What is the Body’s Role During Awakening?

In many non-dual teachings and the direct path, we are taught that since we are not the body, the body is irrelevant. We need to be very careful here because the temptation is to dismiss the body, or worse, to believe it is hindering our awakening and treat it as if it were a problem. Be wary of teachings that since you are not a body you should ignore it. We do not want to follow a life-denying path. Rather, we want to embrace the Truth of What we are and having a physical experience can be life-affirming.

What Is the Body?

If we lean into this inquiry, we will discover that we do not know what the body is. We may perceive it as a dense, separate, solid form that houses a “me.” But is it?

Close your eyes and focus on your body. Be very aware of what you are sensing. You may experience myriad sensations that continue to move, shift, and change. You may notice that the body is sensitive to both internal and external stimulation. Internal activity includes your thoughts, perceptions, fantasies, imagination and so forth. External stimuli may include feeling the wind blowing across your skin or hearing the sound coming from the air purifier. You may begin to notice that the body is not some solid, dense object, and this realization becomes very apparent during and post-awakening.

After a lifetime of contractions from automatic constrictions based on the belief in a conditioned self, tension has accumulated in the body. These layers of tension may dissolve so slowly that they are barely perceptible. Yet, for others, they may be released with an intensity which can cause discomfort and pain. It really depends on how much repressed energy from emotions and trauma that have been stored in the body.

For example, after clear seeing that there was no “I”, decades of tension within my own body began to surface. This happened on the heels of meditation and practicing deep surrender. When it first began, the feeling was quite pleasurable. Expansion was experienced which can feel wonderful compared to tightness and constriction. But later, as deeper layers of tension arose from the upper region of head and face, the process became uncomfortable. This is where the belief in “ME” resided. We often believe that who we are dwells in the head behind the eyes. So this area of the body commonly causes pressure and sometimes, pain.

As you wake up from the “I” concept you will be very aware of how the body wants to move, what it prefers to eat and drink, how much rest it wants, the amount of time spent in nature, and so forth. It will steer you away from negative energy, emotional drama, and noisy people and places. Nature is often the preferred environment. As the process deepens, you may notice how the body no longer feels dense and solid, but more like a constellation of sensations that expands and is permeable. You may also discover that there is more “space” in your body. Since it is no longer beholden to the conditioned self, it is now free to realign itself. Expansion is taking place in both the body and mind and there will be glimpses of “emptiness” which can feel deeply fulfilling.    

However, even though you may have awakened from the conditioned self and recognized the Truth of your Being, does not mean that the body is free from all the conditioning. It takes time. It requires letting go of resistance. It means noticing the natural fluidity of the body. And it means accepting that you may still FEEL like the body is separate from other people and objects. This feeling is what matters most as the body becomes free from the tyranny of the conditioned self. Practice gentleness. Allow everything to be as it is. Your body will continue to cleanse itself from old thought patterns, emotions, and trauma and relax into effortless being.

Namaste.