Embracing + Reclaiming Pleasure
How Allowing Yourself to Feel Pleasure Can Heal, Ground, and Transform Your Mind, Body, and Spirit
Pleasure is part of our humanity. Through intentional presence, we can connect to the power of pleasure through food, our own body and connection with other beings (including nature). Pleasure allows us to connect with the More that life has to offer. Pleasure is not trivial; it is the soil to our existential ground.
To be present with our pleasure we must first believe we are deserving of pleasure. And then we must relinquish judgement. Our pleasures, our desires, are part of us and cannot be banished. We can connect with our pleasure in a way that honours our boundaries & the boundaries of others.
Experiencing pleasure is being fully present in the receiving, focusing on each bodily sensation as it arises with open acceptance & curiosity. In food, this could be eating your favourite dish mindfully in an ambience that lights you up.
Witnessing pleasure is observing the Self as a “witness”, an intentional step back to have a birds eye view of the experience. In nature, we can zoom in and out of your place in the universe, reflecting on our simultaneous importance and insignificance.
Expressing pleasure is an intentional giving - to your Self, other beings, to the earth, emphasizing the reciprocal nature of pleasure. In your body, this could be a mindful shower, a self-massage with no distractions.
To be clear, a life made for pleasure is not one without suffering. On the contrary, a pleasure-filled life is met often with pain. But with the same posture as pleasure, being one of non-judgemental and acceptance, we can approach our suffering with the same intentional presence as we do our pleasure.
A life oriented for pleasure is one that prioritizes our needs, honours our boundaries, creates space for our voice and choice to be heard and respected. A life of pleasure should be grounded alongside personal values & ethics, not overshadowed by cultural expectations of how our lives should be lived. True freedom is living your life for you, because it is yours.
Deconstructing from an evangelical background, rapture has a specific, apocalyptic connotation but the essence of the word is actually describing a feeling of intense pleasure or joy.
The second coming has already come. It has metastasized within our very skin. Rapture, so aptly described in the holy books of lore, foretold of a Return of the Divine. But that moment came, long before Ascension. We are reminded throughout history that the Divine became Flesh, taught that our Bodies are Temples of the Spirit, that the Divine dwells within us, the Hope of Glory, the Namaste that the Divine in me sees and respects the Divine in You. Our Bodies are the second coming. To be Embodied, to be at Home within your Body, is Heavenly, it is Divine. The body is the site of transcendence.
Life is meant to be enjoyed. When we are raised in cultures that laud depravity, sacrifice and condemn desire, we cannot possibly taste all of Life. The esteem of depravity is often from a fear of being overtaken by Desire, but following Desire with integrity and authenticity forges a pathway into our Selves. Pleasure informs us of our boundaries, our preferences, our Purpose. Pleasure is a teacher that can snatch us out of our mundane reality to commune with the power of sheer bliss. -
What brings you into a state of pleasure ? 🤍🌙✌🏻
Pleasure exists in the body and is beyond it. Pleasure in the rain tapping the roof. Pleasure in the decadent food before you. Pleasure in the wind on your face. Pleasure is the laughter with friends, the late night rambles. Pleasure is the steam from your morning coffee and the exhale that comes when you set your persona aside.
Pleasure is about doing what feels good for you and making decisions that reflect your values. Ask your body, dialogue with yourself. Figure out what feels good and allow yourself to do that thing. Even more so, allow yourself to change your mind. We are complex, intricately wonderful beings and we are not stagnant. We grow, so allow yourself to grow. We can find our Self in the messy and the mundane, in the sacred and in the profane.
