The art of spirituality

Spirituality is a widely discussed yet frequently misconstrued concept. People commonly confuse it with religion, leading to the imposition of preconceived notions and biases in discussions about spirituality. But then, what is spirituality if not an extension of religion? The knowledge sources are constantly flooding with extensive and some misleading information about spirituality. So, here’s an attempt to introduce you to spirituality through my lens. Let me take you through this beautiful journey and the things I have learned in the last five years of my practice.

The distinction lies in the personal journey, transcending pre-defined ideologies. In simple terms, spirituality acts as a road map to connect with your true self and find your true purpose. It allows you to do so through a lot of inner work, learning, and unlearning. Spirituality often involves a journey of self-discovery and self-awareness, prompting individuals to explore their deepest desires, fears, and beliefs. Through introspection and reflection, people strive to align their actions and intentions with their innermost values and principles. This ultimately leads to a greater sense of authenticity and fulfilment.

Central to spirituality is transcendence — going beyond the material world and tapping into the realm of the sacred or divine. It brings awareness about a supreme power that takes care of our journeys in the most beautiful way. This may involve belief in God, a higher power, the universe, or simply a sense of interconnectedness with all living beings. Individuals often seek spiritual fulfilment through prayer, meditation, mindfulness, and reflection.

As you go deeper into the concept of spirituality, you will find that the practice is synonymous with being mindful, compassionate, grounded, and full of love. It also involves an intensive process of identifying your belief system by learning and unlearning a lot of deep-rooted traditions and thought processes that you might have adopted based on your life experiences.

Spirituality encompasses a sense of morality and ethics, guiding individuals to lead virtuous lives and treat others with compassion, kindness, and empathy. It also involves an intensive process of healing your traumas, regulating your emotions, and detoxifying your body from substances, processed food, and junk thoughts. Spirituality helps develop better perspectives about life situations, which aids you in embracing the hardships of life with greater ease and grace. It explores themes like love, kindness, humanity, gratitude, life after death, karma, etc. Don’t worry, everything comes one step after another. If you are beginner, you must go slow.

As we talk about spirituality, we often associate it with the concept of karma as well. According to my understanding, spirituality holds you accountable for your actions through the concept of karma. It is nothing but payback for your actions or deeds. Karma scares most of us. I had the same notion until sometime back when I was having a casual conversation about it with one of my acquaintances.

She beautifully explained how one can view karma from a positive perspective. She explained it is nothing but a thought that we sow in our mind, which in turn becomes our action. Why do not we sow good, loving, and peaceful thoughts for the greater benefit of all humans and yourself, which will become a beautiful reality? I mean, karma also means putting the right thoughts in the universe by doing your bit to attract better things in life. This also means that our future life depends on the actions we take today. It also fulfils the purpose of doing your bit in the present.

As you go deeper into spiritual practice, with every level up, you experience many changes not only in the mind or soul but also in the physical body. Further, when you go deeper into the subject, you become extremely aware of your body’s healing capabilities. You become aware of the fact that the body has its unique way of healing any ailment through various spiritual practices and training one’s mind with the right intentions or affirmations.

Along with modern medicines, a lot of alternative healing therapies are advised for various life-threatening ailments as well. With spirituality, you also understand that every physical ailment has some connection to deep-rooted emotions and traumas. The body stores in different parts and the same has been charted down in the book, “You Can Heal Your Life” by Louise I Hay. It mentions a list of ailments, their root causes, and the affirmations one can use to cure them. The right spiritual practices or energy healing also help one to get away with addiction and reduce cravings.

If you are willing to start your spiritual journey, you can start with a very simple practice. Start by giving up on ego and identities in your life. Also, start accepting that love is the purest form of energy that enlightens your soul. By operating from love, you activate your heart chakra and are less in control of your mind.

By operating from your heart chakra, you live in your true authentic element. Once you fill your space with love, lower emotions like anger, judgement, hatred, and jealousy don’t hold any space. That is when you become a pure ball of light.

You can start your spirituality journey with these basic habits:

Be present, as it helps focus on the process rather than creating an expectation about the outcome, which in return, helps you perform your karma well.
Be grateful for everything in life because that is the real magic. Practice gratitude journalling every day, especially on your rough days as this will help you realise that you have too many good things to be grateful for in life.
Ground yourself and meditate as it helps you elevate your true potential by being aligned with divine energies.
Meditation also helps you receive messages from the universe that are specially for you to help you soar higher.
Mindful self-talk and affirmations to create a beautiful reality for yourself.
Embrace Sun and Moon energies with the perspective that it’s the driving force of life and help in balancing the masculine and feminine energy in your body.
Be more content in life even in hardships. Grow to accept the perspective that everything that happens is a lesson your soul needs to learn.

Hope you find some clarity on this concept. As you start your practice, I would only suggest you to go slow and be patient with yourself. Soak in the practices and allow yourself time to evolve. May your soul find everything that it seeks in this lifetime.

Article by: Aashna Rohira