Spiritual practice.
Probably you are already dying of curiosity about what secret practice you will get to know here. In your imagination you already see yourself sitting in a lotus position, wearing kasaya with a shaved head like a Buddhist monk or some other hermit in a cave far from people… And you are only wondering how your full makeup will go with it. Do you need to change the lipstick color to match it with the saffron color of your outfit?
You always thought that spirituality is not for you. It always connotes with some mystery techniques, needing years of practice, mortification, fasting, and some incredible skills.
Conscious.
Meanwhile real conscious unconditioned with ego activities as a gift is available for everybody, little kids, graybeards, monks and murders, and possibly also animals. It could be accepted or ignored. Usually, it is a passing activity, which however leaves an indelible mark in us.
It lasts forever in our memory as a time-out experience. It is erroneous to assume that only mature people experience such revelations. They do not appear as a result of the fact that the person sits for hours in meditation or prayer. These are also not experiments reserved only for Buddha or Jesus. Spiritual practices carried out consistently, however, help to develop the ability to recall this state and extend this experience every day.
There are many techniques and practices developed by various philosophical systems or religions. None of them is better or worse.
If you are a religious person, you certainly know some methods that are related to your religion. It doesn’t mean that you have to reject or deny them. Follow the instruction you know but do it honestly and sincerely. In order to delve into yourself, not just repeating some boring habits, which are necessary, because this is a tradition . Come into this practice with all of yourself.
Spiritual practice is your personal journey inside, beyond your five senses, mind and intellect in order to experience the soul (god) in yourself. One of the features of god is eternal bliss, so by touching the soul, you also experience bliss.
If you are looking for inspiration, below you will find a list of the best-known practices used in various philosophical systems or religions. Maybe one of them will be right for you? Or maybe you will find something else, more suitable for you.
My advice – listen to your heart. Read, explore, experience and choose what suits you best. Something th at feels best for you.
Meditation.
This exercise is derived from Indian spiritual traditions and consists of controlling one’s attention, calming the mind. On observing emerging thoughts without engaging in the thought process.
There are many schools that teach meditation, you can go to one of them and see if this form suits you. You can also try it yourself at home. There are lots of guided meditations on YouTube which could be helpful.
There are many schools that teach meditation, you can go to one of them and see if this form suits you. You can also try it yourself at home. There are lots of guided meditations on YouTube which could be helpful.
Practicing gratitude.
It is based on the regular practice of gratitude, by devoting time during the day to realizing things for which we are grateful. In order to experience positive emotions, sleep better, express more sympathy and kindness and even have a stronger immune system.
Sit down every day and think of five to ten things you are grateful for. The trick is that you have to imagine it and sit with a feeling of gratitude in your body. For a better result, you should notice new things every day for which you are grateful.
Doing it every day will make your brain naturally more grateful and you will start to feel happier after each session.
Praying.
The word prayer means pleading fervently. It is a request addressed to a god for something, usually with intense longing. By praying, you express the helplessness and endow the doer ship of a task to god in this way reducing your ego and increasing your faith. Over time, frequent prayers help to dissolve your mind and intellect and through them, you gain access to the higher self. Intense prayer also allows you to experience communion with G od and bliss.
Mindful Breathing.
There are specific methods of working with the breath and transferring attention to the body. They are often accompanied by visualization or repetition of sounds (mantras). Your breath is your source of life. Try to be more aware of your breathing. Note how you breathe in stressful moments and how you breath when you take a deep breath.
Practicing a full, deep breath is a great way to everyday stress. It works healthy, oxygenates the body, energizes, clearing the mind and calms.
The simplicity of life.
The key to this practice is the idea of simplifying life in order to get rid of unnecessary, inauthentic and obstacles. Understanding what is necessary and what is not. It is about the difference between our real needs and socially suggested wants. Because we live in a collective trance of consumerism and mass media, sometimes we do not realize what we really need. When things cease to have power over us, we can experience great inner freedom, have a sense of space and peace. Will, heart, and mind, freed from the obsession that ruled us, can then turn to goals corresponding to our deepest being.
Somatic techniques.
Exercises consisting of taking body postures, movements for developing health, increasing body awareness and releasing energy flows, e.g. asanas of yoga, tantra, tai chi.
Contemplation.
This is a p ractice based on constant thinking about something, studying something, thinking about something important and worthwhile pertaining to life and its meaning. When this activity deepens, when a person becomes still and highly focused as they ponder, it dissolves the ego, sometimes even bringing spontaneously a solution to life problems.
Mindfulness.
It is a psychological process consisting of focusing attention on internal and external stimuli present at a given moment. The practice of giving attention to the present during objective observation of yourself and others.
The art of giving.
Conscious participation in the Law of Circulation, circulating universal good. This is a simple practice that cultivates the habit of giving without thinking about what you might get back. The ego-less giving leads to the release of strong vibes of happiness between the giver and the receiver.
You can practice it by helping or giving to others, donating to charity or even volunteering a service.
Chanting.
This practice consists of singing the god’s name in a chant by means of a formula, verse or syllable. Its repetition helps in mastering the mind and activating specific energy. Chanting destroys negative impressions in the subconscious and clears it internally. It helps to focus the mind.
Affirmations.
Simple, positive statements in the present tense focusing on the good that causes the mind to start perceiving reality differently. Focusing on positives and seeing the good in all things. A positive attitude creates energy that changes our reality.
These are just a few of many existing practices for sure you will find something for yourself.
Learn the 11 advantages of spiritual practices.
What are they supposed to give you these everyday tortures? You will ask. Why do you have to do them? Will it help you to find the sense? Or is it just a waste of time? You know the answer to these questions well. You have it inside you. You don’t need to be convinced about it all but check below 11 advantages of spiritual practice.
In this article, you will learn the 11 most important benefits of spiritual practice.
Regardless of why you started a spiritual practice, if you experience it honestly and sincerely, sooner or later you will begin to experience the benefits of it.
The spiritual dimension is necessary for health and well-being, although in the modern world it is often neglected or even negated. Hence, there is now such an epidemic of spiritual illness – depression.
We all have a soul and when it is sick our body and mind are also sick.
See below the 11 advantages of spiritual practices:
It helps you to connect with your soul.
Silencing the mind allows you to receive the deep and very subtle messages sent by your soul by opening yourself to your own divine spark. You will then be able to see yourself that you are not just the body and the mind.
It allows you to get a balanced state of mind.
You increase your ability to control your thoughts so that you can better attract to yourself what you want from your life.
In this way, you will be able to create your own reality with the help of positive thoughts. Something Pollyanna used to do, for those who know her.
It allows you to maintain good health.
Although it sounds unbelievably spiritual practices reduce blood pressure, reduce chronic fatigue, strengthen the immune system. They teach respect for the body. They reduce the tendency to unhealthy habits like drinking alcohol, smoking, overeating.
When you control the mind, you can also control your body more easily.
It prevents depression.
Spirituality makes you stronger mentally and emotionally. It encourages you to see a broader picture, not just to remember negative moments, because “bad” experiences are also part of your journey.
It increases the feeling of happiness and satisfaction with what you have. It does not cause your problems to disappear overnight but helps you face them. The clarity of thoughts achieve during spiritual practice will help you look at your problem with a completely new perspective, and this can also bring its effective solution.
It brings you deep inner peace.
Through everyday spiritual practice, you become less reactive to the outside world, less emotional, more balanced. You are better at dealing with the challenges and conflicts that arise in everyday life. It is a kind of buffer against everyday stress, relaxes you.
It helps you develop your intuition.
Silencing the mind develops intuition. The deeper you connect with your intuition, the more you can trust yourself that you can see what is right for you and what is not. You increase your awareness of your choices and actions, and you are able to determine what brings you joy and what causes you to suffer. You are sensitized but it is not your weakness, on the contrary, this sensitivity gives you strength and courage.
It makes it easier to find a purpose in life.
It will sensitize you to the things you love. Which are good and important to you. But it will also sensitize you to things that do not serve you, cause stress and anxiety in this way, forcing you to leave your comfort zone, to take a step forward.
It may result in a return to the passion that you have left in the past, but you have dreamed of, or for which you have never had time.
People who use spiritual practices also achieve success in life more easily. A balanced state of mind makes it easier to come to terms with failure and continue effort instead of giving up. You will achieve real success when your inner self is not disturbed by external consequences.
It allows you to experience unity.
In the modern world, especially Western civilization, we have become individualists, following our own paths. We are no longer associated with the tribe, our community as it once was. There is widespread social cold-heart.
It causes separation from the world and other people. What can lead to isolation, alienation, and marginalization?
When you do some spiritual practice, you connect with everything and everyone. You feel true unity with everything. In this way, your relationship with other people also improves. You start to be more compassionate, empathic; you can understand the pain of another person. It also brings tolerance and acceptance of another human being.
It deepens your awareness.
Awareness means getting to know and feeling what is happening in you, your thoughts, feelings, and impressions. And that means that you also feel what is happening outside of you, sounds view and feelings of other people.
It helps to overcome the fear of death.
Human’s greatest fear is the fear of death. This is the basic fear of all creatures in this world, which task is to prevent us from doing something dangerous that could kill us. Spirituality gives us a sense of understanding that death appears only in the body, and the real “I” is immortal. It helps us accept the fact that death is an inseparable part of life and gives us the strength to deal with it.
It is your path to enlightenment.
The last of the 11 advanta ges of spiritual practice is liberation, also known as enlightenment or self-realization. It means a constant understanding of the truth about our nature and reality. You do not return to the human form, but you return to the state, which is infinite calm, peace, infinite joy and love. Lack of time and space only pure, eternal, blissful consciousness.
Spiritual practices require work, but you need the commitment to want something better. However, because there are no rules of spirituality, you can match them to yourself and your life the way you want. You can start with something as simple as for example a few-minutes meditation in the shower or in the car during a traffic jam. It’s important to want to start doing something.
