More on embodiment
A common misperception of meditative practice is that its goal is one of disowning the body. That becoming pure consciousness – of finding this “I” which is beyond the body – is a renunciation of the physical and the sensory.
The deepest and broadest result of meditation is in fact the opposite. For the years you have been granted in this life, yours is a physical existence – you, like the metaphor of Jesus, are a child of god, are the Divine manifest in this miracle of a living, pulsing body. You, like the metaphor of Shiva and Shakti, are part of the Creator extended into this living miracle Creation. If you haven’t watched or (as a woman) been active in the birthing of a child, you might mistake life as something other than miraculous. You might get caught up in the quotidian, in the net of the daily, and forget… but grant the possibility that this dance of energy is not simply toil, and you’ll remember that stepping to the music is a joy not easily to be discarded.
The deepest and fullest practice of meditation is not to disown the physical, but rather to become more embodied, so fully embodied that you become familiar with each cell, if you will, recognizing the body as the graceful envelope within which you experience this life; so intimate with the elements of your physical container that you recognize it as distinct from your Self. Instead of repeating a mantra of disappearance, your repeat a mantra of presence: the higher your spirit rises, the deeper you root into the physical: in this way you do not lose by your practice, you do not trade one view of yourself with another, but in fact grow in your meditation.
If in the practice of meditation you lose this awareness, this grounding, you have fallen asleep. You might as well sleep, return to the subconscient that you visit each night, go on dreaming. It can be delightful, it can be refreshing – so go ahead, sleep.
But meditation is the practice of awareness, is the experience of becoming awake, awakening the gross physical sensations and perceptions – in fact delighting in them – while living more and more deeply in the subtle spiritual body. In this way, you greet each experience with all of your being, you greet each day with all of your self, and each partner with the sensitivity of touch and compassion that has been so carefully cultivated.
It is easy to watch – as you come into stillness, awaken, keep a spark in that inner eye. If you are getting dull, give yourself a nudge: psst! Be here!
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