How to have devotion to your spiritual practice

If 2019 could have one goal let it be this. Have devotion to your spiritual practice. What does it mean to have devotion and why do we need it? Devotion means every day you commit to your practice. Not your yoga practice or your diet but your spiritual practice where you wake up and do what you have to do to ground and balance your own energies. Your spiritual practice could be meditation, prayer, chanting, sitting in nature or lighting a sacred wood. You create your own ritual. The devotion comes by being loyal to your own practice. By taking responsibility for the energy you bring into the world.

2018 for me was the year I had devotion to my spiritual practice. Before 2018 I dabbled a few days a week. I meditated as often as I could, did yoga periodically, did ceremonies as much as I could but I did not have a devotion to my practice. In 2018 I sort of created my ritual and made an effort to have devotion to it.  And let me tell you it made such a noticeable difference in my life. The first change I noticed was that an energy came through this devotion. I became much more intuitive and there was this magic that started to happen each morning after I lit my candle and smudged my body and connected to spirit. It also kept me balanced as each morning I was not wandering without direction, I knew exactly what I was going to do. This was powerful. After a while I started to respect this time and it became sacred. A new energy came with this. This devotion has become so powerful that I do not skip it even once, even when I travel and Im jet lagged I wake up and go into ceremony.

Some things you can include in your devotion to your spiritual practice

Prayer

Smudge

annointing oil

music

chant

gratitute

journaling

walking in nature

meditation

dancing

lighting a candle

connecting with your guides and angels

tea

My spiritual practice looks like this in a nutshell. You can also watch my morning ceremony here. 

 

Airplane Mode – Each night before I sleep I put my phone on airplane mode.

When I wake up, I do not turn my phone on or check it until after Im finished with my ritual.

Drink Water- The first thing I do is drink water. I like to mix a tbs of apple cider vinegar and some lemon with a large glass of water. This is to aid in digestion, not for hydration. It cleanses all the toxins and alkalizes the body. In Japan there have been studies proving that drinking water first thing in the morning before eating or drinking anything else helps treat various health problems. Its called Japan water therapy. With this practice you also wait atleast 45 minutes until eating anything.

Coconut Oil Pulling-  When I have time I love coconut pulling. If your going to do oil pulling which takes about 20 minutes, now is the time, after water and before breakfast.  Ayrvedic practioners claim oil pulling can cure 30 different diseases. Some proven benefits of oil pulling is  it reduces gingavitus, help remineralize teeth, kills cavity causing bacteria, decreases oral thrush symptoms, strengthens the gums.

Wake Up Tonic- My wake up tonics have changed my life. This is the chance we have to nourish our body with potent plant medicinals first thing in the morning, while getting your caffeine and having a ritual.

Green Tea wake up tonic

✨ (My go to)

(Recipe)
~Matca tea
~Plant milk (if you like) ~Ashwaganda Tincture ~Astragalus Tincture ~Mushroom tincture blend ~Monk fruit sugar or sweetener of choice (if you like)
~ any other tinctures you need

Go to my Alter- My alter is my sacred space. Read here to learn more about an alter and whats on my alter. This is the place that holds all my power pieces and symbols that carry energy for me. Its the grounding portal where I pray and meditate, manifest and create from.

Smudge- As Im connecting to spirit I smudge my body with my favorite sacred wood, palo santo. You may also choose to use Sage or Cedar. These woods, with intention re set and clear the energy. They are cleansing and purifying.

Annointing Oils- After I smudge I annoint myself with oils. I have special blends that do different things so depending upon what energy I’m looking to draw in for that day.

Open a ceremony-  When you open a ceremony you are honoring your intention. The intention of the ritual is to connect deeper with spirit and ground your energy. I like to light a candle to start the ceremony, it really increases the energy and makes it more sacred. After lighting my candle Im closing my eyes and connecting with my spirit guides and the universe. I say hello to all my helpers and we go over the day. I connect to universe and I pray.

Frames- I do a practice called frame writing. Frames are small attainable 1-3 month goals I set up for myself. During this ceremony I am either listening to my frames that i recorded or reading them. I do this every single day to stay on track with my goals.

Gratitude- I go through all the things I am grateful for and I give thanks for them. This immediately shifts your focus from negativity and complaining to appreciation. If we don’t show appreciation for what we have, we will loose it. Even if what we have is not what we want. It could always get worse so stay grateful. Gratitude creates more things to be grateful for.

Breath work- before I meditate I do a couple quick breathing exercises, one is a kundalini breath called breath of fire which wakes you up and detoxifies the body and the other is alternating nostril breath which is a yogic practice.

Meditate- I do not skip this practice. This is my center, meditation. I have been meditating for ten years. It is what catapulted my spiritual journey. It is what helped me develop intuition and visions. Its what keeps me sane. Meditation keeps me balanced. It is so necessary.

Turn airplane mode off- after I meditate I’m ready to turn my airplane mode off on my phone but only to access my spotify playlist for my yoga flo. Im still not ready to interact with the world.

Yoga and Exercise- I practice yoga almost everyday especially now that Im getting older, stretching is such an important part of aging healthily. The type of yoga I do is free flowing. I mix Hatha and Kundalini with inversions.

Nature- Nature is my medicine and try to connect with nature everyday. Here in LA we are abundant with hiking trails. Even if Im traveling I will find a beach to walk or a forest to hike in. It keeps me calm and balances my energy. In Japan they have called this forest bathing. Studies show that even a small amount of nature can have an impact on our health. The average american spends 93% of his time indoors. The Japanese have proved the health benefits of nature. Here is a great book about it

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. – Aristotle