Embodied Enlightenment: Living Your Awakening in Every Moment

by Amoda Maa Jeevan, John Welwood (Foreword)

In Embodied Enlightenment, contemporary spiritual teacher Amoda Maa dispels the outdated view of a transcendent enlightenment and instead presents a new, feminine expression of awakened consciousness for all—one that is felt and known through what our everyday lives are made of: our emotions, bodies, intimate relationships, work, and life’s purpose. This book is a direct invitation to awaken in a profound, embodied way, and to participate in a collective evolution that can create a new world.

When many of us think of enlightenment, we may envision a life of seclusion and contemplation, transcending the body and worldly attachments, or the achievement of karmic perfection. But what if, rather than something reserved for the mountaintop meditator or sage, the call to awaken is meant for us all? And how can we consciously live that awakening in the midst of our complex, messy, modern lives?

Speaking from her own awakened experience, Amoda Maa offers a timeless wisdom, busting some of the common myths about enlightenment and addressing topics often excluded from more traditional spiritual conversations—from the connection between consciousness and the body to relationships to planetary health. In addition, she covers the unfamiliar territory of what happens after enlightenment, delving into awakened action, creative expression, and more.

There’s an urgency today to evolve beyond humanity’s current ego-based paradigm, and along with it, a unique expression of embodied enlightenment is emerging. With clarity, passion, and grace, Fully Awake, Fully Human invites you on an exploration of consciousness that embraces both the messiness of your earthly experience and the non-duality of pure awareness, offering guidance on how your daily life can bring you into alignment with a divine destiny of individual and collective awakening.

Genres: Spirituality, Nonfiction

264 pages, Paperback

Published June 1, 2017

Reviews

[Linda Bullock · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a joy to be able to delve into Amoda's new book. It is obvious the amount of time and thoughtfulness that she has placed in to this latest writing. In Embodied Enlightenment, we are reminded that we are all capable of finding that peace and wholeness that is always present in ourselves. Amoda is able to articulate that although we may experience awakenings very differently the real challenge is to continuously check-in with ourselves when the old stories reappear. And reappear they do!
For me, chapter 6, Your Role in the Birth of a New Humanity, was so relevant in today's world. "The responsibility of change lies within each of us." The challenge must be met daily and with love as the key component.
It was a joy to read this new writing by Amoda and the book has become a part of my spiritual library.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Confession: I don't think I'm possibly the typical person this book was written for, but a couple of years ago I had an unusual experience lasting only a few seconds (perhaps a temporary 'awakening' experience) that has permanently changed my perspective on life. This book speaks to my experience in the aftermath, while also criticising a lot of the BS that is written about enlightenment. I've found it very confirming and encouraging in terms of what I have been going through.

[Kavi Jezzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exceptional exploration of the cutting edge of modern spirituality. Amoda has embarked on the difficult task of talking about how awakening, or enlightenment, impacts the day to day living of us all, which really means bringing it into the market place of relationships, work, money and so on.
A frank and yet inspiring conversation.

[Magdelanye · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the biggest obstacles to an integrated spirituality is...spiritual bypassing -the widespread tendency to use spiritual ideas and practices to avoid facing unresolved emotional issues, psychological wounds, or unfinished developmental tasks. This often shows up as...premature transcendence: the attempt to rise above the raw and messy side of our humanness before really facing it and embracing it. from the introduction p vii

If you are ready to take the next step on your spiritual adventure, this book is a kick-ass spiritual self-starter. Amoda Ma takes no prisoners but sets about unlocking the mind shackles that bind us to our story and our ideas about who we are and what we have come to believe.

Are you willing to allow all structures of self-protection to be destroyed so that you can discover what it is to be truly indestructible....without the safety net of any story....are you ready to discover what remains when everything false in you dies? p132

Maybe not just yet.
Soaring in the heights, it can be fatal to look down.
Ungrounded, clinging to select illusions, it is easy to become disorientated, even more unbalanced by excess baggage stowed in the shadows. With a tender ruthlessness, AM encourages the timid heart to open to what is. "The relief happens because you surrender." she assures us p186

You are simply the open space through which loves flows....This love has nothing to do with being ...or acting in any particular way. It is an invisible emanation of light. p155

You cannot package this love and keep it for yourself. p161

Like a lot of the statements in this challenging work, what struck me at first as rather far fetched, when I thought about it, seemed as as good an explanation as any as to why some people seem to sparkle and radiate, like AM herself. If you are attracted to the calm centre of stillness, you may find her approach gratifying to the senses we tend to overlook. AM speaks to our spiritual anxiety, our penchant for suffering, and if she sometimes seems harsh, it may be called for.

The shadow is a representation of everything you hold in unforgiveness: places where you refuse to let go....These are the grievances (such as resentment, regret, blame and self-righteousness) that uphold the scaffolding of "me" . p170

There is no personal investment, agenda, or ownership, just an honest response to the way life wants to move through you. p 160

The invitation is to relax into the core of what is present here and now and discover for yourself what remains when all appearances disappear into the lightness of being, p169

not what you eat but how you eat it p183
not what you seek, but the reason you seek it p185

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over the last decade or so, a couple of major undercurrents have been surfacing in contemporary spirituality. One is a movement away from the more detached, world-denying (or “masculine”) traditional forms of spirituality towards a more all-inclusive, life-affirming (or “feminine”) form. The other is an understanding that we are currently living in a time of accelerated spiritual evolution, and that the very survival of our species may depend on our cooperation with this urgent evolutionary imperative. Regardless of where you stand on these issues, you will not find them articulated anywhere more eloquently or compellingly than in Amoda Maa’s highly readable new book, Embodied Enlightenment. For Amoda Maa, these are not mere theoretical issues, but represent a hard-won wisdom forged in the crucible of a challenging life that included sexual abuse, warfare, homelessness, illness, and suicidal depression. Her central message is that it is by fully embracing ─ rather than rising up above ─ whatever life brings us that the doorway to liberation is unlocked. While she glowingly describes the unbounded freedom of the awakened life, she also pulls no punches in detailing the subtle and not-so-subtle ego traps that can sideline you anywhere along the spiritual path, and insists on ruthless honesty in confronting them. She describes her book as “an invitation and conversation” to consider all aspects of human life in the context of spiritual exploration, but this book is also a mirror held up to the reader reflecting back both our self-imposed limitations and our inherent freedom.

[Kent Pelz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an important book because it provides a current summary of the status of the unfolding of human enlightenment. In the past, a few spiritually dedicated people found the "peace that passes all understanding". Now Amoda makes a strong case for the availability of spiritual enlightenment for many, many people, including those with no particular spiritual background or intention of becoming enlightened. It appears a paradigm shift is taking place in the world, bringing forward many more humans who are having an enlightenment experience. For those intentionally seeking higher states of consciousness, this book is "must" reading. Amoda writes of the methods and conditions that seem to best lead to such enlightenment. I found the book both spiritually inspiring and a practical, day-to-day instruction guide. I have read many, many spiritual books for years, going all the way back to Ram Dass's "Be Here Now", and Amoda's book ranks with the best I have read on the subject of enlightenment.

[Chelsea Lawson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started this book a couple of years ago and put it down and then rediscovered it recently and appreciated it much more this time around. The premise is that people tend to think of enlightenment as transcending daily living, and this book recasts it as more leaning in to life. It read as kind of a meditation for me. Some ideas and phrases I liked:
- Think of all your actions as being in service to yourself and to humanity (and I would add your loved ones)
- “The silence in me meets the silence in you”

[Grete · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: I received a copy for free in exchange for an honest review.

This is a slow read that requires concentration to get through. Not slow as in boring, just challenging. I appreciate the author calling BS on some more traditional thoughts on "enlightenment." The message I took away from this was to take charge and responsibility of your own life and then work on letting go of everything. Then you'll be freed up to answer your calling, such as it may be.

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is touching on something so deep and subtle, something that is right here in the grasp of every day people looking for clues to be the best they can be. What Amoda Maa has done is create a language and conversation, if you will, that makes this subtle knowing tangible and with in your grasp; a way for each and evry one to be a living light here on earth.

[Janiene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent frank narrative of going through an awakening, including some of the pitfalls that cause someone to fall short. This is definitely not an entry level book for someone on what it might be like, but more an intimate account that would be most valued by someone actively engaged in their own awakening experience.

[Sheila Pritchard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent! A lovely combination of depth and "down to earth-ness". Just what is needed.

[Tena · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this in a GOODREADS giveaway -- Embodied Enlightenment: Living Your Awakening in Every Moment by Amoda Maa -- a little too intense for me.. I will update when I can think more on it....