains people globally on integrating their bodies into their leadership and way of life. He has done this with people across a whole range of settings from Western corporate life through to the slums of Brazil, and HIV awareness charity in East Africa and conflict resolution on the Middle East with the United Nations.

Mark believes that Western civilisation is disembodied. By that, he means that we tend to live in our heads as if our bodies were a taxi to carry around our brain. We do not have a body, we are a body. He says that really matters because being fully integrated with our body is essential for optimal health, happiness, empathy, judgement, decision-making and a successful civilisation. He traces the process of disembodied and through our history and describes how a baby, which is instinctively embodied, grows up in a world which educates it to become disembodied.

In this interview we discuss many examples of how increasing our connection with our bodies could bring substantial benefits to our way of life with some surprising examples including the financial system, medicine, education, inner-city gangs, wisdom and intuition.

Mark describes his experience of training leaders to become more embodied and how that yields benefits space for the individual and their organisation. He suggests ways in which we can stay in touch with our bodies even when spending hours at a desk or in front of the computer. He talks through the wide range of different practices from martial arts to dancing and simple breathing exercises which one can choose to increase the level of embodiment.

He gives some cross-cultural examples from his experience around the world of cultures which are much more embodied than ours and from which we could learn.

Mark gives some tips on how to use one’s body whilst making judgements and taking decisions.

If you would like to check out Mark’s work, then take a look at the websites below:

Leadership Training

Integration Training on YouTube

Follow Mark on Twitter

Embodied Operating System

Living Embodiment Conference

Mark Walsh’s bio:

Mark Walsh has dedicated his life to studying embodied training.

His experience and qualifications include:

Bsc (Hons) Psychology (Leeds University)
Extensive training and facilitation experience with large and small organisations in the UK and abroad, e.g. Virgin Atlantic (Sussex), Harrow Primary Care Trust (NHS London), The Institute of Development Studies (University of Sussex, Brighton) and Liberty Global (international telecoms blue-chip).
Three years organising projects, training and conferences for the international organisation Aiki Extensions Inc. This included leadership training, stress management and conflict resolution work in the Middle East alongside the UN, in the slums of Brazil and with an HIV awareness charity in East Africa
15 years of aikido training and teaching on five continents and an internationally recognised black belt
Residential training in Somatics (the study of the conscious body) and Embodied Leadership at Strozzi Institute, California, with Wendy Palmer and with Being In Movement founder Paul Linden in Ohio, USA
Experience of training in numerous other physical systems such as yoga, tai chi, Feldenkrais, flamenco, Uzazu, tango, contact improvisation, jiu-jitsu, MMA and Five Rhythms
Training in integral theory (Ken Wilber et al)
Four years in the outdoor education industry, training climbing, abseiling, team building, orienteering, fencing, archery, snowboarding, trampolining and leadership
Five years Non-Violent Communication training, including residential training and study with NVC founder Marshall Rosenberg, and pioneering work with “Embodied NVC” in areas of conflict
Training in the linguistic coaching system of Fernando Flores
Coach training with several organisations – most recently graduating from Newfield Network’s “Theory and Practice of Ontological Coaching”
Numerous training courses on meditation and mindfulness
First aid training courses, most recently with the British Red Cross
Associate Member of The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
Writes Google #2 ranked management training blog, hosts #1 training Youtube Channel and is one of the most “followed” trainers on Twitter worldwide (26,000+ followers)
Based in Brighton, East Sussex, UK