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Excerpted from the book Astrology Is Real




Many spiritual teachers make statements like “I am not my body” or “This body is not me.”

I revolt and protest. I recoil and denounce. This creepy dismissal is an insult and disparagement. It demeans our bodies’ magnificent beauty and besmirches our bodies’ sublime role in educating our souls.

I agree that we are not only our bodies. I concur that a key part of us is eternal, lives free of earthy limitations, and is spread throughout the interconnected web of life—not just trapped in solitary boundaried form.

But hell yes, I am my body. It’s a glorious and intrinsic facet of my identity. It’s a miraculous creation that has taken millions of years to evolve into the masterpiece it is now.

So yes, I am my body and yes, this body is me. I adore my body. I am in awe of it. I am delighted to be united with it.

I will also suggest that you are your body, and your body is you. You love your body. You are in awe of it. You are delighted to be united with it.
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Inflamed by these resplendent facts, I offer the following exhortations:

Let’s free our bodies to be as real as anything ever created. Let’s be brave and dynamic, graceful and daring, as we sanctify our impossibly marvelous, unfathomably intelligent bodies.

Let’s praise our sacred bodies. Thank our blessed bodies. Tell our righteous bodies we revere their uncanny majesty. Say we yearn to learn their heavenly secrets. We promise to treat them as our beloved allies, our sacred treasures, our splendorous possessions.

No shame, no apology: We will be in awe of our body’s staggering power to endlessly carry out the millions of chemical reactions that keep us alive and thriving.

How can we not be overwhelmed with veneration for our hungry, resourceful, unpredictable bodies?

Let’s study our bodies’ abracadabra. Exult in the bounties they stream forth every second. Celebrate their boisterous animal elegance.