Why your head’s intelligence must reunite with your body

A New Age practice is seeking to help us reconnect with the world, especially as modern life sees so many of us feeling low, anxious or disconnected.

The Embodied Present Process (TEPP), a series of practices developed by Philip Shepherd, seeks to reunite the intelligence of the head with that of the body.

According to Mr Shepherd, children have always been encouraged to lead with their minds – to think, evaluate and even move – and that the brain drives thought, behaviour and life’s outcomes.

However, there is a “largely untapped asset” that can open up a new bout of intelligence and understanding, he said. TEPP, according to him, explores how to be truly “in the moment” and better connected with the world, ourselves and each other.

“I developed TEPP over a lifetime of research and adventure as a teen through Europe, the Middle East, Iran, India and Japan. The practice explores how to access the two ‘brains’ we have in our possession – one in the head and one deep in the belly. Each provides valuable strengths,” he explained.

“Accessing and attuning to the body’s intelligence, our centre of feeling, and reconnecting the mind and body, can completely change the way we experience our world.”

The body provides a valuable bridge to the world, Mr Shepherd acknowledged, and people must learn to calm hyperactive thoughts; attune to the present through the body, which is empowering and feels amazing; and begin to live their true purpose as one reconnects and experiences all their relationships flourish in a way that seemed distant before.

“I was born an ‘eleuthromaniac’, which means a mania for freedom. My life has been a personal journey of extricating myself from cultural prohibitions that live in our bodies, and it was only once I’d found my personal clarity on those that I thought that what I’d discovered might have relevance to others. There is so much to be gained by being attuned to our body’s intelligence,” he said.

“The brain in the head specialises in analysing, supervising, modifying and evaluating. The brain deep in the belly specialises at integration or feeling things as a unity. It is the centre of the body’s intelligence.”

TEPP differs from meditation, yoga or mindfulness – activities that tend to be “head led”, or the idea of the head informing the body, he said.

“TEPP teaches people how to be present and connected to the world through the body. It’s great for anyone wishing a more connected experience: artists, bodyworkers, therapists, public speakers, activists, yoga practitioners, athletes, spiritual seekers and business leaders [alike].”