BODY AS ALLY

Body as Ally is a multidisciplinary, transformative journey of Body, Mind and Spirit that puts the relationship with the Body at the center of one’s spiritual map.

Our experience of the world is through the lens of our Body. A Body that is properly honored will come to know its own vitality and therefore experience the world as a place of vibrancy and beauty. Seeking to transform the relationship with the Body is a path towards an increased sense of wellbeing, health, vigor, freedom from pain, the ability to feel and experience more deeply, clarity of mind and spirit, and, most importantly, to find greater harmony with all our relationships.

The Body as Ally: Rediscovering Relationship

After 2 years of a fully immersive apprenticeship with a Shinto Priest/ Aikido Master, I came away with more questions than answers. One thing was clear however - the experience had permanently changed me to the core of my being.

At first, I couldn’t reconcile this on an intellectual level – it took years to begin to track and articulate –  but I could just Feel the difference. This difference showed itself in how I moved, how I learned, how I showed up and responded to the world, and most of all how I felt in my Body. 

My apprenticeship at the Shrine was an experience outside of time and space, outside of the usual influence of the “real” world. Because of this, I was able to undergo a rapid rate of transformation that I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to attain on my own at the time. When I chose to leave, I left with a dilemma - Without isolation, how is one to continue on this path of such deep transformation?  

I didn’t believe that joining a monastery and sequestering myself from the world was a long term answer for me. I understood that living in isolation was one way to set the stage to undergo real change and move towards living in harmony with Spirit and Nature, but this isn’t for everyone. In fact, for most, a lifestyle of seclusion is unsustainable, perhaps a privilege to a rare few, especially in the current state of the world.  

After years of seeking to emulate that period of rapid growth I experienced during my years at the Shrine, I’ve come to understand that this model of living can be transposed onto one’s relationship with the Body and the Body itself.

By recognizing our Bodies as the Sacred beings they are, we are able to form an allyship with our Bodies as the wise Master and, further, develop our lifestyle as a Shrine - a place to learn and practice deep devotion to change as we listen to the innate wisdom of our Bodies.

Relating to the Body as Ally gives us the ability to bring about Right Relationship with the world and, therefore, bring change to the world itself.  

Right Relationship can be defined as Harmony. Aikido is one such way to practice the art of harmonization. Unfortunately, our culture has developed away from being in harmony with Nature. Our Bodies are inextricably part of Nature, so how we honor this truth largely depends on our ability to uphold a lifestyle that allows us to maintain the Shrine-like, devotional interaction our Bodies invite. 

Society does not teach us to treat the Body as sacred, we are taught to either deprive our Bodies by ignoring their call or to use our Bodies to accumulate. These deprivations and accumulations dishonor our Bodies, and lead to suffering and diminished Vitality. When the Body suffers in this way, all our relationships suffer.

How we relate to the Body is how we relate to the world and consequently how we experience the world. 

The daily activities of a Shrine (or monastery) are acts of devotion, mindfulness, care, and honor. A mind that is devoted to upholding the Shrine of the Body, is a mind that is in harmony with relationship. This architecture creates a sacred relationship, a vessel, that we can transverse our daily life in, and bring honor to our one irreplaceable Ally: Our Body.

SO, WHERE DO WE BEGIN?
HOW CAN WE HONOR OUR BODY AS ALLY?

WE START BY ADDRESSING The FOUR DEVOTIONS.

THESE DEVOTIONS SERVE AS THE PILLARS OF THE SHRINE TO OUR BODY, THE LIFESTYLE WE UPHOLD, AND THE BEGINNING OF A CHANGE TOWARD RIGHT RELATIONSHIP.

THEY INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING DEVOTIONS:

  • INTAKE/NOURISHMENT:
    There are very few things that have as much influence over how you experience the world as what you take in with your Body. Intake and nourishment is not limited to the food you eat or the substances you ingest, but this also includes the environments you find yourself in, who you surround yourself with, the media you consume, and any activity or experience that stimulate chemical changes in the Body.

  • DAILY RHYTHM/SLEEP:
    At a Shrine, there is a strong focus on daily and seasonal rhythms. Transposing this on the Body looks like an upholding of ritual around proper rest and sleep, keeping regular meal times, allowing the Body to guide you through appropriate seasonal activities and lifestyle choices that harmonize with Nature.

  • PHYSICALITY/FITNESS: 

    A Body that undergoes appropriate physical practice increases in strength, flexibility, intelligence and adaptability. Our Bodies are the lens through which we experience the world and also how we communicate with those around us. Body language and tone (which is also a physical attribute) alone determines the vast majority of what is communicated (55% Body language, 38% Tone, and 7% content). How we receive and how we express ourselves in our relationships are greatly influenced by our Body's operational fitness and our relationship to our physicality.  

  • WORLDVIEW/PERCEPTION: 

    Your Worldview can be heavily influenced if not completely ruled by your experience through the previous three pillars. We work with Worldview to both observe, correct and participate in Right Relationships within and without. Our minds receive feedback and information from our Bodies and this deeply influences how we experience the world. How the mind relates to the Body is also largely dependent on the ways the mind interprets and translates into story the relationship between Spirit, Body and Nature (which are not separate). 

By committing to these devotions, we witness how all four are interdependent - each a pillar that upholds the Shrine through which we honor our Body as Ally. Finding a discipline to these devotions brings one towards experiencing increased Vitality and harmony with Nature. 

As we develop the discipline to devotion needed for you to listen to your Body more deeply, we find ways to take the Body's wisdom as material from which to build the Pillars of your Relationship with the Body as Ally.