Spiritual Practice is the tool of your personal inner work.
Integral to your spiritual journey, this is the conscious action you take to understand where you are, who you are, and what you can become.
Spiritual practice can be a formal exercise though it need not be because its essence lies within conscious intention.
Within this perspective, let us define spiritual practice as follows:
Spiritual Practice is any conscious action or experience of Being emerging from your center,
motivated by the intention of understanding and integrating the whole of your BE-ing,
physical and spiritual, body, mind, heart, and soul.
The primary foundation of spiritual practice is intention.
Without intention, any practice can become hollow and its outcomes illusory.
Without intention, prayer loses its heart and meditation becomes mindless, useless repetition.
With intention, simple daily tasks such as washing the dishes and sweeping the floor can become revealing and uplifting portals to deeper connection and new-found clarity.
Spiritual practice also allows rather than dictates or controls.
The whole point is to learn something new about yourself rather than reinforcing outdated beliefs.
Within the motion of your daily life, any action or experience in your life can be motion into understanding life from a new perspective.
Truly living life is the best spiritual practice there is.
Everything you need is here waiting for you, ready to support your being and becoming.
Rather than separating physical from spiritual, your intention can integrate the two, unifying all of your life within the perspective of the whole.
Spiritual ritual and practice are not effective because of their individual forms but because of the experience that moves within you as you engage in the process of the practice.
If you take the approach of I KNOW, then you will miss the opportunity for I LEARN.
I LEARN is the point of view where you have the chance to gather new perspectives and understanding about yourself and the flow of your life.
I LEARN is understanding the difference between being closed and being opened.
I LEARN is also the awareness that the ability to be open develops gradually and progressively.
Being open to learn brings the awareness that you always have the opportunity to open further and deeper than before.
The thoughtless reaction of I KNOW is fueled by a need to control.
I KNOW closes the debate, rejects the possibilities.
I KNOW refuses to acknowledge that there is always more to learn and explore.
I LEARN stands open to considering whatever may come forward within experience and awareness.
Whereas I KNOW is terrified of what may come and this fear attempts to dictate the form and the content of experience and of life. In any spiritual practice, the choice is I LEARN.
Any action or experience in your life can be Spiritual Practice.
Living life is the best spiritual practice there is. Everything you need is there waiting for you, ready to support your BE-ing and becoming.
Rather than separating physical from spiritual, your intention can integrate the two, unifying all of your life within the perspective of the whole.
Thus, what I call spiritual practice is always offered to you as an opportunity to experience life with intention.
Ritual and spiritual practice are not effective because of their individual forms but because of the experience that moves within you as you engage in the process of the practice.
Spiritual Practice begins with your consideration of what practice to choose.
Your consideration as you approach your practice initiates movement within and ignites your first awareness of possible intention.
The process of your choice begins the process of spiritual practice.
You may choose a practice for reasons which may not be entirely clear at first.
Just the simple recognition that this is something to do may be the initial intention.
Or you may feel or know more distinctly your motivation and intention.
Either is fine because the process of the practice will reveal additional layers of meaning and intention.
The place of I LEARN will allow these layers of intention to come forward into your experience and awareness.
The process of Spiritual Practice is a revealing over time of BE-ing, of clues and hints towards blocks, obstacles and possibilities for clarity and truth.
Your entire experience from consideration, engagement and completion, even if the experience lasts but a moment, is the process of spiritual practice.
From the moment you begin, the motion of your intention initiates the flow of your learning and understanding.
The effects begin in the first moment and continue throughout the entire process of spiritual practice.
Thus, along your journey, spiritual practice begins with your consideration of what practice to experience.
Your consideration as you approach your practice initiates movement within and ignites your first awareness of possible intention.
The process of your choice begins the process of your spiritual practice.
Initially, you may choose a practice for reasons which may not be entirely clear at first. Just the simple recognition that this is something to do may be the only motivating intention.
Or you may feel or understand more distinctly your motivation and intention.
Either is fine because the process of the practice will reveal additional layers of meaning and intention.
Standing open will allow these layers of intention to come forward into your experience and awareness.
The process of spiritual practice is a revelation over time of Being, of clues and hints towards blocks, obstacles and possibilities for clarity and truth.
Your entire experience from consideration, engagement and completion, even if the experience lasts but a moment, is the process of spiritual practice.
And from the moment you begin, the motion of your intention initiates the flow of your learning and understanding.
The effects begin in the first moment of consideration and continue throughout the entire process you chose.
Each practice is not for each and every person.
However, you must give yourself the opportunity of experience to be able to acquaint yourself with what works for you.
In fact, just recognizing the resistance you have towards doing a practice can be the practice itself.
Spiritual practice is not about completion but about your attention to and reflection on whatever happens within your practice.
If you run into resistance, amend the practice to your time considerations and your intention.
Don’t force yourself or demand perfection. Remember that your learning is revealed in your process of all spiritual practice.
For more about the nature of Spiritual Practice:
If you are looking for a guide to understanding your spiritual journey and the kinds of shifts spiritual practice can make, check out my book: How to Navigate the Five Steps of Your Spiritual Journey.
I have written the following articles about the types of practice that I have chosen and experienced with the hopes that there are clues and suggestions which help you find your way on your journey.
Alignment. Balance. Connection.
What is Spiritual Practice?
Top Twelve Questions for Personal Growth
How to be My Best Self
The Push of Wall Hitting
Tomorrow Has a Place for Us All
Connection is the Way Past Fear
A World of Extraordinary Shift and Change
Balance IS
