The Witch’s Body, Healing + Yoga

The Intuitive Dance Of Healing

Regardless of the work that you do the most as a Witch, or how you identify your energy movement as a Witch, we all dance in the realm of healing.

Because ultimately, we ourselves will end up having to attend to our bodies, our souls and our minds at some point in our lives to restore, nourish and calibrate.

Spiritually, the lessons in this are infinite and they are of a particular flavor that seems to touch every other aspect of a Witch’s life.  This is certainly true of me.

The other thing that needs to be mentioned again and again and again, is that when one claims the path of the Witch for themselves a lot of dismantling might have to occur in the realm of old patriarchal belief systems.  One of those deeply damaging beliefs is that somehow the body doesn’t matter.  That the soul is the only part of you of value and the body is to be cast aside is one of the most insidious lies we have been fed.

This belief also flies in the face of what is at the core of Witchcraft, which is connection.  There is little to no connection with something you are actively hating, denigrating, resisting and placing in the category of profane or unnecessary.

You are the sum of all your parts, soul, mind, body, energy and all the other magical stardust that is sprinkled in there.  It works and you are the embodiment of magic BECAUSE of the alchemy created by all these parts of you.  

And here’s some secret sauce for your day:  When we embrace the body, integrate into the whole of who we are, we find that the body can be one of the, if not THE most potent magical tool we have.  

Our bodies contain multitudes of power, sensing skills, secret wisdom and laser sharp awareness wrapped in a beautiful language all its own.

It behooves us as Witches to connect in and tend to ourselves, to our bodies and embrace a healing journey that Listens and is lead by the wisdom of the body.

So as a side note, if you are called to the path of being a Healing Witch, or a Healer, KNOW that the learning for that high calling starts with your relationship to your own body, mind and soul.  There is not getting around that.

My Own Healing

I’ve been nursing a health issue for the last 3 weeks.  Which is really to say, I’ve been very intimately sitting with and attending to a dynamic that has been with me my entire life, that finally manifested itself in a health issue that needed direct medical intervention.  

I’ll stop here to say, I’m doing well.  In the grand scheme of things, it’s ‘minor’, but big enough that it’s had me on bed rest, nap rest, cozy under cool sheets rest, for the better part of the last 3 weeks.  Movement has been challenging and I could muster enough energy  each day to do maybe 1-3 hours of work and then back to resting.

I want to stop here again and point out a few things:

1.  Emotions are energy that change the way the body operates.  If you hold onto patterns that are unhealthy or driven by your shadow for too long, typically ignoring signs that say, “this needs to be looked at or changed”, your body will become the message you can’t ignore.  It’s a beautiful thing when you think about the fact that all of you wants to heal, all of you is determined to reveal to you what you need and what is best for you.  

2.  I teach a lot these days.  And I still amaze myself with how much of my 30 years of learning I’ve retained in order to impart it to others.  I try to say this as often as I can – this doesn’t mean that I know everything, that I don’t have issues to work through and that I am living the epitome of the perfect Witch life.  That is not what a spiritual life is.  Nor is that how healing works.

3.  Life is a dance that provides us with all sorts of sounds, tempos, moves and experiences.  There is no shame in any of it.  Having health issues isn’t a moral indictment, it’s an expression or a communication from you to yourself.  An illness isn’t something to be fixed per se, as much as it is a call to a conversation that invites us to be present, responsive and honest with things like what we really need, what we really want and how to dance with the truth of what is.

So all of that to say that today, for the first time rather than stay in bed for longer than was usual for me before this, I felt the desire to get up.  So I did.

I felt the desire to stretch my stiff body.   So I moved the couch and coffee table out of the way, pulled up Youtube on my tv and went straight to this Video.

(This is a gorgeous and gentle Yin Yoga practice that is just under 30 minutes.  I highly recommend it.)

I couldn’t do everything, so I did what I could, and did Savasana as a modification.  The pace matched mine and it was nourishing.

I could feel emotion stuck in my should begin to move.  My hips… my tight stressed hips, opened a little and I cried a much needed release.  My spine cracked and settled and then I cried some more as I felt the energy move.  

And in that place, my body opened up a little bit, releasing some of the tension I had been holding, and the movement of energy became my spell for the day.  A prayer, an offering and an intention for the movement of what needs to move, for the opening of my body and soul as receptors, as connectors and as magical instruments.

I made healing magic this morning by being in my body and sitting with it’s sensations, it’s emotional holding and it’s release. 

Am I 100% better or back to where I was, or out the other end to a new and improved me?  Maybe a little.  Maybe not at all and maybe yes.  

Healing isn’t in the eradication of a state of being so much as it’s a manifestation of connection, presence and responsiveness to what is true in the moment.  

I’m grateful for the time I had this morning.  I’m grateful for the space I had this morning and I’m grateful for the ability to by with what is true in me right now.

For You

If from this, I might impart a morsel of wisdom to you, I’d like to say this, spend more time in your body.  Even if it has been a painful relationship for you.  

The video I shared above, which I’m sharing HERE as well, is a beautiful exploration and pause that provides you with the spaciousness and gentleness needed to just touch in for a short time before going on in your day.

Think of it as polishing your magical tools and diving into a moment of healing recalibration.