Ritual

What is a ritual and how can we weave ritual into our busy lives to bring more peace and mindfulness?

When you look up the definition of ritual the word religion pops up a lot. Ritual is described as a fixed set of actions or words performed as part of a religious ceremony. Other definitions describe it as a way of doing something in which the actions are performed in the same way every time.

I feel neither of these define ritual as I experience it in the context of self care and spiritual practice . I don’t feel like I have a sentence to describe ritual , just a collection of words. Ritual is intimate, mindful, intentional, supportive, peaceful, creative and sometimes luxurious. Ritual can be without purpose but may have a powerful symbolic meaning. It could be as simple as making and drinking your morning tea to sitting in meditation to running for 5 miles on your favourite route.

There are specific components that I feel make a ritual. First the activity is intentional. Not just a mindless act. For example we brush our teeth daily, usually at the same time every day however, we don’t set a mindful intention to clean our teeth, we don’t carve out a specific time to do it, we just do it. 

Then there is the planning for our ritual. What do we need? If it's a bath we need our oils, our salts, our candles and music. Mindfully gathering those is all part of the ritual.

Then, we create a boundary around the ritual. This may be a physical boundary such as closing the door to a room so that we can be alone, it may be a time boundary (I’m going to run for 30 minutes) or an energetic boundary (you may sage your space or ask not to be disturbed). Then we cross that boundary with intention and enter the ritual. This can be marked by the lighting of a candle, the burning of incense, the anointing of an essential oil or a few simple deep breaths before your ritual begins.

Then we can luxuriate in the beautiful held sace that we have created, which is our ritual space and perform the actions of the ritual. Relax into the warm bath as the candles flicker and the music plays, meditate with your favourite blanket wrapped around you, journal in your gorgeous new notebook, sip coffee as you sit alone in the garden or run to the sound of your favourite audiobook. 

Just reading these words, planning, boundaries, intention, luxuriate give you an idea of how rituals can be a powerful anchor in a chaotic world. A safe and predictable energetic space to buffer against busyness and anxiety.

All these examples have been solitary activities but research has also shown that rituals performed collectively can increase social bonding. Creating rituals with your loved ones can be a beautiful experience.

I invite you to consider the rituals present in your life. Could you bring more intention and ceremony to them? Luxuriate in them a little deeper? Or are there new rituals you would like to introduce?