Let's Build Our Spiritual Practice

In past posts, we spend some time focusing on the benefits of meditation. I could seriously keep going on and on about why meditation is so great, but I also understand that there are many grounding practices beyond meditation that help people and I invite you to find out what works for you. Today, we will learn how to build onto our practices to live a purposeful and meaningful life!

Why build a spiritual practice?

In a world of constant alerts, notifications, and information overload, it is nice to build something for ourselves into our routines so that we can return to ourselves and release. This is called self-care. All of us have a million obligations so this time will become sacred as you make it into a habit.

Some benefits to having a spiritual practice:

Helps to organize our minds better: by using some of the journaling practices below, this routine full of goodness and care can help us organize our thoughts and feelings from the day. When we fill up our cups first, we are better able to give to our peoples, duties, and obligations with a mindful presence.

Improves our sleep: we’ve talked a bit about how meditation can help you sleep better (I'm honestly probably gonna do a whole post on sleep) and incorporating other practices (as below) can help you wind down at the end of the day and get ready for some good rest! Couldn’t we all use good rest?

Improves our stress levels: if our mental health is better, our bodies will feel better, and we can feel more at ease about our lives. The mind-body-spirit connection is real! If our minds & bodies feel better, we can connect to our souls much more easily. Our souls are really the drivers of our lives, and magical things happen when we let our souls take the lead!

Deeper sense of peace: with a sense of consistency each day, this can grant us a lot of ease amidst the busy-ness of the day-to-day. Who doesn’t want a little more peace in their lives!

Something to look forward to! Maybe we can’t take a vacation for another few months, or maybe there’s some conflict or grief going on at the present time. This sacred and dedicated time allows you to be with yourself authentically, without having to hide or bury your feelings. You get to be you at your core!

I’ve divided the practice into 3 parts: mind, body, and spiritual practices. Ideally we would participate in one thing from each section every day. But again, if you can only get to one thing, that is still really good!

Mind

Meditation - just a few minutes per day can really change your outlook on life and the day. Meditation helps to calm our constantly overstimulated nervous systems. I love meditation and it has become one of my favorite things. I meditate after I eat lunch and after I eat dinner every day. Did you notice how food comes first for me? And that I paired my practice with something I already do daily? :)

Other practices for the mind include: visualizations, breathwork, emotional freedom tapping (EFT), yoga nidra, progressive muscle relaxation; the list goes on!

Body

Our bodies are so unique, and the type of movement we need may not only differ from body to body, but will also change from day to day. I used to run competitively at my college (University of Maryland) so I used to train every day. Now, well into my 30s, I just can’t run like that anymore. I get injured if I try. So I try to stick to 3 days of running per week with my boy Rocco (my pup), and walk all the other scheduled times with him. I also like to get in some occasional yoga.  As we cultivate our mindful awareness, we can also check in with our bodies to see what we need. In general, exercise is great for our health, stress, mood, sleep, and for boosting endorphins. So building this into our days will be good for us in the long run (no pun intended!).  Make sure it feels good to you and it’s something you enjoy! We want sustainable here :)

Spirit

If we wanna live our best, we have to FEEL our best. In this section, I’m specifically going to talk about journaling. Journaling is immensely helpful to acknowledge our feelings, as well as maintaining perspective. Having an expressive writing practice is incredibly cathartic. I have to say, I’ve uncovered many buried feelings through journaling and it’s a wonderful complement to meditation. I've also included some "positive" journaling practices. Feel free to make up your own as well!

• Reflections: this is usually a stream of consciousness for me that is pretty much just word vomit. If I didn’t have a good day or I had a particularly contentious encounter in work, I write it out here. Our heart chakra is connected to our hands, so when we journal, we get to feel our emotions and release them somewhere (ie., the page). We don’t even have to go back and look at that page. Unless we want to! Like I've mentioned, I’ve uncovered so many buried feelings from just a simple 5 minute session.  You might also uncover something that was very painful. It's okay to feel what you feel. You got to feel it to heal it.
• Gratitude journaling: this helps us to keep our perspective. Even when things are hard, there is always something we can be grateful for. We can pick three things or fill a page. Oprah writes 5 things each day. Whatever works for your schedule or your flow. Gratitude readjusts your perspective. Gratitude begets more gratitude. Gratitude done daily can change your life!
• Joy journaling: this is something I started at work, when I wasn’t feeling good about the work that I was doing. This instantly connects me to what I feel lit up about, whether work-related or not! Who doesn’t want a tiny ounce of spark during the day? I write this at the bottom of my to-do list each day at work. Often, thinking about this blog does it for me <3 Joy connects us to our purpose, it opens up our hearts, and it’s infectious :) keep the joy comin’!
• Affirmations: whether journaled or referred to in our meditations, affirmations can be a great way to "affirm" our positive energy and align with an energy that is graceful in nature. Our egoic minds (our lower brains) may want to say otherwise, but affirmations can get us out of tough mind loops and back into ease.

If you can pick one thing to pair with your meditation practice each day, I guarantee you will start feeling so good about your life! You’ll have more headspace, more peace, and you'll feel more organized with your time. Routines are really important, they can set the tone for the day or the night! When we take the time for ourselves, we love and honor ourselves in the ways that we need. By creating a spiritual practice, you will start to notice that everything you do will start to have a spiritual touch to it, because you’ve cultivated a way to connect with your heart space, your presence, and your intuition. People will love seeing this. It will make you a magnet for your deepest wishes.  Have a little fun and see what works for you!

Gratefully,

Angeli

Quote: "I am going to make a very beautiful life for myself no matter what it takes" – Anonymous