Hi Elf, Thanks for connecting with Openhand. You are welcome here :smile: The question of timing is an interesting one. I can see my original wording on the Ascension of Gaia may have been a little misleading - so thanks for drawing my attention to it. I have now rephrased the comment you refer to as follows...

"Our Planetary System is ascending to the higher realm, the Soul of the Earth is already centering her consciousness in the 5th Dimension and extends energies - a bridge - into this 3rd Dimension. She is inviting us to relinquish attachment to the old plane and join her in the higher one. It is a process due to complete around 2012."

So this may align with what you've been reading elsewhere. You also ask...

"Upon our own ascension, will our physical bodies also remain functioning in the 3rd dimension? If so, How?"

In my direct experience, Ascension is an internal process through internal layers of consciousness. We become fully fifth dimensional here and now in the physical body. We activate higher bodily vehicles of expression and experience the higher realms here and now. Gaia is doing exactly the same. So when she completes her Ascension process, she will also 'retain a physical body' (namely the Earth) and could do so for many thousands of years to come. When we leave our physical bodies though, if we have already ascended internally, there is simply no need to reincarnate into the physical realm (although some may still do this for a particular purpose). Our journey then continues in the higher realms. I've talked about the process in a good deal of detail in my book "Five Gateways: Our Journey of Ascension" in case you'd like to explore deeper. You can find out more about the book and get a copy if you wish here... Five Gateways Thanks for your interest