In a recent interview, experienced yogi and teacher of yogis Charlotta Martinus explained a little more about the concept of our soul with a very grounded and ‘easy science’ approach .. here is an outline of the thoughts she shared, although a few words have been changed here or there.
Everything around us is energy – a tree grows, decays and becomes earth, a hill is constantly changing shape, water is moving, everything has an energy about it – your body has energy .. if it didn’t have energy it would be a corpse. The energy that animates things is part of a substratum that exists everywhere, it animates our planet, plants, the air, water, fire and it animates you. Now when it’s in you we call it a soul. When you see a person lying asleep alongside a person who is dead we know that there is a difference – how do we know? Because they’re not breathing, they’re not animated, there’s something gone .. the body is still there but something has gone – that something is the soul. That energy has let the body. But we know that energy can’t just go and disappear – it has to transmute into something else. If you have water in a pan and you boil it eventually you will look in the pan and the water is gone, the water hasn’t disappeared it has become steam. If you put a piece of wood in the fire, the fire will burn the wood away but the wood has become ash. Everything becomes something else. So our soul is part of that substrate of energy that exists in the universe and when the soul leaves the body (death) that energy goes back to being part of the universal energy or lifeforce. Based on an BBC Bristol Radio interview with Charlotta Martinus of the Teen Yoga Foundation, January 2021
Charlotta’s words make we think about when I take a walk on the beach. When the energy driving the wave reaches the land where does it go, what does it morph into? It feels very much like I can draw from this natural energy source and return home from the beach feeling invigorated. The same can be said for being in the wind. Numerous school teachers have pointed out to me that on a windy day the kids go CRAZY with the excessive energy they seem to be picking up from the atmosphere around them.
When we talk about all living things being connected and the existence of a universal energy, it may seem a little woo-woo .. but when presented with these simple examples, you have to admit, it’s pretty basic stuff. It’s just that we can so easily take it for granted and not notice… until we take the time to slow down, check in, and observe our reactions – both in body and mind.
