To Consecrate Your Practice

cultivating intentionality in your prayer, meditation, yoga, & contemplative disciplines

Are you looking for a ritual to consecrate your spiritual practice? I offer the one that I use as a starting point for building your own. May our efforts be of benefit to all beings.

Seated on your chair, mat, or pillow, pause to imagine all of our ancestors and the beings alive today who have engaged in spiritual practices of various kinds — those who pray the rosary, read sacred scripture, engage in meditation, pray-dream, use their bodies as vehicles for prayer, those who sing praises and chant, etc. Imagine them here with you now, praying with you.

Imagine your spiritual heroes here, too — those family members, friends, and spiritual masters whom you admire. Imagine them practicing with you right now. You are not alone. We are part of the Great We. We arise together interdependently. We are not self-sustaining. It is through our interaction with others and our environment that reality is co-created.

Now consider or write on an index card the names of people and/or communities for whom you want to pray. Consider, also, what virtue you desire to cultivate, and note that too. Now dedicate your practice for these intentions.

Begin to connect to Higher Consciousness with your mind.

Let the same mind be in you that is in the receptive benevolence of the One Love, disengaging from everything that has gone before this moment and everything that will come after. Now begins the practice of joining with Higher Consciousness. This joining, called yoga in Hindu philosophy, is enacted through the release of the commentary of the mind. By consistent practice and detachment from ego concerns the mental narrative is relinquished, making space for the True Self to be revealed.

Begin to connect to Higher Consciousness with your breath.

Breathe deeply of this moment, letting your inhale drop into your belly. Allow your body to settle into this place and time. Become aware of the sounds, smells, and sensations in your environment. Scan your body and release any tension. Simply follow your breath as you open your awareness with curiosity, compassion, and acceptance.

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