Doing Spiritual

Doing Spiritual

It's so easy to become pulled into the marketing of all things labeled spiritual beginning with "doing spiritual".

We can fall into the abyss of limitless teachings and offerings, and missing a larger view.

Mala beads can be turned into jewelryThere’s Yoga including Bikram, Hatha, Iyengar, Power, Kundalini, Ashtanga among many others.  There’s Pranayama and Meditation including Qi Gong, Tai Chi, Zazen, Mindfulness Meditation, Transcendental Meditation, Walking Meditation, Guided Meditations including Yoga Nidra and much more.  There are spiritual leaders that teach at Kripalu, Esalen, Omega and many other institutes and conferences.  These teachers give workshops at local yoga studios around the country and many have websites, books, DVDs.  There's all the Yoga accessories.  This list includes t-shirts, tanks, pants, little lightweight sweater tops and scarves to keep you looking funky and warm while in the yoga studio. There are mats, hair bands, books, meditation cushions, yoga props, the yoga cleanse, oils, kombucha juice, jewelry and mala beads intended for chanting but often worn as a jewelry accessory to one's yoga ensemble.

But wait, there's more.

A lovely vibe can be created by inhaling nice scentsThere are energy workers and healers, massage therapists, shamans, psychics, and mediums.  There's Reiki, Reconnective Healing, Emotion Code and Body Code, IET, EFT, NLP, Past Life Regression, Intuitive Readings, and Quantum Healing to name just a few things out of hundreds.  There’s Hay House conferences, webinars, DVDs, CDs, radio and books.  There are local expos. There are stores selling books, candles, crystals, aromatherapy, essential oils, bells, singing bowls, incense, CDs and DVDs.

To me, it's all good and well-intentioned, however...

All those tools and modalities were noise.  They were distracting me from me.  I was looking to outside "things" for change inside.

And yet I pushed onward.  There are workshops and classes on the chakras, how to find your power animal, how to communicate with your guides, how to communicate with angels, how to raise your vibration and how to determine your life’s purpose.  Additionally, there's several spiritual TV and radio options and metaphysical newspapers.  Of course, there are both spiritual and spiritualist churches.

It's all very interesting and helpful.  At times, it's all a bit much.

I was moving away from the deeper spiritual experiences I came here for.  Learning from what my own experiences are teaching me.

Pretty unsexy right?  Learning from our own experiences?  Yawn.

But in my opinion, learning from one's experiences is the most valuable kind of learning.

Unfortunately, because spirituality, self-care, and personal growth have become a huge industry, there's a lot out there to distract us.  It's so easy to spend a lot of time mucking about immersing oneself in umpteen tools and modalities, rather than growing from what our experiences are teaching us.  There's nothing in the above list I need to do or anyone I should learn from.  And anyway, I'm ready to put my own ideas into action.

In my case, I learned that I can experience a deeper connection just by being with myself.  It's through the work of looking at how I interact with the world, that allows me to uncover my spirituality.

There's no right or wrong way to go.  We each choose whichever path, turns, and choices that resonate best with us.

When man gets more from just being with himselfBut for me, one path involved me looking outside, with the hope of finding a way to a deeper connection.  The more direct path simply involves looking inside of me, learning at that place, and taking action from there.  When I allow for it, I see, hear and understand more than I ever could have imagined.

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