Living Better with Yourself: A Practical Guide to Embodied Growth

Living Better with Yourself: A Practical Guide to Embodied Growth

by Michael Conti

Self-Improvement Mental Health

Season 10

Taking Power in Front of the Critical Voice – chapter 10, exercise 10

An embodied empowerment exercise. You’ll explore how posture reflects self-criticism, then deliberately shift into a powerful stance to counteract the critic and connect with inner strength.

Visualising the Inner Critical Voice – chapter 10, exercise 7

A guided imagery exercise in which you imagine the critic outside yourself, observe its qualities and then visualise it shrinking. You’ll reflect on how its presence affects your breathing and emotions.

A Three-Way Conversation with the Critical Voice – chapter 10, exercise 6

A chair-work dialogue exercise involving three roles: yourself, your critical voice and a nurturing voice. By moving between chairs, you’ll explore each perspective and strengthen your compassionate inner voice.

Season 9

Dancing Out My Freedom – chapter 9, exercise 16

An embodied liberation exercise imagining life without shame or guilt, then expressing that freedom physically through movement.

Facing Those Who Make Me Feel Ashamed or Guilty – chapter 9, exercise 12

A rehearsal exercise for difficult encounters. You’ll practise counteracting automatic shame responses with conscious physical and emotional adjustments.

Stepping Out of Shame and Guilt – chapter 9, exercise 10

A symbolic movement exercise in which you physically step away from the weight of shame or guilt, observing shifts in sensation and emotion.

Bringing Warmth to Shame and Guilt – chapter 9, exercise 9

A self-compassion exercise using touch and imagination to soothe areas of the body associated with shame or guilt.

Opening Up My Body – chapter 9, exercise 8

A posture-shifting exercise challenging shame physically. By adopting an open stance and affirming your worth aloud, you’ll explore how embodiment affects emotion.

Shame and Guilt in My Body – chapter 9, exercise 3

A mirror-based embodiment exercise to observe how shame and guilt manifest physically through posture, facial expression and bodily sensations.

Season 8

Shaking It Off – chapter 8, exercise 15

A somatic release exercise using full-body shaking to disperse angry energy and restore grounded calm.

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