A spiritual practice or spiritual discipline (often including spiritual exercises) is the regular or full-time performance of actions and activities undertaken for the purpose of inducing spiritual experiences and cultivating Spirituality. A common metaphor used in the spiritual traditions of the world's great religions is that of walking a path.[In Islam Sharia, in Indian religions Marga, in Taoism and Christianity, Tao are examples.] Therefore, a spiritual practice moves a person along a path towards a goal. The goal is variously referred to as salvation, Moksha or union (with God). A person who walks such a path is sometimes referred to as a wayfarer or a pilgrim.
Religion
Abrahamic religions
Judaism
Jewish spiritual practices may include
prayer (including the
Shema and
Amidah), reciting
Berakhah, Jewish meditation,
Torah study, following dietary laws of
kashrut, observing
Shabbat,
fasting, practices of teshuvah, giving
tzedakah, and performing deeds of
chesed.
is the directing of the heart to achieve higher contemplative thoughts and attain inner strength. Various Jewish movements throughout history have encouraged a range of other spiritual practices. The
Musar movement, for example, encourages a variety of
Meditation, guided contemplations, and chanting exercises.
Certain times of year are often associated with certain spiritual practices, including practices of
teshuvah during
Elul and the High Holy Days, and other practices associated with certain
Jewish holidays.
Christianity
In
Christianity, spiritual disciplines may include: prayer, fasting, reading through the
Christian Bible along with a
daily devotional, frequent church attendance, constant partaking of the
sacraments, such as the
Eucharist, careful observance of the Lord's Day (cf. Sunday Sabbatarianism), making a Christian pilgrimage to the Holy Land, visiting and praying at a church, offering daily
prayer at one's
home altar while kneeling at a
prie-dieu, making a spiritual communion, Christian monasticism, Bible study,
chanting, the use of prayer beads, mortification of the flesh, Christian meditation or contemplative prayer,
almsgiving, blessing oneself at their
home stoup daily, observing
modest fashion, reconciliation, and
Lectio Divina.
[According to Whitney in spiritual disciplines for the Christian life, payer, and daily blessings are common practice among Christians seeking to deepen their spiritual life]
Spiritual disciplines can also include any combination of the following: chastity, confession, fasting,[ ] fellowship, frugality, giving, guidance, hospitality, humility, intimacy, meditation, prayer, quiet time, reflection, self-control, servanthood, service, simplicity, singing, slowing, solitude, study, Deference, surrender, teaching, and worship.
In the Christian liturgical calendar, there are certain spiritual disciplines that are emphasized during various seasons of the Church Year. For example, in the calendar's first liturgical season, Advent, Christians of many denominations prepare for the arrival of Christmastide by praying through a daily devotional, as well as marking an Advent calendar and lighting an Advent wreath. In Lent, the preparatory season for Eastertide, many Christians (especially Catholic Church, Methodism and Anglicanism) participate in the Friday Fast, pray the Stations of the Cross, mark a Lenten calendar, and make a Lenten sacrifice such as giving up alcohol and practicing teetotalism.
Certain Christian denominations emphasize various spiritual disciplines. Praying the rosary, performing corporal and spiritual acts of mercy, and making acts of reparation are spiritual disciplines that are esteemed in the Catholic Church. In Methodism, the works of mercy and works of piety are indispensable spiritual disciplines with respect to one's sanctification.
A well-known writer on Christian spiritual disciplines, Richard Foster, has emphasized that Christian meditation focuses not of the emptying of the mind or soul, but rather on the filling up of the mind or self with God.
Islam
Spiritual practice in
Islam is practiced within
salat (ritual prayer) during which Muslims subdue all thoughts and concentrate solely on
Allah, also through other forms of worship activities like
fasting, and
Hajj. Among many Muslim groups, immersion in spiritual practices is thought of as more noticeable and deep as practiced by
Sufism including
Dhikr,
Muraqaba, and Sama (
Sufi whirling).
Indian religions
Buddhism
In
Theravada Buddhism, the generic term for spiritual cultivation is
bhavana. The Pali word "yoga", central to many early
Buddhist texts, has been often translated as "Spiritual Practice".
In
Burmese Buddhist tradition,
Awgatha is a formulaic prayer that is recited to initiate acts of Buddhist devotion, including obeisance to the
Gautama Buddha and
Buddhist monks.
In
Zen Buddhism, meditation (called
zazen), the writing of poetry (especially
haiku),
painting,
calligraphy,
flower arranging, the Japanese tea ceremony and the maintenance of
are considered to be spiritual practices. The Korean tea ceremony is also considered spiritual.
Hinduism
In
Hinduism, the practice of cultivating spirituality is known as
sādhanā.
Japa, the silent or audible repetition of a
mantra and Puja are common
Hindu spiritual practices. According to
Hindu scriptures, four types of
yoga are highly recommended to attain
salvation or
Moksha-
Jnana Yoga,
Bhakti Yoga,
Karma Yoga and
Raja Yoga.
Tantra practices are shared in common between Hinduism and certain Buddhist (especially Tibetan Buddhism) schools, and involve the deliberate use of the mundane (worldly, physical or material) to access the supramundane (spiritual, energetic or mystical) realms.
Other religions
Baháʼí Faith
Prayer in the Baháʼí Faith, refers to two distinct concepts:
obligatory prayer and
devotional prayer (general prayer). Both types of
prayer are composed of reverent words which are addressed to
God,
and the act of
prayer is one of the most important Baháʼí laws for individual discipline.
New Age
Passage meditation was a practice recommended by
Eknath Easwaran which involves the memorization and silent repetition of passages of
scripture from the world's
.
Reiki is a spiritual healing practice that has been popular in New Age spirituality. Reiki is a healing modality that was developed by Japanese lay Buddhist monk Mikao Usui. It spread from Japan to Hawaii and then to the rest of the United States. Reiki involves the laying on of hands or hovering hands over a person's body in order to address spiritual blockages and other related problems. Patients have reported that reiki is effective at reducing pain, stress, anxiety, and depression; in the medical community, skepticism exists toward the effectiveness of reiki.
The term Neotantra refers to a modern collection of practices and schools in the West that integrates the sacred with the sexual, and de-emphasizes the reliance on Gurus.
Recent and evolving spiritual practices in the West have also explored the integration of aboriginal instruments such as the Didgeridoo, extended chanting as in Kirtan, or other breathwork taken outside of the context of Eastern lineages or spiritual beliefs, such as Quantum Light Breath.
Philosophies
Cyrenaicism
The
Cyrenaics developed the spiritual practice of negative visualization, which was later adopted by the
Stoicism.
Epicureanism
Epicureanism posits that
philosophy is not just a set of beliefs or ethical claims, it is a philosophy of life. Epicurean spiritual practices and exercises include meditating on the
Tetrapharmakos, the celebration of
Eikas, the practice of
aponia, and cultivating the proper understanding of the gods and death so as to remove fear.
Stoicism
Stoicism takes the view that
philosophy is not just a set of
Belief or ethical claims, it is a way of life and
discourse involving constant practice and training (e.g.,
asceticism). Stoic spiritual practices and exercises include
contemplation of death and other events that are typically thought negative, training
attention to remain in the present moment (similar to some forms of Eastern
meditation), daily reflection on everyday problems and possible solutions, keeping a personal journal, and so on. Philosophy for a
Stoicism is an active process of constant practice and self-reminder.
Anthroposophy
In the context of his spiritual philosophy
Anthroposophy,
Rudolf Steiner gave an extensive set of exercises for spiritual development.
[Robert A. McDermott, "Rudolf Steiner and Anthroposophy", in Faivre and Needleman, Modern Esoteric Spirituality, , pp. 303ff] Some of these were intended for general use, while others were for certain professions, including teachers, doctors, and priests, or were given to private individuals.
[Rudolf Steiner, Verses and Meditations, Rudolf Steiner Press 2005 ]
Martial arts
Some
martial arts, like
tai chi,
Aikido,
and
Jujutsu, are considered spiritual practices by some of their practitioners.
See also
External links
