Infusing the Body with Spiritual Attitudes

Somatization—The Inner Cause of Disease

This term “somatization” comes from the Greek “soma,” which means the physical body. Usually, when tensions, worries, internal conflicts, emotional turmoil, and stresses become chronic, they manifest as illnesses in the physical body that are labeled “psychosomatic.” Countless emotional tensions, conflicts, and mental doubts somatize in our physical body. The intimacy with our own body is limited by our mental conflicts.

Therefore, real intimacy with our body is mainly a matter of a mental, not a physical, attitude. There is no need for much intuition to read the suffering or fear on someone’s face. Inner tensions might be the cause of many problems and diseases, from migraines to gastritis or even ulcers. But, even if they have not and will never themselves in a chronic way, psychological pressures and the constant worries of everyday life have unfortunate consequences on the physical body and energetic structures.

The Hridaya Perspective on Somatization

The concept of “somatization” in Hridaya Yoga does not refer only to this unconscious negative process, but mainly to a conscious process of refreshing and regenerating the physical body by infusing it with the spiritual attributes that radiate from the Spiritual Heart, qualities that are awakened during Hatha Yoga, meditation, and living a conscious life in general.

The easiest way to eliminate both somatic and mental tensions is to sleep. The exceptional virtues of sleep derive mainly from the detachment from the physical and mental bodies. Sleep is only temporary oblivion, an escape into unconsciousness, but it teaches us two fundamental things:

1. How to detach from the physical body.
2. How to become free from our total identification with the limited personal consciousness.

Understanding these two processes is of great importance for the revelation of the freedom and happiness of our Divine Nature.

Harmony Is Freedom from Identification

As a general principle, a structure (the physical, mental, or causal body) can be in harmony with wholeness (Nature) to the extent to which it is set free from an identification with a reactive, selfish, personal consciousness. Understanding this principle changes our “representation” of what Hatha Yoga is, and it can radically improve our practice. Thus, we can somatize love, beauty, light, and joy, bringing them all into our being…

Sama Rasa—Even Essence

This phenomenon was very important in the Siddha Yoga movement in Southern India (800-1200 A.D.), where they referred to it as sama rasa (“balancing” or “even essence”). The aspirations in this group included the perfection of the physical body and even physical immortality. In fact, this very endeavor to “cultivate the latent potential of the physical body” caused Hatha Yoga to appear. Therefore, Hatha Yoga was originally created to reveal and express our Divine Nature. Sama rasa is the condition in which the physical body expresses divine perfection—it’s the process of opening to Shiva and divine energy at the level of the physical body. Better said, it is an awareness of the divine nature of the physical body. Sama rasa (somatization) reveals the union with Shiva Consciousness, a state in which all differentiation has disappeared. It stands for the process and state of resonating bodily in harmony with the Divine.

Learn more about sama rasa in the Hridaya Yoga Retreat: Module 1 Intensive.