FINDING GOD IN THE MATERIAL WORLD

There has been a huge theme lately in my personal and professional life around:  What does it mean to really turn towards matter/form/the physical with open arms, seeing the divine reflection in it?

I know why - because this has been the central theme in helping a client repair her relationship with the physical realm, having been taught to bypass 'down here on earth' as it is apparently inferior and not spiritual. And since we are working very deeply in this vein, it’s stirred up my own relationship to the physical, as well, as it happens with transformative client work.

Our process has included not only turning towards the body with deep love and respect through embodiment practices, but also turning towards emotions in this way as well, and she's finding herself doing a TON of shadow work on abandoned parts of herself that she ignored before.  

Thank God we are doing this work: Her mother passed away too young due to cancer (mine did too) and considering the direct tie-ins between the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual realms (all connected), knowing that her mother similarly bypassed the body and trauma in her life (as did mine), this simply cannot be ignored.  There is an obvious, directly negative impact on our health when we do this. 

This is why when I hear my teacher (David Elliott) saying that this work can actually save people's lives, I wholeheartedly know that it can.  And thanks to the work of Gabor Mate, Carolyn Myss, and so many others that prove what we already knew intuitively about the link between the 'health' of all four of these levels, saying some of this stuff out loud doesn't even seem radical anymore.

And it pains me to (still) see modern medicine ignoring the deeper psycho-spiritual work required in order to heal the body, starting with finding the links between the emotional/mental/spiritual levels and how misalignments are manifesting on the physical level. Thankfully, the number of people understanding this is growing, and we are headed in that direction.

It's really fascinating, as this client is an obvious example of how rejection of the physical and the emotional levels of existence (in favor of the spiritual and mental) is so pervasive and damaging, and I'm witnessing her process so clearly.  Thankfully, she is running back to these realms with open arms, and so it hasn't been difficult to decondition the 'spiritual ego' as she calls it. 

As they say, we can't skip steps.

I definitely had my own version of this about ten years ago in my own way, and am grateful I was able to reclaim the physical and emotional for myself (really through the path of feminine spirituality, starting with understanding how my menstrual cycle mirrors nature, and how that lives in my body - WOW!  What a revelation back then.) 

And then, of course, healing my relationship with my sexuality and the body in an even deeper way (all helping the deep self-love journey), as well as my own major shadow work - no stone left unturned.

It makes me see the differences in the feminine vs masculine paths so clearly (traditionally, feminine focusing on body and emotions, masculine focusing on mind and spirit), as well as the obvious answer that we need both.

It's working with ALL levels of physical + emotional + mental + spiritual, knowing that they all overlap and inform each other.  Although in many spiritual traditions, physical is seen as the 'lower' level and spiritual as the 'higher' level in a hierarchical way, this is easily misinterpreted, because "As above, so below."  The earth has divine intelligence built into it by design, a reflection of the cosmos.  If you truly believe that earth was created by a higher power, why would it not?  And yet this perception of earth, the body, sexuality, the physical/material realm, etc. as evil or corrupt is still alive and well, and still very much being taught.

It's interesting, because in our current culture of 'anything goes' sexuality and debauchery normalized, you could say the pendulum has swung in the other direction as a reaction to these older teachings, and I believe that is true.  [And as I see it from a higher perspective, it's all likely happening as it should and will come back to center.]  However, the current culture is celebrating the physical and emotional now REMOVED from the mental and spiritual, and so not understanding the sacredness of sexuality, for example, and not understanding the higher spiritual/mental purpose of emotions, challenges, and even trauma (there is a romanticization of it, a stewing in it, and lack of ability to alchemize for the soul lessons, coming up and out of victim mentality). 

Of course we know that when materialism is celebrated in isolation, the ego, service to self, and narcissism prevail.  

I have a morning practice that has been really supporting me lately and helping me to stay connected to the divine as my source, and it's related here.  I go outside and lay on the ground (belly down), connecting first to Mother Earth. Initially I just land and allow myself to relax, surrender, and feel supported, using my breath to 'offload' fatigue, stress, etc. 

What I can feel right away is that Mother Earth takes all of my heaviness/darkness/pain and alchemizes it, composting it, a 'master recycler,' as my teacher says.  All that she asks for in return is love and appreciation - as does any mother. 

And so after I settle in, I exchange with her using my breath.  On the inhales, I pull her energy (love) up into my body as nourishment, resourcing myself, and on the exhales I send her love and gratitude.  I do this until I feel complete. 

The first few times were very emotional, there was a lot of grief. A deep and profound grief of my personal disconnection from her, as well as feeling her sadness - a mother missing her child and feeling forgotten, and the damaged collective relationship with her. That huge imbalance in the exchange, of how she is taken and taken from and never given back to, barely a moment of gratitude, owning this in my own life and then seeing it with most all other humans.

[There is a second part to this morning practice, which I will get to next - but as I write this I see the connection between abundance and the earth, and how this discovery of pretty profound unconscious grief and disconnection from her could translate into not feeling in the flow of abundance in my personal life, it’s almost like that feeling of a ‘bad’ child who is in trouble and cut off from the mother’s love and support. And yet as I see in this reunion with her, she was never the one who wanted to cut it off, I did by abandoning her. And the flow was never really taken away, she was always trying to connect with me, but I blocked it.]

So, this simple practice has been pretty profound for me, but there’s more. After connecting with the mother, I flip over and face the sun [divine masculine]. My body is surrendered and I open completely to receive his light, this essential life giving energy. The provision. I allow every cell in my body to open and fill with light, similarly using my breath for the exchange. Receiving him with the inhale, sending love and gratitude with the exhale. I see how, by way of his light, the sun gets to witness the beauty and splendor of the earth and her endlessly creative/destructive process. And how they need each other.

Many profound things have been happening since I began this practice, most notably the sense of contentment I feel (as described in my recent essay here). The sense of feeling whole unto oneself is absolutely priceless and without proper words, not seeking or pulling anything from the external to fill some kind of void leads to an uncommon life, one I am deeply grateful for. And it’s all from a reconnection to source through the mother and the father, and specifically THROUGH their physical forms of earth and sun.

And so for me, the material world/physical form as a direct reflection of God is clear.

This morning after connecting through the practice I described above, this little snippet arose. A response to the continued misunderstanding of the feminine, and evidence of how the divine speaks truth to us through interfacing with the world, through our human, lived experience:

Mother Earth is not passive. She receives the light of the Sun and is endlessly creative and abundant. She also destroys that which is no longer in alignment, and this beautiful death and rebirth process is reflected in the seasons, just like in a woman's body, just like in the exhales and inhales, the divine intelligence of 'as above, so below.'

The woman's womb is a portal that brings spirit into matter through the seed that was planted by him. This is the heaven on earth mission. Spirit is embedded in matter, all of it. But the divine intelligence of nature is largely missed.

And so as I see the world beginning to understand the intricate dance between the masculine + feminine, I hope they are able to take it all the way, to get the full depth.

The way I see it, it is not the right hand path [masculine] or the left hand path [feminine].  It is both.

Leigh-Anne LoPinto is a psychologist, relationship coach, and breathwork teacher based in Los Angeles. Website | Podcast | Telegram | Instagram | Email List