Soul nurturing
- Healthy habits (Cultivating a spiritual practice)
Just as our bodies need nourishment and rest at regular intervals, so it is with our souls as well. We’ve mentioned a number of things that serve to nourish our souls, but to a large degree it is carried by a regular practice.
Often the distinction is made between an informal and formal practice. The way you live your life consciously with awareness and applying all your senses is your informal practice. It takes place in the general daily living and doing.
But it is important to have a formal or more structured practice as well. Where 20 minutes to an hour is set aside every day where you become quiet and silence the constant chatter of your mind.
Through experience and trial and error we’ve found the following to work for us:
- To get up early in the morning before the day with all its activities and commitments starts in full force
- Light stretches or gentle exercise help to waken us and lead us into the meditation. By being aware of our bodies we are grounded and become present which in itself is the basis for meditation.
- The meditation accompanied by rhythmic breathing can be done using a count to ten as a guide, or you can experiment with gentle music or the use of a repetitive phrase or word. I find the repetitive counting to ten (one – breath in, two – breath out, three - breath in, four – breath out.. up to ten and then start again at one) very helpful while Matilda finds it distracting. She imagines herself floating in water, giving herself over to what is. There is no right way. Try and experiment with the different approaches and see what works best for you. As long as the method does not become a purpose in itself and lead to an array of mental activities. When using music in your meditation for instance, you mustn’t end up wondering: “Will the CD player switch of by itself? How will it be if I turn the volume up a bit? What piece will I use tomorrow? Turning on ‘shuffle’ can actually have an interesting effect.”
- Keep it as simple as possible, without the need of too many appliances or electronic devices that will make it almost impossible to meditate when there is a power outage. Work towards the point where you’ll be able to meditate any time anywhere.
- After meditating for about 20 minutes we write in our journals. Primarily free flow of thought. Whatever comes up. We give ourselves at least 30 minutes for that.
- In the afternoons, we go for walks. That usually takes about half an hour to an hour, depending on what we find down at the river and whether we decide to go for a swim as well. Usually we take our cameras with to capture whatever meets the eye.
Why do we recommend such a formal regular practice?
We definitely do not want it to become an “ought to”. The idea is not to make you feel guilty whenever you do not get around doing it. It is not so much a law as a form of discipline that stimulates inner growth and discovery.
It actually boils down to the fact that we recommend it because we know how we feel when we do not get to it. In such instances we feel disconnected, not grounded and susceptible to feelings of uncertainty and self doubt. Our formal practices even out our emotional graph with fewer spikes above and below the line. We are able to approach challenges and problems much more even keeled.
In the light of all of this, we regard a morning of waking up a little earlier and the time set aside a very good investment. In ourselves. Inevitably you’ll discover that you’re worth it.
George
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