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Embodiment: The Mind Controlling the Body Essay

Decent Essays

Embodiment

The term embodiment refers to the body’s ability to control the mind, or the effect the body has on the mind. Instead of just the mind controlling how the body works and reacts, the body is thought to influence emotions, one’s psychological state, and other aspects of the mind.

1 History

1.1 Ancient Times
Though yoga has been practiced since as early as 1500 BC, it was thought of more of a body-spirit connection until around 200 BC, when it became a focus of those who wanted relief from suffering (5). In 150 BC, the Yoga Sutras was published. It included beliefs on the power that yoga has on one’s mind (5).
Ancient Greeks also played around with the ideas about the body’s influence on the mind. Plato, for …show more content…

Yoga participants spend hours focusing on their breathing, elongating their muscles, and using self-discipline to conform to various shapes.
One of the main goals of yoga is to provide the participant with a sense of calmness. Numerous studies have been conducted with the intent of discovering the effects of yoga on people’s emotions and mind in general. All of the experiments have had similar results; people who do yoga have lower levels of depression and anxiety (6 & 7). Not only do yoga participants have lower levels of depression and anxiety than those that are sedentary, they also have been proven to have lower levels compared to those who swim, take aerobic dance classes, or walk (7).
Improving one’s well-being has proven to be one of the long-term effects of yoga. Women in one study were shown to have higher self-esteem as well as a better awareness of their own body (6).
In the same study, the increase of happiness was not only discovered to be a long-term effect of yoga, but also a short-term effect. This is due to the endorphins released by the body during long periods of physical exercise (6).

2.2 Theater:
Embodiment is an important aspect of many of the acting methods used in theater. Most notably is the Stanislavsky method and the methods that developed from it. Stanislavsky used his beliefs of emotion to create his system of teaching that

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