The term Yuga comes from Hindu Philosophy and is the name of an epoch or era. Kali stands for darkness and/or destruction. According to the Hindu philosophy we are currently living in the Kali Yuga or the Age of Darkness. I see the Kali Yuga as a metaphor for the great disconnection we appear to be experiencing as individuals and as a collective. People in theory have never been more “connected” than at any other time in the history of the planet. Internet, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter allow us to glimpse into the lives of the rich and famous and stay in touch with our friends on the other side of the globe. The flip side of this is that you can go out to dinner with your mates and no one has anything to say because their heads are buried in their smart phones….

Loneliness and a sense of isolation appear to be on the rise in spite of more and more opportunities to connect than ever. This outer separation is a mirror of the inner separation that many individuals are experiencing in the modern world. And the beginnings of this inner separation arise from a disconnection to the body. How can I be disconnected from my body you may ask? The number of ways is mind boggling!

Every time you over work you disconnect from your body. Workaholism is epidemic in this era.

Every time you over exercise or choose an intensity of exercise that’s inappropriate for your unique requirements you disconnect from your body.

Every time you don’t bother to do any form of exercise /movement you disconnect from your body.

Every time you eat when you’re not really hungry you disconnect from your body.

Every time you use alcohol to numb a feeling of discomfort you disconnect from your body.

Every time you don’t stand up to that pesky boss or bully in the workplace you disconnect from your body.

Every time you swallow your hurt you disconnect from your body.

Every time you stay in a job, relationship or situation you Hate, you disconnect from your body.

Every time you eat food you don’t really like (dry chicken breast and steamed broccoli anyone….?) you disconnect from your body.

Every time you eat food that makes you feel sick afterwards (fast food etc.) you disconnect from your body.

Every time you avoid feeling your feelings you disconnect from your body.

We are living in a head based society. Logic dominates. Science scintillates.

Are relationships head based, logical mathematical equations? Or are they feeling based? Do you hang out with your mates for the feel good factor, the fun the banter the laughter? Or do you do it for a calculated logical reason?

The body is the realm of the feeling, knowing, being and perceiving world. You have to be present in your body in order to have access to this way of existing in the World.

Last summer I went to a three day convention looking at ways to bring more compassion into medicine. Many scientific studies were presented on how meditation affects the brain. The brain seems to be a seriously hot topic! Everyone and his Aunt is studying it right now. One of the most interesting pieces of research showed that Buddhist Monks who had the highest levels of experience and training in meditation had a much more profound emotional response in regions of the brain associated with the emotions on viewing traumatic images presented to them.

It turns out the more these monks turned down the volume of the thinking world; the more dynamically they entered the feeling world.

Your body is your cats’ whiskers. It lets you know through feeling what’s really going on.

Do I like my job? Headache every Monday morning …maybe not.

Do I like to hang out with this friend? Bloody exhausted after hanging out with her, maybe not?

Do I like pizza? Bloated belly, feel a little sick ….maybe not?

When you lead a head based life you are living in the age of darkness. When you live in your head you have no compassion for yourself let alone anybody else! If you were really in “your feeling” world you wouldn’t be able to harm the hair on another person’s head! It would be much too painful. My advice to you today is to STOP NUMBING OUT!

Never before have people been so disconnected from their bodies. In spite of all of our “knowledge” about how the body works. The Orthorexic is just as disconnected as the person who lives on takeaways, sweets and sugary drinks. If you are disconnected from your own body you are disconnected from yourself. All other relationships in your life will mirror this disconnection back to you in one way or another.

The light is on the horizon however. In Spiritual circles there is talk of a Golden Age. The return of the Divine Feminine…..the feeling world.

Get present in your body; feel your feelings and maybe you too could leave the darkness behind.