Embodied Schema: The basis of Embodied Cognition

2. Indicators of embodied schema

UP/DOWN Motif

The following sentences have been extracted from a one-hour client session. They illustrate the client’s repeated use of the UP/DOWN embodied schema. Because of the repeating pattern we would characterise this client’s Landscape as having an up/down motif:

That’s me standing on top of a wave [about their desired state symbolic drawing]

I am able to achieve and fly high from a place of being more in touch with myself.

There’s a frequent sense of overwhelm.

I feel on top of things.

I want to take on the day without the day taking over me.

A lot of upheaval in the last year.

I want to be on top of my day.

I am building on ...

I want to raise others' awareness.

I'm up for it.

Checking up on it.

I need to be free of the heap.

[After a change had taken place in the client's Landscape — a "missing" symbol comes inside]:

It's like a pebble in the water dropping down in the whole of my core.

Now I'm sitting under a tree.

Dappled light drops down.

I feel calm and grounded.

Now I want to lie down under the tree and look up through the branches to the sky.

I feel settled in my gut, down here (hand on stomach).

It feels heavy in a positive settled way.

When I am in touch with the settled, grounded feeling it feels the natural thing to do.

Examples of verbs that indicate a FORCE embodied schema:

Active	Approach	Attack	Attract	Bear	Bond	Break
Build	Bring	Can’t	Capture	Carry	Cause	Clamp
Close	Clutch	Collect	Compel	Control	Cut	Deliver
Detain	Dive	Do	Drag	Endanger	Enlarge	Fall
Find	Fetch	Get	Go	Grab	Grapple	Grasp
Hold	Hug	Hunt	Immerse	Imprison	Influence	Interact
Jam	Join	Liberate	Limit	Make	Meet	Move
Obtain	Open	Operate	Overcome	Perpetrate	Penetrate	Pick
Power	Press	Provide	Pull	Push	Raid	Reach
Refrain	Resist	Restrict	Retain	Seize	Shake	Snatch
Start	Squeeze	Stay	Stick	Stop	Take	Tense
Try	Tug	Wake	Withhold	Wound	Wrench	Wrestle