Spiritual Practice

Daily Practice Minute: Look Up

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147943431_730b0c3b62Daily practice is essential to opening our spiritual lives.  Each week I’ll give you an exercise that you can use to establish a practice, or that you can integrate into a current practice.  Some of these will be simple and quick, and others will be designed to take you a bit deeper into your practice.

Many moons ago I use to be a Navy Instructor.  Each week my students would have to take tests on the knowledge they had learned during the week.  Coming into the Navy from civilian life was not an easy next step and there was a lot to absorb in a short amount of time.   During the tests I’d see them struggling, and crinkling their brows.  I remember telling them “Look up for inspiration and not Down in desperation.”

Fast forward to now.  Stepping from the mundane world into the spiritual world has the same effect.  There is so much to absorb and often it can become overwhelming… not to mention that life itself can at times feel overwhelming.

Looking down is typically a sign of worry.  Our minds become heavy and we forget to look up.  Looking up does a lot more than take our eyes to the sky.  We we look up our heart center opens to sky.  Hunched postures are locked postures.  Heart center is a posture of surrendering upward.  When our spines are aligned energy can move through us a bit more freely.

Place your hand on your heart center.  Look down, now look up.  Feel how your heart rises to the sky, or compresses into your center.

How often do you notice the tops of the trees on your walks?

Take a deep breath deep.  Look up.  Surrender your heart center to the sky, to the divine, to your breath.

You are Loved.  You are Beautiful.  You are Divine.

Michael Brazell CFT CSN MAT PAT

www.michaelbrazell.com

Raise Your Voices: The Power of Kirtan

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The one thing that is truly shared by yogis and pagans is the power to raise our voices to bring in the divine.  Last night I got to attend a beautiful Kirtan Festival.  Kirtan is a call and response devotional gathering, in many pagan drum circles the same happens invoking different chants to pay homage to the divine.

The beautiful thing about these types of gatherings is the community that is invoked.  All the walls come down and we can connect.  You do not have to be a professional singer, you do not have to be a skillful drummer, but I am amazed how how in sync everything always is during these sessions.  The divine presence becomes tangible.  You can feel God Herself moving through our voices.  Many get up and dance, clap, and let the energy move through them.  We become possessed by the mantra, the chant, by the divine.

There is always a bit of trepidation for many first timers, but those walls quickly come down.  There is always a little bit of fear when it comes to letting go.  When we start chanting we may feel nervous that we do not know the words.  We may feel that people will stare at us.  The beautiful thing about these types of events is that as the sacred names or songs of the divine are lifted through our voices, the walls naturally start to come down.  There is no need to do anything but be present.  The hard part of spirituality is showing up.  If you are in the room, you’ve done the big step… anything else beyond that is beautiful.

Chanting and singing is something that is also wonderful to add to your own practice.   Find a song, mantra, or chant that calls to your soul… Sing it daily–in the shower, while you are doing yoga, while walking… keep the song moving through your heart and your mind.   Anything we offer to the divine is returned in plenty.

This is Bhakti Tree... One of the amazing performing groups from last night’s Kirtan Fest.

This is T. Thorn Coyle leading a chant and circle dance.

 

 

 

 

 

Move Your Body to Let Spirit Move You

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In yoga we often greet the rising sun with Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutations).  This sequence of postures allows the body to move stagnant energy out of the joints.  The spine warms up, the body builds heat, and the heart center becomes more open.

Body movement is one of the easiest ways to engage spirit.  Movement is something we hear a lot about in most spiritual circles.  We talk about moving energy, energy moving during healing, movement of spirits between dimensions, but often we overlook the simplest….. moving our own bodies.

Physical body movement can be anything from drumming to dancing, yoga postures to QiGong, Circle Dancing, to free flow body movement.  You do not have to be a skillful dancer to put on a bit of music and let it take you to a meditative space… Move your voice, sing… Move your hands (mudras), move your thoughts (contemplation).  There are many ways to move, and when we move we invite spirit into the physical, the tangible, and we can deepen our connection this way.

What moves you?  Where do you find movement in your spiritual practice?

 

You are Loved, You are Beautiful, You are Divine!

Michael A Brazell CFT CSN MAT PAT

http://www.michaelbrazell.com