Why a Spiritual Practice is More Important Than EVER!
Inspiration can often come from places you are least expecting. I was proof reading one of my sons final papers for a college course on how it is now more important than ever to develop a good spiritual practice. He used words like meditation, monastic silence and modern spirituality as tools to help us all deal with social media, news, covid-19 and so many other stressors that can effect our energy, our happiness and our stress levels. Reading his paper made me reflect on how we are all being affected by what is going on in the world today and how the stress of it is impacting our health and wellness.
Everything right now is hard! It is hard to know what is right and what is wrong. It is hard to find ways to connect with people that you love and honestly you guys, it is hard not to judge others. Imagine yourself as a sponge soaking up all of the information and energy that is out there in the world right now. Lets be honest we are taking in some serious shit!!!! When we are not careful and mindful of the information we are allowing in and do not have a practice in place to let it go it affects us in many negative ways. We become wired for stress. Without a way to detox the fear, scarcity and heightened emotions out there right now we become a magnet for chronic stress. I learned so much about the effects of chronic stress on the body from a my hormone specialization course at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. When we encounter a stressor in our life our fight or flight response kicks in (the hypothalamus sends a message to the pituitary gland and then travels to the adrenal gland which produces cortisol) and our body reacts to it. Our body does settles back down but when we become wired for stress that reaction to stress stays on. Imagine a light bulb that you cannot turn off. When we are stressed out all the time it affects your whole body and your health.
When we participate in energy it becomes our energy
This sentence really helps me stay on track. If I am seeing an energy, feeling it, giving it my attention and allowing it in, it becomes my energy for better or for worse. This simple sentence keeps me on track. No matter how others act, no matter what is on the news or in our Facebook feed we are responsible for our own energy and we decide what we let in our lives energetically. If we allow an energy in it become our energy. Its like that ugly sweater you cannot return ones you have opened it. Now I am not saying stick your head in the sand and hide from what is going on in the world, just become aware of what is worth your energy and attention.
The first step to a spiritual practice is connecting to yourself. The word meditation can be intimidating but if you simply think of it as a little time to connect to yourself, to get quiet, and reset your energy it can take the pressure off and help you ease into it. Start with 5 minutes of sitting and noticing your breath. That’s all you need to do! Let your mind wander when you begin, it will settle down, don’t force anything let your meditation practice develop and evolve naturally. if you have trouble settling your mind down try counting to 4 on your inhale, and 4 on your exhale. By connecting to yourself you can let go of any energy that has attached to you and set the reset button. As you strengthen your daily meditation practice you will start to protect your energy more by noticing what you are digesting energetically. You will become aware of how you are feeling as you are having an experience and you can make a conscious choice to turn off the tv, or gracefully exit a situation that does not serve you.
Now its time to cleanse and clear your energy. As we go through our daily lives having many different experiences we pick up things along the way. Imagine every time you encounter a person or situation they leave a little sticky note to you. Maybe one sticky note is an email from your boss, another one is a call from a family member, maybe something happened at school to your child, an appliance broke at home, someone cut you off on your drive and on and on until by the end of the day you are covered with sticky notes. This is energy that has attached itself to you and that you are carrying around with you. This is also the energy you share with those people in your life. You get home and share all of those sticky notes with everyone in your home. Creating a spiritual practice helps you release energy that sticks to you through your day so that you come to the world your best self without all the baggage of your day.
Connecting to something bigger than ourselves is the next step in deepening our spiritual practice. When we can let go off the chatter of the mind, and reset our energy we become open to guidance from our higher self, our intuition, our team of angels or whatever higher power you believe in. When we are in a state of over thinking, stress, anxiety and often control we are actually cutting off the flow of creative energy to us. I like to think of it as swimming against the current in the ocean. We work so hard, pushing, controlling but if we were to let go the waves would gently carry us back safely to shore. When we let go of pushing in one direction a whole world of opportunity can open up to us. What is meant for us will always come our way because we are all here on this earth for a reason and we are meant to be here. So many times I come out of meditation with a new perspective on things, a new outlook and a faith that everything is going to be ok. Now I wish meditation and a spiritual practice could take away all the stress and worry occurring in the world right now but what it can do is help us all release tension and face life’s challenges with a little more ease. As we come into inner alignment we can tune into a space of hope for the future and faith that we will get through this together.
Be Well!
Tips to develop your meditation practice:
Find a quiet space without distractions
Use the same space each time so your body recognizes its time to relax.
Stay consistent. There is no such thing as a bad meditation session. Honor where you are and stay with it.
Light a candle, use incense or essential oils. Create an environment that is nurturing and calming
Try a sleep meditation
Keep going. I have a lot of clients that come to me when they are not doing so well and stop coming as soon as they feel a little better. If you stick with your practice you will avoid pitfalls.
Join me anytime for yoga and meditation. I have live weekly classes, on demand classes and offer one on one private sessions.
Check out my Meditation Pinterest board for breathing techniques and definitions on the different kind of meditations.
