List of Spiritual Disciplines: 15 Spiritual Practice Examples

List of spiritual disciplines

What are the spiritual disciplines that might help you with your journey through spirituality? There are several disciplines, or practices, that you can incorporate into your daily life. In this section, we will explore examples of spiritual disciplines and how they can benefit your development. We have included 15 different spiritual disciplines that might help you cultivate a deeper connection to yourself, others, the universe, and the divine.

Meditation

Meditation is at the top of the list because it is one of the most crucial spiritual disciplines. Through meditation, we can gain insight into our lives and our spiritual journey. It can help us calm our mind’s chatter that drowns the inner voice bringing wisdom and guidance. Meditating may not come easily to everyone, but with practice, it becomes like second nature. 

Yoga

Yoga is an art. It is a great method to connect your mind, body, and spirit to work as one. In yogic terms, it aims to connect one’s Atma (soul) with their Paramatma (supreme self). By practicing yoga you are combining physical movements with breathwork and meditation to achieve harmony within.

Breathwork

Like yoga, breathwork is an ideal method for connecting one’s mind, body, and spirit. Both yoga and breathwork are often used in conjunction with meditation. Breathwork as a spiritual discipline is the art of conscious breathing techniques to help quiet the mind to gain a deeper sense of awareness.

Setting intentions

Maintaining a certain lifestyle or mindset takes a fair amount of effort. Setting your intentions for your spiritual practice can help you focus your development in a certain direction that works for you. Starting each day by setting an intention will give it meaning and purpose. By setting intentions, we can focus our energy and attention on what truly matters to us, as opposed to getting sucked into experiences that are not beneficial. 

Journaling

Journaling is one of the most practical ways to understand our spiritual journey. Write down everything that happens, and any thought that comes your way. No one else has to read the entries (unless you want them to) so don’t hold back. Self-denial is not going to get you anywhere. Additionally, you can also see your transformation by going back and reading older entries. This way, you can recognize where you have come from which is usually a much darker or confused point in your life than where you are now. 

Affirmations

If you are religious, you might practice this more regularly but in a different way. Prayer is similar to affirmations in that it calls into being what you wish to manifest. Repeating an affirmation can facilitate a positive mindset and promotes personal and spiritual growth. Sometimes we experience things that wire our brains to think in negative patterns. An affirmation is the art of repeating positive phrases, and this helps us reprogram our thoughts.

Aura cleansing

As we move through our daily lives, we are constantly bombarded with energy. Sometimes we forget to put up our walls of defense (which is essential sometimes) and our auric fields get muddled with undesired energy. to cleanse your aura is to cleanse your spirit of negativity. you can do this by bathing under the light of the full moon, taking a saltwater bath, or waving Palo Santo around your body. Keeping your aura clean can release the burdens we subconsciously take on from other people.

Chakra Aligning

We each have seven main chakras or energy centers that can be located along our spine. They include the root chakra, the sacral chakra, the solar plexus chakra, the heart chakra, the throat chakra, the third-eye chakra, and the crown chakra. Each is responsible for certain aspects of our life (emotional, physical, and spiritual). When they are unbalanced or blocked, it can cause certain unwanted physical and emotional feelings, thoughts, or behaviors. By aligning your chakras, you can keep your mind, body, and soul in a state of harmony. This discipline is important to our spiritual life as it keeps our prana, or life force flowing with ease. 

Hypnosis

In a sense, this is similar to meditation. However, it may not look like you are meditating. Did you know that we humans slip into a state of hypnosis multiple times throughout each day? It’s true. As we teach in QHHT, when you’re reading, watching TV, drawing, and even driving, you slip into a trancelike state similar to hypnosis. This is not to say that watching TV is a spiritual discipline. But, drawing or reading are excellent examples. This might make a great opportunity to read a book on spirituality so you can broaden your understanding. 

Fasting

For many, fasting is seen as a way to purify the body and mind and deepen one’s spiritual connection. This is done by abstaining from eating or drinking over a certain period. This is different for each of us, and we each have our intentions behind fasting. By not eating, one is rising above their physical needs so they can focus on their spiritual growth. Not only is it a demonstration of your dedication to your spiritual practice, but it facilitates a deeper connection to your higher self. Additionally, it has some physical benefits like improving your digestion and mental clarity.

Practicing self-love

So many of us are following in a state of fear, guilt, and shame. Our egos are extremely convincing at times, and we can struggle to appreciate ourselves. Self-love is the first step in accepting love from someone else and it forms the foundation for compassion. It can help us break free of the restraints that self-doubts cause. 

Practicing gratitude and forgiveness

Moving forward in life requires one to practice gratitude and forgiveness. It can be painful when your loved ones hurt us. Even if it were unintentional, many of us subconsciously develop a grudge or hold onto the pain as if our life depends on it. But, it is actually your ego that depends on it. By forgiving someone who hurt you, this includes yourself, you are releasing that trauma. Holding onto it is like wearing weights that prevent you from progressing in life.

Then, when you are at a low vibrational point in your life, try to find reasons to be grateful. This will raise your vibration as it shows you what you do have in terms of love and support. No one thing is too small to be grateful for. Gratitude is a sure way to grow in love. 

Mindfulness

Being mindful is the practice of being fully present in the given moment. It is being aware of your words and actions in how they might affect those around you. It is taking stock of your past and present experiences without judgment or doubt. Practicing the spiritual discipline of mindfulness can deepen your understanding of the world which ultimately makes you more compassionate of those around you. 

Visualization

Close your eyes and imagine the best outcome from a situation you are currently dealing with. This is called visualization, and it is a key component to manifesting the reality you desire. Just imagining a scenario where everything plans out the way you wanted can help that reality manifest into being. 

Dream and shadow work

Both dream work and shadow work focus on the unconscious, or the subconscious parts of the human mind. From time to time, we undergo uncomfortable or traumatic situations. Because those not-so-fun experiences clash with our egos, which govern how we wish to be perceived, those thoughts and feelings get pushed away and out of sight. However, they do not disappear, they are stored in the subconscious where they eventually start to leak through the cracks. 

Understanding your shadow self, or delving into the meaning of your dreams is a great way to understand your unconscious mind. Through this discipline, you can find a connection to your inner self. The same can be said about dream work. Dreams also deal with the unconscious mind, and they are your higher self’s way of communicating with you. So, doing dream and shadow work is a spiritual discipline aimed at the shadow version of ourselves. It strives to bring the shadows back into the light. 

Working with this list of spiritual practices

It might be one thing to read the spiritual discipline list, but putting it to practice is another. One thing is for sure, patience is essential. One needs to put in the time and effort for all the disciplines listed above to become part of your daily routine without having to think about it. In the end, it all comes down to replacing your unhealthy or self-sabotaging habits with healthier, and more mindful daily rituals, like the spiritual disciplines you read from our list. 

Mindfulness, setting intentions, meditation, yoga, and breathwork

All four of these spiritual disciplines can be used in unison. Wake up in the morning, and set your intention for the day. This will help you stick to your plan, whether it is to be kinder towards other people, or more patient with your kids. Mindfulness, as well as various types of meditation, will keep you on track with your set intention throughout the day as it keeps you in the present moment as opposed to getting lost in past experiences. Meditation, yoga, and breathwork are often practiced as one, however, the intention you set will help facilitate your practice. 

Journaling, gratitude, forgiveness, and self-love

Practicing gratitude and forgiveness might seem like a monumental obstacle for some people. A great method can be found in journaling. Keep a journal next to your bed and each morning, or every night, write down everything that has troubled you in the past on one page. Writing it down brings it outside your body, so the energy is no longer stored within you. This can help you let them go and forgive. Additionally, you must learn how to forgive yourself. This is a crucial part of the forgiveness discipline.

On a separate page, you can write about everything you are grateful for. This is ideal to do daily, as it reminds you how many positive things are in your life. Seeing the positive aspects of your life, and the people you appreciate the most can often make your troubles seem a little less alarming. 

Chakra aligning and aura cleansing

Reiki healers have been known to align their client’s chakras and cleanse their auras of negativity. They use their reiki to find any energetic blocks within our energy centers and get your prana flowing smoothly again. they can also pick up on any energetic stains in our auric fields which they can clear away.

Did you know that you can balance your chakras and clear your auric field with crystals and meditation? Find the right crystals that are associated with each of the seven chakras and place with over your body where the chakras would be located. Clear your mind, and breathe in deeply. Visualize your prana, or life force energy, flowing freely throughout your body. The same can be said for cleansing your aura.

Dream and Shadow work 

Dreamwork and shadow work is vital to understanding our subconscious and unconscious minds. One sure method is journaling. Keeping a dream journal is a great way to remember what happens in your dreams. So, the moment you wake up, reach for your dream journal and write down as many details as you can remember. This provides you the time to research the meanings behind your dream later on. 

You can do the same when it comes to shadow work. Keep a pocket-sized journal with you at all times and write down any thoughts and feelings that might occur throughout the day. Then, you can flip through your entries at the end of each day or week. This will also provide a perfect opportunity to face your shadows without being in an emotionally compromised situation. 

Our conclusion on our spiritual disciplines list

Spiritual disciplines sound like a rigid form of practicing spirituality. However, when done regularly, they can enhance your self-awareness and help you move further along in your spiritual development. Incorporating spiritual disciplines into our lives can be beneficial to our well-being. Whether it’s through practices like meditation, journaling, or realigning your chakras, engaging in regular spiritual disciplines can help you develop greater self-awareness, cultivate deeper connections with others and the world around us, and tap into a sense of purpose and meaning that can help us rise above even the most difficult experiences.