By Raphael

In these "interesting times", many of us feel rather lost. We're going someplace new and yet we don't know where we're going. Yes, there is something in the air. We are attaining higher states of awareness both in heart and mind and at the same time the world appears to be heading for a chaos. Basically, everything is moving much faster than we thought. So, what can we do?

Many of us are looking for happiness outside of ourselves or in the future. The masters tell us to "be here now", but sometimes the “now” can seem too challenging. So we look to the future, and we look and strive until finally we discover where the ultimate ecstasy comes from: Our own heart! But how do we get there?

We are told to meditate or as the Bible says, "Be still and know I am God”, or as the American Indians say, "Stop the world". However, for most of us westerners, when we sit and meditate we wind up listening to our mind going on and on like a washing machine, or we cling to a mantra and hope that in the future it will get us there. Now what?
This is where Embodied Spirituality comes in. Countries like India, Bhutan or even China have a long lineage of meditation, and they have shown that repetition breeds power. However, things are a bit different here in the west. What we have discovered is that when you consider and honor the body, then meditation becomes much deeper and easier.

What happens when you put on the Marvin Gaye and do some serious dancing or perhaps African Dance and shake out toxins from the body or American Indian "feel your feet" and breathe Mother Earth into your body? Now you are here! Now you have spirit in the body! Now your ability to sit and go into higher states of awareness has a strong base.

The here and now is wonderful. And your ability to love yourself and others is easier and more pleasant. Of course, there are many other examples. We can look at the Tantric tradition. What happens when you are with your beloved and you are holding her and then you simply breathe together? When she breathes in, you breathe in; when she breathes out you breathe out. It is so simple and yet so powerful. Instant ecstasy! That’s the Holy Spirit, that’s the ecstasy of the heart. Probably the reason this little technique is so easy and powerful is because it includes love. Do not let the simplicity fool you. It's as if simplicity and power are synonymous.

So that’s the new revolution in meditation. Let us consider the body as well as the soul! "To heal is to make whole".