Corpse Pose

The first time I experienced a medicine journey, I went to a ‘crime scene.' It was a shock for both the woman hosting the circle and me.

Welcome,

Today marks day twenty-seven of Field Notes on Archetypal Patterns.

This is not what I intended to write today, but a part of me was grappling with writing what I want to say, not what will land softly for another. Even though most of my readers are aware of my style, there is still a part of me that feels a slight charge when I fully express my perspectives.

It’s the old conditioning that says, “Don’t say too much; don’t let all the weirdness out too quickly.

I spent the first part of my life writing things that were appropriate for spiritual containers, and to be honest, it sometimes felt like it was stealing little pieces of my soul.

So now, I write for me, and if you happen to find something of yourself in that or resonate with my writings, well then that is a blessing for both of us.

Archetypal Pattern: Corpse Pose

Many traditions treat death with reverence; it is not viewed as a morbid subject or a negative experience. I might sound strange, but loss and death are not necessarily related to other cultures.

In the United States, I believe we have a strange and distorted relationship to death. From conversations I’ve had with others, the topic seems to bring grief to the surface, and that is something we would rather not think about.

Now, this article is not necessarily about death, but to go where I want to go, I need to start there. Years ago, while working on missing persons cases, I found an odd way to receive impressions and insight. The first time I experienced a medicine journey, I went to a ‘crime scene.’ It was a shock for both the woman hosting the circle and me.

She didn’t know what to do with me, and I was annoyed by her lofty spiritual response that left me wide open, disoriented, and confused. Although it was a bit of a nightmare, it set me on a unique path. A few years later, I met a dear elder who stepped in and provided the guidance I was unconsciously seeking.

My shamanic elder taught me how to ‘journey’ to the different worlds for guidance. I would continue to have these spontaneous death scenes, but having her at my side, I felt safe to explore them and unpack the imagery. Once I stopped fighting the experience, more information became available.

This began a very strange season of my life that lasted about eight years. I worked as a psychic medium and donated my time to missing persons’ cases. When I wasn’t working on these things, I would journey on cases I found in the media, and one day I found myself sensing more than I had bargained for. I’ll spare you the graphic details.

In 2002, on Christmas Eve, a young pregnant woman went missing. Her name was Laci Peterson. This case stuck with me; I couldn’t shake it and found myself glued to the television waiting for an update. I happened to also be pregnant with my son at the same time she was missing.

I do not doubt that pregnancy enhanced my intuition and my compassion for this missing woman. I dreamt about her; I daydreamed about her; she was constantly on my heart. Months later, I had my son and then moved into intuitive work. Although things were accentuated, I tried to be mindful of what I consumed and took into my field while pregnant.

When I began to step back into the work, it was as if Laci came right back into my awareness. I began wondering about her and what really happened. Although they found her and her baby, her husband (piece of garbage will not be named here) was eventually convicted of her death and the death of her baby.

It never felt settled to me; some part of my psyche was trying to bring something to consciousness, and even though I lit a candle, said prayers, and put them on an altar for Laci, there was more.

I decided to journey to her, to see what was percolating within me. I found myself feeling really distracted trying to sit in a meditative style of posture, so after a few minutes of fidgeting, I finally moved down on the ground.

I put down a yoga mat and trusted my instincts. I used the breathing pattern and journeying process given to me by my shamanic elder. Eventually, I went into an altered state. My body fell into the corpse pose.

This was automatic; I had yet to enter any form of yoga teacher training; that all came later. My feet fell to the sides, my shoulders dropped, and my inner world began to shift.

I began to feel myself in water, but I was weighed down. I’ll refrain from going any further with the specifics, but for the sake of this article, I continued to experience more layers of an experience that felt as if I were Laci. I never heard her speak. I didn’t feel like she was offering me information as much as I felt like I was tapping into blocks of time.

When I came out of the journey, I cried. I sobbed for her, for Connor, for their families. There was a deep sadness there and then a strange feeling of…. Now what? What was I to do with what I sensed and felt? Nothing. The answer was nothing.

There wasn’t anyone to hand it over to who would understand. I wasn’t some quack who wanted attention. I wrote the details in my journal and trusted that seeing and feeling what I did, somehow, needed to be enough.

The experience opened a series of other cases that I found myself sinking into. The doorway into these experiences felt deeply connected to the corpse pose. Not in a macabre way, but of deep respect for the dead.

It felt like a state of suspension, the in-between. Part of me became a bit obsessive and watched a lot of local news. Another strange compulsion, considering I was never one to watch much of the news before those times.

Before I continue, I’d like to share an excerpt from my new book Esoterica: The Shadow Worker’s Codex

“When I began using my intuition for missing person’s cases, I was not disciplined enough to sit and tune in, I needed to get into an altered state to set the tone for the process.

While lying down flat on my back, breathing in a circular pattern, my limbs would fall to the sides, like the corpse pose (Savasana) in the yoga tradition.

After just a few times of moving into this position, information flowed into my conscious awareness with greater ease. Full disclaimer, sometimes this pose would help me tune into the essence of the victim and what it was they had last experienced, so you can imagine the type of imagery that would arise in that circumstance. What I have discovered since is you can set the intention for this pose; you certainly do not need to retrieve that kind of information.

Corpse pose happens to be one that symbolically allows us to surrender the ego. Through the body, we hand ourselves over to the earth in a state of receptivity.

While I love this pose for retrieving specific information, you can use this pose to enter a dialogue with the shadow. Rest or retrieve wisdom while being in stillness. You do not have to do anything at all, this pose can significantly impact stress levels as it activates the parasympathetic nervous system.”

— Dr. Melissa Kim Corter

As I mentioned in the quote, the pose is beneficial for meditation, decompression, and deep rest; it need not be applied to any form of intuitive work. During a private retreat, I felt a strong nudge to bring the client down to the earth on a mat and have her rest in corpse pose. While there, she actively engaged in a shadow work practice.

Her experience established a connection to a place within her that she had feared. Something about resting, supported, and held by the earth in that phase, she was able to let go and trust. The earth held her, and because that was felt, her body softened. The emotion and wisdom that flowed from that state were beautiful to observe.

Paid subscribers receive bonus content (including an excerpt from my journal on one of the missing person cases) for further reflection and exploration below this line.