While doing online research into the origins of "embodied trust," I came upon a blogpost by a colleague and friend: Rabbi Rachel Barenblat at Velveteen Rabbi. Her insights, reflections on scripture, poetry, and analysis of the always evolving Jewish traditions are edifying and enlightening. (For those who wish to know more, please see: https://velveteenrabbi.blogs.com) The post that caught my attention this time hails from 2007 entitled (wait for it...) embodied trust! Two observations have been particularly helpful
(https://velveteenrabbi.blogs.com/blog/2007/09/embodied-trust.html)
The classic example he offers is the crossing of the Sea of Reeds. In that moment of leaping, he writes (in his commentary on parashat Beshalach), the children of Israel trusted fully in the One, and therefore the holy spirit rested upon them and sang in them (this is a Hebrew pun -- שרתה / shartah, rested, relates aurally to שירה / shirah, song) and song burst forth not only from their lips but in their very limbs.
In my own contemplative Christian tradition, two new/old resources are taking on greater significance as I incrementally give attention to embodied trust. The first are the various body prayers that model the pilgrimage into incarnational trust while simultaneously training our flesh to trust the unforced rhythms of grace: making the sign of the Cross at the start and close of meditation, lighting candles and incense while touching prayer beads, speaking and/or chanting my prayers, bowing, kneeling, feasting and fasting, praying with my eyes with icons, receiving and sharing Eucharist. Each and all of these resources prefiguratively celebrate trusting the sacred beyond the confines of abstract thought.
+ Chanting the Psalms, The Reverend Cynthia Bourgeault, New Seeds Books, 2007.
+ First, she notes that in the Jewish tradition there are three discrete yet inter-related types of elemental trust: the trusting mind, the trusting heart, and the trusting body. The Hebrew word, emanuh, includes each of these aspects with "the highest of these is emunat ha-evarim, trusting with one's limbs, where deep trust penetrates every fibre of one's being." The wise rabbi notes that "Rabbi Shalom Noah Barzovsky, the previous Slonimer Rebbe" teaches that:
+ Second, many of us are inclined to trust the sacred with our hearts - and our minds can be trained "through contemplation and study." But how do you help your flesh, blood, and limbs move through the day knowing/trusting/resting in the steadfast love of the Lord which endures forever? She suggests that ripening into this type of trust is a slow work that is always in progress.
Having been raised in the ways of New England congregationalism, where just a small wooden cross on the communion table of the Sanctuary was once considered idolatrous, has meant investigating the time-tested body prayers of the larger Christian realm independently. Like many little, white suburban children of the 50's, I learned the Lord's Prayer and "now I lay me down to sleep..." and that's about it. My dad came from an intellectual, Unitarian Scottish family while my mom was rooted in the world of working class Irish folk with both Catholic and Protestant roots. We started attending the Congregational Church in Connecticut as a compromise of sorts when I was in second grade but learning about prayer was not a strong point. As a professional colleague much later used to say: "Back in those days, worship in the Congregational church meant a song, a poem and a book report!"
I didn't know much about the physicality of prayer until a born-again, evangelical language instructor in Costa Rica told me that she continued to make the sign of the Cross during prayer from her Catholic days as a way of connecting to Jesus. This was frowned upon by the Protestant missionaries who arrogantly wanted to convert her from what they considered her quasi-pagan past, but she suggested it was a ritual of love. And that was ALL the permission I needed to start exploring the liturgical wisdom of both Eastern Orthodoxy and mystical Western Roman Catholicism. The physicality of these prayers felt like home to me. After an extended hiatus, I'm once again rediscovering these tools as guides into yet another encounter with embodied trust. Using all of my senses - including a return to Christian hatha yoga - resonates with every part of my being. These resources have been helpful:
+ An Invitation to Christian Yoga, The Reverend Nancy Roth, Cowley Publications, 2001.
+ Pray All Ways and Prayers for the Domestic Church, Fr. Ed Hays, Forest of Peace Books, 2007.
+ "How to Pray with Anglican Prayer Beads", Unspoken Elements blog @ https://www.unspokenelements.com/pages/how-to-use-anglican-prayer-beads
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