Deep in the Body
Our spirit arrives on the Earth to live in a body. Our human roots are deep in the cycles of birth, life and death. We are fruit of 3.8 billion years of evolution of the universe and of the earth. This includes everything from our remote ancestors up to our body functions in cycles: breath, heart, sleep, fertility, … For most of human existence we identified closely with these cycles, we lived in nature, and our Gods and philosophies of life were rooted in these natural life cycles. We belonged to the Mother Earth and the Father Sun.
Our roots extend their fine fibres deep into this Earth and her story, merging with it, taking strong hold and taking up water, minerals and enzymes to create new life. We need our roots and we are ONE with these forces, totally dependent on them like a child is dependent on her mother. Any illness, crisis and conflict are kinds of disharmony with these greater cycles. Each culture and age has then interpreted this relationship through their local experience and history – their particular Altered State of Consciousness.
Many of us have traumas related to our body, its functions, needs and desires. We try and hide them or escape from them into work, 'doing things', television, drugs, New Age spirituality, etc ... Many religious and spiritual paths promote control of the body, presenting it as lesser than the mind or spirit. But we cannot connect with the light if we do not have roots established deep in the Earth and in our body.
I often hear students talking about the spiritual as something different to the body. This is something learned in Patriarchal religious cultures, to separate ourselves from the earth, the great feminine and the body. We are spirits who choose to have an experience in a body on the Earth. There are no separate aspects of body, mind and spirit. Everything that happens in and with your body is spiritual. It is a principle guide and vehicle in this brief phase of our evolution on the Earth.
Our roots extend their fine fibres deep into this Earth and her story, merging with it, taking strong hold and taking up water, minerals and enzymes to create new life. We need our roots and we are ONE with these forces, totally dependent on them like a child is dependent on her mother. Any illness, crisis and conflict are kinds of disharmony with these greater cycles. Each culture and age has then interpreted this relationship through their local experience and history – their particular Altered State of Consciousness.
Many of us have traumas related to our body, its functions, needs and desires. We try and hide them or escape from them into work, 'doing things', television, drugs, New Age spirituality, etc ... Many religious and spiritual paths promote control of the body, presenting it as lesser than the mind or spirit. But we cannot connect with the light if we do not have roots established deep in the Earth and in our body.
I often hear students talking about the spiritual as something different to the body. This is something learned in Patriarchal religious cultures, to separate ourselves from the earth, the great feminine and the body. We are spirits who choose to have an experience in a body on the Earth. There are no separate aspects of body, mind and spirit. Everything that happens in and with your body is spiritual. It is a principle guide and vehicle in this brief phase of our evolution on the Earth.
With the trusting embrace of the mother and the community, a child develops a healthy EGO, self-esteem and individuation, ... the essential inner roots to be able to go out into life with confidence. The infantile consciousness is rooted in the immediate body: hunger, oral pleasure, sensuality, gases, breath, digestion, physical contact with mother and breast, gazing (approving eye contact). These are gifts for our exploration.
What was your early experience in all of these essential aspects of forming your self? In our training we must return to find ourselves, where our early conditioning has taken place. The body is a wonderful medium, both for this exploration and for healing. Our unconscious trance is fixed in the body. Neurons are physical beings. Our posture, our gestures, our senses and the kind of illnesses we have are all aspects of the body speaking to us, guiding us. They are a record of what happened in our early conditioning … and include key elements from previous generations. It is all in the body. Pay attention with consciousness and love.
The sensations in our bodies are an amazing gift to developing awareness and freedom to be fully in the present. Our body is the source of many pleasures and pains, of orgasmic ecstasy and numb paralysis. Illnesses and 'accidents' are often moments where we are being reminded to wake up and pay attention. We have to feel the pain of our neurotic addiction and accept that we are dependent on it and go deeply into it, otherwise there will be no real change.
What was your early experience in all of these essential aspects of forming your self? In our training we must return to find ourselves, where our early conditioning has taken place. The body is a wonderful medium, both for this exploration and for healing. Our unconscious trance is fixed in the body. Neurons are physical beings. Our posture, our gestures, our senses and the kind of illnesses we have are all aspects of the body speaking to us, guiding us. They are a record of what happened in our early conditioning … and include key elements from previous generations. It is all in the body. Pay attention with consciousness and love.
The sensations in our bodies are an amazing gift to developing awareness and freedom to be fully in the present. Our body is the source of many pleasures and pains, of orgasmic ecstasy and numb paralysis. Illnesses and 'accidents' are often moments where we are being reminded to wake up and pay attention. We have to feel the pain of our neurotic addiction and accept that we are dependent on it and go deeply into it, otherwise there will be no real change.
Our bodily sensations are guides but they are also often conditioned responses of our addiction. Here we have to listen carefully for different inner voices. One message in the body might lead us in a certain direction, whilst there might be other inner voices that we do not usually pay attention to. In my Shamanistic dance groups I often propose to 'be aware when you are dancing your usual dance. Try something different, dance a crazy dance with different movements.” In therapy we often spend time listening to different parts of the body: head, heart, guts, pelvis and genitals, knees and feet, … As we learn to listen, with consciousness and love, then our body becomes the source of great wisdom for our personal journey.
With our diet, for example, we have to take time to discern what is really happening. In the early days and months of the construction of our personal trance we learn how to discern within the criteria offered to us in that context, often swallowing nice tasting poison. Our learned habits around food and eating are of vital importance in the construction of our personal boundaries … and our psycho-emotional protection. These moments are deeply linked to our self-esteem – Do I deserve abundance and satisfaction in my life? These early models of how to be in the world are then wired deep in the unconscious brain. Slow down, be present in what you are doing, don't eat smoothies (sophisticated baby food), chew your food. Chew things over don't just swallow what seems sweet in the moment. Eat simple local food, in season, without salt, sugar, spices or strange mixes. This is a diet common to many South American shamanistic trainings, so as to recover our sensitivity to what is real. As we slow down and chew then we learn anew how to discern and know what is real, what are our real needs, what is toxic and destructive.
As we investigate, listen to, appreciate, … and learn to play with, and listen to, the body – this is developing several key Shamanistic tools that we will go on to work with:
With our diet, for example, we have to take time to discern what is really happening. In the early days and months of the construction of our personal trance we learn how to discern within the criteria offered to us in that context, often swallowing nice tasting poison. Our learned habits around food and eating are of vital importance in the construction of our personal boundaries … and our psycho-emotional protection. These moments are deeply linked to our self-esteem – Do I deserve abundance and satisfaction in my life? These early models of how to be in the world are then wired deep in the unconscious brain. Slow down, be present in what you are doing, don't eat smoothies (sophisticated baby food), chew your food. Chew things over don't just swallow what seems sweet in the moment. Eat simple local food, in season, without salt, sugar, spices or strange mixes. This is a diet common to many South American shamanistic trainings, so as to recover our sensitivity to what is real. As we slow down and chew then we learn anew how to discern and know what is real, what are our real needs, what is toxic and destructive.
As we investigate, listen to, appreciate, … and learn to play with, and listen to, the body – this is developing several key Shamanistic tools that we will go on to work with:
- it develops our sensitivity. The body is our antenna for a great variety of energies and messages … about ourself, about others, about the world. We will learn to discern between signals that come from our neurotic inner child and adolescent, messages from other locations, people and spirits.
- As we come back to respect and listen to the body then this re-establishes our inner roots with the ancestors, with the Earth and with the Cosmos. It helps us develop an anchor so as to be able to safely travel further in life and in our Shamanistic workshops
- The body is full of amazing examples of filters and protections. Our sphincters, skin, digestive system, lungs, … are all designed to enable us to live safely in our environment … taking in what nourishes us and keeping out or getting rid of things that are harmful. These are spiritual processes and give us examples of how to be able to work safely in hostile energetic environments.