The Teaching of Our Cells

When I was in Bali last year doing some more training with my beloved teacher, Tara Judelle, we explored moving like a cell (a cell of your body, not a cell in which you may find yourself locked into… possibilities for movement there are limited). This may sound really weird and admittedly there were times when I felt like I was tripping at Woodstock but it was a beautiful experience of returning to wholeness. 

Given that we all started as one cell, which multiplied many times over and then grew into different parts, I find the practice of returning our awareness to that singularity very comforting. Stored within us is a memory of everything that we’ve ever been, so we know this place of unity and oneness. And each cell of the body performs the same tasks that our whole body performs: converting energy, digesting food, excreting waste, reproducing, taking in oxygen. In short, a single cell is a tiny little “us” and we are a cellular collective.

To expand on that – each person on our planet is like a single cell in the universal body.

I brought Tara’s teachings into class this week and asked the students to play with “moving like a cell’ . When we experience ourselves as a whole organism in movement, the result can be a sense of bliss that we miss out on when caught up in our differentiated parts.

While in Bali I also came across a great book called, The Book of Secrets by Deepak Chopra. I think it’s his 467th book…. I jest. In this book he talks about the spiritual teachings of our cells and it is some inspiring stuff. I’ll do my best to sum up the teachings because they are as groovy as Woodstock. Flares? Lava lamps? Fondue parties?

The teachings of our cells…

Higher Purpose

Each cell of our body is working for the welfare of the whole. The actions it takes is not for itself but for the growth and nourishment of the body in which it lives. A narcissistic “I’m a legend and you guys suck” cell doesn’t really cut it as those cells tend to manifest disease… namely cancer.

Communion

All the cells are always talking to each other. Even the slightest shift is sent throughout the whole body. You don’t see cells giving each other the silent treatment in relationships. They stay open and connected to each other.

Awareness

The cells of the body are adaptable. They are flexible and open to changes in order to respond to what is happening in the moment. Cell do not get stuck on rigid beliefs and have arguments about them at dinner parties.

Acceptance

Cells recognise that they are all equal. A liver cell isn’t going to have a gossip in the tea room about a skin cell because it looks different and has a different job to do. They would both recognise each other as equally important. “Status” is a foreign word in the cellular community.

Being

Cells obey the universal cycle of rest and activity. They have times of silence and inactivity in order to function efficiently when it’s “go time”. A cell wouldn’t chug back a vente non-fat vanilla double shot latte with extra syrup to support being obsessively active and over working give them a kick when they’re tired. When they need to chill, they chill.

Efficiency

Cells work with the smallest expenditure of energy. They eat just enough in order to fuel their functions. There is no going back for seconds and thirds at the buffet.

Bonding

Cells know that they are fundamentally all the same. They know that they are filled with the same source and they do not create clubs that certain type of cells can’t join. And there are no bouncers at the nightclubs of the body because everyone is allowed in. Whoop whoop! 

Giving

The primary function of the cells is to give. They know that by doing that they will equally receive. They don’t hoard stuff in their upstairs attic because they “may need it someday”. They give freely and receive back with open arms knowing that it is just the other half of the cycle.

To summarise, cells really get that….

What Deepak Chopra does so beautifully in his book is illustrate that our cells are undertaking a spiritual pact of the highest order. To understand how to be on the planet with other each we need only look to the teachings of the smallest single units of our own body. Are the answers not all there? 

Writing the above I clearly took some creative licence. But I often thought to myself, “I don’t do this one well…” (especially the one about going back for seconds and thirds). I don’t do them well because my egoic mind overrides the wisdom of the body a lot. And by a lot I mean… A LOT. It gets really obsessed with ME and MINE. 

But to become aware of what our bodies do so well (unity, communication, wholeness) and how they can guide us into a different way of being is a wonderful practice to open ourselves up to.    

In short, what cells are really good at is YOGA.

Reminder, yoga is a state of being. It is a beautiful and ancient technology that harmonises the body, mind and spirit. So yoga isn’t so much something you do but something that you are. The poses we do in class allow us to rub up against this state of being. The more we do the shapes and practice with wholehearted “all in” awareness, the more we start to embody this state of being. 

As always, I am humbled by the wisdom of this mysterious and sacred structure of body/mind leading the way.

To our cells, our organs, our bones and muscles, the vehicle of our awakening…

I bow.

Namaste x