creativity & spirituality

Like anything, in order to advance spiritually you need to put in the hours! You need to be doing some sort of spiritual practice and then you will find that it’s a bit like peeling through the layers of an onion (hopefully without the tears!).  It looks like you’re pretty much there and then you find there are more and more layers. There will come a time though when you’ll suddenly realise that things are starting to flow much more easily and you will feel as though there is a more permanent connection or at least less effort needed to ‘tune in’.

When we talk about spiritual practice, for most people it conjures up images of daily meditation for 2 hours before sunrise. You can do this if you want to and actually, it would become a really positive part of your life, but most people would find this difficult.  If you wanted to start meditation it is much easier to join a group, for many reasons.  You will receive good advice about how to meditate, it will help you with discipline and will also put you in touch with like-minded people.  I'm sure that nowadays meditation groups can be found online, making it even easier.   Also, ensure that you start with guided meditations and there are many good ones online with lots of very well-known spiritual leaders such as Deepak Chopra and Eckhart Tolle.

Other forms of spiritual practice could be:

• Chanting – this involves ‘singing’ or chanting a mantra over and over again. The words are usually Sanskrit and you can either follow a recording of it or recite the words yourself.

• Breathing –there are a number of breathing techniques that can be used, the most common being :
• Fill your lungs by inhaling through the nostrils. Then, out loud, chant ‘OM’ (in one continuous sound "o-o-o-o-o-o--m-m-m-m) until you have fully exhaled your breath and then repeat. You will find this gets easier and you will have a more prolonged note, as you train your voice to do so.

• Focusing – Focus your gaze on something, such as a spot on the wall, a tree in the distance or, what is most common is the flame of a candle.  If you find your mind wandering, bring it back in to focus and continue.

• My personal favourite – and I’ve been doing it for years, is art and crafts. I can immerse myself for hours at a time and achieve the same meditative state as I did when I did just pure meditation.  Not only this, it is a really good thing to do to help with chronic pain and other symptoms of chronic illness. This is because you become engrossed in the task that you are doing, which occupies your mind. This is why it works so well for spiritual practice. It gives your mind something to do and so stops the chatter.  For a more in depth look at the arts, crafts and spiritual connection see our article “Art & Crafts – A Spiritual Experience”.       

All of these are about getting the mind to slow down and ultimately experience freedom from the chatter and other distractions that the mind can conjure up. You may have alternative ways of achieving this, in which case we’d love to hear about it, and if you’re happy to, please share with our members on instagram



Any of the above can be used to at least begin a spiritual practice and remember that the key to any of it is to do it over and over and over and over….. repetition, repetition, repetition!

Even if you do one day, you’ve made a start.  A good way to try and make it an every day occurrence is to make it a habit or a routine. So do exactly the same thing, at the same time, in the same place every day. There are varying theories about how many times you have to do something for it to become a habit but its probably around 20 – 90 times!