Embodied Enlightenment: Living Your Awakening in Every Moment

by Amoda Maa, Amoda Maa Jeevan, John Welwood (Foreword by)

Overview

In Embodied Enlightenment, contemporary spiritual teacher Amoda Maa Jeevan dispels the outdated view of a transcendent enlightenment and instead presents a new, feminine expression of awakened consciousness for all—one that is felt and known through what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 Jeevan 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 enlightenment is emerging. With clarity, passion, and grace, Embodied Enlightenment 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781626258396
Publisher:	New Harbinger Publications
Publication date:	06/01/2017
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Amoda Maa is a contemporary spiritual teacher, author, and speaker. After years of spiritual seeking, meditation, and immersion in psychospiritual practices, an experience of the dark night of the soul led her to a profound inner awakening. Then, after a long period of integration, she began speaking from silence in small gatherings. She offers meetings and retreats, and is a frequent speaker at conferences and events, attracting spiritual seekers and people looking for peace and fulfillment in an increasingly chaotic world. Her teachings are free of religion and tradition, and she brings to them a deep understanding of the human journey, born out of her own experience.

Amoda Maa is author of Radical Awakening (formerly How to Find God in Everything) and Change Your Life, Change Your World, both of which arose out of a mystical vision around the time of her awakening. In this vision, she was shown the key to humanity’s suffering and the potential for the birth of a new consciousness and world. Embodied Enlightenment is based on both her vision for humanity and the conversations on the cutting edge of spiritual inquiry in her meetings with people from all around the world. She lives with her husband and beloved, Kavi, in California. To learn more, visit http://www.amodamaa.com.

Foreword writer John Welwood, PhD, is a psychotherapist, author, and teacher specializing in the integration of Eastern spiritual wisdom and Western psychology. His books include Journey of the Heart, Perfect Love, Imperfect Relationships, and Toward a Psychology of Awakening.

Table of Contents

Foreword vii

Prologue: My Story of Awakening ix

Introduction: An Invitation to the Most Precious Discovery 1

Participation in the Awakening Process 5

The Purpose of This Book 7

How to Read This Book 11

Are You Willing to Say Yes? 12

Part 1 A New Consciousness and A New World

1 Evolutionary Darkness and the Birth of Light 17

Radical Times 17

A New Evolutionary Impulse 20

Evolving Beyond Ego 25

The World Is as We See It 31

The Paradox of Reality 34

2 The Feminine Face of Awakening 39

Is Awakeness Beyond Gender? 39

The Miracle of Birth and the Power of Collaboration 43

The Role of Women in Spiritual Leadership 45

Part 2 Fully Awake and Fully Human

3 The Shedding of Egoic Identification 51

The Inner Revolution 51

Healing the Primal Wound 55

Telling the Truth 59

Falling into the Abyss of Being 62

The Myth of Enlightenment 65

Integrating the Shadow and Allowing Support 69

Does the Ego Die? 71

4 Deepening Into Being 75

The End of Seeking 75

Living as Silence 77

Is Meditation Necessary? 80

Devotion to This Moment 82

5 Beyond Awakening, Embracing the World 85

Spiritual Maturity and the Three Stages of Awakening 85

Compassion: The Heart of Reality 90

The Power of Forgiveness 92

Love in Action 95

6 Your Role In the Birth of a New Humanity 101

Heaven on Earth 101

An Unconditional Relationship to Life 105

The Embodiment of Awakening 108

Part 3 Living the Truth Of Awakening In Everyday Life

7 Looking For Wholeness Through Another 117

The Willingness to Expose the Truth of Relationship 117

The Myth of the Special Relationship 119

The Fallacy of Seeking Love 123

Beyond Love and Hate 126

The Gift of Heartbreak When Relationship Ends 128

Fear of Aloneness 133

Falling in Love With Yourself 138

8 Love and Enlightened Relationship 141

Spirituality as an Excuse to Avoid Intimacy 141

The True Purpose of Relationship 143

Relationship as Spiritual Practice 144

Meeting Each Other in Openness 147

The Direct Path of Naked Truth 149

From Conscious Relationship to Enlightened Relationship 151

When the Silence in You Meets the Silence in Another 154

Beyond Sex 157

9 The Body as A Gateway To Liberation 163

The Error of Ignoring the Body in Spiritual Inquiry 163

Discovering the Luminosity of Being Present in the Body 166

Purification of the Body-Temple 169

Cellular Enlightenment 174

The Art of Conscious Eating 179

Dissolving Addictions 184

Meeting Pain, Illness, and Death 189

Living Lightly on the Earth 194

10 Work, Money, and Living Your True Purpose 197

What Happens After Awakening? 197

Awakening to Your Life's Purpose 200

The Courage to Live Selflessly 205

Transforming Work from Burden to Joy 207

Can Money and Spirituality Be Friends? 211

The True Meaning of Abundance 214

Live Full, Die Empty 218

A Final Invitation 221

Acknowledgments 223

Notes 225

Interviews

Amoda Maa Jeevan resides in East Sussex, London, UK.

Editorial Reviews

Amoda Maa is a fresh, clear voice of the grounded feminine who speaks directly to the heart of anyone hungering for lasting peace in a turbulent and uncertain world. The clarity of her realization shines forth through her words, as she calls for us all to consciously embody the living truth in our ordinary human existence.”
—Shanti Einolander, founder of ONE The Magazine


“Embodied Enlightenment eloquently challenges us to honestly and intimately meet our experience just as it is, and to awaken out of the trance of the perpetually seeking separate self. This is a deeply illuminating description of how an awakened life transmutes the ordinary arenas of relationships, work, sex, money, the body, and life purpose. A beautifully written, inspiring, and distinctly feminine call to consciously embody the unfolding edge of evolution. I highly recommend it!”
—John J.Prendergast, PhD, author of In Touch, adjunct professor of psychology at California Institute of Integral Studies, and psychotherapist



“Amoda Maa reminds us that enlightenment is not simply a transcendent spiritual orgasm into knowing ourselves as unchanging awareness; it invites us ever more deeply into our humanity, into the paradoxes of life, with an unconditional embrace. Her voice is a breath of fresh air in its precision and breadth, as well as its depth and down-to-earth parlance. I am sure Embodied Enlightenment will become a true companion to those willing to walk an integrated spiritual path.”
—Miranda Macpherson, author of Boundless Love



“With diamond-like clarity, a cup of compassion, and an almost poetic intensity, Amoda Maa debunks the myth of enlightenment, addressing many commonly held concerns and questions about the process of awakening. No topic is off limits in this conversation as she dismantles the scaffolding of our defenses, our beliefs—the very mechanism of seeking itself. I highly recommend this beautifully written and insightful book to anyone at any stage in their spiritual evolution. You are invited to dive in, face your personal wounds with ‘courage and tender honesty,’ challenge your assumptions, and root the full flowering of your consciousness in the very belly of your humanity.”
—Kirtana, singer, songwriter, and recording artist of songs for awakening



“Amoda Maa is a gracious and powerful guide who steers a clear and honest path through the mist of confusion and misunderstanding about the awakened state to hold a new, revelatory light to all that was previously unclear or speculated on. Here, the old, outmoded ways of viewing liberation are cast aside for a more informed, enriching vision of enlightenment—one that embraces our twenty-first-century sensibilities and shies away from nothing.”
—Stephen Gawtry, managing editor of Watkins Mind Body Spirit Magazine



“As the invitation to awaken from the dream of separation is being felt more strongly, both on a collective and individual level, so too arises the need for skillful guides familiar with this paradoxical new landscape. Amoda Maa is one such friend on the path; a gentle but rigorous companion on the journey of unfolding to being both fully awake and fully human. Embodied Enlightenment is a beautiful and precious gift to an emerging new humanity.”
—Julian Noyce, founder of Non-Duality Press



“Enlightenment has long been associated with an austere, recluse lifestyle. But today, people fully engaged in worldly responsibilities are waking up. Ancient traditions may not adequately support their awakening in the midst of ‘real-world’ concerns such as health, finances, relationships, et cetera. Amoda Maa is one of the brightest of a new generation of spiritual teachers who are meeting that need. She has been prepared for this role in a crucible of personal transformation, and is now fulfilling it admirably.”
—Rick Archer, creator and host of Buddha at the Gas Pump



"Given everything that is going on in the world today, more spiritual seekers are beginning to suspect that enlightenment isn’t only about living a life that transcends the material world. Seekers are beginning to realize it’s time to live their principles in the everyday world. This, of course, is more along the lines of the feminine awakened consciousness, something we’ve been told is trying to make its appearance in our world. ...
Touching on everything from relationships to work to the body, Amoda Maa teaches how to live a femininely embodied spirituality... She writes in an authoritative but supportive style that will challenge some closely held beliefs, but will also release readers into making some new choices in how they approach living their spirituality."
—New Spirit Journal

From the Publisher