Understanding our existence in a spiritual sense is a form of self-care. Yet, we often overlook spirituality and the importance of nurturing our spirit.
We rave and rant about physical self-care through diet and exercise, but the spiritual body is often ignored or forgotten. When was the last time you nurtured your spirit?
To live a happy, thriving life, you must balance all aspects of yourself. That includes mental, physical, emotional, AND spiritual. Each part must be acknowledged and fed to maintain overall well-being.
You may discover that you’ve already been doing things to nourish your soul, as many spiritual self-care practices are very intuitive. However, now you can start to pay attention to these practices with more awareness and practice them with intention.
What Is Spiritual Self-Care?
It’s all about tuning into your inner being or your “higher self” and understanding its needs. Once you develop your intuition, an “inner knowing” starts to flourish. The inner knowing will understand and feed your soul what it needs to be healthy and happy. Once you know what your inner needs are, you’ll crave spiritual self-care as a means of honoring your needs.
Spirituality can mean different things to different people. For most, the idea of spirituality is influenced by the ideologies they grew up with. But, on the other hand, perhaps you associate spirituality with religion or cultural traditions. If that’s the case, you might think of spiritual self-care as attending religious services, studying religious texts, or observing certain rituals.
For others, spirituality may be more connected to nature, art, music, or dance. But spirituality is anything meaningful that sparks a sense of sacredness within.
Spirituality is a deeply personal, subjective practice. But ultimately, no matter what path you choose, everyone has a common desire for spirituality to some degree. That is, to find connection, purpose, and happiness.
Spiritual self-care practices connect you to your authentic self, the raw expression of who you were meant to be and offer the world. It can be refreshing, inspiring, and exciting. And it will feel right. Becoming familiar with how you truly feel and connect with your highest self can feel very rewarding.
Why Is Spiritual Self-Care Important?
Emotional and spiritual health have a profound influence that impacts our physical bodies. Taking time for spiritual self-care fills your soul. It encourages us to introspect and offers clarity and comfort. Studies have shown that cultivating a spiritual life can have many health benefits, like substance abuse recovery.
Our ancestors lived in communal-oriented groups that reaped many mental and emotional benefits. Today, loneliness is an epidemic. That’s why we must make a concerted effort to seek ways to nourish parts of ourselves, like the heart and soul.
Spiritual self-care practices let us quiet our minds and calm the inner storm. Then, we can free up space to feel and honor our heart’s true desires. In that same space, we can find the courage to take action and make changes for the better in our lives. The mind and body are so strongly interconnected. When you are truly happy, you will feel it at your core.
Here are some additional benefits of spiritual self-care:
- Experience richer connections in relationships
- Feel more centered, with inner peace
- Gain clarity and what you truly love and what makes you happy
- Enhanced feelings of oneness and connectedness
- Less feeling of isolation or loneliness
- Deepen the relationship with self
Ten spiral self-care practices to nourish your soul
Meditation
Meditating allows us to slow down our cognitive functions and access our deeper, intuitive selves. Tuning into our soul’s wants and needs ultimately raises our vibrations and helps us to live in alignment with our authentic self.
Yoga
Many yoga poses look quite uncomfortable. And they are. But the discomfort is the journey into your soul and body that forces you to stretch beyond your comfort zone. Yoga also incorporates breathwork and other tools to help you introspect.
Spend Time in Nature
Have you ever been in nature and felt centered entirely and calm? That’s because nature is a high vibrational environment. Being in nature nourishes and recharges our souls.
Cleanse Your Space
In a literal and figurative sense. A cluttered environment will make you feel chaotic and disorganized. Likewise, a high vibrational space will put your soul at ease. Make it a habit to tidy up a little bit every day and ensure everything you own has a designated place. Then, you can incorporate occasional rituals to cleanse the energy in your space, like sage burning or using crystals.
Connect With a Community
Humans are social creatures. We need connection for the health of our mind and soul. Connecting with like-minded people gives us a sense of belonging. It’s essential our inner self feels seen and heard.
Practice Silence
Solitude allows us to filter out all the excess noise and dive into our inner world. We can get to know ourselves better through silence and uncover subconscious feelings or desires.
Have a Mantra
Having a mantra is an excellent tool for spiritual care. It can be seen as a tool to connect with a higher consciousness or higher power. Whether or not you believe in a higher power, any mantra or chant can help you enter a trance-like state. A trance-like state is like a deep form of meditation. It can help you filter out worldly distractions and allow space and time for your soul to be.
Write
Journaling is suitable for your spiritual self for many reasons. When you write, you have a chance to process your emotions and release those energies. You can let go of any negative thoughts or emotions holding you back.
Journaling allows you to express yourself wholeheartedly and possibly in a way that you wouldn’t be able to do through communicating verbally. Free writing can help you tap into your unconscious mind and connect with your true intuition. Merely committing to the act of writing consistently shows a deal of discipline.
Learn
Expanding your knowledge leads to growth. Therefore, if you are continually learning and growing, you are also naturally facilitating your spiritual growth.
Unplug From Technology
Technology is a great tool but can also create very unhealthy habits. Mindless scrolling, checking our phones as soon as we wake up, looking at the screen right before bed – these practices don’t give our soul any room to breathe. Not to mention, it’s pure consumption.
Avoid checking your phone first thing in the morning or letting it be the last thing you look at before bed. Instead, give yourself a phone detox once in a while too!
Enhanced Wellness
Spiritual self-care is an integral and necessary part of staying healthy and maintaining overall wellness. It’s what helps uconnect with our intuitive self and show up for every new day as at our highest potential.
Visit us for more information on how to restore and shift your body, mind, and spirit.
