One of my primary yoga teachers used to say that there were two primary reasons you practiced yoga: 1. Because you were feeling disconnected and you were seeking to reconnect, or 2. Because you were feeling super connected and you wanted to celebrate that.
In many ways, he wasn’t wrong, and also, that could be said for any spiritual practice, whether it’s going to a religious service, to a pagan holy day bonfire, to a meditation retreat or walking the Camino de Santiago. Inherent in their nature is tap into the Good, the Eternal, the More.
Of course, all of these things are wonderful, and I’ve both participated and led classes, circles, retreats and pilgrimages that all, when it boils down to it, are about reconnecting to when everyday life has us feeling drained, lost, even empty.
But what of the other 50 weeks a year? What are the devotional practices that are the actual bread and butter of your feelings of connection to the More?
Over the years, I’ve had loads of practices, disciplines, devotions and rituals that have woven in and out of my days and years. All have had held an important place and time. Some come for a short period. Others stay longer, but then fade in their effectiveness or in my interest.
All of this to say, that I do have four devotional practices that have been, nearly without fail, part of every single day and have been for a decade or more. They can be done at home or traveling and, mostly, require nothing but you showing up. Each one is a small, but mighty opportunity to both remember and reinforce your feelings of connection.
Connection to Nature
Each morning, I have a practice of Taking the Pulse of the Day, which I received from my mentor, Holly Elizabeth Hamilton, when I was in my formal training as a priestess.
As soon after waking as possible, simply step outside (while best done regardless of the weather, let’s be honest, if it’s a super rainy day in January, I’ll open the door or the window instead). You can stand in place or walk around the immediate outdoor space. Awaken all of your senses to take the pulse of the day: what birds are talking? What is the wind saying? What do I smell? What are the clouds relaying to me (or the lack of clouds)? Are the trees still? What are the animals (squirrels, lizards, the donkey down the hill) up to? Is there a particular feeling that arrives?
When I take the Pulse of the Morning, not only do I truly get an overall sense of the general health and mood of the day, I remember first thing that I am but one member of the whole family of beings here on Earth. It reminds me of my connection to so much more.
On the otherside of the day, I also have a devotional practice that not only signals to my own mind, heart and body that the day is coming towards its close, but also helps me stay in connection to the passing of seasons and to the internal memory of the ancestors and all those who came before. This devotional practice is simply to light a candle at sunset. This simple action is a sweet pause of acknowledgment, and whether it is happening at 9 pm in June or before 5 pm in December, it restores something ancient in my blood and bones.
Connection to Myself
I am an avid Journal keeper and have been most of my life, with the usual intermittent years that happen along the way. I write more per day than most and less than many, and usually procure five or six of the same A5 notebooks as a Christmas present to myself to get the new calendar year going.
While there may be whole periods of time when the journal is little more than an accounting of the minutia of my days, they are also an incredible avenue for coming into deeper connection with myself at all the levels of who I am and to open up pathways to seeing myself in truth and clarity in any given experience, moment in time, emotional fluctuations, hopes and triumphs, disappointments and failures.
After all these decades of keeping a journal, I’ve come to learn that any time that you will write is the time to write. And while I’ve experimented with different times of day, what I’ve come to learn is that I’m at my best for this practice sometime between 10 am and 2 pm, which is just about midway between my devotional practices of taking the Pulse of the Morning and lighting a candle at sundown
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Connection to the Source and Force of Life
When the day is truly done and just before turning off the lamp for bed, I connect one more time for the day, this time through the devotional practice of prayer, mantra or both. These end-of-the-day prayers are never petitions for anything, but more set prayers or chants of gratitude, praise, remembrance. Whatever it is that you think of or call that which causes you to be is praiseworthy (call it God, Goddess, Chemical Reactions, Sun, Water, Great Spirit, Consciousness, Science, doesn’t matter . . . YOU aren’t doing it. YOU don’t have to remember to beat your own heart or to breathe.) For me, ending even the shittiest day with some recognition of my deep appreciation for life, is, in fact, beginning the next day from a connection to more.
Certainly there are a million different devotional practices that will bring you into deeper and more expanded experiences of connection. The most important thing is that you know what yours are and do them with consistency. They don’t need to be complicated nor grandiose to make a deep impact on your well-being. In fact, I would argue for simplicity, authenticity and from the heart.
What are your daily devotional practices that keep you in greater connection to nature, yourself and to Source?