Everyone’s spiritual practice looks a little different. You’ve likely already read countless different articles telling you why practices X, Y, and Z are the best, and why you should be doing those instead of any other spiritual activity. Actually, though, it all depends on you and which practices you resonate with!
The following is a list of 41 spiritual wellness activities in this article; take what feels good, and leave what doesn’t!
1. Take a conscious walk in nature
One of the easiest spiritual wellness practices you can do is to simply walk slowly and mindfully outside; you can practice this in a forest, on a beach, or even in a neighborhood park. As you walk, try to notice the feeling of your feet on the ground, the air on your skin, and your breath in your lungs. As you appreciate nature’s beauty, you’ll likely feel yourself naturally beginning to release stress.
2. Work with crystals to increase positive emotions
Crystals, such as clear quartz and tourmaline (to name a few), can help to balance your chakras, remove negative energy, connect you to the spirit world, and increase positive emotions. You can carry small crystals with you or place them around your house. Here is a small selection of different crystals and their uses:
- Clear quartz: helps to balance all chakras.
- Black tourmaline: helps to remove negative energy from the body and from your space.
- Labradorite: helps you to connect with your spiritual team and Source energy.
- Citrine: increases joy.
- Green Aventurine: Helps attract good lucks and abundance.
3. Practice Vinyasa yoga for strength
Of course, any mindful yoga practice works well as a spiritual wellness activity. But what’s special about Vinyasa yoga is that it helps you to get into a state of flow; Vinyasa yoga syncs the breath with near-continuous movement, which is why this practice is often called “Vinyasa flow”.
This rhythmic breath and movement, put together, will leave you feeling more present and mindful of your emotional and mental states.
Here’s a video demonstrating how to do this Yoga:
4. Practice Yin yoga for a calm state of mind
As opposed to Vinyasa, Yin yoga is slow and involves deep, long-held stretching poses. We tend to store emotions in our muscles, especially in the hips– thus, Yin yoga can provide a comfortable release to anxiety. Not to mention, you’ll likely leave any Yin class feeling deeply peaceful.
5. Do mindfulness meditation for 5 minutes daily
You don’t have to sit motionless for hours in lotus pose, or achieve spiritual enlightenment, to enjoy meditation’s spiritual benefits! You can start by sitting for just five minutes in order to build your mindfulness muscle. All you have to do is sit quietly, try not to fidget too much, and notice the thoughts and feelings that arise when you become still. You’ll be surprised at the patterns you begin to notice and break!
6. Clear your space through smudging
Smudging is the practice of burning sacred plants, and using the smoke to cleanse any negative energy lingering in your body or in a space. The number of plants, incenses, and resins you can burn to smudge a space is endless, but if you’re new to smudging, you might start by burning sage, mugwort, frankincense, or palo santo.
7. Deeply relax using Yoga Nidra
Don’t let the name fool you; in Yoga Nidra, you actually won’t practice any movement at all! Yoga Nidra, or yogic sleep, is essentially a deep reclined meditation, and usually lasts for an hour. During this practice, a facilitator will guide you through a meditation that will likely lead you to a half-awake state; this dreamy state of deep meditation allows you to access deep emotional and spiritual healing.
8. Dance to release stuck energy
Yes, simply dancing around your living room can be used as a spiritual practice! For some people, dancing helps to release stuck energy and learn to express their true selves. For starters, try playing some upbeat music and simply letting yourself move like no one is watching.
9. Practice earthing or grounding
Our bodies possess a magnetic energy field, as does the Earth. When we physically connect ourselves with mother Earth, we tune into her safe, loving frequency. If you’re feeling drained, or blocked in your root chakra, try grounding: walk barefoot on the Earth, sit on the ground, or place your hands on a tree!
10. Journal for self reflection
Journaling is a quick and easy spiritual practice that you can do just about anywhere. It helps you to become more mindful of your daily swirl of thoughts and feelings– putting these on paper helps you to begin to identify patterns. For a super-simple journaling practice, try writing for five minutes about any worries or stressors on your mind today.
11. Take salt baths
Salt of any variety works similar to clear quartz crystals; it sucks up negative vibes and balances the energy of a space. Thus, bathing in either sea salt or epsom salt can help you to remove the day’s stress and negativity from your body. Not to mention, the warm water will soothe your nervous system, and a quiet, calm environment will help you to practice mindfulness.
Also whenever you take a bath or shower, make it a conscious one. Be fully present and feel the water touching your skin and washing away all the heavy energy leaving your light and refreshed.
12. Start a cacao ritual
Cacao – the stuff that chocolate is made of– contains physical properties such as anandamide, which lifts moods, stretches heart chakras open and helps you to enter into a more loving and creative state of mind. You can find raw, organic cacao paste online (make sure that it is ethically sourced!) and make a cacao drink out of it using a recipe such as this one.
13. Practice breathwork
There are a handful of varieties of breathwork exercises out there, the most common of which is a simple rhythm of inhaling and exhaling rapidly without pause in between or the Pranayama exercise of alternative nostril breathing. It seems simple, but practicing breathwork under a facilitator’s guidance can lead to massive insights, nervous system healing, and spiritual connection.
Here are some simple breathing techniques you can try out:
14. Oracle or tarot self-readings
Do you ever find yourself unable to make a decision, or feeling confused about something? Perhaps you ask your spiritual team for guidance, but you wish they could just knock on your door and tell you the answer! If this sounds like you, oracle or tarot can help. These cards are crafted to channel Source energy and its loving wisdom. However, make sure you’re still open to intuitive guidance as you pull your cards!
15. Physical touch
Your spiritual rituals don’t have to contain you and you alone. Humans need physical touch, as it releases oxytocin and helps us to feel safe and calm. Perhaps today’s spiritual practice can consist of hugging your partner, your child, or even your pet– cuddling with animals can offer a sense of connection, too! If none of these are available, “earthing” (as mentioned above) can provide a practical stand-in for physical touch.
16. Full Moon rituals
The moon’s phases can help you to set a sort of “calendar” for your spiritual practices. The new moon is a great time for setting new intentions for the month ahead– try journaling during this time of the month. On the other hand, the full moon helps you to release any stagnant energy. Salt baths, working with crystals, and smudging are great rituals to use during the full moon.
17. Write gratitude lists
At the end of each day or once every week, get into the habit of writing gratitude lists. Simply take out a blank paper or a journal and write down 5-10 things that you are grateful for. This is an excellent way to redirect your focus toward positive and uplifting energy.
18. Practice taking mindful breaks throughout the day
For the most part, your attention is lost in your thoughts. Mindfulness is simple way to break this default pattern and come to the present moment. Get into the habit of taking a few mindful breaths every now and then as your day progresses. You can also engage in other simple mindful activities like becoming aware of your body, walking and eating mindfully, becoming aware of your sense perceptions and your surroundings.
Staying mindful all the time is not possible, but you can get into the habit of having mindful minutes throughout the day.
19. Conscious relaxation
Consciously relaxing your body can be a powerful spiritual activity that promotes deep healing and rejuvenation. This simply involves bringing your attention into your body, feeling your body consciously and relaxing body parts that are tense by letting go. If you want more details on how to consciously relax your body, you can read this in-depth article.
20. Shake your body to release stagnant energy
Moving/shaking your body is in itself a spiritual wellness practice. There are many way you can do this. For instance, put on your favorite music, close your eyes and let your body move/shake to the rhythm. A few minutes of movement helps release all the pent up negative energy and fills you with fresh energy. Here are some fun ways to move your body.
21. Work with uplifting scents
Experiment with natural scents (as in essential oils) and find out scents that uplift your spirit. Diffuse these scents to enhance relaxation and healing.
22. Spiritual chanting
The vibrations that run through your body when chanting mantras can be deeply healing and rejuvenating. One of the easiest mantras you can learn to chant is the AUM (or OM) mantra. As you chant this mantra, focus your attention on the sound of the mantra and vibrations produced in your body. Just 5 to 10 chants everyday is enough to fully rejuvenate your mind, body and spirit.
23. Drink spiritual teas with herbs
Making and drinking teas using spiritual herbs can be a beautifully uplifting experience. You can make teas using
herbs like Peppermint, Chamomile, Hibiscus, Ginger, Cinnamon and Cardamom.
Different teas can also help different chakras in your body. For instance, peppermint tea can help open your throat chakra and enhance communication and creativity. Similarly, rose tea enhances love and opens your heart chakra.
24. Create a vision board or book
Simply put, a vision board is a visualization tool. It helps you illustrate your dreams and goals visually. To create a vision board, you can use pictures, photographs and cutouts from magazines, that speak to you and inspire you. You can also include quotes, messages and affirmations that you find inspirational.
Every morning and evening, spend a few minutes looking at your board while visualizing your goals and dreams. This helps prime your subconscious mind that will help you manifest your goals and dreams faster.
You can have different vision boards for different goals, for instance, a board for your professional goals and one for your personal goals. You can also add new boards as per your need. Just make sure to keep your board in a space where it is easily visible.
25. Create a meditation altar or sacred space
Build a sacred space in your home where you can think, meditate, chant and relax. This could be a meditation altar or simply an empty space dedicated to spending some spiritual time. Fill this space with items that you find raises your vibration.
26. Create an uplifting music playlist
Listening to music is in itself a spiritual activity. Make a playlist of songs or music that resonates deeply with you. Listen to this whenever you need a boost of energy.
27. Grow spiritual plants
Spiritual plants like Basil, Mint, Rosemary, Aloe Vera, Bamboo, Lavender, Succulents, Cactus etc. can be easily grown both indoors and outdoors. Some of these plants apart from helping clean the air of toxins also have powerful healing properties and help attract positive energy.
For instance, basil leaves can be eaten raw or added to teas and help your digestive and immune system. Similarly, Aloe Vera is considered a spiritual protection plant in many quarters of the world known to drive out negativity by cleaning your space.
28. Spiritually energize your water
Before you drink water, say (a positive mantra) or think something positive as you hold the glass of water in your hand. This is a simple way to change the energy of water which will in turn act as a healing elixir inside your body. You can also raise the energy of water by exposing water to sunlight (while it is in a glass container).
29. Connect with animals
It can be deeply healing to connect with animals. If you don’t own a pet, you can always borrow from your friend or neighbor or volunteer at a local animal shelter.
30. Connect with mother earth
Gardening, walking barefoot, going into nature etc. are all various ways you can connect with mother earth. This is one of the easiest ways to release all the negative energy in your body and ground yourself.
31. Try intermittent fasting
One of the best ways to connect with your body is during a fasting session when your stomach is empty. Digestion is an energy intensive process and when your stomach is free it frees up energy so you can focus deeper into your body. In addition to the spiritual benefits, intermittent fasting can also be hugely beneficial to your overall health. You can do intermittent fasting on a daily basis or once every week to get the maximum benefits.
32. Take a wind bath
If you have a particularly windy day or night, go outside and stand in the wind. Consciously feel the wind caressing your bare skin and carry away all your stress and heal your body, mind and spirit.
33. Do some art therapy
Let your creative energy flow by engaging in creative pursuits like painting, drawing, dancing, creating stuff etc. These activities can open your mind, promoting self-development and expression.
34. Get outdoors
Nature has a profound effect on your mental health. Use green spaces to further your spiritual self-care through outdoor activities like hiking, going for a stroll, wild swimming etc.
35. Connect with your body
Consciously feeling your body from within is one of the most powerful ways to spiritual wellness. Take time to feel your heart beating, your lungs taking in oxygen from the air, the blood running through your veins and all the amazing things happening within your body. Here are 12 easy ways to connect with your body.
36. Declutter your space
Just like you need to declutter your mind of limiting thoughts, you need to declutter your space of all the accumulated stuff that you no longer need or use. Declutter one a week or at-least once a month and throw away all the junk that only occupy space but have no real value in your life.
37. Practice focused meditation
Focused meditation helps you gain more control over your mind. This type of meditation involves focusing on a sensation, mantra or object for many minutes at a time. For starters, you can focus on your breathing.
As you advance you can try focusing on different objects/sensations like going to the beach and focusing on the sound of the waves or focusing on the flame of a candle (known as trataka meditation). Looking into a flame this way helps energize your entire system while eliminating negative energy.
You can also chant a mantra like AUM and focus on the sounds and sensations. For more on focused meditation, you can read this article.
38. Connect with your inner child
Connecting with your inner child helps you release all limiting thoughts you picked up while growing up. To connect with your inner child, think about all the things you enjoyed doing as a child and do them again. Did you enjoy flying a kite?, then go and fly a kite, did you like building sand castles?, then go to the beach and build one.
You can also think of all the events that lead to build-up of hurt and anger inside you and release them by forgiving and letting go. This can be a deeply cathartic experience.
39. Begin to ask why
Asking why will help you uncover a lot of hidden truths. Develop the habit of questioning everything. Even your own beliefs, ideas and perceptions. Do not look for immediate answers, just ask the questions. The answers will come to you eventually, but keep questioning the answers too so they don’t turn into rigid belief systems. Start with the basic question, who am I?
40. Reignite your sense of wonder
We live in an universe that is unfathomable to the human mind. But that does not mean you let go of your sense of wonder. Spend time wondering about this universe and everything there is in it. In this wonder, you might discover some amazing truths of life.
41. Stop consuming negative media
Slowly let go of your addiction to media. The media is designed to feed you stories that keep you hooked on an emotional level. Realize this and slowly come out of this habit. Consume stuff that is uplifting instead of stuff that drains your energy.
When it comes to your spiritual practice, it’s going to look differently for you than it does for anyone else; luckily, there exist tons of options for you to choose from. Remember that you don’t have to do any practice which doesn’t resonate with you! Just pick the ones that feel good, and practice them at a time that feels right to you. If it feels good, it does good!
Also Read: What is Shakti and How to Increase Your Shakti Energy?
