Sensuality of Being, Portal to Creation
Embodiment has been on my mind a lot—I recently shared my own journey to embodiment and mentioned reveling in the sensuality of life. This article will expand upon the concept and experience of sensuality, and hopefully offer a new understanding of surrendering to the pleasure of life.
I love the topic of sensuality. It feels a little taboo because it’s so intricately linked to sexuality, but to believe that sensuality is only sexual in nature is a disservice. Sexuality is innately sensual, but everything we do is sensual.
Sensuality is defined as “the enjoyment, expression, or pursuit of physical pleasure” and “the condition of being pleasing or fulfilling to the senses.” Sensuality is the literal enjoyment of the senses. And to enjoy the senses is to be alive. This is living in the body, the first step to being embodied.
When we are stuck in our heads, we deprive ourselves of the sensuality of being. When we are trying to escape our body, consciously and unconsciously, we deprive ourselves of the sensuality of being. To be sensual is to find the edge of pleasure in everything.
I think most humans have it a little backwards, pleasure is the whole point of being physically incarnated (that and to evolve our consciousness). It sounds hedonistic, but we are made for pleasure, we live for pleasure. Seriously, just think about it. What is more satisfying than pleasure?
Modern society seems to be removed from pleasure… or I should say, seeking pleasure is seen as sinful. We feel that we must deny ourselves pleasure to uphold our part in society. This is twofold. One one hand, we see “chasing” pleasure as a rat race. This has truth, to always be in a chasing state denies joy of the present moment, as we’re always seeking the next thing. On the other hand, pleasure (or lack of pain) is the reward that motivates everything we do.
And not just physical pleasure, we derive pleasure from many sources, whether that be the excitement of mental pursuits, the joy of seeing something beautiful or pleasing to the eye, or even the dopamine hits from feeling positive emotions or scrolling on social media. Pleasure is the reason we do things, we are wired for pleasure. Conversely, we also act out of fear, or in the avoidance of punishment, in which neutrality is the perceived pleasure, the relief. Any reward is tied to pleasure.
From the neuroscience perspective:
“Pleasure is mediated by well-developed mesocorticolimbic circuitry, and serves adaptive functions. Human neuroimaging studies indicate that surprisingly similar circuitry is activated by quite diverse pleasures, suggesting a common neural currency shared by all. Wanting for rewards is generated by a large and distributed brain system. Liking, or pleasure itself, is generated by a smaller set of hedonic hotspots within limbic circuitry. Those hotspots also can be embedded in broader anatomical patterns of valence organization, such as in a keyboard pattern of nucleus accumbens generators for desire versus dread.”
(Pleasure systems in the brain, Berridge and Kringelbach 2016)
If we’re already wired this way, we may as well understand it. Why not explore the edges and depths of pleasure?
Which leads me to ask: how do we increase our pleasure? And answer: through sensuality, through indulging in the senses.
Experiencing Sensuality
To be alive is to be a sensual being. You may not feel it all the time—we are encouraged to live from the head, fully disconnected from the universe that is happening within. Not only are our bodies antennas for energy/frequency/vibration, but they are also the housing unit through which we experience everything in this lifetime. We are intrinsically tied to our body, no matter how much we love or hate it. And, to be of the body is to be tied to this five-sense reality. Everything physically incarnated is beholden to the senses. We must be, that is how we survive.
But past survival, there is much pleasure to be derived from the senses. I ask you, for just a moment, ponder how sensual life is. Think about the shapes and curves of everything natural, the array of colors and exquisite dimensions. Think about scents: the kitchen while cooking, walking in the desert during monsoon season, the perfume of your lover. Think about how different textures feel on your skin, like silk and cotton and wool and fur and leather. Think about how enjoyable it is to taste food and drink: your favorite meal, a glass of wine, dessert. Think about the beauty of sound, composed music or the orchestra of the rainforest or the sound of your breath and heartbeat.
WE ARE SENSUAL.
We are just distracted, and we forget to tune into the aliveness of the present moment.
Because it’s my favorite example, think specifically about nature. Nature is so sensual, magnetizing you to bask in her energy. The moon illuminating everything in the night sky. The siren call of the ocean, begging you to dip into her abyss. The sunrise over the distant mountains, lighting the sky and pulsing through the city, begging it to awaken. Or sunsets in vibrant hues of orange and pink, kissing the streets and distant monuments with the last glow of the day. Think about the presence of mountains, the original giants, and basking in their ginormous majesty, stable and solid, unmoving.
This is erotic energy of creation, sensual in simply being.
And, let’s not forget about self. Do you ever notice how enthralling the human body is? A microcosm of the macro Mother Earth and the universe. What’s more natural than the human body? Take a moment to notice and appreciate the human form and all its unique shapes, curves, and angles.
Take a moment to actually notice the beauty of your body. Not through a sexual lens, but a sensual one. Like the swell of your hips or roundness of thighs, the delicate nature of hands and wrists, the swoop of your neck and collarbone, the gentle uplift of your breasts or muscles and tendons along your back. Notice all the curves, the unique energy in which you move, the grace you carry each time you move your body.
And, outside of what’s natural, think about the creations of humans. For example, architecture in its precise and intentional placement. Or, the structure and efficiency of roads. One of the great things about living in Phoenix is the grid system—all streets perfectly parallel… stretching the expanse of the desert. Order created out of seeming chaos.
And there’s beauty in the observation of this too. Beauty in living in close quarters with other humans… seeing and hearing their mess, shared lives outside of direct contact and impact. How about making new connections that transcend just senses—humans are a social species and we gather to celebrate and mourn and just because. And don’t get me started on art… unique interpretations of what is felt and seen. Or even dreams, which can feel so sensationally real, begging the senses to come alive even in sleep, the little death we experience each night.
Pleasure can be derived from everything around us. The key is perception. Can you see how this too is a pathway to enlightenment?
Sensing the Senses
So, we’ve covered the physicality of the senses… now let’s discuss the energetics.
For this, let’s turn our attention inward. Think about the microcosm of the universe happening within you. Can you feel your heart beating, your pulse throbbing? Or the deep intakes of breath that swell your belly and chest, and the soft sigh of your exhales, naturally releasing tension and heat.
How about how your stomach feels when you’re hungry? Which is a very different sensation than the butterflies of anticipation or a pit of anxiety or even nausea. This too is a layer of embodiment that’s beholden to the senses.
And, what about the sensation of emotions transmuting through your body? The rash flush of anger, the slow burn of lust, the elated lightness of joy, the heavy stiffness of sorrow… these too are all sensed through the body… subtly and energetically.
From not being embodied for most of my life, I now understand how overwhelming the senses can be. Being in the body can frequently feel unsafe. It can be easier to distract the mind than to feel into the complexity of what’s happening inside. Think of all the times you were told not to feel something, or that your emotions were too big or uncontainable.
Further, think about all the stimulation happing all the time. We’re constantly being inundated with inputs and energy from all around. We’re always receiving information from everything around us, whether we’re interacting with it or its just in our vicinity. Think about a time you felt the mood shift in a room or the energetic nuances of stepping into a new place. How the electricity in the air makes your skin feel alive… or maybe like it’s crawling with energy.
When we think of the body as an antenna that constantly receives energetic inputs, we understand that the mind tunes into the frequencies it deems important. This leaves us ignoring 99% of all input. Or if you’re sensitive to the input, maybe you distract yourself from feeling the full force of information. This can be physically manifested through fidgeting or seeking distraction from the present moment.
I recognize this within myself. Sometimes there are so many things going on, I actually need to ground myself into my body by creating more sensation in my hands to override the other sensual inputs around me. Any time I find myself fidgeting with my fingers, I ask myself, what am I seeking distraction from?
These are all examples of bringing awareness to everything that is already happening. Like exposure therapy, with practice we have access to more input without the overwhelm. When the brain becomes aware of the extra sensory inputs, we have access to more data that informs our actions, behaviors, and understanding of the world around us.
Without making nuanced meaning out of everything, we can generally understand that sensuality is simply the personal interplay of energy. In simple terms, what on the outside is creating physical sensations and what on the inside is moving or alive. Awareness enables us to tap into the aliveness of our life force energy.
The Energy of Sensuality
When we talk about this creative life force energy, the Sanskrit term Shakti comes to mind. In Taoism, this would be referred to as chi or qi. Shakti literally translates to energy, force, or power, and is described as the feminine essence… the energetic contained within the physical manifestation (of the container, which would be masculine). Removing the duality of gender, Shakti is the fundamental creative energy that creates universes, creates matter, creates physical energy. Shakti is the dance of the cosmos, the energy that pulses through the heart of all living things, the breath of life (prana).
If we’re aware of the living energy within us, we can start to imagine how to move and manipulate it. We can further understand the transmission of this energy through the body by understanding nadis and chakras. The chakras are the seven main energy centers in the body (root, sacral, solar plexus, heart, throat, third eye, and crown). Think of them like spinning wheels, always moving energy through the nadis, which are the pathways energy travels. Chinese medicine refers to these as meridians.
This seems far removed from sensuality… how did we get here? Well, a deeper layer of embodiment, which is innately sensual, is being able to pick up on these subtle energies within. These are pathways of communication within the body. This is how we start to recognize different energetic signatures when they enter our field. This is how we become adept at recognizing what is moving through us so that we can transmute it.
Transmutation is critical, and we do it all the time. As an example, think about moving through grief or anger. The initial pulse of the emotion can be overwhelming, destabilizing, maybe even physically felt. For me, it can feel all-consuming, like there is nothing outside of this emotion. Maybe I feel the need to cry or scream or run up the side of a mountain—my body is asking me to physically work through moving the energy. After some time, the intensity fades, I no longer feel like crying or running, and the emotion has literally run its course through me. Here is where the transmutation takes place, I can choose to sit in the emotion longer than it is calling me to (living in the melodrama of it all) or I can alchemize it to another octave. This can be done through reflective thought, such as asking probing questions like what is my anger trying to teach me.
I used these as examples, because they are the in-your-face emotional expressions that we all experience from time to time. In a sense, they’re unrefined in their expression. If we have awareness around the big emotions, we can start to create awareness around the more subtle sensations and energetics that take place within us. And eventually, we can start to play with this energy, or use it to empower our expression.
This is the less glamorous side of sensuality. Now let’s get to the fun stuff.
Dance is the Manifestation of Sensual Creation
One common thread through all this is movement. Whether we’re talking about nature and its changing seasons, or the roller coaster of a big emotion, or changes in outside stimulation and energetic awareness, nothing stays still or exactly the same. That’s what makes this a lifelong journey of embodiment.
This brings me to recommending curious exploration through dance.
If you know me, you know that I love dancing. I frequently go to ecstatic dances and attend live music. Even when I hear the quietest beat, I can’t help but to immediately start moving. My body feels the energy and wants to move with it and through it.
Dance is medicine. It doesn’t matter what you look like, it’s a practice of becoming fluid with the energy around you. To dance fluidly, you must feel the body and let the energy of the beat or rhythm move you. Which makes dance a beautiful practice in exploring your energy. By sharing your sensual expression and getting curious about all the things you feel, you can start to move your body in a carefree way. Through dance, we manifest displayed sensuality, letting us share our unique expression and experience with the world.
Osho offers a beautiful perspective on the sacredness of dance:
“Dance is one of the deepest meditations possible. Because in the dance you dissolve: the dancer disappears and only the dance remains.
In India we have conceived of God as the dancer, Nataraj. That’s very significant, because when a painter paints, immediately he becomes separate from the painting. If the painting remains in his being, he is one with it. When it is yet hidden, just a seed, just a thought, a dream, then the painter is one with his painting. The moment he has painted it, poured it on the canvas, he has become separate from it. Duality has arisen. So it is the case with the poet, so it is the case with the musician.
Only the dancer has something unique; the dancer remains one with the dance. Even when he starts dancing, the unity is not broken, there is no duality. Utter oneness… There is no dancer separate from the dance, no dance separate from the dancer…
God is a dancer. That means he has not painted the world; otherwise he would have become separate from it. It is not his poetry; it is not his music. It is his dance. He is in it, he is it—right this very moment, these green trees, and the sun pouring its gold through them, and the call of the bird, and you here sitting in silence, just being with me for no particular reason, just enjoying this moment, this silence. This is it.”
-Osho, The Secret
So, how does this relate to sensuality? We’ve switched topics to God and duality. Simply, dance is the union of energy and being. Through dance, we realize that we are the creator and creation. Outside of the religious context, when Osho speaks of God as a dancer, he’s speaking to the deeper embodiment of Being. This is represented within you. Dance is a way we can access our inner god. And this is more pleasurably realized through the sensuality of the experience.
Most people don’t realize the power of movement in relation to energy and Being. Dance creates portals of energy, dance transcends the need for translation. The act is above logical description.
The depth of embodiment makes dance all the more sacred of an act. Through dance we experience experiencing movement. We are both the masterpiece and the creator. We encompass it all. We are it. Dancing is the dissolving of duality between thought and being, mind and body.
I frequently find that movement offers me this presence. For I am one with the movement. I am both moving and the creator of the movement… all the while observing the movement.
For this reason alone, movement is so important to spiritual advancement. Think of the different level of consciousness that you are occupying while playing all these parts! We are constantly wearing different masks, operating as different beings within consciousness evolution. We all have a part we constantly play. And to play it fully is indulging in the sensuality of life.
Displaying Sensuality
And coming full circle, I must make note of the active display of sensuality… this is where sexuality and sensuality start to become acquainted.
Again, dance is a perfect practice for this. And the most ostentatious example I can think of is remembering the first time I went to a strip club. It was so interesting to observe the different displays of sensual energy. Everyone was striking and on, in the sense of peacocking, but some dancers captivated the entire room while others barely turned heads. And physical beauty didn’t make a big difference. There were deeper energetics of embodiment at play, of embodying so much magnetism, that people couldn’t help but to look.
The evidence of this experience, and seemingly lack of correlation between attractiveness and ability to pole dance vs. casually dance around on stage, reaffirmed my belief that dance is the communion between creation and sensuality. The girlies that get it, get it.
This brings us to the conversation of overtly sharing energy. Similar to dance, the act of displaying energy is never removed from the actor. And the act is sacred and powerful—it’s the manifestation of creator energy. To intertwine energy, to use your magnetism to pull people into your field should be done in reverence—it is a gift to share your energy.
Subtle transmission of energy is always happening all around. With awareness, we can access this energy more intelligently. And we all have access to this inner magnetizing energy. It’s the same display of energy I observe when I watch myself in the mirror, playing with my own creative life force energy.
I challenge you to get curious about your energy and your sensuality. What does it feel like to truly be alive? What does it feel like to display your aliveness and share it with others?
Thank you for reading! There is so much to talk about when it comes to embodiment and sensuality. I feel like I barely scratched the surface with this one.
If you would like to explore embodiment further, connect with me on Instagram @SoulfulMadi. This is where I post about yoga classes, embodiment workshops, women’s retreats, and more!
I would love to hear your thoughts on sensuality and experience with embodiment in the comments.
With love,
Madison