What Spiritual Practices Do You Find Most Effective?

[DharmaCatLamp]

Howdy.

As I have been exploring around lately I keep hearing about a variety of spiritual practices people engage in. Some sound interesting while other sounds plain old silly. This being said I am pretty open to trying new things.
So with that in mind I would like to ask you all what spiritual practices you engage in that are most effective and meaningful for you?

I will allow you to determine what effective means based on your own personal experiences here because that could be described in numerous ways. So for anyone willing please share some spiritual practices you engage in and if you have any guides feel free to link them.

For starters I personally find mantra chanting to be rather effective in getting me engaged and feeling good. I feel more connected the more I chant and will often chant the names of God ( Shiva, Krishna, Kali, Drugra etc) while keeping the image in my mind or while looking at a physical image of whichever aspect I am engaging with.

 

[Altfish]

Alcohol and loud punk music

 

[JustGeorge]

Howdy.

As I have been exploring around lately I keep hearing about a variety of spiritual practices people engage in. Some sound interesting while other sounds plain old silly. This being said I am pretty open to trying new things.
So with that in mind I would like to ask you all what spiritual practices you engage in that are most effective and meaningful for you?

I will allow you to determine what effective means based on your own personal experiences here because that could be described in numerous ways. So for anyone willing please share some spiritual practices you engage in and if you have any guides feel free to link them.

For starters I personally find mantra chanting to be rather effective in getting me engaged and feeling good. I feel more connected the more I chant and will often chant the names of God ( Shiva, Krishna, Kali, Drugra etc) while keeping the image in my mind or while looking at a physical image of whichever aspect I am engaging with.

Depends on what you mean by meaningful and effective.

There are so many different 'practices', and I do them for so many different reasons. I find singing Lingashtakam under my breath helpful when my 8 year old is having a meltdown helps me stay calm, but another practice I have is laying a rangoli on the floor in the morning, quietly acknowledging to myself I'm starting a new day(and hoping its a good one). I wouldn't find it meaningful to switch places with those, though... I could sing Lingashtakam when I was waking up, but I really prefer quiet at that time, and if I tried to make a rangoli while my 8 year old was having a meltdown, he'd dump my powder all over the place.

 

[Guitar's Cry]

Stargazing, walking in the woods and meditation.

 

[Secret Chief]

Zazen, kinhin.

 

[Aupmanyav]

So with that in mind I would like to ask you all what spiritual practices you engage in that are most effective and meaningful for you?
For starters I personally find mantra chanting to be rather effective in getting me engaged and feeling good. I feel more connected the more I chant and will often chant the names of God ( Shiva, Krishna, Kali, Durga etc) while keeping the image in my mind or while looking at a physical image of whichever aspect I am engaging with.

Study of scriptures and meditation (though I do not need it now).
Yes, I used mantras for concentration, actually sang them as if they were songs.
(Check you spelling for Mother Durga)

 

[Starlight]

Prayer and reading religious books

 

[sayak83]

Howdy.

As I have been exploring around lately I keep hearing about a variety of spiritual practices people engage in. Some sound interesting while other sounds plain old silly. This being said I am pretty open to trying new things.
So with that in mind I would like to ask you all what spiritual practices you engage in that are most effective and meaningful for you?

I will allow you to determine what effective means based on your own personal experiences here because that could be described in numerous ways. So for anyone willing please share some spiritual practices you engage in and if you have any guides feel free to link them.

For starters I personally find mantra chanting to be rather effective in getting me engaged and feeling good. I feel more connected the more I chant and will often chant the names of God ( Shiva, Krishna, Kali, Drugra etc) while keeping the image in my mind or while looking at a physical image of whichever aspect I am engaging with.

Yoga and breath meditation.

 

[George-ananda]

I remember to stop multiple times during the day to affirm my spiritual beliefs.

I am eternal bliss beyond this body. I am not the body. No changes can affect my essence. Negative feelings are just bad thinking. I am happy and content NOW.

And now return to my regular scheduled living.

 

[amorphous_constellation]

Well this past winter, and to now, I have been doing the wim hof method.. Which is controversial, you look into that at your own risk. It is a combination of breath meditation and cold exposure. I live in Wisconsin, so I figured it made sense to look into that, so as to try and 'like the cold' instead of hate it. As of now, I do it daily, and I figure I will continue to do it for the foreseeable future.

About at the same time last fall, I got into reading and learning about the Tarot. I attained one of the oldest tarot decks, which is the Marseilles deck. Over time, I have asked it a series of questions, and then I photographed the results. I analyze how each of the symbols on the cards interrelate, then eventually draw additional cards to tell me more about different aspects of those initial readings

I myself file both of those things in the 'spiritual category.' And I myself, believe rather strongly, I think, in the auto-efficacy of any spiritual path. That is to say, that at certain point, there is nothing I can really teach you about how to do something that you aim for, once your aim becomes refined enough. At a certain point, only you know what you are trying to sculpt yourself into, you become teacher and student

 

[syo]

So with that in mind I would like to ask you all what spiritual practices you engage in that are most effective and meaningful for you?

marriage

 

[crossfire]

Lucid dreaming. You can induce lucid dreams by practicing walking mindfulness mediation.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Howdy.

As I have been exploring around lately I keep hearing about a variety of spiritual practices people engage in. Some sound interesting while other sounds plain old silly. This being said I am pretty open to trying new things.
So with that in mind I would like to ask you all what spiritual practices you engage in that are most effective and meaningful for you?

I will allow you to determine what effective means based on your own personal experiences here because that could be described in numerous ways. So for anyone willing please share some spiritual practices you engage in and if you have any guides feel free to link them.

For starters I personally find mantra chanting to be rather effective in getting me engaged and feeling good. I feel more connected the more I chant and will often chant the names of God ( Shiva, Krishna, Kali, Drugra etc) while keeping the image in my mind or while looking at a physical image of whichever aspect I am engaging with.

Having a conversation with myself.

 

[Aštra’el]

-Prayer

There is often prayer before & after training and when facing challenges... and whenever I feel like it. I translate my feelings into words and become even more inspired to find the strength to endure and to push forward harder.


-Fitness and Nutrition

There is fitness and nutrition for strengthening and developing the body, and a lifestyle of physical training to prepare for whatever lies ahead.


-Traditional Art

I paint with oil and draw with charcoal to express my Weltanschauung, and to provide a means for my God(s) to reach others and interpret as they will. The imagination has no limits.


-Nature

There is that feeling of invigoration while out in the desert, on top of a mountain beholding the sky, or when caught within a storm, or when experiencing some other side of nature that resonates with me... and then, there is what I do with that invigoration.


-Music

I let my mind imagine while listening to Dark Synth/ ProgDeath Metal/ Drum & Bass, and I am inspired with thoughts of my God(s), visions of who I am, and what I will to do. Then I do it.


-Annual Celebrations

There are those numinous days along the yearly wheel. You awaken, and everything is different. Special. Enhanced. Fateful. You just know you have to go do something epic, something you always will remember. Something bad ***. So you go do it, with no regrets, ever. And the next year, around the same time, you remember, and you do something awesome again. Maybe it becomes a ritual... or just an epic memory. You give your own meaning.

 

[DharmaCatLamp]

Having a conversation with myself.

Conversations with yourself can be very helpful. I tend to find if I have a problem I need to figure out the best thing to do is just talk myself through it and attempt to understand it.

 

[pearl]

For starters I personally find mantra chanting

The repetition of a mantra is an excellent beginning for meditation. It brings the mind and body to present.

 

[DharmaCatLamp]

Yoga and breath meditation.

I have been meaning to get into yoga, I found a few different classes online that I might try out. Including one I was planning on trying this evening.

 

[PearlSeeker]

In addition to already mentioned:

Writing down personal goals and thoughts.

Fasting. Not just from some types of food but also from technology...

Spiritual brotherhood/fraternity. Sharing thoughts and experiences, reading, praying with/for each other...

Discussing/debating topics here on RF.

 

[Viker]

Various rituals, chanting, trance and body movement ( ritualistic catharsis ).

Meditation and contemplation.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Conversations with yourself can be very helpful. I tend to find if I have a problem I need to figure out the best thing to do is just talk myself through it and attempt to understand it.

It's quite an ability. Essentially two people in one mind has its uses and one is never actually alone.

My inspiration involves Alan Watts lecture by the same title..