How To Find Embodiment In A World That Disconnects Us From Our Bodies

If animals could talk, we don't know what they'd say, but we can be certain about what they wouldn't say: "I hate my body." Hating your body is a uniquely human response and an unnatural one. Royal Yoga holds that a healthy relationship with your body begins by being comfortable with your physicality. The modern term for this is being grounded. We say that a person is grounded if they are sensible, realistic, reliable, and not given to flights of fancy. Those are good traits, but asana is about being grounded in yourself, which occurs only as your awareness deepens.

It is peculiar to stand back and discover just how much judgment has been leveled against physicality itself, which the body symbolizes. Long-held religious beliefs denigrate the physical for pulling us down from the heights of the spiritual. Physicality reminds us of our low, knuckle-dragging primate forebears. To be physical is to be brutish; to be spiritual is divine.

Yet as Yoga sees it, one flow of consciousness supports life in every dimension. There is no reason to denigrate the physical once you realize how much wisdom (vidya) is expressed in every cell, the wisdom of life as a whole. Yoga takes us beyond the deceptive look of the body—solid, material, fixed in time and space—to reality. We aren't embodied in a body; we are embodied in awareness.

What follows are the qualities that represent being fully grounded.

When you watch little children romping in the mud or running around the house unencumbered, how does your response reflect on you? What we call the innocence of childhood exists, yes, but it is more appropriately called being grounded. Children feel no impulse, unless they are mistreated, to be disembodied. They have no need to renounce or escape their physical nature.

This naturally grounded state changes as soon as the mind intervenes to create certain attitudes that drive us to become disembodied—not like ghosts but as creatures who judge against our physicality.

When we list all the ways we put down our bodies, it becomes evident that we live in a disembodied age to a shocking degree. Mass media overloads us with fantasies of a perfect body that never ages while robbing us of the real blessing of being embodied. The embodied state allows us to feel the physical side of bliss-consciousness, which is a vibrant sense of aliveness as we move through our day.

Begin by silently repeating today's theme:

I rest comfortably in my body.

I rest comfortably in my body.

Every step you take to welcome your own physicality is a step into the light. Look at the two lists above that outline the qualities of being grounded versus the qualities of being disembodied. Pause to reflect on how you can adopt more grounded beliefs and turn them into enjoyable actions, like walking in nature, participating in a sport, taking part in forms of physical recreation, or going for a massage.

As you engage in this activity, no matter how simple it is—you might just lie spread-eagle on the warm ground in summer or (believe it or not) hug a tree—reflect on how blessed you are to be embodied. Bring a positive feeling toward your body whenever you can. Drop the casual habit of disparaging your body. Through these steady steps of becoming more grounded, you are removing another layer of obstacles between you and your true self.