Some people live primarily in their mind, some live in their emotions, some in their body. If thinking is your happy place, perhaps you live in your head. If feelings flow freely and inform your actions, perhaps you live in your heart. If you encounter the world primarily through touch or learn best through doing, perhaps you live in your body. Yet everyone has a body. Most everything we perceive comes through the senses in our bodies. Why are we sometimes disassociated or otherwise unaware of our bodies? That, my friends, is a complicated question to answer, heavily influenced by culture, history, philosophy and religion.
Our theme in August is Embodiment – a word that gets tossed around frequently. But what does it mean? Embodiment means to give body to a spirit, so body and spirit are connected. We enter this world through a body and become a body to live. Our body is the last thing we relinquish when we die. Some believe that body and spirit disconnect after death and a person’s spirit lives on in a disembodied state.
Choreographer Martha Graham said, “The body is a sacred garment. It’s your first and last garment; it is what you enter life in and what you depart life with, and it should be treated with honor.” How might you treat your body with honor? What would it be like to love your body as it is? What do you need to do in your life to be able to listen to what your body tells you?
I believe our bodies hold much wisdom and if we could only unlock that wisdom, we’d be able to integrate mind, emotions, body and spirit into wholeness. Perhaps you have a physical spiritual practice that helps you do that, such as yoga, walking, tai chi, dance, singing, making art, cooking, or mindful eating.
As the summer flies by, try slowing down, go the speed of the body, listen to its wisdom, and find out what it has to tell you at any given moment.
Yours,
Dena
Rev. Dena McPhetres, Associate Minister