We know that our time in this current manifestation of who we are is limited. If we live to an average age of 80 or so - 4,160 weeks - this is a blip, an ember in the billions year long fire that is our planet, and yet we live as if we’ve seen the dawn of time and will never see the end of it. In some ways this is natural because we only know our own existence which feels eternal until physically it is not, and in so doing, great aspects of living are rendered mute.
Embodiment is the salve to this monocular living, a state whereby we experience what it means to be alive in this very moment, and in so doing transcend time and space to live our origins and far flung connections. Through my own life and teaching many students in embodiment, the moment becomes a place not be jumped over, but a destination to dive into and grow from. Embodiment counteracts the adult tendency to become jaded, judgemental, and entrenched in beliefs, giving rise to a wonder that is less naive and more grateful to be part of this play of life, perhaps the only play of intelligent life in the galaxy.
To be in wonder of our part in this awesome play of life matters now more than it ever has. The destruction and devastation we see are symptoms of disregard and disillusionment as if the Earth is an inanimate object created solely for the enrichment of a few. When the bountiful Earth has been pummelled into uselessness then off we go to a frigid, practically lifeless planet to pummel away some more. This is disembodiment on a macro scale.
On a microlevel, disembodiment is everywhere yet its ubiquity does not point to truth just as the once held belief the sun orbits the Earth was never true yet up until a few hundred years ago it was regarded as fact.
Disembodiment shows up most prominently in the mind-body distinction, that is, that the mind is separate to the body, and that the two need to be brought into balance in order to live more harmoniously.
On a macrolevel, humans tend to view themselves as the mind, and the Earth the body, so it follows that we live in a world which is all about the mind - humans - controlling, disrespecting, flagellating the unruly body, our beautiful blue dot.
When we invite practices that slow us down and actually feel from the inside-out, we allow the flicker of truth to burn more brightly an cannot help but see that we are irrevocably whole. Mind is simply the unseen and body is the seen. We are wholeness interweaving and dancing within a galactic, universal wholeness that we can never separate from, even after physical death.
Whether we believe in an afterlife, reincarnation or nothing, we cannot deny the truth that energy is never lost, it is simply generated. So what happens to our energy after physical death? We live on in different forms, and this is not taking into consideration religious accounts. Taking this grand view, we see that we are always part of this web of life - for better or worse - until the universe is no more.
Becoming embodied is not only to do with better movement quality but it is an experiential awakening to the fundamental interconnection and the miraculousness of fleeting life. A realisation we need now more than ever.
images by kurt bauer