Physical Body + Energetic Body
12 practices
Written by Desmond Olubunmi · Founder of Sunya
The body is not a thing apart from your inner life — the two are woven together. The way you hold your body shapes how you feel, how you perceive, and how your energy moves: a collapsed, slumped frame dampens the whole system, while an open, upright one lets it flow freely. Tension in the body is tension in the mind; rigidity in the body is contraction in the energy.
The body, you might say, is the inner state made visible — so to change the body is to change the state. Movement reaches several layers of you at once. The most obvious is the body: conscious movement — yoga, stretching, walking, tai chi, or free dance — releases the rigidity the body stores, restores circulation, and loosens the spine, the central axis through which everything flows.
But the same movement reaches deeper, into the energy. As the body opens, the pathways open with it, and the life force begins to circulate and rise — for where the body is stiff and held, the channels are crimped and the energy stagnates; where the body is fluid and open, the life force flows.
And as the body moves, it lets go of what it has been holding — the fear, the tension, the old residue lodged in the muscles — and the mind and emotions ease with it. There is a deeper truth beneath this. Rigidity is the body’s form of holding on — defending, resisting, clenching against life. Fluidity is the body’s form of surrender — yielding, adapting, flowing like water.
So to free the body is, quite literally, to practise surrender in physical form; and a body trained to move like water becomes a system through which the life force, and consciousness itself, can move unobstructed.
Movement does three things for the system, and the practices that follow are built around them: it releases what is stuck (freeing the body of stored tension and contraction), it circulates the life force (moving it freely through the opened pathways), and it builds structure (a strong, grounded body that can hold a great deal of energy without strain).
What follows are the practices — from gentle warm-ups to a full whole-body session and the ecstatic dance, along with a handful of held postures and seals.
releasing held tension
The most accessible practice of all, and a fine place to begin: you tense each part of the body in turn, then let it go — teaching the body, by contrast, the felt difference between holding and releasing. Especially good when the body feels far more tense than the mind feels restless.
Pawanmuktasana
the preliminary
The simplest warm-up of all, and the minimum before any deeper practice: a slow rotation through every joint in the body, finishing at the neck. Safe for anyone.
the full mobility practice
The complete mobility practice: a structured sequence that works the joints, frees the neck, fortifies the spine, and balances the system with the breath. Where the Joint Rotations are the quick minimum, this is the full version.
freeing the central axis
A focused sequence for loosening the spine — the central axis along which the life force rises. Moving the spine through its three natural directions — folding, twisting, and bending to the side — releases the compression of daily life and opens the central channel.
the complete arc
A complete whole-body session — the full arc of the Movement practice in a single sitting. It moves from opening the deep roots of the pelvis through awakening the spine, into a flowing dynamic sequence and balancing postures, then unwinds in floor work, and closes with the Great Seal. The other practices each serve a focused purpose; this one brings them together.
Using spontaneous, non-linear movement to dissolve the separate self through the body — bypassing the analytical mind entirely and opening the channels that structured practice cannot reach. It is also the most direct expression of Lila (divine play) — moving not as a technique, but as pure, unguarded aliveness.
Padmasana / Siddhasana
The foundation of all seated practice — a stable, self-contained base that holds the energy in and channels it upward.
Malasana
The body’s original resting position — a natural release for the lower spine and a direct connection to the ground.
Child’s Pose)
The geometry of complete surrender — using the body to enact what the mind is being asked to do.
Savasana
Total integration — the most important position in the practice.
Gyan Mudra / Chin Mudra
A simple, stabilising loop that focuses the mind and redirects the flow of energy.
Adi Mudra
A grounding, stabilising seal — the primordial hand position of the human being.