Spirituality is paramount to reflect and renew internally in order to obtain overall wellness.
Saturday I attended the Women’s March in downtown St. George. When it was over, the organizers and 20 or so of our mutual friends went to Downtown Yoga to meditate and check in spiritually. After the meditation was over, we went around the circle and said how we spiritually felt about the march. It was an interesting experience for me to relate standing up for a cause to a feeling of spirituality.
Spirituality should not to be confused with dogma or religion. A spiritual connection can be in nature, belief in reincarnation, twin-flames or metaphysics to name a few.
So, do you need to be religious to be spiritual?
Research from the US National Library of Medicine Nation Institutes of Health’s article “The role of spirituality in health care” says, spiritual people are happier and make overall healthier choices. They have a deeper concern for themselves, others and their community.
I was a part of a conversation last Saturday night with a group of women who started talking about spirituality and spiritual practices. The overall consensus of the group was that every person in the universe has an individual belief system that is not comparable. One of the ladies named off 18 or so different gods she could think of from different belief systems. We all came to a consensus in the end: spirituality is all about a person’s soul, spirit perceptual perspective.
The soul is different that the spirit; we have both a soul and spirit. The spirit is who you are, and the soul in my opinion is the connection we have to the other side.
Practicing mindfulness and meditation is good for the soul. It is key to being present and staying in the moment. Listen to your intrinsic self when you have a “gut feeling.” Personally, I meditate 30 minutes a day. On the days I am short on time, I make sure to get at least 10 minutes of meditation in. It sets me up for a productive day.
As students, practicing spirituality is essential to internal soulful wellness and will give us balance in our lives. Taking care of our spiritual needs will bring overall well being, health and longevity.
