It’s an artificial distinction, to separate the physical and the energetic. Or the emotional and the energetic.
Most of us are heavily socialized to ignore the energetics of our experience, focusing on the more tangible or the “rhyme and reason.” I write often here about the energetics of the emotional experience and the ego/psyche/“self.” But we can move and experience energy through the physical just as easily, if not moreso.
There are several disciplines of movement that are intricately connected with energy, such as Yoga, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, many martial arts, forms of dance practiced for connecting with Orishas, dances and ritual movement for indigenous ceremonial purposes, and countless others. And we can also apply energetic awareness and intention to any form of movement— just as we can breathe unconsciously and without meaning or we can breathe with intention and purpose. I have had some of my most illuminating spiritual experiences while swimming in the ocean (it’s become devotional for me at this point), but I’ve also had nearly as profound ones paddling in a pool. Maybe you can remember some of your “aha” moments or epiphanies that took place on a long walk or jog, or even on a bike, piercing through the everyday awareness and shifting your perspective.
Everyday movement practices all have the capacity to be a form of energy movement. Pilates is maybe not of itself a terribly spiritual practice, but I’ve found that the focus on the breath and the abdomen can be extremely emotional and provide a venue for cathartic movement. Dance of any kind is a natural extension of energy movement and release, including recreational forms of dance. Even team sports have a quality of energetic collaboration, the fact that even spectators watching it can be so captivated and invested in the process seems proof that something energetic is happening. It might seem trite to keep emphasizing that energy is everywhere and anything can be energetic. There’s a sentiment I hear about energy sometimes that frames this idea as being directly related to us, each individual at the center of an energetic “universe” working for their benefit.
Not all energy movement and experience is for and about us. But really ask yourself, what is an experience or place or feeling or movement or “object” that is totally devoid of energy? What is non-sentient? What is unrelated to the connectedness between us? Who defines that?
Seeing the presence of energy in the physical opens the door to another layer of alchemy and dynamic collaboration between consciousness, or energy, and our environment.
Putting this into practice (if you wish!):
In whatever form of physical fitness or exercise you engage with, form an intention of energetic movement or change that you wish to explore.
Consider how the movements themselves correlate with ideas of building, transferring, releasing, softening, or gathering energy.
Begin your practice by engaging in whatever form of spiritual connection you might use for mediation or another energy practice (calling in guides, elements, thinking of a power greater than yourself, a circle of support, etc) and make the connection between your intention and the physical practice you will begin.
As you move through those actions, continue to consciously make the connection with your intention. Allow your breath to create another layer of energy movement. Invite your physical weightedness to be another layer (the presence of gravity). Allow your sweat and temperature to be another layer. Allow any state of flow on the mind level to be an opening to receiving clarity and intuitive information.
Perhaps you might want to repeat a phrase, affirmation, or mantra. Sometimes I simply repeat “My body and my breath is a conduit for energy. As I move, energy moves.”
Further reflection:
How does movement play a role in your practice of energetic awareness?
Do you intuitively practice this already?
Are there ways you could bring energy movement into your everyday physical experience?
Inward Vision 