Embodiment and Adaptability
Today there is much mention of embodiment in movement practices.
But what really is embodiment?
I think of embodiment as fluid adaptability. Embodiment suggests an ability to adapt to change, not by rote or by some preordained response, but via immediacy, responsiveness and receptivity. Embodiment is to respond to the here and now while at the same time being connected to a timeless source. Embodiment involves breaking the spell of the separate self. All embodiment is a move away from stasis, paralysis and fixed assumptions. In the body this suggests staying fluid and flexible. Globally, this move involves change in environmental policy, race relations, the rights of women, systems of law and order, and the distribution of wealth.
Fluid dynamics suggest mobility, ingenuity, mutation and responsiveness. By attending to the fluid system, we break the habit body and the habit mind. When we are embodied in the dynamics of flow, we build a readiness to change, a readiness to evolve. I am sure you have heard the expression “you can’t step in the same river twice”. In this light, movement suggests being on the cusp of continual change. Going back to old ways of being is not a possibility. In this way, we not only alter the history of our body, but participate in altering the history of the world.
“Embodiment involves the expression of potential. ”
In the body, potential within a joint, a muscle, an organ, or individual cell requires hydration. Like tidal water flowing in and out of a tide pool, fluid dynamics require compressive/decompressive movements that help pump fluid in and out of the body’s tissues. Fluid dynamics alter the viscosity of lymph, blood and synovial fluid and this in turn effects the way that fluids seep into all the cracks and crevices of the body. Bathing the muscles, joints and organs in blood flow is a way to stay healthy and supple.
The realization of potential within the fabric of a community, requires similar hydration. In the way that blood seeps into connective tissue, we need to infuse neighborhoods with better health care, housing, education and child support. We need to irrigate prana into social networks so that the dynamics of flow touch the lives of people everywhere.
In truth, there is no solidity. Like the Tao, all things are in flux. In daily practice we practice “fluxing”, and like a river, bend by redirect our internal energies. This requires not only somatic flow on the mat. Today, issues such as racial injustice, the pandemic and global warming necessitate we make change off the mat. We need to adapt to a world on fire by collectively embodying social justice, kind heartedness, equal rights and non-discrimination. In this way, embodiment is to not only to stay supple inside, but to realize our great human potential as compassionate and conscientious beings.
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THE BODY AS NATURE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tias Little
Tias Little synthesizes years of study in classical yoga, anatomy, Sanskrit and Buddhist practice into his original style of teaching.
He is the founder of the Prajna Yoga school in Santa Fe, New Mexico with his wife, Surya.
He is the author of Yoga of the Subtle Body (Shambhala 2016) and Practice is the Path (June 2020).
