On the Embodied Experience

Aware of all the naïveté that laces the thoughts, actions, and conditioning of someone who’s only 22 years old, I have currently come to the conclusion that our utmost responsibility as humans is understanding our humanity - our embodied experience.

If you probe yourself with the proverbial questions:

“Where am I?”

“Who am I?”

“What am I?”

“Who was I?”

“Who will I be?”

The first reaction to these questions may be repression of these existential crisis inducing questions or the conclusion that, “well, I am the thought that is asking this question!”

As one probes more, as one navigates life, they begin to realize that who “they are” is where their awareness lies. If what encompasses your awareness is a thought, you become the thought - however positive, however negative, however delusional. If one is entrenched in social conditioning or has been fed a certain self-defeating narrative that dominates their awareness, then naturally you are the conditioning.

What is important to note is that we are NOT limited to the ideals, thoughts, narratives, or expectations that we identify with.

The one sensation, the one experience that always exists as long as we are human, is the body itself. No matter where your mind goes, what you’ve been told, or who you believe yourself to be, you are always the body you inhabit. We are all having a beautiful, human embodied experience!

I’ve noticed that in western culture, there is very limited emphasis on how to learn the body, how to love and respect the body. We are conditioned and convinced that we are separate from the body - that the pursuit of conceptual ideals and expectations is who we are and who we must be.

The body is often neglected as a source of happiness and peace. The body became a vessel of exploitation - we place expectations on the body, we are so unfamiliar with the terrain of the body that we escape to the mind when the body isn’t feeling pleasure.

When times get tough or we feel anguish is when we exploit the body. We aren’t familiar with the pain of life and use the body as a means to feel pleasure - drugs, screens/social media, sex, you name it. These things aren’t innately bad, but its our relationship to them as escape mechanisms that creates a vicious, destructive cycle of abuse.

We rarely take time to address the needs of the body, to let it heal, to let it untie the knots of trauma or abuse.

This is not inherently our fault. We aren’t given the tools or guidance on how to navigate the body and learn what makes us feel full or complete.

The time spent neglecting the body compounds stress and confusion and makes it increasingly more daunting to return back home to the body, to the embodied present. Social pressures and expectations of what a “healthy” body looks like infested our minds at such formative years and has led to an epidemic of body dysmorphia and rejection of the self.

The body is a complex, wonderfully perfect machine that serves the human experience so well and reliably. To learn how to observe our breath, to remember that every breath we take is contributing to the building blocks of our cells and livelihood. The carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen we consume through drinking water or breathing air are crucial to our survival. To be aware of such a simple luxury is the source of all joy an awe of our current, human position. We just have to learn to look.

We must take time to familiarize ourselves with the body, with the embodied experience. Patience and lifestyle changes to the best of your ability - engaging in resources to heal trauma. Taking time for repose - even 5 minutes is enough for the body to return to homeostasis. Change takes time. The body is our only connection to the world, to others, and to reality. It goes without saying that this is all easier said than done. That every force outside ourselves is encouraging unconsciousness. The insurmountable stress and expectations placed on our youth and the working class coupled with our lack of tools of insight is a perfect recipe for physiological and psychological pathology.

The emotional aloofness of the western parent impacts the child and starts the domino effect of compounding stress on the body and mind. The access to constant connectivity - social media influences and a mind-numbing amount of access to information. The social-economic divide that barricades education, opportunity, mental health support, and even proper nutrition from millions of people. The selfishness and ego of those in charge of our daily lives. The supply chain of suffering that we’ve built just to feed consumerism. The consumption and murder of billions of sentient animals. The destruction of the environment. All these issues and more contribute to the disconnect from the body. People born with physiological conditions that make living different from the average person.

These situations make it difficult to return to a body and experience that is laced with hardship and confusion; I can’t pretend to understand the hardship of those in situations different from my own.

What is universal, however, is that we escape to the mind and to pleasure, only to create more distance from the body, self and virtues. The odds are against all of us, but to say it is impossible to heal and live mindfully in this world is far from the truth. We are all deserving and capable of peace, clarity and insight. With every breath, with every acknowledgment of the body, with gratefulness for existence, and being patient with ourselves as we navigate this human experience are all baby steps to empowerment. Regardless of our situation, we all owe it to ourselves to explore our current states of being (mental and physical) and understand it well enough to proceed with life in clarity and self-love.

Understanding our place in this world and our purpose takes time.  I believe the route of the body is the necessary first step.