Why Being Embodied is Inherently Spiritual

Counter to some misperceptions, when we're embodied, we can connect with our spiritual selves even more. When we're embodied, we move through emotions with much more ease. When we're embodied we can hear our intuition with greater clarity. Embodiment is the first step along any spiritual journey. And it is spiritual container for which all unfolds. As with a plant, if the roots aren't established, strong, and healthy, the flowers and fruit will be small, unhealthy, or not as juicy as they could be. The same is true for our bodies. When our root, our physical form, is unhealthy or our basic needs are not met, then we cannot live whole, integrated lives. If we focus solely on developing our "spiritual" centers, or the upper chakras, we will eventually create a cascade of dissociation, physical pain, or spiritual dissonance. Bringing it back to the plant analogy, if we only focus on flowering and fruiting, without putting energy into our roots, the plant will either never make it to the fruiting stage, or will simply uproot itself as soon as the fruit weighs on the branch. I also don't consider the spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical bodies to be separate. Yes we can sometimes tune into each one individually, but each impacts the others. Just as we can name our fingers or our spleen as individual pieces of our body, we know that anything that happens in our body impacts everything else. The plant is a whole being - not just a flower. Not just a fruit. Roots provide the sustenance for and communicate with not only the soil beneath, but the entirety of the plant. As Mary Shutan says, "Our energy creates us. We are not physical, emotional, and spiritual energies, like a set of Russian nesting dolls stacked on one another...our energy, emotions, mental state, and physical nature are not only linked but they are inseparable...our energy creates us and is on a continuum, with our physical bodies and lives simply being the most dense or noticeable." So when I work with the body in my practice, and when I help others develop relationship with their bodies, I am communicating with the consciousness of the body, including memory, beliefs, emotions, and spiritual imprints. It's nearly impossible for me to tease out the difference between my flavor of "energywork" and "bodywork." SO many of us are running around disconnected from our bodies, especially the lower half of our bodies. Over my 13 years of practicing bodywork, it is something I'm never surprised to see. And it's also something that, when shifted, has the capacity to create major change in my clients - simply helping them land back in their bodies creates a cascade of powerful transformations, physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Bring yourself back into your body: