Three Spiritual Principles for Everyone to Practice
Every path is different, and everyone has unique experiences that make up who they are, how they see the world, and how they connect to spirituality and the Divine. No matter the person and journey, there are certain aspects and practices that can be beneficial for all of us. As with anything, take what resonates and leave the rest. Here are some basic building blocks for your spiritual practice to strengthen your connection to All That Is.
1. GROUNDING/EARTHING
We are very electrical in nature as humans. Most humans can output about 100 Watts of electricity just while resting, which is enough to power a lightbulb! If we are like complicated lamps, we need to be connected to a grounding system so we can function properly and the electrical circuit is complete and stable. The biggest grounding unit is right beneath our feet!
HOW DO I GROUND MYSELF?
The easiest way to ground on earth is to stand or walk barefoot outside on the land or in water. If that is not accessible, there are plenty of other ways to do it!
You can also:
Take a bath with epsom salt and/or sea salt
Put your feet in sand, water, mud, dirt, or anything natural
Hold black, brown, or red crystals in your hands or keep them in your pockets/on your person
Visualize your feet in mud, water, or whatever natural material works best for you
Visualize roots growing from your feet and lower body into rich, dark, fertile soil that looks almost like coffee grounds
Visualize a red cord from your root chakra/tailbone corkscrewing down counterclockwise into the Earth
Hug a tree! Ask the consciousness of the tree to pull you down into the ground through its roots
Use an earthing mat/grounding shoes
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF GROUNDING/EARTHING?
As new research is coming out, scientists are finding more and more about the importance and the benefits of us connecting with the Earth. Grounding can help stabilize our moods, reduce pain, improve sleep, and support cardiovascular health. Earthing can also neutralize free radicals in the body, helping us prevent chronic disease and aging. The Earth’s field creates ions that our body uses as antioxidants, which is how it attaches to free radicals so our cells are not damaged by unstable compounds. The healing process is also accelerated by grounding, and even switches the nervous system from sympathetic to parasympathetic. These are just a few examples physically of how we benefit from consistent contact with Mother Earth.
WHY SHOULD I ADD THIS TO MY SPIRITUAL PRACTICE?
While it's beneficial to ground/earth just for your physical body, you set your mind and spirit up for success by fully connecting to yourself in the body as well as the energy of our beautiful planet. Earthing gives you a solid foundation to base your mindfulness and spiritual work and growth, creating the perfect environment for great transformation to happen. Since we are like complicated lamps, as mentioned earlier, the deeper we ground and connect into the Earth, the easier it is for us to access the higher realms of consciousness because we plug ourselves fully into the circuit of consciousness, giving us a stable basis for our meditations and astral travels.
Why did the Buddha meditate against the Bhodi tree? For the same reason! Especially with using trees to assist us in grounding through their roots, we need a solid baseboard for our spirits and souls to spring off of up through other states of consciousness.
2. MEDITATION
You don’t have to be the Buddha to achieve peace of mind, meditation is available to everyone and has incredible benefits! The practice of mindfulness and meditation increases activity to the prefrontal cortex in the brain, making you happier as well as improving sleep, sharpening memory, and reducing stress, anxiety, and depression! Connecting to your internal world and being in a state of awakened awareness gives you so many positive outcomes, giving us a chance to reset and rejuvenate ourselves.
There are so many ways to meditate, it doesn’t just have to be sitting or lying still and trying not to think. Here’s a list of different meditation techniques, as well as moving meditations:
Focusing on the breath; breathing exercises such as the 4-7-8 Method
Walking in nature
Dancing
Painting/Drawing
Yoga
Focus meditations–focus on a particular thought, idea, or object in front of you
Anything you love to do that puts you in “the zone” or a flow state!
WHY SHOULD I ADD THIS TO MY SPIRITUAL PRACTICE?
While meditation is beneficial for our brains, attention, focus, and so much more, it is important to balance our minds, bodies, and spirits this way too. Just like you go to the gym for your body, it is important to strengthen your mind and your spirit as well! This way, you build up natural patience, peace, and resilience when anything comes up in your reality. You also develop self-reflection skills, which helps you become more self-aware and a better person to and for others.
3. JOURNALING
Journaling is an effective tool in any mindful wellness practice, and great to really get in touch with your inner self. Regardless of spiritual or religious background, journaling is a universal activity to help you put difficult situations and emotions into words to help you process them, keep track of your progress, and get out all of the thoughts and worries you carry on a daily basis. There are plenty of ways you can put pen to paper, such as:
Written prayer
Checking in with yourself, self-reflection
Reframing negative emotions and traumatic experiences in a lens of gratitude
Shadow work exercises
Love letters to yourself and/or the Divine
Written affirmations
Manifestation, writing events/things that you would like in your reality as if they are happening now
Self-improvement prompts
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF JOURNALING?
Journaling has been proven to be a buffer against maladaptive rumination, efficiently reducing depression! It is also very beneficial to reduce anxiety and stress and reduce psychological distress. Not only is journaling healthy for our minds and psychological state, but also our physical wellbeing as well. In one study, patients with asthma or arthritis saw significant reduction in inflammation and other symptoms after writing about traumatic experiences in their lives and processing them through journaling. Our bodies, minds, and spirits are so connected that when we use tools like journaling to heal one, we heal all three.
WHY SHOULD I ADD THIS TO MY SPIRITUAL PRACTICE?
Expressing ourselves in a safe and productive manner is so beneficial for all aspects of ourselves and develops our self-reflection skills. When we can connect to our deepest emotions, desires, and take a non-judgmental look at ourselves and our patterns, we can gain so much insight and strength that we never knew was possible. Using journaling as an outlet to process our experiences and emotions and turn them into gratitude is such a profound way to cultivate more self-love and lead healthier, happier lives. Why wouldn’t you want to add journaling to your spiritual toolkit?
No matter your personality, life experience, and how you connect with God/Source; grounding, meditation, and journaling are all universal, effective practices to add to any spiritual palette. We are all unique in the ways we connect to the All, but my personal hope is that these basic practices will enhance your relationship with yourself and the Divine as they did for me.
Written by: Gateway Cottage Wellness Center
