RILEY REIGN shares some tips on how to find a spiritual practice that is right for you, and how to go deeper into it.
Cultivating a spiritual practice is such a beautiful and personal experience, but even still it can sometimes become stagnant or stale. What are we to do when we want to take our spiritual practice to the next level? How are we supposed to go deeper into our own experience and the lessons we receive from life?
Even in our personal-development and self-improvement soaked society, we sometimes come up against our own walls. The first step is to recognize the difference between a wall, a challenge to overcome, and comfort, a space of contentment. While there is nothing wrong with comfort, to live in that space for too long can create this stagnant energy.
So, how can you break through the stagnancy and move into a flow of continuous growth?
SURRENDER TO THE PROCESS
I experienced this lesson in my own meditation practice. After going through a 10-day Vipassana retreat I thought I had gone the deepest I could have, and that I knew how to get back to that oceanic internal space whenever I really wanted to.
Be intentional in everything that you do,
especially in spirituality and exploring such a space.
I have found that when I have a clear intention,
and when I trust in that intention blossoming in its own perfect timing,
I let go of that feeling to control or make a specific experience happen.
I spent a few days of my meditation practice trying and trying to make it happen, to take myself within as deeply as I could. The only result I got was a surface-level presence and destructive ego thoughts. This is where I found my shift. I could not try and make this happen, I could never force it. I had to let go just as much as I wanted to experience my internal energy.
Surrender to the process and allow yourself to align with whatever experience you want to occur. Never try to force it or create it. This leads to the next principle.
BE INTENTIONAL
It is all about intention in this space, whether you are giving or receiving energy, whether you are teaching or learning, whether you are a curious beginner or a seasoned meditation practitioner, yogi, or intuitive. Be intentional in everything that you do, especially in spirituality and exploring such a space. I have found that when I have a clear intention, and when I trust in that intention blossoming in its own perfect timing, I let go of that feeling to control or make a specific experience happen.
Be intentional with why you are beginning or continuing your practice.
Be intentional in why you are trying out a new tool, practice, or technique.
Be intentional in what experiences you’d like to try and live.
Then surrender and allow the process, and the outcome of such experiences, to be what they will be.
This practice of intention in itself will bleed into every other realm of your life and bring with it quite a bit of beauty, more kindness, more giving, more love, more understanding of others and so on.
BE EXPERIMENTAL
To me spirituality is about exploration and openness, which easily translates into experimentation.
Try whatever techniques and tools you feel called to.
Some may feel amazing and work wonders for your body, mind and soul, and others may not vibe with you well.
Be playful with whatever you are interested in and inspired by, and when something doesn’t work quite right, move on.
It may not be that it didn’t work or wasn’t right for you, it may be that it was not the right time for you and you may try something more than once.
This experimental and open mindset and intention will open up opportunities for you to experience deeper realms of yourself and your being than you knew existed. It can also teach you what you are ready for, and what you’re not, which can be incredibly insightful as to where you may need to work a little harder to grow in that area of yourself.
I hope these points of perspective and guidance carry you along your journey and into some beautiful depths with ease.
All of my love to you,
Namaste,
Riley
Article by RILEY REIGN
