Interfaith · Embodied · Simple
Your body is your first friend and living sanctuary - the luminous thread between self and cosmos. COTB offers a simple, non‑sectarian practice of gratitude, care, and wonder.
“Within this fathom‑long body, with its perceptions and thoughts, lies the world, the origin of the world, the cessation of the world, and the path leading to the cessation of the world.”
The Church of the Body (COTB) is a forming, interfaith community that honors the sacred connection between body and cosmos. We keep it simple: show reverence through daily care, gratitude, and presence. No dogma, no hierarchy - just practice.
COTB's Speaker for the Body is a ULC Minister. Like the ULC, we uphold two clear tenets for ministers and members alike.
Straightforward by design. Everything else is practice.
Act with integrity, compassion, and accountability - toward your body, others, and the world.
Walk your path in a way that does not infringe on the rights of others and observes civic law.
Plain words. Lived daily.
Your body is a living temple - a microcosm of the universe, worthy of reverence and care.
The body communicates through sensation, mood, dream, habit. Learn to listen.
Trust embodied wisdom. Align with cycles of rest, nourishment, movement, and repair.
We are atoms contemplating atoms. By caring for the body, we harmonize with the wider whole.
Practice gratitude and kindness toward the flesh you live in. Tenderness is a discipline.
Honor the bond between self, others, and world. What you heal in you, you offer everywhere.
We spend a long time believing the body is a problem to solve. Too hungry, not hungry enough. Too tired, too wired. Always something to push, correct, or overpower. Then one day the signal changes. A shake lands differently. Turmeric, cinnamon, a slice of pizza.. nothing mystical, just food - and suddenly the body answers back with a kind of calm. Not a command, not a craving, just a simple directive. Listen.
Listening isn’t passive. It’s a practice. It asks you to notice when fullness arrives early, when hunger shows up honest instead of urgent, when certain foods leave you clearer and others leave you cloudy.
It asks you to trust that the body remembers things the mind forgot it knew.
When you track, when you feel, when you pay attention, a conversation forms. And in that conversation, something opens: a sense that the body is not an obstacle, but a partner - a small, living sanctuary that wants to be understood.
This is the whole teaching: Treat the body as a place worth listening to. Treat its signals as real. Treat its shifts as guidance.
Church can be many things. Maybe here, it is simply the moment you hear your own body say, “That’s enough,” or “More, please,” and you answer with respect instead of resistance.
A light check in to do with your partner as life allows.
Stand or sit. Breathe slowly. Focus on the breath, thank your body for all of its hard work.
From crown to soles, thank your body, part by part, silently. Notice sensation without judging. Ask gently, “What do you need?” Try and have your own discovery, your own words.
Commit to performing a concrete act of care: a glass of water, a stretch, a walk, a meal, a nap, a massage, after the session.
If you are able, gently touch your body, part by part, with your hands, or mind.
Inhale and exhale slowly, deeply. Whisper your own words of gratitude and well-being. Sometimes I use, "Live long and prosper." or "May the Force be with you." or "May the congress of our cells be in harmony."
Choose an attitude of gratitude, kindness, or compassion towards your own wonderful body. Reflect, then resume balance.
Selected lines traditionally attributed in their respective canons.
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you?”
- 1 Corinthians 6:19
“We are closer to him than the jugular vein.”
- Qurʾān 50:16
“The kingdom of God is within you.”
- Luke 17:21
“I am the Self, O Gudākeśa, seated in the hearts of all beings.”
- Bhagavad Gītā 10.20
“Within this body the Divine Light shines.”
- Guru Nanak (trad.)
“Heaven, earth, and I share one root.”
- Zhuangzi
COTB is currently forming. There are no regular meetings yet - the practice starts wherever you are. Hug your body. Run a bath. Rest. Move. Love it, use it. Begin now.