Living in this fast paced world requires intuition

Living in the fast paces world of today takes careful maneuvering and self-mastery; without it, you can get lost, overworked, and slide downhill into burnout, unhappiness, or depression. Your protection is being in touch with

intuitive side, being able to hear that inner wisdom and following it. However, being constantly busy means most people forget proper self-care. This can lead to losing touch with your intuitive side, and have to work harder

in order to keep up.

How can one maintain balance and stay in touch with the intuitive side? The answer: a daily spiritual practice, or Sadhana. A spiritual practice is a practice of self-discipline and commitment. When you create a consistent daily practice you are clearing your own consciousness so you can relate to the infinity within you and attuning your highest inner self.

Think of developing a practice as planting a seed in a garden. Every day you practice, you give your seed water, and watch it grow. In the beginning, the plant is small and requires extra attention, but slowly it begins to establish strong roots. Then, what started as a tiny seed grows strong and begins to blossom and bear fruit.

As you continue with your daily spiritual practice your intuition becomes stronger, the guiding light within begins shining brighter, and as you follow this light everything in your life begins to flow with ease and grace. You begin working less, because you are tuned to the flow of life, focused, and not caught up in the struggles of life.

Creating a daily spiritual practice for yourself requires dedication, and can offer substantial benefits, but you’ll want to think about what you want to get out of it before you start.

First, let’s look at what you could do each day. To cover all your bases it’s best to make sure your practice includes a little breath work, some yoga poses, meditation and a blessing or loving pray. Breathing exercises help your brain, so if you give it oxygen first thing in the morning your mind will be clear for the day. Your body loves moving so if you start the day off with a few yoga poses, the body will be happy while you are at your desk all day. Your mind doesn’t like clutter so if you start your day off with a little mind clearing meditation, you can start with a beginners mind each day.

Every morning is a new day and with each new day you have the opportunity to set the day to run smoothly by disciplining your mind and body to serve your higher self. We all know how easy it is to let the tasks of the day take over and next thing we realize the day is over, don’t let this happen to you instead prepare yourself to meet the challenges of the day with utmost mental clarity, physical stamina and spiritual awareness with your day starting with a spiritual practice. Try and create the space in your life to do your practice at the same time every day. If your schedule permits, the ideal time to start is at least two-and a-half hours before the sunrise, the Amrit Velā. In these hours there is lots of life force, or prana, flowing and your body rhythm is also preset for cleansing in these hours. Also since fewer people are awake during this time, there will be fewer disturbances.

As daylight savings time approaches, we will soon be moving our clocks back for fall. As the sun will be rising later, now is the perfect time to start this new practice. What amount of time should you commit to each day? Don’t push yourself too hard right away, start with a shorter times and increase over time.

How many days should you commit too? A 40 day commitment is a great positive habit forming time frame. When you do something every day for forty days, it ingrains a new discipline. In that way, it becomes part of who you are and what you do. If you miss a day or two, notice how quickly you become foggy and out of touch again with your intuition.

This new habit you are working on may take some time to remember, so be gentle with yourself. The mind and ego are very tricky and will come up with all kinds of excuses to try and keep you from doing what you say you want to do. This is a key part of the spiritual growth. To assist the mind with staying on task, write down your commitment to yourself. Getting it out of your head onto paper bring it into the world of living. I like to create a tracking sheeting with the 40 days listed which I lay on my pillow. At the end of each day I write one word that describes my day and I watch my days get easier and easier. This is also a reminder to myself; if I haven’t done my practice I still have the opportunity to do so before I go to bed. Start on your journey to a more in touch an intuitive self today, and keep me updated on your progress!