Body of Practice

Spirituality is also practiced outside the defined realms of spirituality, such as established religions and associated practices.
Thus, if as soon as attention is aroused, spiritual practice begins to unfold, just as hunger activates salivation.
And many of us are practicing it while unaware that this is what it is all about.
Activities that activate attention and place their practitioners in an almost hypnotic state, so dedicated and focused is this attention, are spiritual in nature.

They work to refocus the individual. This is also the reason why we learn these activities; we emerge nourished, regenerated, more deeply ourselves than we were before practicing them.

For me, it’s (was) about learning Japanese calligraphy and musical practice; in both cases, the involvement of the body is fundamental.
The engagement of the body, its use as a vector of attention, is also characteristic of prayer.

These activities, like so many others, are a form of prayer in that they create a space for inner dialogue with the deeper layers of Being.

It’s not surprising that many musicians, across all traditions, have experienced experiences of ecstasy, contemplation, awakening, and communion while performing tasks as trivial as sweeping the floor.

Here, the activities presented in the preceding paragraphs are simply privileged platforms for observing what leads us to spiritual experience.

Once this is integrated by the practitioner, once these teaching platforms have fulfilled their role, behind each daily action, a field of deepening practice opens up;
Then, when the body’s vector has fulfilled its function as a mirror of our inner movements, these can be observed directly.

Thoughts and emotions then become vectors, bodies of practice.
At the next level, when emotions and thoughts have delivered their teachings,

Then spiritual activity, daily activity,
Thought and emotion,
Gives way to silence

©FJ May 2025
Recueils / Participation/