In my previous post, I shared some of my favorite spiritual practices. These are very specific to who I am and to what fosters my personal connection to God. In thinking about potential spiritual practices for yourself, it can help to think about who you are and what resonates with you.
What do you respond to most powerfully in your life: sound, smell, touch, sight? Reading, listening, talking, stillness? If you react powerfully and in a positive way to smell, you might incorporate aromatherapy into your spiritual practices. If you’ve felt most connected to God through sound, you might want to try regular music practice or have sound baths, which I describe below.
If you don’t know what would be best, pick something and try it. God is ever-present, and will meet you at your moment of seeking.
Here are the rest of my favorite spiritual practices:
Breathwork
I first learned about breathwork through yoga, where it is called pranayama, and then through singing, where you do breathing exercises as part of strengthening the muscles used to sing. Breathwork seems simple; after all, we’re breathing all the time. But it’s a very powerful, healing practice that can release tension, remove emotional baggage, relieve stress, and connect us to our inner-knowing. I haven’t done it as a regular spiritual practice, but I have a hunch that it would probably be life-changing if I did. Breathwork is a practice of surrender.
My favorite breathing exercise is alternate nostril breathing.
Sound baths
My personal “sound baths” are when I put my headphones on, lay down in a comfortable position, and play music that is soothing, nourishing, relaxing, and/or healing to me (sometimes it’s classical piano music, sometimes it’s gospel or worship music, sometimes it’s 90’s R&B!). I pick music for what I need in that moment and then relax and let the music wash over me. Music is truly healing.
Spending time in nature
Nature is a healer, and God is in her. Whenever I spend time under green trees, in wide open space, near mountains or sea, or outside with the sun warming my skin, I feel the divine presence and I leave renewed. It’s such a simple cure that I often forget it. With New York’s hot and muggy summers and frigid winters, it can sometimes be a challenge to spend significant amounts of time outside comfortably but when I do, the benefits are immediate and lasting.
Go outside. Find a patch of grass. Remove your shoes. Sink your bare feet into the grass. Enjoy. Repeat often!
Self-blessing
We don’t realize the power of our own words. We have the power to bless or curse ourselves by the words we speak and it is very healing to speak affirming, uplifting words about ourselves and our lives. Self-blessing is not about trying to speak words like a spell to achieve a specific outcome in your life—it’s about conspiring with God to surround yourself with love.
You can write the words you need for your specific situation. Or you can use a devotional book, the Psalms, or any other prayers or blessings you find that resonate with you. I’m currently using a book of devotions by Julia Cameron, Prayers to the Great Creator: Prayers and Declarations for a Meaningful Life. The first section is written like long affirmations—I randomly pick one each evening and say the words over myself with my hand on my heart. It feels so good, and keeps me believing in goodness regardless of whatever is going on in my life or in the world.
The World Needs Your Joy!
A holistic practitioner once encouraged me to sing regularly simply because of the joy it brings me. “You don’t need any other reason,” she told me. She talked about how powerful sound is and that if singing brings me joy, then I’m adding the vibration of my joy to the world just by engaging in it as a practice. “The world needs more joy!,” she said.
I couldn’t agree more. The world needs more joyful, peaceful, aware people who are connected with the One who loves them. Spiritual practices will connect us.