Body, mind, spirit — the Heavenly Embodiment trinity

The trinity is an old metaphysical symbol. Christians describe it as Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Hindus might say Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Most people recognise the trinity of body, mind and spirit.

As someone who is more than interested in health and healing (passionate is the word), I’ve come to see that our wellbeing is complex. Western medicine falls short, I believe, because it refuses to recognise that we are more than our physical bodies.

In my experience, all wounding, and all healing, is multi-faceted. We aren’t just physically injured; we’re also mentally affected, and that touches our spirit too. We can be hurt on any of these three levels, and it inevitably affects the other two.

Three levels

The body is the most easily wounded, but it’s also the easiest to heal. Still, it relies on mind and spirit for its rejuvenation. We all know exercise is good for us, but when we’re depressed we can’t even get off the couch.

The mind can be injured without our even knowing. We carry erroneous beliefs that quietly poison us and undermine our wellbeing. Beliefs are just thoughts we keep thinking, and that means they can be changed.

The spirit is something we’re more confused about than ever. A few generations ago most of the Western world went to church. Now many people genuinely don’t know what to believe in. I’m not a fan of dogma, but I do believe people need something mostly intangible to believe in. Spirituality is a faculty, just like seeing and hearing. Think of standing on a mountaintop at sunrise, in a joy so big it feels almost excessive. That’s spirit. So is the soul-ache of losing hope. Spirit ebbs and flows, and it can be nourished.

Three practices

So Heavenly Embodiment works on all three at once:

• Somatic sex education for the body. Our disconnection from, and shame around, our sexuality and our “root” is a real problem in this world. Ignoring it causes trouble in every corner of our lives. Healing it unlocks an ancient kind of wisdom.
• Hypnosis for the mind. A session can look a lot like a regular conversation, but it gives you access to a deeper, expanded state where your own intuition can reorganise the beliefs that aren’t serving you.
• Qi Gong for the spirit. It’s physical and mental, but above all, for me, it’s a spiritual practice. It aligns us with our own nature and the larger natural world. In an age where we’re losing access to wild places, Qi Gong is a powerful way to self-regulate, and it does that by nourishing the spirit.

I’ll readily admit this work was born out of my own suffering, and also out of persistence and joy despite a pile of setbacks. I use these tools myself. I haven’t mastered them, and I don’t think anyone does. But I know enough to offer a point of light in the dark, and a way of turning body, mind and spirit back towards your own personal feeling of heaven.

May all of your facets shine.

— Jes