Spirituality that Regulates the Body — Belonging Without Becoming a Soldier
Spirituality that Regulates the Body — Belonging Without Becoming a Soldier
When we talk about spirituality as body regulation, we are not talking about belief first.
We are talking about state first.
Before symbols, doctrines, or narratives, there is a more fundamental layer: what a practice does to the body.
Does it calm or agitate?
Does it open or tighten?
Does it regulate or capture?
In this sense, spirituality is an ancient technology of bodily states.
State before belief
Well-designed spiritual practices share something in common: they give physiological ground back to the body.
Repetition, rhythm, breathing, chanting, silence, presence. These elements appear across cultures because they act on deep layers of the organism.
Predictable sequences reduce internal noise. Repetitive rhythms stabilize the nervous system. Breath synchronizes perception and physiology. Silence reorganizes the inner field.
Contemporary science is beginning to confirm what traditions long intuited: predictable and repetitive patterns can reduce anxiety and increase internal coherence.
Not because they convince the mind.
But because they regulate the body.
And when the body regulates, spirituality stops being an idea and becomes an experience.
Jiwasa: when regulation becomes collective
In collective settings, this regulation scales.
In Jiwasa, we describe this as organizing in the same time. When people enter shared rituals, alignment begins to emerge.
Postures converge. Breathing synchronizes. Gestures fall into rhythm. In some cases, even autonomic signals show convergence.
This is not mystical — it is emergent.
Recent studies on collective rituals show that synchronized movement can produce alignment across bodily and physiological layers, shaped by proximity, leadership, and ritual intensity.
In other words: collective spirituality generates state fields.
Fields where the body is no longer an isolated unit but part of a relational organism.
The power of collective effervescence
When these experiences intensify, something remarkable can arise: collective effervescence.
A state where emotion, presence, and belonging amplify each other.
Recent research suggests that intense shared rituals can evoke awe, reinforce social identity, and increase group integration.
This helps explain why some spiritual gatherings feel transformative.
It is not just the message.
It is the density of the shared state.
The body leaves changed because it entered a different field.
APUS: embodied spiritual territory
In APUS, we describe spirituality as embodied territory.
Not an abstract belief, but a lived inner ground where belonging can occur without dissolving individuality.
When this territory is healthy, it expands. It allows disagreement without rupture, depth without rigidity, bonding without fusion.
But when this territory contracts, something shifts.
Belonging stops being a field and becomes a mold.
The invisible risk: when belonging becomes capture
Here lies the delicate part.
The same force that regulates can also capture.
When belonging shifts from lived experience to rigid fusion with a group, leader, or doctrine, the bodily state changes. Regulation gives way to rigidity.
The literature describes this as identity fusion.
It happens when individuals do not merely belong to a group — they become indistinguishable from it. Personal identity fuses with collective identity.
This has measurable consequences.
It increases willingness for extreme self-sacrifice.
Reduces critical distance.
Amplifies moral rigidity.
Facilitates polarization.
Not because people become irrational.
But because the state changes.
Mat/Hep: rigidity as loss of transitions
In Mat/Hep, we understand this as loss of state plasticity.
Healthy spirituality expands the internal library of states. It allows smooth transitions between silence, action, emotion, and reflection.
Captured spirituality does the opposite: it narrows the repertoire. One dominant state overrides all others. Anything outside it becomes a threat.
When transitions disappear, the soldier emerges.
Not necessarily an armed soldier, but a physiological one: a body that can no longer belong without fusing.
The essential criterion: belonging without becoming a soldier
This is why our compass is simple:
belong without becoming a soldier.
Regulating spirituality preserves three qualities:
belonging without submission
bonding without fusion
intensity without rigidity
If a spiritual experience increases empathy and flexibility, it regulates.
If it increases rigidity and exclusivity, it captures.
The difference can look subtle externally — but internally, it is profound.
Paths of defusion (what science suggests)
The encouraging part is that science also points toward protective factors.
Studies on identity fusion show that multiple bonds reduce rigidity. When individuals belong to diverse networks — family, plural communities, cultural ecosystems — fusion becomes less likely.
Perceived fairness is another key variable. Environments that reduce humiliation, arbitrariness, and discrimination tend to lower the need for rigid belonging.
In other words:
the healthier the social fabric, the less spirituality needs to become armor.
This directly connects spirituality with politics and collective regulation.
Mature spirituality
Perhaps mature spirituality is the one that can sustain intensity without losing openness.
One that allows depth without demanding fusion.
One that strengthens bonds without creating enemies.
A spirituality that regulates the body without capturing the mind.
In Jiwasa, this appears as a living field of belonging.
In APUS, as preserved inner territory.
In Mat/Hep, as maintained state plasticity.
What remains
Maybe the most honest question is not “what do you believe?”
But: “what does your spirituality do to your body?”
Does it make you more open or more rigid?
More present or more reactive?
More human or more armored?
Because in the end, spirituality is not measured by the narrative it tells.
It is measured by the state it produces.
And perhaps the simplest — and deepest — criterion is this:
If the experience expands your capacity to love and disagree at the same time, it regulates.
If it requires you to stop thinking in order to belong, it captures.
Belong without becoming a soldier.
Perhaps one of the most subtle — and most vital — lines of our time.
Scientific references (post-2023):
Saraei, N., et al. (2024).
Embodied emotional dynamics in collective ritual.
➡ Bodily and autonomic synchrony in rituals.Rincón-Unigarro, C., et al. (2025)
Collective effervescence and social identity. Frontiers in Psychology.
➡ Ritual intensity strengthening belonging (LatAm).Xygalatas, D., et al. (2024).
Ritual and collective emotion regulation.
➡ Rituals as regulators of collective emotional states.Swann, W. B., et al. (2024).
Comprehensive Identity Fusion Theory (CIFT).
➡ Identity fusion and extreme pro-group behavior.Grasso-Cladera, A., Parada, F. J., et al. (2024)
Embodied hyperscanning in social interaction.
➡ Brain-body synchrony in real interaction (LatAm).Konvalinka, I., & Roepstorff, A. (2023).
The two-brain approach to social interaction.
➡ Multi-brain dynamics in shared experiences.Whitehouse, H., et al. (2023).
Ritual, identity, and social cohesion.
➡ High-arousal rituals shaping identity and cohesion.
