When we’re “stuck,” rather than trying to think our way out of it, oftentimes it’s more of a felt experience: a pervasive sensation that has emotional correlates. Maybe it’s the frustration of feeling stagnant in life, the weight of unresolved grief, or a lingering anxiety that refuses to loosen its grip. These emotions are equally as stuck - the same way we are at that point in life, unfelt emotions remain trapped in the body.
The world of thought doesn’t account for this and instead urges us to intellectualize our way out of the rut. That’s its purpose, and it’s what we’ve been taught to do. Thinking is powerful in the right context, but in specific scenarios, it can be debilitating and can send us deeper down the negative spiral. We ruminate, analyze, and try to rationalize our way to clarity, but instead, we reinforce the very patterns keeping us stuck.
Instead of thought, the entry point into the cycle that we focus on at Elahni is through the body. It’s a convergence of philosophies that lay a foundation for integrating embodiment into our default conscious experience. The bottom-up sensory information that we’ve defaulted to ignoring, or paying little attention to, is a form of ancient wisdom. This is why at Elahni, we guide people through sensory experiences—hot and cold exposure, breathwork, and stillness—practices that bypass mental resistance and bring awareness directly into the body. Some can argue that this is the most ancient form of wisdom we have access to. But that wisdom doesn’t speak loudly. In fact, it doesn’t speak at all. The body communicates through a different language, and one of our intentions at Elahni is to highlight and provide tools for interacting with this wisdom.
While perception involves consciously interpreting sensory information, there are sub-perceptual forces operating beneath our awareness, continuously influencing how we feel, behave, and relate to others without our explicit, deliberate understanding. Unprocessed emotions, old survival mechanisms, and deeply ingrained patterns shape our experience before we even become aware of them. The question isn’t whether they’re affecting us; it’s whether we’re listening. By slowing down, bringing attention to breath, and allowing ourselves to fully feel what’s there, we begin to access the intelligence of the body and release what has been held onto for too long.
