37: What spiritual practices do you do and how often do you do them?

The main spiritual exercises I practice are Hatha Yoga (the practice of breathing and asanas or poses), meditation and life! As far as the second part of the question, I practice them as much I can! The reason why I say it like that is that in my life, there are many periods of time where I don’t have the time to fully practice yoga. There are other times when I don’t feel like practicing. We are all different and many people need ‘external’ spiritual practice to help them balance out their materialistic side. Others and myself often need to practice things that are more down to earth to help ground us to the physical world we live in (it’s more than physical - but physical is an aspect of it). My belief is aspiring to a balance between male and female energy, my goal is not to ‘evolve’ out of the physical body. I find that life has played out for me in a way where I practice Hatha Yoga in phases, as needed and afforded by time. I would say on average about 3 months a year. Hatha yoga practice increases your capability for dealing with karma so you usually end up experiencing more and increased challenges. Sometimes I feel the need to rest. Karma doesn’t always mean you did something wrong, it can just mean you need to change!

Meditation is different. Meditation can be practicde in different degrees, almost constantly. I try to always pay attention to my thoughts and emotions. I don’t like to use the word “try” but I’m not perfect and sometimes I can get into a brief negative mode. I’m diligent though, and am proactive about changing myself, as I’m aware of what needs to change. Like with Hatha Yoga, I don’t always have a set amount of time to meditate, but there are times throughout the day that we can use for meditation.

Life is a spiritual practice if you are a student, someone ready to learn! I live by being 100% honest and I basically interact with others in life by doing on to them as they want me to and if I don’t know I’ll start by doing what I’d have them do on to me. Honesty is a very powerful practice and I challenge anyone reading this to try it. There are many benefits to telling the truth, for one, you can ask for honesty. When you lie, you don’t have the ability to ask others for the truth. People occasionally lie to me, but not often, and rarely unnoticed. I can remember so many times people telling me that they can’t lie to me, in the face of my honesty. When you go to bed at the end of the day and you know that you were honest that day, it makes you feel really good about yourself. People sometimes think that I’m cocky but it really is the confidence that one gets when they live each day in an honest way. I almost always do what I say that I’m going to do. In those rare times that I can’t do to something outside of my control, I communicate it right away to adjust other’s expectations. Doing what you say you will allows you to ask others to honor their word as well.

Everyday is filled with a limited amount of choices, regardless of your beliefs - the spiritual person does their best to make them right. This the daily spiritual practice of life.