Spiritual work with the body is necessary to 'activate' the inner forces for Soul creation. This is because the body has 'untapped' capabilities - in terms of energy production - that, combined with the conscious efforts of the intellect and the navigational ability of the feelings, can provide an inner alignment with a quality of a very different order.
Activation can be 'artificially' induced through sacred dances and exercises, such as those of the 'Movements' of the Gurdjieff Work as depicted below in Director Peter Brook's Film "Meetings with Remarkable Men" (from Gurdjieff's Book of the same title).
If guided appropriately, these Movements, dances and exercises can enable an unequivocal 'immediacy' and 'intimacy' of engagement - that is, I make the effort to mobilize myself in every moment, or, I do not.
Either way, the results of that effort are immediate and I can be witness to my ingrained habits of thinking, feeling and moving - of my 'Being' - that is not possible in any other way. Witnessing this is often shattering.
When undertaken within the energy of a group, momentary alignment with myself and others can invite a mystical quality. Perceptions of time and space change, a dimension opens up that is more concrete than the reality I normally occupy. I do not perform the movement, rather, something is performed through me.
The relationship to the body changes. It is no longer a 'thing' that drags around my mind, but a vitality bursting with life, pouring itself out under the direction of an attention I seldom experience. I fill the room as others in the room fill me.
I feel a connection that extends all the way back to those that have undertaken something similar - I feel the future history resonate in the present.
I also begin to see that I am not my body in the same way that I see that I am not my thoughts or feelings - they are all instruments of a potential 'I' - a coherent witness that stands behind everything. If I can connect myself together, the 'I' is able to direct.
Movement in life
The sacred movements, dances and exercises are, in reality, just preparation for acquiring the ability to 'naturally' induce this activation in life.
When making a cup of coffee, changing a baby's nappy or tending garden, there is an opportunity to initiate and sustain an alignment in a similar way - but I must understand how to achieve this inwardly. It will not happen by itself.
Essentially, all spiritual exercises - such as meditation, dances and group work, are preparations. I first need to study in ideal conditions before attempting to apply them in less favorable but necessary ones.
While I can experience a different possibility in a Church, Mosque, Synagogue, Temple, Retreat Facility or Monastery, these possibilities soon evaporate if my efforts towards Soul creation are not focused to where I find myself in life.
'Life', then, in its fullest sense, is the true teacher. And so it is in life where I must turn to actualize my possibilities. Anything else is fantasy.