I had coffee Monday morning with pleasure catalyst and fabulous new friend Kerrie Blazek. As she told me about a weekend retreat that had put her deeply in touch with her body, one thought circled my brain, demanding to be heard:

The body is the foundation.

If we’re not in our bodies, we’re not in the moment. If we’re not in our bodies, we’re cut off from one of the biggest information centers and conduits of sensation and Love in the capital “L” sense of the word.

We are born knowing this, knowing that our bodies ground us in our lives. As infants we don’t need to think to know if we’re hot, cold, hungry, or needing to be held. Our bodies tell us. As a dancer, my body was my vehicle for expression. As I began working in physical theater I needed to know my body even more intimately as there was no choreographer to move me across the floor – every note that was hit, every word uttered, my body responded to from impulses deep within. My body was my tool and my craft.

Then I quit. I cut it off. Shut it down. Left it behind in favor of my mind. And I was miserable. It’s taken years to recover, finding my way back into myself slowly, searchingly.

The body is the foundation. If we are not present in our bodies, we are not fully alive.

It doesn’t matter what your body can do, what matters is that you live INSIDE of it. Embody your life. Embody your love. Feel life – taste it, touch it, experience it all through your body.

It can be terrifying. Our bodies hold memories we’d prefer to forget. They are scarred and wounded, vulnerable and strong. They are powerful beyond measure. As is our mind. But a mind disconnected from its body tells half-truths.

So many of us ache to escape what we see in the mirror. We judge it, berate it, cut ourselves off from it. We over-feed and under-adore. We struggle to make peace. Many religions and spiritual practices tell us to distance ourselves from our flesh, tell us that heaven is only reached when our body dies, tell us that to connect with the spirit realm we have to go up and out. I say the way to heaven is both in and through the physical. I say in order to be truly awake, we have to be able to live inside ourselves, deeply connected to our own inner wisdom. Our bodies are miracle babies, a union of Nature and the Divine. They speak powerfully. It’s time for us to listen.

What is your body telling you right now?

The body is the first week’s topic in the Picking Up the Pieces Tele-Retreat. If diving deeper into the how of this is something you’re drawn to, consider joining us.