INSIDE: Spirituality comes in many forms for different people, often through religion or ideas of the divine. Cultivating spirituality really means to commune with yourself and your spirit to understand what values and truths most resonate with your everyday living. By practicing spiritual self care, you can gain greater peace and passion in your actions, thoughts, and desires.

 

Trying to talk about spirituality can be difficult for many people. That’s because spirituality is a deeply personal, intimate idea and practice.

For some people, spirituality refers to their religion and belief in an omniscient god. But spirituality encompasses much more than religious ritual. 

It may be completely void of theistic belief. Spirituality can come through a deep respect and relationship with nature or a belief in the sacred self, that part of us that is beyond our mental thoughts and physical form.

Everyone’s truth is different. Take just a small sample of a few possible spiritual beliefs and personal truths, for example:

• To honor a god in words and deed everyday
• To live a life in which your actions always give back to others
• To do no harm to any being – plant, animal, human, air, earth, water
• To build and protect a communal family nurtured by universal acceptance

Spiritual experiences can manifest as we look at or make art, as we move our bodies, or as we sit in stillness. It’s important to connect to spirituality, the idea of a sacred true self – so important that it just might make us live longer.

No matter what you define as spirituality, taking time to practice rituals related to your true self will center your connection with your unique truth. You'll find renewed energy and abundance in your mental and physical realms too.

Developing practices of spiritual self care will set you on a path to a strong, healthy relationship with yourself that will sustain you through life’s challenges and joys.

What is Spiritual Self Care?

We try to exercise regularly to manage our physical well-being. And we hear that crossword puzzles, reading, and other brain activities preserve our mental well-being.

But we need spiritual practices too in order to preserve our spiritual well-being. It will harness holistic health that will allow you to move forward in life towards goals and desires that honor your truth.

Personal Truth

Spiritual self care works to remind us of our personal truth. It continually reconnects us to our inner spirit. As challenges and negative forces try to distract us, we return to our fundamental driving force, the higher self.

While we can live in a spiritual community and share our spiritual beliefs, ultimately, we each need our own understanding of what fulfills our soul’s desire.

To get square with your personal truth, you need a clear vision of what meaning you want to draw from life. This vision can be utopian – spirituality is the space beyond fear, doubts, and barriers.

The point is to truly know and seek your desires.

Individual Practice

Let’s consider what is spiritual self care as opposed to other spirituality practices.

Self care is time we take to be with ourselves and recognize the unique gifts and values we hold separate from any other being on earth.

It's important to make it a regular practice that returns you to a space of reflection, revelation, and inspiration. You should emerge from your spiritual self care feeling calm and content in your inner beliefs.

You should also find the strength and courage from your practice to take action towards your desires.

11 Spiritual Self Care Ideas

You may be used to ideas of worship in connection to spirituality, born from religions and cultures. Your individual practice, however, can be uniquely you!

Check out these spiritual self care ideas that will bring you closer to your personal truth...

Meditate 

Meditation is one of the easiest self care practices to do, yet many of us feel daunted by the idea of silent stillness. But, when you understand that meditation has no rules, it can become a healing, cleansing practice. It will reveal all kinds of truths and connections in your life.

Meditation can last 5 minutes or an hour – some people meditate for days! It may be in complete silence or accompanied by light chanting music.

You can have a special meditation cushion or simply sit in a chair. Using crystals for meditation can also enhance the positive energy you seek in spiritual meditation.

For example, holding Labradorite can awaken your intuition and promote self-discovery. Or, place  Aquamarine crystals in a circle around you to increase the flow of truth through your inner being as it finds and pushes out doubts and limiting beliefs.

And of course, an Amethyst Geode is always our favorite crystal to meditate with.

You can come to meditation with a fuzzy, confused mind. The time you take to sit in stillness to quiet those thoughts can release tension so that you find a sense of how to move forward.

Journaling

While thinking about and creating an inner image of what spirituality holds for you certainly goes a long way, writing out your thoughts and feelings about your unique spirituality may offer you even more clarity.

Journaling is an excellent form of spiritual self care. No structure or language is required – drawing in a notebook counts! Just sit and see what pours from inside onto a page.

To ritualize the process of journaling, find a notebook that resonates with you and makes you feel happy to open it and use it. Set a space for journaling by positioning healing stones on your desk or as paperweights for your paper.

Emerald, a crystal for creativity, can sharpen your internal vision and give you wisdom to create. Yellow Quartz will reveal your desires and help you discover paths of transformation.

Space Clearing

Imagine if you never dusted your shelves or swept your floors. A lot of dust would start to pile up. But what most people don't realize is that energy can pile up too.

We want positive energy to pile up. Yet negative energy especially tends to stick around – it’s like it magnetizes to our space and aura and just won’t go away.

Space clearing serves to cleanse spaces and fields of energy that doesn’t serve us and our higher purpose. It incorporates the burning of sage sticks, incense, and cedar or Palo Santo sticks within a room or around a sacred area.

The scent from these tools can cleanse your inner realm through the breath. You can also let smoke fill the space and slowly dissipate to sweep out negativity.

You can sit within the space as you burn incense or candles to experience the release of cloudy energy and the invitation of clarity.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness can go hand-in-hand with meditation, but it actually is something a bit different.

Practicing mindfulness means that you actively focus on the present moment. You reflect on the things around you and how you feel in this realm.

You can be mindful at any time in your day. It’s a great ritual to take pause in any moment and reconnect to your spiritual calling, whether you’re eating, working at your desk, or sitting in bed.

Mindfulness helps you develop an attitude of gratitude towards your spiritual beliefs. It keeps you aware of how your inner convictions guide you in your actions.

Reading Inspirational Books

Books hold different meanings for different people. You might like to read mystery fiction or romance novels, or maybe books for you mean school, study, and homework. 

While it's fun to be entertained by the written word, sometimes we need a break from information overload and imaginary worlds so that we can exist in our own.

Inspirational books can help you discover new parts of your spirituality. They provide information on developing rituals and sorting through your inner thoughts.

You can also find blogs to follow along and gather inspiration from others’ spiritual journeys. Find a book of affirmations and read one in the morning and one before bed.

Watching Inspirational Videos

For more positive content coming from your screens, look for inspirational videos that connect to your spirituality.

YouTube has a wealth of inspirational content, from compilations of acts of kindness to lectures on spirituality.

Set aside time rather than passively watching spiritual videos. Intentionally choose videos that you think can help inform your spiritual desires.

Yoga

While many of these spiritual self care ideas involve focusing solely on your spirit rather than your physical body, yoga helps bring all aspects of the self into alignment.

Yoga practice helps bring our spiritual sense into motion so that we can begin to translate our spiritual thoughts into action.

There are many forms and styles of yoga – it's not about standing on your head or twisting into a pretzel. Yoga creates a space of non-judgment and compassion for different beliefs, bodies, and needs.

Yoga synchronizes breath and movement so that we can calm our thoughts and strengthen our bodies.

You can make your yoga practice even more potent with spiritual energy by using crystals to harness certain experiences.

Serpentine, for example, is a yoga crystal that calls for psychic power and kundalini energy. Red Jasper attracts visions of your dreams and endurance to realize them.

Hiking or Walking in Nature

Taking time in nature provides a deeper connection to things outside of the human realm. On a hike or walk through a park, all of your five senses awaken.

With full awareness through sight, taste, smell, sound, and touch, your inner self is open to spiritual energy. Nature reminds us that there is so much out of our control that actually offers beauty and comfort. 

Thus, we can connect to our spirituality as our true nature. Our spiritual beliefs will give us comfort and guidance through cycles that we can’t control. 

Crystal Ritual Baths

A crucial component of any self care ritual is space for relaxation. Only through rest and rejuvenation can we channel the energy to actualize our spiritual purpose.

Crystal ritual baths use crystals to infuse the warm water with positive energies that then soak into your skin.

You can steep your bath water in different ways, from submerging crystals in the water to adding crushed crystal powder. It's important to know your crystals (see below) so that you use water-safe, un-dyed crystals. 

Just like with any self care ritual, every step of the process provides an opportunity to nourish and care for your spiritual self.

You need to give your crystal the time and care to open up its power, so rather than carelessly dropping them into the water, lovingly arrange them in the tub and then slowly add warm water.

Essential Oils

Crystals aren’t the only versatile tool for your spiritual self care. Essential oils tap into your sense of smell to ignite certain memories, thoughts, and visions as you breathe.

You can apply a drop or two of an essential oil that resonates for you onto your wrist, along your brow, or behind your ears to carry a subtle marker of your spirituality.

Lots of crystal-embedded jewelry includes lava stones that can absorb a drop of essential oil and diffuse its scent in your aura all day.

Essential oils soothe and bring relief from tension and can inspire creativity and passion.

Collect Crystals & Really Get to Know Them

What is spiritual self care if you aren’t truly in tune and aware of what your ritual does for you?

Doodling on a page without thought and intention won’t bring spiritual awareness. Back bending for Instagram isn’t a yoga practice that will guide your true inner journey.

It’s the same with crystals. As we’ve discussed above, crystals can truly enhance your spiritual rituals, but you shouldn’t use them blindly.

Get to know the properties of crystals and discover which ones spark a connection with you. There's always a reason why we're attracted to certain crystals.

Different crystals might speak to you on different days and in different ways. You don’t have to wed yourself to one gorgeous gemstone. Discover how crystals work together to hone spiritual practices.

Final Thoughts

While community and relationships help us thrive, our most important connection comes from within us. Our spiritual selves need attention, love, and nourishment.

Start experimenting with these methods of spiritual self care and find the practices and rituals that bring you closer to your higher calling.