INDIVIDUALITY & UNIVERSALITY; Pt 3: The Wisdom of Embodiment

Have you ever thought of your feet as a sacred meeting place between heaven and earth? 

“The word guru means “the weighty one”—the consciousness that has come into the feet. The Universal has come down, and we’ve provided a temple space within our own body and consciousness for the Universal to reside, meet earth, and have a living revelation."

PROLOGUE:

What if your feet could teach you how to come home to yourself? I’m your host, Colleen Akiko, and this is the third segment of the series Individuality and Universality with spiritual teacher and yogi Matthew Hara.

In this soulful episode, The Wisdom of Embodiment, you’ll hear gems around the essence of yoga, the power of grounding, and how being in presence transforms everyday life into sacred practice.

Reflect with us on how spiritual depth isn’t found in escape, but in grounding, in surrender, and in the simple act of just showing up in your body.

Matthew Hara shares with Colleen Akiko how, " The universal has come down, and we’ve provided a temple space within our own body and consciousness for the Universal to reside, meet earth, and have a living revelation."

Exploring Spiritual Practices

Colleen: I love what you said just a moment ago—about coming into the place where you can now listen and now respond. It seems like my mind says, Oh, that’s not physical. That’s more spiritual.

So much under the guise of spirituality is the mind. Dressing up the mind with spiritual words. And maybe taking a teaspoon full of something and saying, Yeah, that was a great meal.

I’m wondering—whatever the practice is… Yoga... With Chris, we still do the Tai Chi Chih, and same thing as what you’re saying—instead of trying to squeeze in all the moves, we may just do a handful.

That’s a practice that I’m very regular with, so I can speak from there. It’s also physical—the breathing involves the body, involves the balance. There are moments in that practice where, even though it’s very physical, the physical somehow seems to dissolve. I forget where I am. I forget that I’m in the room. I know my feet are on the ground...

Matthew: Yeah.

Colleen: It’s very important so I don’t fall over, but something happens where I just experience this effervescence. It does feel like coming home, but I don’t stop and say, Oh, I feel like I’ve come home. It’s not like that. It’s just such a peaceful, wonderful…

The Essence of Yoga and Unity

Matthew: It’s the unity. Yes—that’s what yoga means, right? It’s to yoke or to unify. And it’s that alignment of when body, mind, and spirit come into greater harmony.

Then all of a sudden there’s that feeling of coming home. In the yogic tradition, the goal ultimately is called Samadhi, which is absorption—absorption of the individual, or your sense of individuality, into the universal. It’s a great marrying of those two dynamic forces, which feels like coming home because we’re not just individual.

If we are universal, and the magic is only in the heart, can those two dynamic forces come into communion and online ? That’s the point. There’s this misconception in pretty much most spiritual traditions that we are on an ascension path—that we are here to go up and out of this earth.

The yogic tradition is the opposite, actually. The word guru means “the weighty one”—the consciousness that has come into the feet. The universal has come down, and we’ve provided a temple space within our own body and consciousness for the universal to reside, meet earth, and have a living revelation.

Colleen: So beautiful. Yeah. I wrote a song once called Grow Me Down—with that sense of being the tree. “Grow me down like the roots of a tall standing tree... take me down from the sky of my star-seeking pride... grow me down…” and it feels so good to go down in the earth.

Matthew: Yes.

Colleen: Just take-in that life that the earth holds for us, and that’s it.

Matthew: That’s it. Then we’re actually affirming embodiment. We’re affirming the goodness of this life. We’re affirming that it’s intelligent, actually, to be birthed. And yet there are so many traditions that shame the body, shame physical desire, shame lovemaking.

Like—it’s an affirmation of the goodness of life, in so many ways. And it’s learning to come into a place of feeling good within your own body because we’ve resisted, chastised, and condemned all parts and parcels of our own body and self.

We used to share this practice in some of our retreats where we’d literally give each of the participants just a mirror, and just watch—from a witness place—what your mind is going to start saying about yourself. And we are all the harshest critics on ourselves.

Yes. But in a way, that’s all life is teaching us—through our relationships. Everything is trying to help us look at ourselves and cultivate more acceptance.

Whether it’s tightness in my right hip, or resistance in this relationship with this person who brings up this energy in me—it’s cultivating a potential for us to see, to embrace, and therefore grow. Our roots grow deeper, and our consciousness is able to expand. It’s nature’s way—it’s how it’s all designed.

Colleen: Yeah, it’s so beautiful. And I’m so grateful that wherever we are in our knowledge of this embodiment, we don’t have to be so far along before we start plugging in. We can be at the very beginning of, “Oh, you mean… that’s okay?”

We can just start there. And wherever we are is a perfect place for us to start to say, “Oh… where are my feet? Oh, my feet are right here.”

It doesn’t matter how far along we come in this life. We always start with our feet.

“Anything done with presence is a spiritual practice."

Matthew: I’m so happy you said that! Literally, that’s every physical yoga class I share. I always start with the feet. It’s the part we forget first—because we go to our head. And most of us hate our feet. “Don’t look at my toes. I’m going to paint those things.” But there’s also a lot of neglect in the feet. We forget about them—especially certain dudes, right? Big, long, coiled-over toenails… roll it however you want, but…

Awareness in the feet is crucial for embodiment.

It’s one of the most fundamental and powerful principles. And just being on yoga for a second more—yoga is not about being on a mat or doing the official pranayama. It can be done in the supermarket when you’re standing in line. Literally, it’s a presence practice and that’s all it is.

And all of these great embodiment traditions are that—Tai Chi, Qigong, surfing… whatever it is, anything done with presence, it’s a spiritual practice.

Colleen: I love that.

Feet . . . Major Access Point and Power Spot

Colleen: When you’re talking about the feet, I think it was back in 2011—out of my own personal need I launched into Reiki certifications and transformational coaching, because I needed it myself.

I set up a practice at a little side office at a chiropractor’s. He graciously let me practice on him and have my little room.

And my first client—her mother came to me and said, “Oh, she’s bipolar. The police are always over there. Nothing’s working. You’re probably not going to work either. She’s willing to come ‘cause no one else has done this.”

I’m like, “Okay…”

And though I was advised otherwise, I felt like, “I think I need to do this.”

And I really didn’t know what I was doing—which is the best place to be, I think. I might not have figured it out otherwise.

So I had a massage table, and she didn’t want coaching. She just wanted Reiki, and I was brand spanking new at this.

I discovered that when she came, she was working on her feet all day. And when she came, her feet really stunk—really stinky feet. And all I could think of was, “You go to a Japanese restaurant, they give you the hot cloths, you clean your hands, and then you eat.”

So I said, “Alright, we need to work on your feet, and I’m going to give you the special Japanese restaurant treatment. I’m half Japanese—this works. There’s a connection here.”

So I’d go in the bathroom with these white Costco rags, heat them up as much as I could, put them in a container, and wrap her feet with hot cloths. Then I’d just Reiki her feet.

If I did nothing else, she improved drastically. And if there was nothing else on the body that I could come near to, the feet would be enough.

Matthew: Okay. That’s the major access point, right? The most nerve endings in the body are there. Chinese medicine, of course, focuses so much on that.

In the Vedic tradition, the feet are the most sacred part of the body in the guru—because their consciousness has descended so much into the body. Most nerve endings are in the feet, therefore they’re a power spot.

So they’ll touch the feet of the guru—or, of course, in reverence also to their parents.

For someone who’s not a guru or an awakened being, the feet… they actually make sure not to point them at people, because your density—what you haven’t worked on—can be shooting out of the feet, at least in that tradition.

So it makes so much sense that you went to heal that part of the body, because everything can be accessed there in such an impactful way.

Colleen: And, of course, I didn’t know that, and I didn’t do it for that reason. I just did it because she had stinky feet.

Matthew: That’s the beauty of the universal intelligence, right?

It can show up in the most practical or mystical ways, but it has a bigger plan.

Colleen: There’s always a bigger plan.

Matthew: Always a bigger plan.

Colleen: Oh, if we ever had a sense of that, we’d be walking up above.

Matthew: Seriously. Absolutely.

“All spiritual growth is an unlearning process."

Matthew: I just wanted to… you said something about your little Reiki story that I feel is so important to highlight.

You said it was your first official person, and so you went in just not knowing—and you thought that was actually better. That’s why it was so powerful.

That is exactly right. My teacher in India used to say that all spiritual growth is an unlearning process.

Colleen: Yes.

Matthew: We’re unlearning. And this spiritual path is not about building achievements. There are definitely milestones as far as energetically embodying certain things—but it takes one moment to get there.

It is an ever-present invitation to come back. And the moment we are back into that spot, we’re in full alignment with the universal.

We are already awake.

“We can make our spiritual path into a never-ending shopping cart of “I need to keep looking for something,” when it can be as close as one moment of letting it go.”

Colleen: That’s what came to mind when you said that. Chris and I had an opportunity years ago to be in some Native meditations that came through our friend.

I don’t think he was bringing forth a long-time tradition so much as, “This is what I feel is needed.” He’s a Native man, and here’s how we do the meditation.

There’s a Native word for it, and the translation of that word is, “It is already done.”

Of course, he’d have the drumming and the singing as part of the meditation. And it was a lot like yoga nidra in some respects.

That’s a touchstone for me, because it affirms timelessness.

That presence—there is no time. So the truth that I experience and that I know—when the illusions have been dissolved—if it happens next month or next year or whatever, it’s not really of any consequence.

Matthew: Yes, exactly. It’s very common for even spiritual people to cultivate this concept that they’ve really “gotten somewhere.”

You know what I mean? I watched it, because I was going to the school in India every year for so many years, meeting people who’d been consciously on the path for 40 or 50 years, studied with this teacher or that teacher—yet they were still seeking for something.

There wasn’t the fulfillment. There wasn’t an unconditional space of fulfillment. There were still struggles, still conflicts.

There’s always room for growth—always. But we can make our spiritual path into a never-ending shopping cart of “I need to keep looking for something,” when it can be as close as one moment of letting it go.

That’s the freedom of stepping into the heart. And Jesus put it best: “You must become like a child to enter the kingdom.”

The moment we drop any concept, any conclusion, any identification with what happens—if we can learn how to do that—we’re automatically already there. And that is the awakened state. It’s immediately there. It’s how we’re intrinsically designed. It’s not for a select few. It’s a cultivation of being able to step into that space.

And it doesn’t have to take 14 more lifetimes. That’s the beauty and the magic—especially, I think, of this time on earth. There is so much grace available.

There truly is. There are hundreds of thousands of people consciously walking this path—more than ever in the history of this planet—from all corners of the world.

I’d watch it day in and day out at the school. We’d have up to 2,000 students from all over the world, sincerely going through their processes. That’s so amazing. And that was just one little school. There are so many schools, traditions, and yogis. The energy is here. It’s time to do this now.

Colleen: Yes—it feels like wherever we are, whether we’re in school or in the school of life, having to do the eight-to-five or whatever…

Matthew: It’s totally become eight-to-five, hasn’t it? It’s not nine-to-five anymore. Definitely eight-to-five these days.

Colleen: Twenty-four seven—the workdays are getting longer.

For me, it’s knowing I have a choice in any given challenge or stressful moment. I can either think, “Oh, I’ve got to make this better,” coming from a place of, “If I only have this, everything will be fine…”

Or—I have the freedom to say, “There’s a completeness I can come from.”

It’s like that third point you mentioned earlier with yoga. After feeling this, experiencing this, I can be knowing: "I come from this place."

And when I come from there, the matter could be resolved or not resolved, but I am embodying a state of peacefulness in that moment. From that state, I’m more useful to the people in my life. I function better.

Matthew: I drive the car better.

Colleen: Yes—the benefits are across the board.

Matthew: Exactly. And it comes back to the space of non-resistance.

And that’s the internal world—a space of not resisting what’s there. When we’re not resisting, all of a sudden we are in alignment with what’s happening. Whatever’s happening, then we can respond to it intelligently.

Or—we can just soak it up and enjoy the heck out of it, which is, 95 percent of the time, what’s called for.

Of course, there are times when we’re called to action. But if I make the decision to walk over and get water, then I should enjoy the walk over to get the water—and enjoy drinking the water.

We don’t need to pick up the phone, don’t need to be thinking about what’s next. That’s the state of living without resistance inside—because then the body’s online, and we’re able to be present and enjoy the journey from moment to moment.

Colleen: Enjoying the journey—yes. I know there are days when it’s like being on a boat, just sailing in the sun. There may be crazy stuff going on in the day, but it has a certain open, expansive feeling.

And then, the next day, I can notice something happening that’s really irritating me. And if I have the presence of mind to ask, “Why is that pissing me off so much?”—

Or, “Ooh, I don’t want to listen to that…”

Just the other day, I was here working on something and someone was talking on the phone. I didn’t like the tone. I could either say, “What’s going on with that person to have that tone of voice?”—and immediately this resistance comes up—or I could say, “Huh, I hope they feel better soon. I’m just going to close the door and turn on some music.”

It didn’t make any difference to the actual situation—except how I felt. I didn’t have to be wrangly toward the person with the tone, because that closes up my heart.

I’m sensing more and more—when I feel resistance coming up—what is my heart doing in that moment?

And obviously, if there’s some distressful situation going on, I need to leap in and take action. But I’m still learning.

Matthew: We all are.

Colleen: At least I’m starting to discern when I am in non-resistance—because it feels really peaceful and light. Resistance is not comfortable.

Acceptance and Spaciousness

Matthew: Yeah. Sometimes it’s not fun to notice our resistances. But I’d also love to affirm—that’s okay to not feel good.

Sometimes there are things we’re called to engage with, explore, and discover inside ourselves that don’t feel good—because we’ve created and held so much resistance for so long around certain aspects or experiences, and locked them away.

And so sometimes to get to that place of acceptance and spaciousness, there’s an unwinding that’s called for.

I remember—that started to happen really intensely for me after I got back from India that first time. They call them samskaras—emotional trends or grooves or blocks that want to start opening.

There were lots of releases, cries, fears for no reason. All of a sudden, I was seeing intensely through a lens of fear—especially around the concepts of good, bad, and evil.

I realized I’d had that locked in from when I was a kid in church, when they talked about the devil and evil. I formed this lens of trying to discern good and evil all day.

It was really just an intense emotional pocket I ’d stuffed somewhere in my body or consciousness.

That’s why I think it’s so important to have the courage to confront our resistances from a space of loving embrace.

Don’t expect them all to pop right away and go into bliss. Sometimes it’s intense—but that’s what spiritual warriors are here to do right now: to look at the truth, even in its dense spots, and help heal it through courageous embrace. To shine light on it through attention.

Colleen: Yeah. And also—those samskaras…

When you were talking about that, it reminded me of when I was physically giving birth. You have the contractions—they’re intense, they’re difficult.

And then, just before the baby is coming into the final stage of birth, there’s this time they call “transition.” You don’t know up from down, nothing makes sense, everything’s crazy. It’s the most awful feeling in one sense—except, the baby’s coming, so it’s okay.

Someone told me, “You’re going to go through this transition time, and it’s going to feel really unnerving at every level.”

That’s what happens before the baby’s born. And our being—our full expression of who we are in this body—is like a birth. We’re so different before and after.

It’s like we talked about at the beginning—stepping out of the black-and-white world into technicolor.

Matthew: Yep. It's so beautiful that you brought that up. That’s the process of transformation--to move into a space of awakening or, enlightenment's such a heavy word.

My teacher used to call it a neurobiological shift. It happens within ourselves first. We start to look at our resistances consciously. The witness consciousness is born more—we’re able to create space, to discern.

That breeds the cultivation ground for awareness of presence. As that comes online, literally the brain starts to change. The energetics, the intrinsic design of our chakras, our energy systems, our nadis—start to come back online.

It’s the caterpillar-to-butterfly effect. It's a big deal! It's not all pleasant, like giving birth, right?

Colleen: In the caterpillar becoming a butterfly, the caterpillar has to become mush—completely losing its past form.

Matthew: Exactly. I love that you said that.

That’s the unlearning process—the unlearning of resistance, of ideas, of identities. We can be so sure about something… but do we really know?

If we’re truly present, we must meet the moment in the unknown. That’s the state of the child, like Christ talked about—they don’t meet the world with identifications. They meet it within the realms of the unknown, then dream their experience from their heart’s joy.

Colleen: Whoa. There we go—dream your experience from your heart’s joy.

Matthew: We have to be “mushy” for that to happen. You don’t come in with a bunch of tools and ideas and plans. It’s tossing all that aside.

And it comes down to a space of surrender. The monks used to say—chakras from here up, it’s all about surrender. Down here, in the lower chakras, it’s individuality. We’re learning discernment, learning how to operate and use our will.

But up here—it’s “Thy will.” It’s trusting in a bigger intelligence we’re connected to.

EPILOGUE:

Thank you for joining us on this We Be the Change journey. Today, we explored the wisdom of embodiment—surrendering into what already is, without dressing up the mind with spiritual words.

I’m curious—what does non-resistance feel like in your day-to-day? How do you connect with "The Wisdom of Embodiment?" Feel free to respond in the comments section, or just drop me a note on SongRise.live.

Remember you can see more of Matthew Hara's content and offerings--including journaling prompts and supportive resources on the Bonus Content page at Songrise.LIVE and on his website at MatthewHara.com

Interested in continuing this conversation in a small group? Consider joining a "Continuing the Conversation" SuppGroup. 

To hear the above conversation as an audio podcast episode, simply click HERE.

We have a free eGuide you’ll enjoy, called Out of Your Mind, Into Your Light right here at SongRise.live.

Until next time, I wish you the blessings of walking rooted in the sacredness of your body. May you be in that feeling of coming home—with body, mind, and spirit in harmony—in that "unlearning experience" we call spiritual growth. 🙏🏽💗