Exploring Embodied Spirituality within Christianity

This is Part 1 of a two part series about embodied spirituality within Christianity. Stay tuned for Part 2.

Over the last decade, a profound truth has transformed my faith: our spirituality is not limited to the realm of the unseen; it is intricately intertwined with our physical existence. I learned this first through my yoga asana practice, and then I started to discover it in my own faith tradition of Christianity. In 2016 I wrote an article exploring the ways in which yoga asana helps me to live out my Christian faith (click to read it).

A profound truth has transformed my faith: our spirituality is not limited to the realm of the unseen; it is intricately intertwined with our physical existence.

I see yoga asana as God's revelation of a beautiful embodied spiritual practice, and it is essential to my own spiritual life. And yet, several years ago I began to wonder, particularly as I learned about the colonization and Westernization of yoga, if God had revealed any embodied practices in my own faith tradition of Christianity.

This is Part 1 of a two part series. In Part 1, we’ll explore a brief history of ways of thought about embodiment, and we’ll also see a strong Biblical basis for valuing the body and  re-incorporating the body into our spiritual practice.

A (VERY) Brief Religious and Scientific History of Embodiment

Before we explore how scripture forms the foundation of this embodied spirituality, it’s important to understand some of the history of how religion has viewed the body, as well as share the insights of pioneering philosophers and researchers who coined the idea of embodied cognition.

Christianity’s relationship with the body has been interesting from the start, and Christians aren’t alone in the idea that we must transcend our body in order to connect with our spirituality. “Mortification of the flesh” is a long-standing and varied practice of self-denial (fasting, vows of celibacy, practicing Lent) and even various forms of self-harm to help the practitioner "share in the suffering of Christ."

One impact of the Reformation of the 16th century shifted the Protestant Church away from rituals and embodied practices and toward the written text, highlighting the importance of engaging the mind. Martin Luther, by the way, also affirmed the practice of mortification of the flesh. In the 17th century, philosopher René Descartes wrote of a separation of mind and body, influencing a dualistic perspective that lingered for centuries. The Christianity that I inherited was impacted by these ways of thinking, and my faith very much lived in my brain, with that specific Christian culture primarily defining belief as an intellectual assent to a set of ideas, rather than being defined by actions.

A paradigm shift began in the 20th century when philosophers coined the term "embodied cognition," highlighting how our thinking is not only influenced but potentially shaped by our physical experiences in the world. In 1979, University of California, Berkeley professor George Lakoff published his research in Metaphors We Live By. Lakoff's research on conceptual metaphors, such as associating "up" with happiness and "down" with sadness, reveals the profound interplay between physical and metaphorical experiences.

In one study, research participants were asked to recall either a time of social acceptance or rejection. Those with warm memories of acceptance perceived the room temperature as being warmer than those who recalled experiences of social snubbing, when they were treated “coldly.” This study showcases how our bodies respond both physically and metaphorically to interpersonal interactions.

These insights remind us of the profound connection between our bodies and our spirituality. It’s worth noting that many religious traditions and spiritual practices work to transcend the physical body, and spiritual practitioners often believe that the body is an obstacle to our spirituality. Really, we cannot divorce our spirituality from our bodies, as our bodies are the home for all of our spiritual experiences.

We cannot divorce our spirituality from our bodies, as our bodies are the home for all of our spiritual experiences.

Divine Encounters in the Old Testament

As I've delved into the scriptures, I've discovered narratives that illustrate the embodiment of divinity. In Genesis, we read how God formed humanity from the dust of the ground and breathed life into the first human.

Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures (what Christians call the Old Testament), encounters with God reveal compassion and understanding towards our embodied existence. We read stories like Abraham's encounter with three mysterious men, who some interpret as a manifestation of the Trinity in human form. We have the account of Jacob wrestling with the Divine and walking away with a limp.

Another story I often ponder is in Exodus 16 when God rained down manna (bread) while the Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years. We see this story echoed when Jesus teaches the “Our Father."  He says, “give us today our daily bread”–each day in the desert God asked the Israelites to collect only what they needed for each day.

Embodiment in the Life and Teachings of Jesus

In the New Testament, Jesus becomes the ultimate embodiment of God, inviting us to recognize the divine presence within ourselves and others. John 1:1 says, “the Word became flesh.” In John 6:30-36, Jesus says he is the bread of life, again comparing himself to the manna in the desert.  He says, “by eating my flesh and drinking my blood you enter into me and I into you.”

The book of Colossians speaks often Jesus' embodiment of the Divine. Colossians 2:9 says, “For in [Jesus] the whole fullness of divinity dwells bodily.” Colossians 1:15 says, “We look at [Jesus] and see the God who cannot be seen.” Ephesians 2:14 says that Jesus is “ the embodiment of our peace.”

In the life and parables of Jesus, we see the ways in which Jesus' heart was moved with empathy when he encountered people in need. In Luke 7:13, upon seeing a grieving woman, the scriptures say “his heart went out to her,” urging him to offer words of comfort. Similarly, the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:33 showcases Jesus' emphasis on compassion, as the Samaritan was moved to help a stranger in distress. These narratives exemplify Jesus’ embodiment of Divine qualities and invite us to also extend these Divine qualities of love and compassion through our physical actions.

Embracing Our Bodies as Sacred

The Bible affirms the sacredness of our bodies. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (MSG) says, “Didn’t you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body.”

We are called to honor and care for ourselves as physical beings, recognizing that they are intricately connected to our spiritual lives

We are called to honor and care for ourselves as physical beings, recognizing that they are intricately connected to our spiritual lives. Rom 12:1  encourages us to offer our everyday lives, with all its activities and routines, as a living sacrifice to God. This means that even the simplest actions—sleeping, eating, working, and walking—can become acts of worship when offered to God with intention and gratitude. There are many times in scripture where God emphasizes that God is not interested in mere words, but in actions that show our belief. One such verse is found in Jeremiah 7:1-15, “‘Clean up your act—the way you live, the things you do—so I can make my home with you in this place.”

In the New Testament, the letter of I Corinthians uses the metaphor of “the body of Christ,” saying, “Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many parts you can name, you’re still one body. It’s exactly the same with Christ.” (12:12-13) 1 Peter 2:4-6 tells us to, “Present yourselves as building stones for the construction of a sanctuary vibrant with life, in which you’ll serve as holy priests offering Christ-approved lives up to God.”

Grounded in the scriptural foundation and inspired by research and philosophical insights, I have embarked on a personal journey of embodied spirituality. Join me in Part 2 to discover embodied spiritual practices that have been found in Christianity since the beginning of the tradition.

This is Part 1 of a two part series about embodied spirituality within Christianity. Stay tuned for Part 2.