Why Do We Have to Practice Being Spiritual?

Have you ever wondered why we those of us on a spiritual path are told to have a "practice"? Imagine if we all joined a spiritual team and got together every day for practice. What would we do? Would we run prayer sprints? Would we stretch our beliefs? Would we scrimmage different religions? Truth be told, practice is just as important to becoming a spiritual person as it is to becoming a great soccer player, swimmer or baseball player.

A spiritual practice is much like an athletic practice except the focus lies on becoming more spiritual more open to spiritual experiences, to connecting with our Higher Self or God, to tapping into the flow of Divine Energy rather than on becoming a better athlete. Just as the physical athlete must stretch and strengthen his muscles, spiritual athletes must stretch and strengthen their ability to quiet their minds, open to their spiritual nature, sense the part of themselves that is connected to the Divine, and experience a unity with All That Is. While some people have a spiritual or mystical experience without trying, the vast majority of people must exert effort daily to get just a little bit closer to feeling even a vague sense of something that might be called "spiritual."

What Does Spiritual Practice Look Like?

So, just like our friends who are in search of the ultimate peak physical experience, we spiritual seekers are forced to practice, practice, practice so we might actually have a peak spiritual experience. What does that practice really look like? For some, it involves daily prayer sessions. For others, it means meditating every day. For others, it might mean doing good deeds for others. and for yet others, it means performing God's commandments, walking in nature, having a conversation with the Divine, journaling, using Tarot cards or a pendulum, or gazing at the ocean. No matter what practice they choose, it almost always involves doing whatever it is they do at least once a day.

Why Is The Repetition So Important?

Why does spiritual practice have to happen so often? The answer comes down to habit formation. When our spiritual practice becomes a habit, we can relax and allow it to be part of who we are and what we do. It becomes part of our life. In addition, when we can do what we do without thinking because it is a habit we allow in something other than our thoughts about what we are doing. What we are doing takes no thought. And when we don't have to think about what we are doing, we open our minds to focus upon something else. We open our experience to something else. We stop doing and start being. And since our being stems from the Divine Being, we begin moving closer to unity with the Divine. We move closer to having a spiritual experience.

Additionally, when we form a habit an action that requires little or no thought to accomplish we can then take what might seem empty, rote action and instill it with meaning. We can think about why we are doing that action what symbolism it has or what significance it holds for us personally and the empty action becomes full of meaning or meaning-full. If we also infuse that action with faith and belief, we fill that action with spirit, and it becomes spirit-full.

What To Do When Practice Feels Like A Struggle

I've struggled with having a spiritual practice. Often I'm too tired to get up early enough or to stay up late enough to spend time meditating and praying. Or I simply don't have the time for journaling, going inward, or going to a religious service.

For those of us too busy for a lengthy spiritual practice, I recommend small spiritual practices. Try 10 minute of prayer or meditation in the morning. Or light a candle and burn some incense when you get up and offer a prayer of gratitude. Just before you begin your work day, light a candle on your desk, quiet your mind, and ask that your work be karma yoga holy work. Or set your wrist watch to sound an alarm once an hour; when it rings, stop for even 30 seconds and clear your mind and allow yourself to be in the moment since God is in the moment.

Make these, or other short simple actions, your spiritual practices. You'll find your day and your life significantly enriched, and the experience will motivate you to find time for longer spiritual practices. Or you, if you like these short practice periods, you can add in more of them: a five minute meditation during your lunch break, a 10 minute journaling time before bed or a blessing before and after meals. In this way, your day will become one spiritual practice after another.

Making Your Whole Day a Spiritual Practice

The ultimate goal of a spiritual practice revolves around having your whole day (week, month, year, life) feel like a spiritual practice or, at least, like an extension of your spiritual practice. I believe that is the idea behind the enormous number of mitzvot, or commandments, Jews are asked to remember and to act upon each day. If you try to observe even five or 10 of them each day, you find that your actions are tied into a spiritual practice on an almost constant basis. You praise God for your body working correctly when you awake. You offer gratitude for a multitude of events each morning. You bless the food you eat, acknowledging that it comes form a Higher Source. You raise your hands after washing them and ask that they be used in God's service. As you go to sleep at night, you ask that your transgressions and those of others be forgiven. Mitzvot are actually connectors; each time one commandment is performed, it connects the person to a Higher Source. The action reminds them of God.

If you can't find time every day for spiritual practice, commit to having a practice every week. For Jews and even for non-Jews I recommend taking on the Friday night Sabbath candle lighting as a spiritual practice. Along with this, try giving yourself a sanctuary in time 24 hours that are sacred, a real Sabbath. You can then build on this by developing a daily hour of spiritual practice when you do something you feel represents a spiritual practice.

To a great extent, spiritual practice involves remembering God on a minute-by-minute basis. When we remember our Divine Source we allow ourselves to be aware of that Source. And when we are aware of Divinity, we can experience it. Without a spiritual practice, we go through each day or each week without awareness of God, and the lack of awareness makes it almost impossibly for us to experience anything other than our own physical reality let alone our own spirit or the Spirit of the Universe.

Nina Amir, an acclaimed journalist, motivational speaker and Kabbalistic conscious creation coach, currently is writing Setting a Place for God, A Womans Guide to Creating sacred Space and Inviting the Divine to Dwell Within It. She also is the author of a booklet, called Abracadabra! The Kabbalah of Conscious Creation. For information on Amirs books, teleseminars and classes, visit http://www.purespiritcreations.com or call 408-353-1943.

Baby And Mom Yoga Dvd

Trying Yoga for Back Pain? Then Pick the RIGHT Poses (Part 1)

Studies have shown that Yoga may be one of the most effective exercises for back pain relief. In fact Health-First reporter Leslie LoBue says twisting your body into those sometimes awkward positions may actually be just the thing for lower back pain.

However, as effective as Yoga may be to reduce the pain of back problems, knowing exactly what poses to use, for how long, what to offset the poses with and in what sequence to execute them, are other factors that should be taken into consideration before using it as a therapeutic relief from back pain.

I can see a reader go Wait a minuteif I have to go through all that, then maybe I should just take some painkillers and call it a day.

If that applies, it is hardly my intention to scare you away from Yoga for back pain, in fact Id rather you embraced its use as an alternative to drugs-prescribed or otherwise-for your problems, however, for your success with its use, a little bit of awareness of the correct poses to use for back pain is required and will come in handy for a lasting use of this drug-free alternative.

I will go over the common, simple yet very effective poses for back pain and also give you instructions on the proper poses to offset the spinal motions when applicable. Moreover, I will discuss the factors of the duration of time needed when executing these poses as well.

Though some of these poses may best be learned under the supervision of a certified Yoga Instructor or avid expert, with the descriptions given below -and if need be, the use of image searches on related Yoga sites and search engines- I believe you should be able to get a good concept to at least be able to practice these poses at home.

Here are some of the best poses for back ache and since the aim here is more so back pain relief versus exercising, it is not mandatory that you hold them more than 5-15 seconds, depending on your level of comfort. Moreover, a use of a yoga mat or any other soft surface is highly recommended in the execution of these asanas.

The Shoulder-stand (Savangasana)

This, folks, is a noted panacea for near any human ailment. Dont panic, it is extremely easy to execute, however, depending on the severity of your case, use discretion in its use.

-Spread a thick blanket on the floor and place your yoga mat on it. Lie on the back.

-Slowly raise the legs. Lift the trunk, hips and legs to a vertical position.

-Rest the elbows firmly on the floor and support the back with both hands.

-Raise the legs till they become vertical. Press the chin against the chest.

-While performing this pose, the back of the neck, the posterior part of the head and the shoulders should touch the floor. (I can assure you that you will say Hey, Ive done this before as a kidthis is yoga?)

-Breathe in counts of 5-5-5 (inhalation, retention and exhalation).

-Dont allow the body to shake.

Now for the counter poses to the Shoulder-Stand, try to incorporate the following:

Bridge Pose (Sethu Bhandasana)
From the Shoulder Stand position, stretch the legs and slowly touch the floor with the feet. It is done to bend the spine in the opposite direction.

Fish Pose (Matsyasana)
Lie on your back. Stretch the legs and keeps the hands palm down under the thighs. Raise the chest with the help of the elbows and, bending the neck as much as possible backwards, rest on the top of the head.

Suggested Duration:
Try to use the ratio below to time the execution of these three poses. 6:1:2 (meaning the fish pose is held for a third of the time spent in the shoulder stand and the bridge pose held for half the time spent in the fish pose (or a sixth of the time spent in the shoulder-stand)

Or as an alternative, you could simply forego the bridge pose and apply a 2:1 ratio (shoulder-stand to fish pose) but this is only advised if you intend to do the parent pose (the shoulder-stand) for only a few seconds.

Obviously a lot of detail has gone into the description of these poses, however, that is because my intention is for you to be well informed, but for the sake of time and space. I will briefly go over the other poses you could do well to include AFTER you try the sequence above. This is if you decide to use it by the way. If not, you could do very well to simply start from the stage to be depicted in part 2 of this article.

Foras Aje is an independent health researcher and founder of Bodyhealthsoul.com For more Yoga tips and information on Yoga for beginners stop by his website today.

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