The power of ritual - cultivating meaning and connection

"We not only nurture our sacred relationships through ritual, but we are nurtured by them as well. In ritual, we move and we are moved." - Alison Leigh Lily

As a child of immigrant parents, I grew up in a seemingly small family (mum, dad, three children) but within a very large community that celebrated culture, tradition, connection, and life. Our traditions were wild, colorful, busy, and loud. While I adored every part of it, I often felt judged and shamed when I brought new friends into this vibrant environment. This energy led me to push away traditions and begin the process of unbecoming, exploring, resisting, and ultimately circling back to deepen my connection to myself.

Ritual was never far from my heart.

By the age of seven, I was already digging holes in the dirt to bury my crystals, waiting for the big rains to cleanse and purify them. I created altars in my bedroom, adorning spaces and my body with pretty things that brought me joy and elevated my mood. These little "rituals" expanded as I began writing poetry and diary entries, crafting with my bare hands, and connecting to my body through movement, dance, and play.

I remain curious, a student of life, and I believe that what continues to pull me through each creative, wild, grueling, and beautiful process is deepening my connection to ritual and ceremony, as well as ritualizing life. Sharing this with my community, friends, family, and clients brings me immense joy.

Over the past 28 years, I have devoted time and energy to learning and acquiring various modalities, practices, tools, and techniques. Along with travel, this has allowed me to step back and observe through the lens of a compassionate witness. I value growth, culture, expansion, service, self-inquiry, heart-opening experiences, and self-love. It is through ritualizing my life that I have come to truly appreciate the joy in community, REALationship, connection, and more. I now cherish each tradition my family holds and celebrates, along with the many others I have the privilege of witnessing and participating in throughout life.

As a space sharer and holder, I have come to realize that we often overcomplicate the simplest processes, leading to overwhelm. Our logical minds over-intellectualize, leaving us in a space of judgment rather than feeling and embodied experience.

What is Ritual?

Rituals are often associated with ceremonies or religious practices, but they can be any sincere tradition that includes carefully ordered and well-intended actions. Modern rituals, such as yoga and meditation classes and retreats, are largely unchained from religious beliefs but still foster a sense of spirituality and community. Any act that you do each day that is important to you can be turned into a ritual.

The Main Elements of Ritual

Create Your Environment

A ritual may have an altar, a shrine, incense, offerings, etc., but it doesn't have to include any of these. The important thing is to consider what you want to feel and how your environment will affect your practice. Creating an environment with mindfulness and intention adds a missing element to most of our daily actions. Decluttering, dusting, and creating order can set the tone for a devotional practice. For example, you might have flowers, music, and sage during your yoga, journaling, or meditation practice. You could burn a candle while showering, turning it into an act of appreciating your body and taking care of it. Or, you could prompt yourself throughout the day to take intentional breaths to soothe your nervous system.

Intention

As you start, set an intention for the ritual. What would you like to practice? How do you want to show up? How do you want to feel? Carry that intention throughout the ritual. This can be as simple as setting an intention to eat your meal with gratitude and presence, removing phones from the table while dining with family or friends, or setting the tone for your breath during your movement practice.

Presence

A key part of ritual is to be as fully present as possible. Elevating something to the level of ritual can increase your presence. Often, having a tool as an anchor, such as a candle or palm stone, can assist with deep presence.

Appreciation and Gratitude

Ritual is about bringing full appreciation to the act. They say how we do one thing is how we do all things. Weaving deep appreciation for seemingly small and simple acts, like washing our hands, sipping a hot beverage, eating our meals, and moving our bodies, helps cultivate a deeper sense of appreciation and gratitude for life, the world, others, and ourselves.

Contemplation

Ritual offers space for contemplation. What’s important to you? What brings you closer to your why, your purpose, your fears? What are your aspirations and more? Creating space for ritual allows us to move from our overactive and busy minds into our hearts, reconnecting to ourselves in a nourishing and supportive way.

Make It Sacred

To make something sacred means to hold your life as an exquisite masterpiece. Each moment is blessed with the capability to make your daily doing into the divine space and place of sacred hands by the use of attention, small prayers, and ceremony. The word sacred usually has holy connotations but can simply mean being devoted to something that has power and a transformative effect. Imagine if we could see the mundane as powerfully sacred and magical.

Acknowledge and Close

In closing your ritual, sometimes a simple gesture, such as drawing one palm to your heart and one to your belly, humbly bowing your head forward in gratitude to the time, space, and practice, is enough. Sometimes you may want to gaze into your reflection in the mirror and acknowledge yourself for showing up. You may also like to acknowledge Mother Nature, the elements, or more. Whatever you choose is up to you; it's your sacred practice.

Embrace Ritual in Daily Life

Ritual is a way to elevate and expand what's important to you. Imagine a life of deeper meaning and appreciation, then cultivate that. My invitation is to lean in, turn daily habits into self-care rituals, cultivate more presence and awareness in your moment-by-moment movements, and witness the gentle dissolving of tension as you become lighter, more open, and more expansive.