Feb 18 2021
Have you heard this phrase “embodiment path” or “embodiment journey”?
And maybe wondered what the heck that means?
That was me, too. I would hear this word, “embodiment”, and it was about as effective as leaving a blank space in the sentence. I ignored the word, it was so nebulous to me.
It’s a noun that means: a tangible or visible form of an idea, quality, or feeling.
It feels particularly ironic that now this is one of the primary words I use to describe my path and my work. To me, embodiment means the process of allowing the Divine Soul (Atman) to fully occupy the body. One of the pivotal moments for me was when I realized that there was an intelligence in the cells of the body that I wanted to learn how to access. The mystery of my body has conceived, gestated and birthed two new human beings, without the guidance, interference or involvement of rational thought. For example, while I was pregnant, I never had to think to myself “I think I’ll give this kid two new eyes today”. My body knew how to create life! And then, giving birth was like making love with the Divine, in all its actual pain and glory. My brain, no matter how many classes it takes, will never be that magical! So that, my friends, is how I currently define the embodiment path. It’s my intention, every day, to sit at the lotus feet of the cells of my body, and to ask these very cells how I can learn from them.
Here’s a few key practices and principles that I have found on this path so far:
- Asking the body be a source of “divination”, or information that is wise beyond what my mind can rationally know.
I use muscle testing as well as an ongoing awareness practice to notice how my body feels about everything in life, from people and relationships to places and things, travel plans and what to have for dinner. More specifically, the heart and the genitals are power centers for this transcendent knowingness. This can only be done when we also have tools for turning down the chatter of the inner analyst.
- Yoga, dance, movement and breath practices are how to worship at this temple.
I try not to let a day go by without taking the time to get on my mat, or close my eyes and dance, or spend a few minutes breathing and sensing my inner world. The only way the intelligence of our cells can speak to us is if we take the time to listen. And spending time in physical practice, giving attention to the speakings of the cells and the breath, is the only way this communion can flourish.
- Eros and pleasure can be used to access the deeper layers of knowing and intuition
Eros, especially transpersonal eroticism (like we teach at the Body Electric School, and other places as well), is the most potent tool that I have discovered for getting in touch with the deeper intelligence of the body. It’s a mode of mystical awareness and healing that is not as scary as it may sound. These experiences have given me the most clearly demonstrable moments of my psychic and intuitive abilities, as well as opened me up to new worlds of awareness.
- Releasing shame and healing trauma are the bricks on the embodiment road.
“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” -Rumi
Are you on your own flavor of the embodiment path? Would you like to be?
I’m teaching what I am learning! Click here to see what I have coming up.
I would love to hear your shares about what embodiment means (or doesn’t mean) to you. And if you identify with this path, what motivates you to stay on it? How do you inspire yourself to practice more deeply?
