Embodied Listening
Listening as relational practice, accompaniment, and care
Embodied listening is a relational, somatic practice rooted in presence, attunement, and care. It is a way of listening with another person, a situation, or a living system, grounded in shared presence and mutual attunement.
Rather than positioning the listener as observer, fixer, or authority, embodied listening understands listening as something that happens in relationship. It invites us to stay alongside what is unfolding, allowing meaning, direction, and agency to emerge through contact rather than control.
At its core, embodied listening reflects a simple but profound orientation: Humans participate in the same living field as what they listen to, we are not separate from the more-than-human world.
Listening as a relational practice
Listening is often treated as a passive or technical skill—something we do in order to gather information, respond efficiently, or move toward resolution. In many professional or social contexts, listening is instrumental: it serves an outcome.
Embodied listening offers a different possibility.
In this approach, listening is not something done to another, but something that unfolds with them. It is a form of accompaniment as opposed to intervention. Direction is not imposed; timing is respected. Agency remains distributed instead of extracted.
This orientation resonates with relational psychology, somatic practice, and contemplative traditions, where presence, pacing, and attunement matter as much as insight or technique. Listening becomes less about knowing, and more about being in contact.
Listening with, not listening to
Language reveals orientation. In English, we often say we “listen to” someone or something, subtly reinforcing a subject–object dynamic. Embodied listening shifts this orientation toward listening with.
Listening with implies staying alongside what is alive in the moment—without rushing to interpret, fix, or steer. It allows uncertainty and not-knowing to remain present. Meaning arises through relationship instead of extraction.
In practice, this means listening not only with the ears, but with the body: sensing tone, rhythm, pauses, and shifts in energy. It means allowing the conversation, the process, or the system itself to participate in shaping what comes next.
Where embodied listening comes from
My understanding of embodied listening has developed through multiple, interwoven strands of experience, as opposed to a single discipline or method.
My background in mental health and wellbeing facilitation taught me that psychological safety, consent, and pacing are not optional—they are foundational. Change that is rushed or imposed rarely lasts.
Somatic and embodied practices, including meditation, movement, breath awareness, and aquatic bodywork, deepened my understanding of how listening happens through sensation, rhythm, and felt sense, long before words arise.
Through my training in AquaSoma® aquatic bodywork, I encountered the concept of Tonic–emotional dialogue, originally developed by neuropsychiatrist Julian de Ajuriaguerra. This pre-verbal form of communication is based not on instruction or technique, but on tone, muscular attunement, rhythm, and mutual regulation. Instead of positioning one body as expert and the other as recipient, tonic–emotional dialogue allows a shared field of trust to emerge, where leadership becomes fluid and agency remains distributed.
My embodied relationship with the Five Elements, in particular Water—shaped through Aqua Yoga, swimming, and rowing, particularly in the Sweep pair (2-)—further refined this understanding. In rowing, progress is impossible through force alone. Movement emerges through continual listening: to one’s partner, the boat, and the water itself. Guidance and being guided are inseparable.
Across facilitation and interdisciplinary collaboration, listening has consistently revealed itself as the ethical foundation for collective work. How we listen shapes what becomes possible.
This orientation also resonates with Motivational Interviewing, an evidence-based approach to change that treats listening as the primary vehicle for transformation. Rather than advising or directing, Motivational Interviewing supports people in articulating their own values, motivations, and readiness for change — reinforcing agency, consent, and self-trust. I draw on this way of listening not as a technique, but as a relational ethic that aligns closely with embodied and more-than-human forms of care.
In interdisciplinary and research contexts, the embodied listening approach aligns with contemporary discussions of non-directive or “shapeless” listening—where listening is understood as an emergent relational field rather than a method applied to an object.
Listening as reciprocity
Embodied listening is reciprocal by nature.
Rather than treating attention as something we take in order to act, listening itself becomes a form of exchange. Time, presence, and acknowledgment are offered—especially in contexts where voices, bodies, or living systems have been rendered invisible or instrumental.
In ecological contexts, this understanding resonates with practices such as humid telepathy—an approach to sensing and relating with water through sound, memory, and imaginative attunement. Rather than seeking to interpret or extract meaning from water, humid telepathy invites a slower, more porous mode of attention. Listening becomes a way of accompanying living systems and acknowledging their presence.
Through this lens, listening is not merely preparatory. It is already an ethical act.
In my work with rivers, seas, and water systems, embodied listening reframes water not as a resource to be managed, but as a relational presence. Attention itself becomes a way of giving back.
Embodied Listening Beyond the Human
Contemporary reflections on more-than-human listening further clarify that listening is never neutral. It reshapes acoustic horizons, redistributes attention, and can either soften human dominance or reinforce it. Embodied listening introduces restraint into this relationship. It asks whether a place, a river, or a living system is willing to be listened to, rather than assuming access or entitlement. In this way, listening becomes a practice of care—one that recognises limits as well as possibility.
This orientation aligns with ecological and Indigenous ways of knowing, where relationship precedes use, and attention carries responsibility.
How embodied listening shows up in practice
In lived experience, embodied listening is often subtle rather than dramatic. It may look like slowing down enough to notice bodily and emotional cues, working with rhythm and pauses rather than constant speech, or allowing uncertainty to remain present without rushing toward clarity.
It involves resisting the urge to fix or steer prematurely, and making space for what wants to emerge rather than what is expected.
In one-on-one contexts, this supports people to reconnect with their own agency and inner regulation. In group or ecological contexts, it allows collective intelligence and care to arise without domination.
Why embodied listening matters now
We live in a time shaped by speed, extraction, and constant response. Many forms of listening have become transactional—focused on efficiency, persuasion, or outcome.
Embodied listening offers us a different future: sustainable change, ethical engagement, and depth of relationship.
It supports sustainable change rather than burnout-driven action, ethical engagement rather than quick solutions, and depth of relationship rather than surface consensus. In both human and more-than-human contexts, listening becomes a way of practising care, responsibility, and restraint—especially when harm is slow, subtle, or invisible.
Applications of embodied listening
This practice informs my work across multiple settings, including:
One-on-one embodied coaching, supporting women navigating transition and creative emergence
Group facilitation, where listening underpins collective inquiry and collaboration
Ecological and water-centred work, engaging rivers, seas, and aquatic systems as relational presences
Interdisciplinary projects, bridging wellbeing, art, science, and social justice
While the contexts may differ, the underlying practice remains the same: listening as accompaniment.
Embodied Listening as an ongoing practice
Embodied listening is not a technique to be mastered. It is an ongoing practice—one that asks for humility, patience, and a willingness to be changed by what we encounter.
It invites us to remain present without certainty, to guide without dominating, and to trust that meaning often emerges when we stop forcing it.
Working with this practice
If you are interested in how embodied listening informs my one-on-one work, you can learn more about embodied coaching here
For interdisciplinary or collaborative contexts, you’re welcome to get in touch directly.