Embodiment to Enlightenment

Embodiment practices to soothe your soul.

Consciousness is one, but it branches into many different types of activities and innumerable thought-waves.

– B.K.S. Iyengar

Yoga teachings, and most spiritual philosophies, return over and over again to the concept of oneness, of union.

All is One. Om Tat Sat (All that Is), Tat Twam Asi (Thou art That). G-d is One.

However we slice it, we are whole. Pure consciousness is individual consciousness. All parts of us are us, from the giving playful parts to the scared and greedy parts to the parts we don’t even know about. Yoga philosophy resolves that all our suffering originates out of a false idea of separateness. The ego, or asmita in Sanskrit, develops seemingly different mental states or moods that multiply upon themselves to encourage a more finite sense of “I” (sutra 4.4).

The more separateness we see, the more we suffer.

The same is true in our physical body and hatha yoga practice.

The more we view our bodies as separate parts with specific and finite form and function, the more often we suffer physical pain and limited motion.

We break down our bodies into muscles and bones, vessels and fluid, impulses and energy, but what happens to one part of the body reverberates through the entire body. Our entire being experiences our environment and movement and keeps its general form. Whether we are in air or water, or experience more or less pressure, our body stays whole.

We can use our bodies to give us hints of the connectedness of enlightenment.

We can use our yoga practice to be completely in our bodies. We can embody the interconnectedness of our physical form so that we can conceive of it beyond our body in an energetic form.

I’ve been enthralled with the relatively new field of fascia study and the interconnectedness of our bodies. Although I always knew that everything in our bodies was connected, exploring my body and my yoga practice through this lens of interrelation brought a whole new understanding of oneness into my being. The upcoming Fascia Exploration Workshop in Anchorage is all about learning to practice and move from this level of connection.

Instead of demanding support, we receive it.

Instead of creating space, we allow it.

Embodiment Practice

The idea of embodiment practice is to let the action of the breath, or any action, reverberate through your entire body. We let the movement and internal pressure changes associated with a breath cycle be received and fluid. Through this practice, we can learn how to allow our bodies to continuously find their place. We can watch and experience interconnectedness through our bodies.

Practice while sitting with good posture or lying flat.

• Take a few normal breaths
• Place your hands on your belly and take a deep inhale, your hands directing the breath into your belly (it may or may not work), followed by a normal exhale.
• Feel the pressure build up at the bottom of inhale whether that is the pelvis, belly, or where ever you hit a stop or resistance.
• Take a few breath cycles like this.
• Next breath, when your inhale hits its stop or resistance spot, let that tension rebound up, down, forwards, backwards, sideways, anyway that it wants to go. Let the body move with it.
• Watch the expansion with curiosity.
• Allow the rebound on the exhale to come from all directions.
• Let your breath reverberate throughout your entire body.
• Watch the connections through the expansion and contraction. Relax into it. Feel your whole body respond to the breath. Embody yourself. Immerse yourself.
• Practice frequently.

As we learn the skills to embody wholeness, we get to experience oneness. As we experience oneness, gradually we can accept its existence. As we accept oneness, it becomes a real concept that is possible and attainable.

Embody yourself.

In spite of the appearance of diversity of forms, there is but one reality, consciousness, the eternal reality, appears as form.

– Roy Eugene Davis

Feel connected.

Show yourself what it is to be whole.

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