One of my many wonderments over the years has been the yearning to understand the Divinity of the human body.
So many years spent inquiring as to, what is the purpose of our humanness if we are seeking to remember and dwell in Bliss?
Why do we sufffer?
What is the purpose?
Why are we here?
This past weekend I was blessed to attend the first of two weekends of Advanced Yoga Nidra training, held at Spirit of Yoga, The Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, yoga school. It was facilitated by Kamini Desai, and assisted by John Vosler, Laura McKinzie, and Julie Lemerond.
I can tell you that far too many teachings say to avoid the body. I even had teachers in my past specifically say to “step out of your body while doing this work,” to which I quickly rejected that dangerous notion. Although tempting, my inner guidance knew, do not listen to this person about this.
Quick note: please do not ever step out of your body while doing any energy work. Your body is the vessel where the energy can move through you. Besides, if we come from the understanding that the practitioner is simply a conduit, there is no reason to need to step out of your body. (Rant over)
Tears filled my eyes upon hearing that we would learn this weekend about the Yogic teachings on the body as a Divine vessel, not something to transcend, avoid, bypass, or numb. A piece of our wholeness, and even moreso, the understanding that our body is the Divine in form.
A little backstory… I spent almost 30 years not really feeling my body. The nature of sexual trauma and the protection from my brain taught me that my body was not safe.
Feelings were not safe. Feelings in the body were definitely not safe. None of them.
Yes, from time-to-time I would feel, mostly anger, sometimes what I thought was joy, but I had no idea how to allow emotions to move through me and not self-identify as the emotions. So I quickly learned not to feel.
Through a lot of deep work, I’ve learned to appreciate my body, to dwell in it, (at least most of the time), and I’m beginning to understand the light that I AM. That’s another story for another time.
As we set up for our second yoga Nidra experience of the weekend, I set the intention to receive the wisdom I needed to understand why my body was an important piece of this puzzle of life.
Here is the message I received from my higher Source after Nidra:
“I AM in my body.
My body is an expression of the Divine incarnate.
The I AM essence is reflected in the nature of the human body.
The body is needed to perceive the essence of I AM-ness.
Without the body, there is no way to experience this essence.
The human body is the manifestation of the I AM in form.
It’s purpose is to allow for the experience of I AM.
The body is intentional.
It is the expression of the Divine, the I AM, the Holy Spirit, the Christ essence in form.
Through this I AM essence, we experience life.
Life is an experience of I AM.
Breath is the universal language of the I AM essence.
Through breath all things exist.
Breath breathed life into form. This form is therefore the Divine itself.
Each human is the breath of life manifested and created in the image of God, as God, as intentional life.
Your body, (Kate), is intentional. It is purposeful. It is to be experienced. This is how you remember your I AM-ness, through your body.
As you dwell in the shelter of the Lord, your body, you will know great peace.
The transcendent peace that dwells in the center of the heart.
Pure Divine Love.
The only way is through the body.
The way is the light in the heart.
Call it what you want, to me, The Way, is the light of Christ.
This light, this essence, is the spark that initiates life. The Divine spark. The first pulse in the womb. The center of the infinity sign, the meeting of the cross, the union of Shiva and Shakti, the eternal flame.
As we continued learning, this Divine message was affirmed through the studies of the Mahanirvana Upanishad and my own comparisons, and metaphors of Christ teachings.
You see, the teachings don’t say to transcend the humanness to achieve the light. In fact, the exact opposite is taught.
The teachings suggest that we are that light. We simply forgot.
We must travel through the valleys of darkness to remember we are the light.
Yoga Nidra helps us remember. This ancient practice helps us dip in the ocean of our Divinity, our I AM essence. With each dive into Bliss, we remember we are Bliss.
The Bliss Body is just that- pure, Divine Bliss. A container filled with love.
One drop in the ocean; the entire ocean in one drop.
There is so much more to share.
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Kate
