This month we’ll be exploring ways we can use somatics to better hold intensity, and part of how we’ll be approaching that is through the embodiment of the cell membrane. I think, by the end of the hour, you’ll be a little more in love with, and a little more in awe of, all the trillions of your cells.

Cell membranes are wild and weird. Let’s talk about them.

First up, they’re formed by these little phospholipids. These cuties have a hydrophobic tail (that means the tail is afraid of water) and a hydrophilic head (that means their heads love water) (Also, we now have another word for queer folks. If you want to call me homophilic you can go right ahead)

Because part of them is afraid of water and the other part is in love with water, these little phospholipids arrange themselves into a bilayer, meaning two layers, with the heads of both layers facing water- the water inside our cells, intracellular fluid, or the water outside our cells, the extracellular fluid (part of that is 🩸 blood)

Are you feeling dizzy yet? Relax, there is no test, and I’m about to make it into a metaphor that will help you fall in love with yourself a little more.

This cell membrane is semi-permeable, meaning some things can go in, and some things can go out. Which means, sweetpea, you already have exquisite boundaries.

Does the cell membrane get it wrong sometimes? Sure. But on the whole, you do a phenomenal job of letting go of what needs to go, and receiving what needs to be received. When you doubt your ability to set good boundaries, remember you are already doing it, a trillion times over.

The cell membrane is also what allows life to be so incredible and complex. All those hydrophilic heads have a negative ionic charge. Do you remember playing with magnets, and turning them so the identical poles are facing each other? It’s weird, right? They won’t touch, they sort of float. Your cell membranes are doing a similar thing, all throughout your body.

Which means, if it feels like you’re coming apart at the seams, that’s normal.

Feeling intense and uncomfortable feelings is normal. The stories that tell us we’re not supposed to feel that way are the problem. Your body is created out of paradoxes. You are an impossible miracle. The phospholipid bilayer is just one example of this. Embodying it can help us find a little more comfort in all this discomfort.

So come hang out with me this Friday for the monthly free community session I offer. We’ll be exploring this, and more.

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