Title Embodied: How to Connect to Your Body, Ignite Your Intuition, and Harness Universal Energy for Healing
Author Vicky Roubekas
Genre Mind, Body, Spirit; Self-Help
Publisher VR Publications
Book Blurb
Don’t Live Another Day Disconnected From Your Body!
Do you feel unsafe in your body? Betrayed by it?
Do you have difficulty discerning your boundaries?
Are you stuck in negative thinking?
Overwhelmed by your emotions or shut down?
In Embodied, Vicky discusses the ways we have become disconnected from our body:
· Wounds and trauma
· Lack of boundaries
· Negative thinking, limiting beliefs, and cognitive distortions
· Difficulty naming and feeling emotions in the body
Disconnecting is a defense mechanism that protects you, but keeps you feeling lost and unsure of yourself.
In Embodied, Vicky shares practices that helped her overcome her traumas, negative body image, and low self-worth. Applying her psychology, Reiki, and shamanic training, she provides personal stories, credible content, insightful exercises, and helpful resources to connect you with your body. Her compassion is palpable, and you’ll feel like you are in a personal session with her.
Vicky guides you step by step on how to reconnect with your body through:
· Mindfulness and meditation
· Grounding practices
· Engaging the senses
· Working with energy
· Shamanic practices
Take a transformational journey of self-discovery with your body. In Embodied, you’ll learn how to:
· Set and maintain healthy boundaries, speak up, and say no
· Challenge and release negative thinking, limiting beliefs, and cognitive distortions
· Achieve emotional mastery for a healthy expression of emotions
· Become self-aware, mindful, and present
· Feel grounded in your body and supported by Mother Earth
· Discover your body’s sensations
· Connect with your intuition and Higher Self
· Harness universal life-force energy for healing
· Explore shamanic practices to release wounds and traumas
· Connect with God, Source, Creator, Spirit, or the Universe
· Develop self-compassion, self-forgiveness, self-acceptance, and self-love
· Express your authentic self and live your life to the fullest
· And much more
It’s Time to Connect to Your Body, Ignite Your Intuition, and Harness Universal Energy—Today!
Excerpt:
My Disconnection
Disconnecting from my body wasn’t a conscious decision. I didn’t wake up one day and say, “Hey, my body sucks. It isn’t safe, and I don’t want anything to do with it.” It resulted after many experiences over the years telling me my body wasn’t okay or safe. Traumas, criticisms, objectification, comparisons, and self-hatred all played their part.
I can pinpoint the day I became aware my body was unsafe. It was summer—my favorite season. I was approximately four years old. For a child, summer is the time to have fun playing with friends outside. We were in the alley close to my home when a boy, the same age as me, pulled at the front of my bathing suit bottom and peered inside. Perhaps he was curious, as kids are at that age, or maybe he wondered if I had the same body parts as him. I remember feeling intense fear.
Survival kicked in, and I fled down the alley in the opposite direction of my house. I was unable to reason. I turned left at the end of the alley to make my way around the block back to my home. Halfway up the street, I realized I would have to pass the boy and the other kids now playing in the pool at the side of an apartment building. My heart raced in panic, but I managed to hold myself together and walk past.
Our brains are fascinating. Besides fear and panic, I also experienced shame. Why would I, as a four-year-old, feel shame? Why would I interpret the experience as indicating something wrong with me and my body? I’m curious about whether it was my first unsafe experience, or if I had others stored in my subconscious mind. I potentially had already received messages about my body and sexuality, whether directly or indirectly. I may have been predisposed to language around not letting other people touch my private parts. Sadly, this wasn’t my only traumatic experience around my body.
Growing up, I felt different—that I didn’t belong. I had few friends and often felt lonely. There were limitations on what I could do within my Greek culture. I grew up in a strict household. There was no room for discussion, and there was no back talk. As such, I was unable to speak up for myself, and had low self-worth. It was a challenge for me to connect with my Canadian friends, who were free to hang out wherever, whenever, and with whomever they wanted; I felt excluded.
From a young age, I got mixed messages about my body. I felt like my body wasn’t mine. Other people got to choose what I was supposed to be, or how my body could satisfy their desires.
There was an expectation from my mom about how I should look. She commented on being concerned about my weight to another woman, even though I was only slightly chubby. My mom told me what to wear in order to be presentable at church. I was told how to act properly for a girl and not embarrass the family.
My body was hypersexualized. By the age of ten, I had breasts and curves, and started menstruating. Boys and men felt they had a right to touch me. I experienced several inappropriate and unwanted sexual touches, which left me feeling scared, ashamed, and confused. On one hand, my body wasn’t good enough, and on the other hand, men objectified it.
I struggled with my weight the majority of my life, and it left me feeling socially handicapped. I felt the sting of rejection, struggled with low self-esteem and low self-confidence, and felt judged and criticized. I hated my body, felt betrayed by it, and so, I disconnected from it. It was much easier to focus on my mind, and close off any emotions that would connect me to others—other than rage. I built a sturdy wall around myself.
Defining Moment
I’ll never forget the moment I recognized how disconnected I was from my body. I thought I was so clever to disengage from it. That by doing so, it wouldn’t exist for others either. I didn’t realize my body was still visible to others, and expressed itself in ways that were not okay with me.
The defining moment occurred in my mid-20s when someone said to me, “Your face doesn’t look angry anymore.” My face looked angry? Wow, that was an eye-opener. I was wearing my rage like a garment for all to see and feel.
Why I Wrote This Book
All of my experiences define who I am and the work I do. As a psychologist, I work with women to help them process their wounds and traumas to reconnect with their bodies, become embodied, and live their true authentic selves. When they become embodied, they feel confident, deserving, worthy, and capable. I feel honored to be a part of their healing journey and to hold space to witness their transformations. I want to assist women to know they are perfect just the way they are. As such, I felt called to write this book to bring my knowledge and experiences to help more women heal, grow, and transform their relationship with their body—to reconnect and become embodied.
Embodied
What does it mean to be embodied? When embodied, you can feel into your body using all your known senses and extrasensory perceptions to understand and be present in all your experiences and with your environment. You can feel where your emotions reside in your body, and permit yourself to feel both pleasant and uncomfortable emotions. You understand how other people and the environment influence you with their energy, which supports you to set and maintain healthy boundaries. By being embodied, you are open to receiving and interacting with others, which allows for deep, meaningful connections. You can trust your body’s wisdom, engage with your body’s innate intuition, and connect with your higher knowing and guidance.
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Author Biography
Vicky Roubekas has a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. She is a psychologist, coach, author, and speaker who helps women connect with their body so they live a life of ease, joy, and authenticity. She has a private practice in Calgary, Canada where she sees clients in person and online. Vicky is trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). She is a Certified Hakomi Therapist, a mindfulness-based somatic therapy. She is a Certified Embodied Awareness Facilitator, offering spiritually-directed therapy. She is a ThetaHealing™ practitioner. Vicky is a Peruvian Shaman Practitioner and Reiki Master. She lives with her dog, Koko, and cat, Naia.
Connect with Vicky at VickyRoubekas.com.
Find her on Instagram @vickyroubekas.
Social Media Links
Instagram @vickyroubekas