The importance of spiritual practice in these turbulent times
“We reduce suffering by cultivating a higher inner experience.”
We commit to spiritual practice for the same reason we lay solid foundations for a house… so that when the going gets tough, we don’t topple over.
And life is especially difficult at the moment, isn’t it? If you’re in Melbourne and have just been forced into stage four Covid restrictions for another six weeks, then it’s likely you’re feeling pretty down about it all.
And if you’re not, then go you powerful, resellient thing! In any case, it may also be worth checking in to see if you’re giving yourself the time and space to honour how you’re really feeling about it all.
As both a student and teacher of yoga, I am passionate about sharing the benefits of daily spiritual practice, because I know I would be in a much different place without it.
What is a spiritual practice?
I make no apologies for being pretty immoveable on this one basic truth: spiritual practice requires an undertaking which leads you to remember the Self, union and oneness. So, sorry, running doesn’t count.
“Whaaat!” I hear you say? Stay with me, I’ll explain.
Through spiritual practice we cultivate a deep knowing of the Self.
I use a Self with a capital letter here to highlight the goal of the yoga method, which is to remember your Divine aspect, or the soul (atman). Your soul is said to exist in an eternal union with an all-pervading higher intelligence. This intelligence is the source of all of creation, including the universe, Earth and all life on it.
Other terms to reference this higher intelligence include: Source, God, Universe, Love, The Divine, Supreme Being, Isvara or Brahman. You pick. I choose Love.
This state of remembering that we are Love, is often referred to as enlightenment, or bliss, or Yoga. And it is in this state that we are free from the turbulence of the mind and emotions that create our suffering.
The maharishis and sages that gifted us the ancient Yoga tradition, believed that we are spiritual beings born and re-born into a human experience. And that while we’re here, our soul (which is Love) is held in the body, until the body expires.
But the joke is on us. Because each time we are born we are ignorant of the Divine Self. I atttribute this eventuation to the soul now being enveloped in a living body filled with negative karmas brought with us from previous lives, and a thinking mind and ego. In yogic speak, these are known as maya, or illusion.
Thus, it becomes a yogi’s life work to purify the maya that encase our essential nature, so that we may remember our own divinity and that we are all indeed, Love.
It’s then supposed that finally, probably after many lifetimes of practice, having rid ouselves of all of our karmas and illusions, we will one day pass on from a life in the full presence of Supreme Love. Only then can we finally bow out gracefully from the cycle of reincarnation.
So, only through uniting the Divine aspect of you with Love in its purest, most etheral form, can our soul finally rest.
And all of this, requires us to practice now and in this life time.
What’s so special about knowing your Higher Self?
Here’s the thing. This is the part of you that craves peace and rejects drama. You in your highest form, doesn’t want to suffer. It doesn’t want to be annoyed, feel frustrated or angry. It is devoid of guilt, judgement and desire. Good or bad. It doesn’t want to hurt anyone or anything, or be hurt. It is intrinsically serene and unshakable and fillled with warmth and loving light. It loves everyone and everything and is bound by an overwhelming sense of oneness, because it knows that everyone and everything is Love.
Sounds like someone you want to get to know, right?
Okay, so what do I practice?
What we choose to practice to remember is totally up to us. Maybe its chanting, meditation, mantra, pranayama, yoga nidra, embodied movement (asana or postures), satsang (spiritual talks) or reading yogic scriptures.
It could be just one, or a combination of many. It doesn’t really matter. The point is to do it.
Practice as the key to happiness
As an avid student of yoga, I participate in online satsang led by some of the world’s most wonderful spiritual teachers. Whenever asked about finding the key to happiness their answer is always the same. And that is “practice”.
This very sage advice serves as a reminder that the answer to this universal plight is actually within us, and not somewhere out there… And yet, we spend our whole lives searching for happiness and validation from external sources…
We crave it from other people including our partners, lovers and children, friends, our jobs, and through the acquisition of material belongings and accolades.
Only when we realise that our personal happiness has nothing to do with anything or anyone other than us, we begin to venture onto the spiritual path.
But don’t ‘do’ practice, be in it
Spiritual practice is not something that you do. This notion is very different to advice I have received from some Western psychologists over the years. In these settings, in times of deep despair, I have been counselled to do activities, routinely, to help stabilise my unsettled mental state. Including exercise and yes, even meditation. But overtime, I have felt my relationship with these undertakings become almost business-like. As it’s something I’ve been told I must do, if I am to feel better.
My view is, that when it comes to spiritual practice, the approach should very different. It is indeed ritual-like, but rather than doing something, what’s really happening as you sit in those precious moments of inner exploration, is that you’re being what you already are. There’s no striving or aspiring here, it’s more like rekindling a familar, long-lost friendship.
It is worth me pointing out here however, that I do value Western psychology immensely and I use both methods in my own healing.
Developing your higher inner experience
I admit, the idea of the soul and its union with a greater power and realising oneness may be a tough pill to swallow for some. Perhaps a little too etherial? And so, we come full circle to perhaps the most logical reason to practice…
Because it makes the topsy turvy nature of life more easy to bear.
Practice creates for us a stable base, a centre to come back to when the shizz hits the fan. Consider that a tree is only stable and yet also malleable , despite at times prevailing external forces, because of its deep roots.
Krishna Das says: “We don’t practice for the easy stuff. We practice for the hard stuff.”
But when things are easy, we are less likely to want to practice. Which is why we need to do it anyway.
I can personally attest to this. During our time living overseas, I had begun and was maintaining a daily practice of chanting the Name (of Love) as a method of remembering. This devotional practice of Bhakti Yoga has been deeply healing and purifying for me. So, when my Mum passed away unexpectedly upon our return, I already had a strong practice to keep me centered as I began to process my grief.
PRACTICE WITH ME
What happens on your mat…
It’s been my experience that what happens on your mat, eventually starts to trickle out into your life.
So, if you feel like you need to slow down your life, then slow down your practice. If you feel like you need to practice more surrender, then guide your body into shapes that represent this state of being.
Soon you will begin to re-train your body, mind and the trillions of cells that make you up, to imbue what you crave and when you need it the most.
For example, when a mantra is repeated over a long period of time, eventually it will begin to replace habitual mind patterns and become audible in the manas (mind screen) when life inevitably throws us a challenge. I can’t tell you how often I walk around unconsciously calling out to Rama and Krishna through the maha mantra. These days, it like string on my finger, reminding me to come back.
So practice… it’s the only thing to do
Carve out the time, away from your partner, children, friends and all the stuff you’ve convinced yourself makes you whole. Just 5 minutes each day will make a huge difference. Truly.
Choose a practice that feels right for you, sit with yourself in a moment’s pause and remember all that you already are. Love.
Eventually, you start to get better at it and then one day, against all odds, you’ll never stop seeking that supremely peaceful, all-pervading resonance of Love, residing deep within you and in everything of creation.
Get started now with one of my short online practices.
om shanti xx
Images: Thanks to Cindy Tang + Trina Gadsden