Holistic Movement Center
845 Napa Ave, #A Morro Bay, CA 93442   Ph: (805)-909-1401

The Secret of Embodiment

Unlike some “verticalist” spiritual traditions of the past where the body was viewed as a hindrance on the path of spiritual evolution, as a breading ground for karma and sin’s of all sorts, disease and weaknesses, yogis have taken the body seriously. The early Upanishads (ancient texts in India) began to refer to the body as the temple of the Divine. But that idea was not fully elaborated on until the emergence of Tantra Yoga much later. Hatha Yoga, evolving from Tantra yoga adapted the same idea.

Yogis value the human body because it has a complex nervous system allowing higher states of consciousness. It endows us with sufficient self-awareness to reflect on our existence and therefore it gives us valuable options for life. One of the choices we have is to go beyond the karma producing, unconscious behavior patterns, by which life perpetuates itself. We can choose to grow increasingly more conscious of the processes that push and pull us and thus become more capable of shaping our destiny. Finally, we can choose to identify with the very principle of awareness, the Self (atman, God as in God’s manifestation in the human soul), rather than the diverse displays of body and mind. We can stop thinking of ourselves as individuals of a particular race, color, creed, gender, age, social setting, and educational or professional background. Instead we can start thinking of ourselves as Divine creations, as waves manifesting from the same deep ocean – our differences being only superficial and our source being the same.

As precious human life is, it is also very fragile and short. Therefore all liberation schools agree that we must seize every opportunity to develop the art of self-understanding, self-transformation, and self-transcendence, which is what yoga is all about.

If we aspire to lasting happiness, which the yogis see as only possible when fully awake, enlightened, we must pay attention to our body here and now. The body is the field in which we grow and harvest our experiences, whether positive or negative, pleasant or painful. Through the body we learn that all experiences should be related to as useful lessons, as they all have merit. To all experiences we must apply a measure of dispassionate, patient acceptance without aversion of the negative or attachment to the positive. Aversions and attachments are the seeds of suffering and karmic continuity. This, in the yogic view, is not just becoming a cool, utterly detached observer, but simply witnessing and realizing that the observer and what is being observed are not ultimately distinct.  Whether positive or negative all experiences are embodied in the great delight (maha-sukha) of the Ultimate Reality. When we have understood that what we dread the most – be it loss of health, wealth, relationships or life it self, is not occurring to us but within us we begin to see the humor and the value of embodiment. We begin to understand that this body is a true gift as a training ground where one can safely learn through practicing the teachings – physically, psychologically, emotionally and spiritually.