Physical Health and Fitness
In health and fitness, the body refers to the physical human organism – its anatomy, physiology, and capacities. The phrase “bodily yield” can be understood as the output or effect produced by the body under exertion or training. For example, a study of yoga notes the “majorly recognized bodily yield of yoga” is increased flexibility – here, flexibility is the result the body yields from yoga practice. Likewise, an early 20th-century medical account speaks of men at the “limit of bodily yield of strength,” meaning the maximum strength the body can produce . In fitness contexts, then, “bodily yield” means physical gains or outputs (like muscle growth, stamina, flexibility or strength) that the body produces in response to exercise or metabolic processes.
Agriculture and Biological Yield
In agriculture or biology, the body usually means a living organism (plant or animal), and “yield” refers to what that organism produces or provides. Historically, lexicons defined “produce” in terms of “natural growth” or “bodily yield” (for example, “the produce of the soil, of the flock” ). In modern terms, bodily yield would be the tangible biological products of a body: crop yield from plants or products from animals. For instance, a dairy cow’s bodily yield could mean its milk output or weight gain; a sheep’s bodily yield is wool or meat. In aquaculture research, scientists even measure fish “bodily yields” (such as carcass and fillet mass after processing) as a breeding trait . Thus in this domain, “bodily yield” literally means the material output (harvest, product) that comes from a body’s growth or function.
Philosophical and Metaphysical Contexts
In philosophy and metaphysics, “body” often contrasts with mind or spirit, emphasizing embodiment and the material aspect of existence. The term “bodily” highlights the physical, sensorimotor basis of experience. Embodied cognition theory, for example, teaches that an agent’s mind is deeply shaped by its bodily state. As one source explains, “embodied cognition holds that an agent’s cognition… is strongly influenced by aspects of an agent’s body beyond the brain itself” . Merleau-Ponty likewise argues perception depends on the body’s orientation: an object’s “true” qualities depend on the body’s privileging of orientations that yield maximum clarity . In this view, one might interpret a “bodily yield” as the perceptual or experiential outcomes the body produces – what the embodied body yields in knowledge or meaning. By contrast, a “spiritual yield” would be the non-material fruits of mind or spirit. (Religious metaphors also exist: e.g. “Neither yield your bodies as instruments of unrighteousness” uses “yield” in a moral sense of offering the body to an action.)
Artistic and Performative Contexts
In the arts and performance, the body is the primary instrument of creation and expression. Dancers, actors, and performers use bodily movement, gesture, and presence to convey meaning. For example, one study notes that “dance is a bodily action intended to convey to others the imagination conceived by the dancer” . Here the body’s motions and expressions are the outcome (or yield) of the dancer’s creativity. In this sense, a “bodily yield” could refer to the artistic output produced by a performer’s body – the choreography, sound, or visual effect that emerges from bodily action. In performance art or theater, the actor’s bodily yield might be emotional expressions or narrative, and in visual arts (like body painting or sculpture), it could be the tangible artwork created through physical form. In all cases, “bodily yield” highlights that it is the body’s activity that produces the artistic result.
Historical and Literary Uses
In older writing, “bodily yield” appears as an archaic phrase for physical output or capacity. For example, 19th-century dictionaries use “bodily yield” in defining produce: one entry literally lists “natural growth, bodily yield” as synonyms for “produce” . In historical literature and reports, authors sometimes speak of a body’s yield in terms of productivity. A WWI-era doctor, for instance, described soldiers who were “at the limit of bodily yield of strength,” using yield to mean their physical capacity . Literary and religious texts also use “yield” with the body metaphorically: e.g. one biblical translation warns “Neither yield your bodies as instruments of unrighteousness” (meaning do not allow the body to be used for sinful ends). These uses show that historically “bodily yield” simply meant the fruits or capacities of the body – whether crop harvests, bodily products, strength limits, or metaphorical offerings of the body.
Sources: Definitions and examples are drawn from health and exercise literature , agricultural biology research , philosophical writings on embodiment , studies of dance and performance , and historical/dictionary sources . These show how “body” and “bodily yield” are understood across disciplines.