Embodiment

As part of a therapist book club, we read The Wisdom of Your Body: Finding Healing, Wholeness and Connection Through Embodied Living by Hillary McBride. It is in the Christian non-fiction section, but we found that chapter 9 was the only chapter with very explicit Christian ideas. One concept I found very helpful was “The Man Box” which was a study by Brian Heilman, Gary Barker and Alexander Harrison. When men strongly identify with defining masculinity as:

• Self-sufficiency

• Acting tough

• Attractiveness

• Rigid masculine gender roles

• Heterosexuality and homophobia

• Hypersexuality and prowess

• Aggression and control

  those men had lower levels of life satisfaction and self-confidence, poorer mental health and body image, and displayed less connection in their relationships. As a therapist who works with a lot of men, none of these findings are shocking to me, but it saddens me nonetheless.

Because of its Christian bent and basic embodiment exercises, I would only recommend this book, or perhaps sections, to very specific clients—women raised in Evangelical culture who are starting the process of deconstructing their faiths.