Establishing a Spiritual Practice

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I'm a big believer in maintaining some kind of a spiritual practice. Having a practice you do most days of the week allows you time to tune in your higher self. It's essential for people working on any kind of spiritual growth, energy healers, empaths, and people wishing to develop their psychic or intuitive abilities. In other words, pretty much everyone.

A spiritual practice can help you heal past trauma, release suppressed emotions, detoxify emotionally and spiritually, and tune in to higher guidance. It can help you calm the constant stress that comes from daily life, be more focused, breathe in a way that is more beneficial to your body, mind, and spirit, and restore energetic balance. It can soothe and repair a frayed or damaged auric field that comes from being out in the world and balance your chakras and meridians so energy flows throughout and around you freely.

A spiritual practice doesn't have to mean sitting and meditating, although for many that is exactly what it means. A spiritual practice is anything you can do that focuses you on the present moment, quiets your mind, and connects you to your higher self. 

I recommend finding the practice that clicks with you. If it's something you don't enjoy or stress out about doing, it will never be sustainable. Some suggestions for a spiritual practice:

• Work in the garden or with plants
• Get out in nature and walk or jog
• Meditate
• Pet your cat or dog
• Ride a horse
• Follow a guided meditation
• Visualize
• Spin a hula-hoop
• Give yourself a hands-on Reiki or energy healing treatment
• Listen to soothing music
• Gaze at a candle flame or a crystal
• Engage in a movement practice such as gentle yoga, tai chi, Nia, or qigong
• Dance or move in a way that feels pleasurable
• Work on a hobby
• Sit on the beach and watch the water
• Play singing bowls
• Play a musical instrument
• Drum a steady beat on a hand drum 
• Contemplate a zen koan
• Give yourself a daily I Ching reading and contemplate the meaning of the passage
• Pull a daily tarot or oracle card and contemplate its symbolism
• Interpret your dreams when you wake up
• Say a prayer
• Place your hands over your heart and focus on love.
• Chant an affirmation or mantra, counting them on a mala or rosary
• Choose a daily random Bible verse or a verse from another book of wisdom and contemplate it
• Lie on your back on the ground and look at the stars
• Cloud watch or try to make the clouds dissolve

Try to engage in a spiritual practice most days of the week - about 5 - for 10 to 20 minutes each day, or more if you're really feeling it. It doesn't need to be the same practice every day. For example, one day you may do Qigong, another day you may meditate, and another day you may sit and play singing bowls. That's how my spiritual practice goes. In that 20 to 30 minutes I've set aside, I engage in something spiritual. I've committed that time to nourish my soul, but as a wanderer I love variety, so I do different things on different days based on what my intuition tells me I need. 

You've probably heard it takes 21 days to establish a habit. Research shows this isn't exactly true. In fact, it can take as long as ten weeks to make something habitual. So establishing your spiritual practice and getting it set may take a bit longer than three weeks. But it's necessary for your growth as a soul that you do. Setting aside time for yourself everyday helps you to make your own growth and healing a priority. It is the best way to detoxify from life in a stressful world and connect to higher guidance, allowing you to inhabit your life with more flow, grace, purpose, and joy. 

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