My Chosen Body
I believe that as Souls we have chosen our own physical bodies. I live in the body that I, as a Soul, have consciously chosen. The thought that I, for some reason, have consciously chosen this exact body brings me deeper acceptance toward my own body. Could this thought also help me to treat myself and my physical body with more kindness?
Accepting one’s own body is difficult for many, myself included sometimes. In an ideal world, we would all accept ourselves and our bodies exactly as they are. I can, hand on heart, say that I accept my deepest self, my Soul, as it is but why is it still so hard for me to accept my physical body? The physical body is only an outer shell, which has little to nothing to do with the deepest self. Why is this outer shell so important to us? These are some big and valuable questions to reflect on — and there are surely many possible answers. One of the biggest for sure is the pressure that modern society places on us. The constant feeling that we should always be better, or somehow different from what we are right now. This is something I want to gently fight against.
Our physical body holds eternal wisdom. Its various ailments always tell us something. I believe that temporary physical illnesses, like colds or headaches, don’t come without a deeper reason. Personally, I am fortunate that I rarely get sick these days. When my life is in balance, I am healthy and my body feels well. But if one area of my life falls out of balance and stress sneaks in, I get a cold or something similar. This has become a clear and noticeable pattern — about once a year. At that point, my body is telling me it’s time to slow down and let go of something. When the body falls ill, we must take time for ourselves, time for complete rest, for as long as the body requires. If we don’t allow that rest, for some reason, the illness comes back, possibly even worse than before. These cycles repeat themselves exactly as many times as needed until we take the lesson seriously.
Of course, the conversation must also include more serious illnesses, some present from birth or some that arise later in life. Why would we choose to fall seriously ill or, for example, to live completely without one of our senses? I think about this in the same way as I wrote earlier about the bigger life outlines chosen by our Soul. This is part of that larger whole. Past lives, karma, unlearned lessons, inherited patterns, or something else, may strongly influence these choices. The choices made on the Soul level may have looked very different at the time. But when the soul descends into the human experience, where bodily suffering and pain exist, the experience can feel very different.
In Yoga and Hindu philosophy, there is the idea of the three bodies. I believe that true well-being is achieved by balancing body, mind, and Soul — by caring for all of them. The thought of these three different bodies helps me, to approach this matter in a more holistic way. For example, I see Yin Yoga as a perfect way to bring these three bodies together into one beautiful whole. Of course, each of these bodies has its own individual needs, and by taking care of them, we care for the Whole.
I encourage all of us to be kinder towards our own bodies. In this life, we only have this one physical body. By showing respect toward this body, we are showing love toward ourselves. <3