I’m enrolled in at an intensive course for business executives at Sri Bhagavan’s Oneness University located in Varadaiahpalem, a village in Chittoor district in the state of Andhra Pradesh in southern India.
On one night, we did the fire-breath for about an hour. This consists of inhaling deeply and fully, then exhaling sharply. Your abdomen simultaneously inflates, then deflates quickly. It involves some forceful abdominal muscle work.
When we were finished with the process, we were instructed to dance. Upbeat spiritual music was played from the Americas, Europe and India. My body started to convulse in rhythmic patterns with the beat of African drums. I swung my arms wildly and arched my back. I tapped my feet on the ground and lifted my hands to the sky. Many people report their bodies moving automatically or without their intention, as though their bodies moved on their own.
Suddenly, I found myself smiling widely and laughing hysterically at the joy filling up my ecstatic physical form. The room was kept dark. So into the darkness, I laughed and smiled like a four year old learning to skate for the first time. It was thrilling. I heard people in the room yelping and hooting, as though we were all on a rollercoaster.
I heard this from my Divine, “Your body is supposed to be fun.”
I realized that at age 41, my body was fast, furiously agile and had the ability to perform great athletic feats. I jumped and swirled at the thought. I kept moving my body in patterns mimicking sacred geometry. If paintbrushes were attached to my limbs and head, they would have painted the mandalas I saw in the temple constructed of white marble and precious gems. Each stone was prayed over for 45 days by the monks before being laid into intricate designs in the temple walls, doors, ceilings, banisters, stairs and floors.
I didn’t know about anyone else in the room, of which, there were about 121 of us—but I had the idea that for me, God did not create my body to be in pain, ache, feel heavy or burdensome. God had created my body to be fun.
For the past 23 years, I considered my body a temple. I obsessed in keeping it clean and pure. But now, I realized that my body is not just a temple. It was also a Ferrari and it drove really really well.
