My Top 5 Favorite Spiritual Practices
It has been said that when you are truly present, almost anything that you do can become a spiritual practice. Some of the greatest Zen masters of the world have expressed “chopping vegetables” to be one of the most therapeutic and meditative parts of their day. Whether it be gardening, rock climbing, surfing, playing guitar, or playing golf, all of these activities have the potential to provide great benefit when done properly. It’s not what you do, it’s how you do it. In this article I want to take a look at my personal top 5 favorite spiritual practices.
#5 Journaling
There is nothing like getting out an old fashioned pencil and piece of paper and taking a seat to write out your thoughts and feelings. Many of the world’s most successful businessmen and CEOs have stated journaling to be a very significant part of their day. Journaling can be useful not only in clearing out things that may be on your mind, but it can also be an effective way to plan for the day ahead, lay out intentions, and make decisions.
#4 Making Music
Yes, making music can be considered a spiritual practice. In fact, in my opinion, it is one of the most personal and spiritual forms of artistic expression that the world has to offer. It is one of the reasons why I love hip hop music so much. Hip hop requires a certain level of introspective thought process, craftsmanship, and emotional depth in order to be done successfully. It has a poetic and philosophical essence to it. These are things many people overlook. Nonetheless, they are true for most other genres as well.
As a hip hop artist myself, I would love to see more people start recording and making hip hop music. There are times where I talk to my mother on the phone, and think to myself “man, we need to get her hooked up so she can put this down over an instrumental”. I think if more people had an artistic outlet such as hip hop to come home to at the end of the day, the world would be a more peaceful place.
#3 Yoga
I first got into doing yoga a few years ago as a college student at UCF. The classes were an added amenity as part of our tuition, and it was something worth checking out. When I completed my first session, I was actually very surprised at how good I felt. Yoga can provide a great deal of relaxation when you go into it with the right mindset. Like anything in life, you get out what you put into it. It can be difficult and humbling, but when you can fully concentrate on each movement, focus on your breathing, and become in-tune with your body, you will find a great deal of stress alleviation. After a 1 hour session you will come out of there feeling like you’ve shaved years of tension off of your body.
#2 Guided Meditation
Guided meditation is actually something I’ve gotten into more recently. Nowadays there are a number of apps online that provide thousands of guided meditations and binaural beats, and a lot of them are completely free. I’ve personally found guided meditation to be most effective toward the start and finish of the day. Upon waking up in the morning, it can be incredibly energizing and uplifting to be guided into a more positive state of mind. In the evenings the meditations combined with the relaxing music can be very effective at producing melatonin and helping you to fall asleep naturally.
#1 Being in Nature
Simply being out in nature is going to take the cake for this one. I can honestly say that many of the most peaceful, blissful, and serene times of my life have been out in nature doing the most simple things. Taking a walk, going for a bike ride, going kayaking, even going out to hit golf balls on the driving range. Whether it be on the beach, in the woods, by a lake, or near a river, being in nature has a way of taking your attention off of yourself and onto the beauty around you. In other ways it may take you out of the hardship of your current situation and help you reflect back on other beautiful moments you’ve experienced in life.
Living More Peacefully
As said before, often times it is not so much what it is you’re doing as much as it is how you do them. Things like making music or doing yoga can just as easily go from being spiritual and peaceful to self-serving, egotistical, and superficial. Being out in nature can just as easily go from being serene and blissful to being just another landscape for you to compulsively attempt to enhance your sense of self. The same walking trail where one man is having a peaceful and joyful experience can just as easily be the same trail where someone angrily and aggressively yells into their cell phone about how much they hate their significant other.
Hopefully after reading this article you will be willing to give some of these a try if you haven’t already. Maybe you find yourself realizing that you too have your own spiritual practices that are not listed above. In that case, please feel free to share in the comments below. Thank you for reading, and I will see you on the next article.
