How to find 6 powerful impacts in a spiritual practice

“This isn’t working for me anymore! I can’t reach the places I have been in the past”

“I’ve never been able to quiet my mind and meditate”

“I’m off the charts when I get into my spiritual practice and I have a hard time getting back to my everyday life”

If any of these statements resonate with you, this blog is for you! You may have had all of these experiences at different times in your life, I sure have.

A spiritual practice is just that, a practice. It is an activity which:

1. you intentionally engage in with regularity;
2. provides mental respite while opening space for connection, direction and guidance from spirit;
3. regenerates your body at a cellular level reducing physiological pathology;
4. creates heart resonance, aligning body, mind and spirit;
5. builds emotional resilience, allowing cellular systems to reset more efficiently after a fight or flight or other cellular response;
6. has no rigidity – your practice should feel good and work well for you personally. If it isn’t working, it’s time to change to something new which will serve you better.

There are many other scientifically proven benefits of a spiritual practice. There are many ancestral, traditional, and anecdotally recorded benefits as well.

A spiritual practice is not:

1. strictly prescribed, with punishment for not adhering to practice principles;
2. someone else’s idea of what will work for you;
3. expensive – your practice can happen anywhere, at no cost you;
4. emotionally painful or uncomfortable – always feel safe and free of judgement;
5. inherently religious or conforming to elements of religiosity;
6. something you will never change. 

In your lifetime you may find multiple ways to connect, heal and heighten. Try something new when a tried-and-true practice is no longer working. The universe hasn’t given up on you.

The spiritual practice tool(s) you were using may not be as sharp or in-tune as it was in previous years.

Think about it. Skates, scissors and knives need to be sharpened. Skis, sleds, and cutting boards need to be waxed. Daily, we rely on the moon to wax and wane. Cells die and new cells are born every moment of every day. Your cells may not be responding to an “old” way of connecting to spirit. Don’t be afraid to explore, and definitely don’t fill your mind with ill thoughts of the cosmic consciousness giving up on you!

For those of you who feel your mind will never let go of its grip on you long enough to meditate, you are in for a mind-blowing revelation. . . . every time you try to meditate, and you slip in and out of a meditative state, you are practicing. Practice is not knowing how to so something with ease. That is why it is called a practice. It is the act of slipping out and intentionally getting back into mediation that actually impacts your brain and the connection to spirit. What?! That can’t be true! But alas, recent research has shown beginner meditators are strengthening their connections by slipping out unintentionally, and intentionally connecting back in, wiring the connection deep within their brains.

Look outside. If you walk on a certain path everyday, that path will become well worn.

You may start to encounter others on the path you created. Think of meditation as a path you are creating. It may have long grass and be uneven at first, but as you wear down the pathway, it becomes easier. Not only will it become easier for you, but your spirit guides, your ancestors, and other loving light-bodies will know where to find the path to connect to you.

If you are the person who has been practicing, or has had a recent spontaneous opening, you may be overwhelmed by the energy inundating you. You may find it difficult to stay in your body. Grounding and getting back to your body at will is an important aspect of daily life. If you are having trouble with this, seek out expert help with reverse-polarity, or over-active pineal gland. The most skilled people I have encountered in this practice have been highly effective evidential mediums. They are constantly receiving messages from the other side, and they need to turn that connection off so that they can live their own lives. Being too open to energy can be debilitating.

As mentioned, I have been in all three of these states. Right now, I am enjoying the benefits of a few practices I do daily. 

I am a fan of Inner Engineering by Sadhguru for several reasons:

1. it is a multi-modal practice: I can add binaural beats to the holographic and ayurvedic breathing, enhancing the depth of my yoga meditation throughout the movements (kriyas);
2. it is not western yoga (not just for exercise); I go more deeply into this practice due to its multi-modal strategy;
3. the kriyas keep my body flexible, strong and balanced.

I start my day with this activity. I then go straight into a guided meditation by Dr. Duncan Church called Bliss Brain eco-mediation. As with Inner Engineering, the eco-meditation stacks various practices to deepen the experience. Tapping, binaural beats, breathwork, loving-kindness, mediation and elements of hypnosis are all offered in a 15-minute framework. Following this, I meditate for another period of time depending on my day (usually 15 – 30 minutes).

I feel these stacking activities are extremely valuable, and I can do this anywhere at any time, multiple times a day. To supplement this, I use my Reiki training to do self-Reiki. 

If you have a practice that is working for you right now, great! Keep it up! If you don’t, consider doing a little research into various modalities you can “stack” to optimize your regenerative health and heart coherence.