These days I have been reading "Rumi’s Little Book of Love" and below is a quote that I was inspired to share with you.
It reminded me of a breakthrough embodied comprehension I had few years ago in one of my healing sessions with medicinal plants; that is the life’s gift of being incarnated, the beauty and challenge of being Embodied Spirits. For a long time, I used to think of my body as a cage, getting frustrated by its limitations or being overwhelmed from its pains and challenges. It took many years of exploration and reconciliation, through my Authentic Movement practice and other healing approaches, to change my mindset and feel at peace living in my body. The journey has been to recognize how body and soul can coexist in harmony, nourishing each other. Or as Nikos Kazantzakis at Zorba the Greek says: “I should fill my soul with flesh. I should fill my flesh with soul. In fact, I should reconcile at last within me the two internal antagonists.” Now, I know that when coming to this world, our bodies become vessels of our souls, both made from the same essence,’ the light of heaven’, and every moment we live the paradox of having and being a body, at the same time, with all its pains and pleasures. This paradoxical gift of having and being a body is how we can experience and perceive life and its colorful textures through all our senses. This is how we can feel the warm sun lighting up our face listen to the birds singing into our hearts taste the yummy abundance of mother nature smell all kinds of flowers to lift up our souls swing, jump, twist for no specific reason and enjoy laughing until our bellies hurt This is also how ‘angels’ can let us know of their caring presence every time our bodies shiver from feelings of gratitude, even when they may 'envy' our possibility to experience life in a way that a spirit-with-no-flesh can’t. And most importantly this is how we can not only feel love but experience it with all its flavors through hugs, kisses, sex, a warm look, kind gestures, true words. But of course, in the paradox of having and being a body not everything is pleasurable. Our bodies have limits, experience pains and bring us challenges. However, all these provide us with the courage to keep devils away such as lust, greed, selfishness and many more ‘mortal sins’ that violate ‘the great laws of nature’ - in the words of Nikos Kazantzakis...
Bodies’ limits let us know how we need to take care of ourselves, of others and of nature Bodies’ pains let us understand what we need to heal in our lives Bodies’ challenges let us learn what unconditional love is all about After all, how we relate to our bodies reflects how we relate to ourselves, to others, to nature and vice versa. So, take care and love your body as the most precious gift from heaven. Let’s live fully in our bodies, let the light of heaven fill our flesh with soul and our soul with flesh, and make our everyday life become an earthly heaven. warmly, maria