Spiritual health is often an overlooked aspect of wellness and healing. However, it is actually the ultimate goal of holistic medicine and leads to a greater awareness of the Divine Spirit that all religions refer to. It doesn’t matter what name you give it. What matters is that you get to know and tune in to your guidance in all areas of your daily life. If he does, he will reduce your feelings of fear and give you a greater ability to love yourself and others unconditionally. He will also help you reconnect with your special talents and gifts so you can use them to fulfill your life’s purpose.”

Being aware of the role Spirit plays in your life, being spiritually healthy also means being intimately connected to your spouse, partner, family, friends, and community, which also results in social health. Spiritual and social health are interconnected, as it is through our committed relationships that we find the greatest opportunities for spiritual growth and learning to receive and impart unconditional love.

Observance of spiritual and religious traditions, work with spiritual advisors, and support groups are common methods of creating spiritual and social health, as are the opportunities provided by our friendships, marriage, intimate relationships, and parenting. A variety of self-care approaches, including prayer, meditation, gratitude, and spending time in nature, can further deepen your awareness of yourself as a spiritually and socially connected being, and are recommended by both conventional and holistic practitioners. increasingly.

The five most important rituals to create spiritual health are: Prayer, Meditation, Gratitude, Forgiveness, Spending time in nature, even near fire and water.

Prayer:

Prayer is the most common form of spiritual practice undertaken by most Americans, and most people who pray report a greater sense of well-being than those who don’t. Harvard researcher and mind-body medicine expert Herbert Benson, MD, author of The Relaxation Response, found that regular prayer or repetition of spiritual phrases like “Shalom” or “Hail Mary” triggers relaxation and reduces stress.

There are many effective ways to pray, both for yourself and for others. Many people find great benefit using the prayers of their religious education. Others make prayer a time of personal conversation with God, expressing their need or concern and asking for divine intervention. Others find that walking in a place of natural beauty is a form of prayerful worship.

Just taking the time to acknowledge all that you have to be thankful for and give thanks for what you want. Giving thanks for what you want is more effective than asking for what you want, God knows what you need before you need it and has already sent it to you, therefore giving thanks acknowledges what you have not seen yet. Choose the form of prayer that is most comfortable for you, and then establish a regular routine of repeating your prayers every day.

Meditation:

Meditation has been scientifically researched and shown to have physiological benefits for decades. In addition to its physical benefits, including stress relief, improved cardiovascular and immune function, relaxation, and pain relief, regular meditation practice can lead to new insights into life’s problems (which often often result in healing from past emotional trauma), increased creativity, inspiration, greater compassion for others, and a greater connection to one’s own inner guidance.

There are a wide variety of meditation techniques to choose from and, as with prayer, choosing the one that is most comfortable for you will provide you with the most benefit.

Meditation can be done sitting, lying down, walking, or jogging. Some people also prefer to sing or chant a word or phrase that has spiritual meaning to them. What all meditation techniques have in common is mindful breathing (see above) and a focus on what is happening in each present moment, until the mind is emptied of past and future thoughts, judgments, and concerns.

A simple way to meditate is to sit comfortably upright with your eyes closed and pay attention to your breath. Observe yourself breathing in and out, letting go of any thoughts you have. At the beginning of your practice, you will find that your mind wanders. Each time this happens, gently bring your focus back to your breathing. To improve your concentration, you can also silently repeat a word or mantra, such as love, peace, or Jesus.

Eventually, you will experience longer periods of silence between each thought, although it may be months before this occurs. Be patient and don’t force things. Sit for 10 to 20 minutes once or twice a day, but if you find yourself too distracted or pressed for time, end the session, rather than sit fidgety. With commitment and consistent practice, the benefits of meditation will become apparent to you and you will find that your efforts are well worth it.

Gratitude:

Dr. Robert Anderson describes gratitude as the Great Attitude. “Gratitude produces feelings of joy and self-acceptance, and it’s an attitude anyone can choose to have, just as we can choose to see the glass as half full or half empty,” says Dr. Anderson. “Being grateful for what you have, instead of worrying about what you lack, allows you to let go of negative thoughts and attitudes more easily. This can be difficult at times, especially if you are feeling a lot of fear or anger, but if you do the effort to release these painful emotions and you choose to be grateful, positive benefits can be achieved instead.

One method of cultivating feelings of gratitude is to keep a gratitude journal, as described above. A variation on this technique is to close his eyes before bed and mentally review his day, taking inventory of all the things he experienced that he is grateful for, giving silent thanks for them. “By making gratitude a regular part of your daily experience, you set the stage for a deeper connection with spirit, says Dr. Anderson. In the process, his life will become an increasingly joyous adventure.” “.

Sorry:

Forgiveness is power and empowerment. Forgiving is an act of cleaning your mental field. Forgiveness clears false perceptions and lifts you to a higher vibration. Forgiveness is a change in perception, which removes a barrier to the awareness of who you really are and the presence of Love.

Humans have the power to charge each experience with an opinion and then decide whether it is ‘good’ or ‘bad’, ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. When you affirm that something is ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’, you simply take away the opportunity to transform that experience, affirm that it is good, and use that good as a lever for your ever-ascending movement in the glorious spiral of becoming who you really are. are.

Pause now. Meditate on the poignancy of this truth. When you are unwilling to forgive, you are stopping your ever-upward movement in the energetic flow of the Universe—the glorious upward spiral of becoming who you really are. Who you are is a loving and caring being: a human being having a spiritual experience and a spiritual being having a human experience.

Many people mistakenly believe that if they forgive the ‘wrong’, they will release the other person(s) from their predicament. However, this is a lack of understanding. Buddhists know that the Universal Laws work in a spiral of energy.

This spiral of energy moves in a circular motion: what goes around comes around. Buddhists call this phenomenon Karma. Therefore, whether you forgive the seemingly ‘unforgivable’ act, you are the only one who suffers now. The offender probably does not know that he did ‘wrong’, or if he does, he does not believe that his behavior was ‘wrong’. And you keep drinking the poison of anger and resentment hoping it dies. Allow the Universal Laws to manage the Karma that he/she created for himself/herself.

You can simply remove the negative charge, change your perception, and the good that is always present in your life experiences can make itself known.

Spend time in nature:

The most visible manifestation of spirit is nature, where we most fully encounter and interact with the primary energies of life in the forms of earth, water, fire, and air.

Strolling in a park or hiking through the woods are easy and practical ways to reconnect with nature and the earth, as are gardening, backcountry biking, camping, and boating. By making it a habit to spend regular amounts of time outdoors in natural surroundings, you’ll be better able to appreciate the rhythms of life, including your own.

We need to recognize that cities and other industrialized areas can prevent us from living a balanced life. Spending time in nature helps restore that balance, while also deepening our connection to Spirit.

Spending time near water can also be a spiritually healthy experience, due to the higher concentration of negative ions in the water, which can contribute to feelings of well-being. Swimming in the ocean, lakes, or rivers is a great way to benefit from this life-enhancing energy. Soaking in a mineral hot spring can also provide therapeutic benefits for a variety of ailments.

Exposure to fire around a campsite or in front of a fireplace can also have health benefits, according to Leonard Orr, who discovered that fire clears the bioenergetic field of negative energies and can be a powerful aid in healing physical illnesses. Orr recommends spending a few hours each day before a fire for people who want to experience such benefits. Fire is also an important component of vision quests that Native Americans undertake to connect with the Great Spirit and discover their life’s purpose.

Of all the elements of nature, perhaps the closest expression of the Spirit is the air. Clean, fresh air is essential for health on all levels, and practicing mindful breathing as described above is a powerful self-care method for restoring energy and becoming more aware of the power of Spirit as it flows through you. .

Regular exposure to each of these four elements can help you become more aware of how Spirit’s loving intelligence sustains the world, while more deeply recognizing your place within it.