Will Johnson: Awakening the Body
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Tami Simon speaks with Will Johnson, the founder and director of the Institute for Embodied Training. For more than 30 years, Will has taught Buddhist meditation and practiced Rolfing, and has developed a unique blend of these two techniques for having a fully embodied meditation practice. He is the author of the books The Posture of Meditation and The Spiritual Practices of Rumi, and with Sounds True he has created the audio learning course Awakening the Body: The Path of Somatic Surrender. In this episode, Tami speaks with Will about how his work as a Rolfer has shaped his approach to meditation, how we can balance all of our perceptions to open ourselves to a complete experience of life, and how the Sufi practice of gazing can lead us to embodied awakening. (63 minutes)
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Will johnson’s message is sublime, but his talk here is overly contaminated by his unaware but maddening use of the interpolation “y’know” – pity about that, as it distracts a lot from the message.
Comment by Peter Goble — July 28, 2011 @ 2:27 pm
Such inspiration . . . precisely where I’m coming from as a former professional ballet dancer, eventually teaching for 10 years as I integrated Ida Rolf’s Structural Integration book into my teaching of classical ballet, and now have been a Tibetan Buddhist practitioner for 11 years. I want to take your Rolfing sessions . . . much needed . . . where are you? How much do you charge for the full range of sessions?
peace,
mickey morgan
Comment by mickey — July 29, 2011 @ 5:03 pm
Wonderful…
Comment by Sujith — July 30, 2011 @ 2:18 am
After listening to Tami’s interview with Will Johnson I felt extreme fatigue and fell asleep on the couch with my dog and had this dream:
I was in my childhood home walking up the stairs which led to our kitchen on the 3rd floor of the house. As I walked I was listening intently to my own footsteps, replicating from memory the paced, isolated sounds of my father’s footsteps on the stairs, the thud on the landing and the final step up into the kitchen.
Feeling deep loss and grief I thought of how many times my mom and dad had walked this way towards the stove to cook or to make a cup of tea. Ordinary, beautiful, every day rituals which give sustenance to our lives. And I ached to have my parents back again.
Suddenly, like waking up to reality, I understood that my father was still here. My whole understanding shifted from grief to joyful realization that he hadn’t gone, but I just hadn’t understood before this moment!
A feeling of immense relief and gratitude washed over me as I turned around and saw dad walking right behind me. I shouted: “Dad, I just remembered that you are still here!” We gazed into each others eyes. It was like seeing a part of each other for the first time. I said, “I love you”, and hugged him tightly. All my senses were sharply focused; I could hear, smell, feel, and see him. The experience was sensory and deeply instructive on an essential level.
The dream ended as I turned and welcomed my own daughter into our embrace.
This experience revealed to me that in our every day encounters we rarely ever connect with others, even our loved ones, on the level of Essence. The deep embrace of our senses, gazing into each others eyes, to reflect back to each other our true Essence, which is pure unadulterated Love.
My deepest embrace to Tami, Will, & All
Thank you
Comment by Gertrude A. — July 30, 2011 @ 12:24 pm
thank you tami and will … a one hour meditational re-minder !
oh that we might in-spire our-selves and our inter-national leaders to this visioning … one breath at a time !!!!
in spirit and much love ………… armand
Comment by armand huet de grenier — August 1, 2011 @ 7:15 am
Loved this interview. Freedom to move – rather to believe one must Be STILL
Comment by Roseanna — August 2, 2011 @ 4:06 pm
While half way listening to Will and Tami I realized that nothing is “fixed”. The only place anything is stuck or solid, is in the mind. EVERYTHING including the body is in continual motion. ALIVE!! Nothing is excluded. I had to relisten to the program to hear what triggered this realization. Before, “To include the Body in awareness” meant that I was unknowingly imagining a big space where I could see my body existing with everything else in the universe”. It was a beautiful, useful, image, but it was an image that was actually disembodying me! Now awareness can fully make use of my body to experience the living, being intelligence that’s always been here. I feel like I have arrived home. WOW, its so joyful and fun and natural and practical. The body has so much untapped brilliance!
Thank you for this!
xxxxx
THANK YOU both,
LOVE xxx
Comment by Debbie Berrow — August 27, 2011 @ 9:08 am
• If we could focus on our shimmering bodily sensation, our hearing, and our sight then we could loosen our exclusive identification as our separate thinking ego.
• As we sit for meditation we could allow the joints of our back to move slightly.
• We could gaze into the eyes of another as a practice.
These sound like helpful practices. Thanks
Comment by Stanley — September 17, 2011 @ 4:58 pm