How My Spiritual Rituals Help Ground Me
By Jaclyn Tracy
Image from EyeSwoon
Spirituality is something I hope to continue to grow closer to each and every day of my life. When you go through something really challenging, spiritual rituals become not only important, but necessary.
The same year I launched this company, I also began a divorce process that took about two years to finalize. This event forced me to create a deep meditation and spiritual practice.
I have always believed in a higher universal power and I had been curious and had dabbled in practicing full moon rituals, setting intentions, creating mantras, meditating, practicing yoga but it took a traumatic event for me to really commit to a spiritual practice. Once I realized I could not control anything other than my own energy, I was forced down this path of How can I ground myself? How can I stay centered? How can I elevate my own energy? And let go of trying to control anyone or anything else?
You can train only three things in life:
You can train your SKILL
You can train your BODY
You can train your MIND
During this time, I read a life changing book, recommended by my therapist, called When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron. In the book, she explains, "Sticking with the uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic - this is the spiritual path."
The book goes deeper into what meditation really is and what it offers to our lives:
“Meditation is an invitation to notice when we reach our limit and to not get carried away by hope and fear. We don't sit in meditation to become good meditators. We sit in meditation so that we'll be more awake in our lives. Through meditation, we are able to see clearly what’s going on with our thoughts and emotions, and we can also let them go. We're able to see how we run and hide and keep ourselves busy so that we never have to let our hearts be penetrated. And we’re also able to see how we could open and relax.”
At heart, I would consider myself closest to a Buddhist, if I were to name a religion. What I love about Buddhism is its focus on spiritual development which leads to awareness around the true nature of reality. I am by no means an expert on Buddhism, but I do very much respect the Buddhist approach to life.
Buddhism asks us all to awaken to the world and ourselves in a deep and transforming way. To awaken is to learn the art of living, to master the mind and bring it back to the reality of the present moment and to unite mind, body and reality. Meditation is one of the tools that Buddhism employs to bring this about. It already existed in the Hindu tradition, and the Buddha himself used meditation as a means to enlightenment.
My spirituality rituals include:
MEDITATION
I meditate for 10-20 minutes every night with Melissa Wood Health. If you do only one thing, this or journaling would be what I recommend. Get off the hamster wheel of life, and sit down to observe and quiet your thoughts instead of chasing them to create a mind body connection, observe how you are actually feeling — even if it’s only for 5 minutes a day.
JOURNALING
If you are wildly busy like me, something I’ve learned in therapy to get into my body is to ask myself: How did that make you feel? And what are you feeling right now? to check in with my gut, my head and my heart. Feelings help us to develop and navigate our way through relationships, make important life choices and identify our responses to events. But our culture often carries a "push through" or "swallow your feelings" mentality.
So I (try to) journal every morning. I journal about just that, how I feel. To get into by body before I start the day. A new daily practice I've begun to improve my mind, body connection and to deepen my intuition.
To create a daily practice I write less than I feel like writing each day as author Greg McKeown recommends in his book Essentialism. If a daily practice feels like too much, I highly recommend journaling whenever you are working through something or trying to process something that is weighing you down. It will bring you a lot of clarity. I do also re-read journal exerts every few months, as McKeown also recommends, to analyze patterns to clarify what I need to focus on improving on or what cycles I need to break.
PALO SANTO & SAGE
Palo Santo & Sage are used to cleanse a person or space, and to promote healing and wisdom and clear out negative energy. Palo Santo is a mystical tree that grows on the coast of South America and is related to Frankincense, Myrrh and Copal. In Spanish, the name literally means “Holy Wood.” White Sage is used for releasing what is troubling the mind and for removing negative energy.
I use Palo Santo or Sage to cleanse myself and my space a few times a week and my full apartment only when I feel like I need to. The way I do this is walk around with Palo Santo or Sage burning and out loud I say “Lead me down the right path.” Everyone does this differently, so create a ritual that works for you!
FULL MOON RITUALS
I use the full moon as an opportunity to level up and make space for the person I want to show up as. It is my way of clearing space and manifesting my dreams and really connecting to my spiritual side.
I ask myself these questions and journal:
1. What really matters to you?
2. Explore areas of your life that need an upgrade — clarify who you want to be and how you want to show up and recognize what is holding you back from being your truest most beautiful self.
3. Be specific about what you want to achieve, when you want to achieve it and why.
4. Bring your intentions to life — clarify & write down specific intentions. “I want ...”
5. Affirm those intentions “I am...” And then in closing say: “I accept these things or something better into my life for my highest good and for the highest good of all concerned.”
I usually add a Meditation, a yoga flow or a salt bath to this ritual and use crystals and palo santo to clear and release any negative energy. I also recommend listening to a Sound Bath or Meditation Playlist while journaling.
SURRENDER
I now actively practice surrendering to the flow of life, the flow of reality. Letting go of resistance. And not clinging too tightly to any one vision, any one manifestation. Check out this video on why you should stop manifesting. And start surrendering to the flow of life instead. Staying open to whatever the universe may bring, even if it takes me into the unknown — down a path I cannot yet see, no matter how unfamiliar it may be.
My mantra for this practice: “Lead me down the right path. Even if it is a path unknown and unfamiliar to me — deliver what is meant for me to help me serve my highest good and the highest good of all concerned.”
Whatever you are resisting, whatever you are trying to control, whatever you fear: stop resisting the tension.
Let it be there. Don’t label it as bad. Don’t label it as negative. Just take a DEEP BREATH. And let it pass through you.
Be patient & watch the magic unfold.
A lesson I learn over and over again in my spiritual practices is you don’t need to know all the answers. You just need to set your intention, manifest your vision, commit to the practice and the answers will show up for you. It’s about showing up for yourself, creating space for yourself and healing yourself so you can heal others, so you can heal the earth.
If you enjoyed this article, you may also be interested in reading, Jaclyn’s article on:
GROWTH, TRANSFORMATION & SMALL SUSTAINABLE STEPS TOWARDS PROGRESS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jaclyn Tracy is the founder of SISTAIN. Her goal is to make a greater difference by educating, activating and making sustainable consumerism not only easier, but aspirational. She believes success is in the collective impact, getting a whole group of people to change their behavior by committing to choosing sustainable brands, less waste and imperfect progress. Jaclyn is also the founder of Brand Effect, a holistic digital marketing agency.
