Between and Below the Physical and Mental Bodies

 There is no other teacher to you than your own soul.

Vivekananda

I believe that to be true. Do you?

According to many different studies I looked at over 80 percent of humans believe in a soul. Much less believe that there is a spirit or soul within them and of course, westerns may have a harder time believing such in comparison to those raised in Eastern wisdom traditions. 

So if I Namasted to a fellow western and said "The soul in me recognizes and honors the soul in you,"  they would likely look very strangely at me, utter a strained an awkward, "ugh...ya...same?" as they slinked away. 

Therefore, my constant sharing here that there really is no other teacher but the one within, likely receives somewhat of the same response? 

Understanding the presence of an inward soul is one thing. We can almost understand why that is hard to grasp with the materialist mind set that prevails in the west in comparison to those still adhering to the eastern wisdom traditions in which they were raised?  The soul is formless, invisible, and the most inner of all bodies. It is hard to make it tangible enough to understand it with a conceptual mind. 

Jnana Body?

Why though do we have such a hard time understanding the presence of  the bodies closer to the physical surface? Like the jnana body (as seperate from the mental body) that some poets, artists, brilliant composers, athletes in the zone, or people like Einstein tapped into, recognized, or wrote about? 

Energy Body?

Or even more bizzarre...why do westerns have such a hard time recognizing and accepting the presence of an "energy body" within the human being.  More people in North America report believing in a soul more than they report believing in the subtle energetic field of the body. 

Energy body, crazy lady? Really...you are going there?

The presence of an energy body is considered so "woo-woo" to many westerns. Yet, the energy body is taught by yoga to be the second kosha, squished so neatly between the physical  body and the mental body. There is no denying the presence of the physical and mental body, is there? Even the most staunch materialist will recognize there is a thinking, feeling, believing mind within the body!  Yet, so many westerns dismiss the idea of "energy" in the human being, calling things like acupuncture, Reiki, chiropractic, and even basic hatha yoga and pranayama quakery. 

How can a physicalist dismiss the presence of an energy body? Think about it.  The body is a complex electro-magnetic machine. All cells work to produce energy in its most basic form-ATP. All functions of the body depend on that ATP. The heart is an electrical conductor...every heart beat depends on an electrical signal. Blood would not be pumped out of the heart if there was no energy in the form of electricty in it. The brain which is the conductor of all other bodily function operates on energetic brain waves that can be picked up on devices that record electrical activity(EEG). Every sensation the body experiences is an energy output response to energy input. Energy enters the body in waves (light waves, sound waves, conduction etc) from the external environment through the sensory doors...and the body responds by sending another energy wave outward. It is all energy and its not deep within the spiritual realm of the human being making it so called "woo-woo related to spirituality".  It is right beneath the physical body!

Do this simple experiment that a former Tai Chi teacher got all of us students to do prior to every class:

Rub your two palms together really fast and with some friction for about 30 seconds. Close your eyes and slowly begin to pull your palms a part. What do you feel? I always feel the magentic pull. That's energy.

So, the energy body is right there...so close to the surface. Yet, we westerns by pass it...fail to recognize its significance and focus on physical and mental health at the exclusion of it. Recognizing its existence could lead to great healing! We can, for example, heal the body by unblocking the blockages that lead to physical dysfunction. We can also heal trauma without going to the mental body/ cognitive processes...without recalling and digging up the trauma details. 

Have you ever truly tried acupuncture? It works. More and more allopathic modalities are using it because it works. Have you ever been to a chiropractor? Their treatment plans may be more mainstream and semi-resembling that of allopathic medicine but still the practice itself  is devised from energy medicine. 

It just blows my mind how we westerners are so challenged to accept the presence of the energy body. I still have a hard time too because of my conditioning to utilize it fully but I am trying to be more open.  I am also aware that there are many charletons out there...that may not actually know what they are doing and that are using this "new age" healing title to reap their own egoic rewards.  We need to be careful of that.

I am exploring more and more the yogic understanding of this energy body...the chakras and the nadis...and the more I read and understand the more I see the connection between it and what I know about physiology. It truly is a science. 

Anyway...don't believe me.  I am not the teacher...your soul is.  Just be willing to explore what exists between and below the physical and mental bodies our western conditioning allows us to understand. You may be shocked to discover a greater healing potential.

All is well.