Spiritual practice: a review of self-knowledge techniques and practical advice. Spiritual practices for women - what is important to know

Spiritual practices are not an end in themselves. One comes to spiritual practices after a series of painful lessons, when an inner impulse and the need to radically change one’s life, once and for all, appears. Or as a natural stage of personality development, when you are looking for an answer to the question of the meaning of life and your purpose. But few people have information about the consequences of spiritual development and what it will ultimately lead to.

Today we will focus on two components - physiological and energetic changes in life due to the use of spiritual practices.

Spiritual practices consequences: Physiological changes.

Changes in sleep and wakefulness rhythms

The more time you devote to your spiritual development, the more important the periods and quality of your rest become for you. During rest, you not only restore your strength, but also synchronize with new skills and abilities that are revealed to you (we will discuss this in more detail in Part 2 of this series of materials). You switch to a new sleep system, which Steve Rother called the “sleep triad”: you sleep for 3 hours, then wake up, spend 2 hours awake and fall asleep again. At the same time, you do not feel tired or sleep-deprived. It is noteworthy that during this period of night wakefulness you are in a state of expanded consciousness, at the so-called alpha frequency, characteristic of meditative practices and deep relaxation. This means that your right and left hemispheres work synchronously, giving you access to new awareness and creating a field of expanded creation, when all your ideas are more quickly embodied in material form.

Restructuring the nervous system

One of the most common symptoms experienced by practitioners. The perception of energies, volitional concentration on the chakras, the inner world, and images of the subconscious trigger the nervous system in a new way and change the usual frequencies of the brain. At the same time, new neural connections are built, and previously dormant areas of the brain are activated. This puts additional stress on the body. This is expressed in the appearance of some strange symptoms, for example, unexpected tactile sensations, “heating” or “coldness” in certain parts of the body, goosebumps and slight trembling. Sometimes your perception of the weight or volume of your body will change, sometimes your orientation coordinates in space will get lost, and strange muscle tension or relaxation will appear.

You are here to broadcast a vibration of a new frequency - to people (through spoken words) and into the earth (through your feet). Side symptoms may look like dizziness, high/low blood pressure, physical fatigue of the body (from excess energy).

You may notice that your emotional reactions to previous stimuli have changed. The perception of colors, sounds and smells usually becomes brighter. Dreams, as a rule, become more colorful and intense in sensations. Recommendations: Help your nervous system by taking vitamins. Magnesium and B vitamins are especially important (transmission of nerve impulses, stress relief, stress resistance). Iron, calcium, potassium, iodine, and vitamin A also have a beneficial effect on nerve cells. You can look for products containing these substances or take optimized vitamin complexes.

Changing your diet.

1) Increasing daily consumption of clean water

After a short time after regular spiritual practices, you will find that you begin to drink much more clean drinking water: from several glasses a day to 3-6 liters per day. Benefits: Pure water helps conduct energy in the body, improves metabolism, removes harmful substances and toxins, and also promotes adequate functioning of the nervous system. Tea, coffee, juices and any other liquids are not an equivalent substitute for drinking water. So don’t be surprised if after a glass of freshly squeezed juice you feel the urge to drink pure water...

Drink a glass of water immediately after waking up to help keep your body hydrated while you sleep.

Be sure to take a bottle of water with you for a walk; a break in drinking water for 2-3 hours will cause increased discomfort in the body and dry mouth, as if you spent this time in a hot desert.

Drink water not during/after meals, but 30-10 minutes before meals.

Charge your water with positive energy.

To do this, you can put the corresponding Masaru Emoto crystal under a container of water or put shungite or a silver spoon directly into the water.

2) Refusal of “heavy” foods in favor of vegetables and fruits

Your body has a body intelligence that tells you what food at a given moment will serve your highest good. You just need to listen to the body's cues. Instead of “raping” your body with another diet or fast, ask your body what it wants at the moment. There will be times when you voluntarily give up heavy meat foods in favor of fresh vegetables and fruits. This does not mean that everyone who engages in spiritual practices must become vegetarians or raw foodists... No. But you will learn to HEAR the needs of your body, sensitively responding to signals that you need to ground yourself and eat something denser, or vice versa, switch to a lighter vitamin diet.

3) Intolerance to dyes, food additives and preservatives

Many people are familiar with well-known publications about the dangers of food additives and preservatives, so before purchasing products they carefully read what is written on the labels, and this is what guides them when choosing food products. There will come a time when this will not be necessary. Because your body itself will react to the composition of the product and tell you how useful it will be for you personally.

A simple example: you start eating ice cream and feel as if you have put sand in your mouth, because the ice cream is powdered with flavorings and dyes. At one time, from a huge range of cakes and pastries, I had to leave only honey ones and with natural sour cream cream. Everything else literally creaked in my teeth. Fortunately, the period of increased intelligibility does not last long: as soon as you have learned to identify products that are harmful and beneficial for yourself, the negative manifestations smoothly disappear... you simply are not drawn to buy something that your body cannot cope with on its own.

And yes, the list of food products that are attractive to you will be reduced to a minimum. Even with the current diversity?!

Increased sensitivity and sensitivity

In the process of spiritual development, increased sensitivity will affect not only food and water. Your skin, like litmus paper, will become more sensitive to any environmental changes. The principle is the same - away with unnatural ingredients and additives. Let me give you a few examples:

Water procedures. When you change the water hardness or use chemical additives to clean it, your skin will immediately react with increased dryness and irritation, and begin to peel and itch.

A special area of ​​attention is swimming pools and baths with water chlorination to purify it. You take a swim once, and then it will take a long time to restore the usual softness of your body skin.

Artificial materials in clothing. For me it all started with tights - you put on tights and you feel as if your legs are being squeezed like in a vice. Following this, we had to abandon newfangled artificial materials (including lace) for underwear.

If you want to feel comfortable in your clothes, be kind enough to choose 100% cotton or wool.

Products for face and body care. It will require maximum attention and time to select high quality moisturizers and nutrients that your skin will ACCEPT. How much it will cost your wallet - we won’t say anything)) However, you can master the preparation of environmentally friendly cosmetics based on natural oils and fats, plant petals, coffee, etc.

Weight changes

The spiritual energy entering your body can cause weight fluctuations, most often a sudden weight gain. Regular physical exercise in sufficient quantities is necessary.

Spiritual practices consequences: Changes at the energy system level
In the process of spiritual development, the work of the entire human energy system changes. As a result of working through energy blocks and eliminating “leaks” of energy due to negative experiences, feelings of separation, fears and doubts, a huge amount of energy is released. Moreover, you build the vertical Cosmos - Heart - Center of the earth, becoming a pure conductor of cosmic energy through your body into the earth.

The most common manifestations of a surge of energy.

1) Insomnia

Your body is unusual for this amount of free energy and it needs time to adapt to the new level of energy. If you sleep for only 5-6 hours and then feel full of strength and energy, stop thinking that something is wrong with you. Give yourself time to integrate and balance.

2) Memory impairment

A restructuring of the brain takes place, new sympathetic pathways are built that transmit impulses to nerve cells and synchronize the left (analytical) and right (creative) hemispheres of the brain.

At times there is a feeling that you have lost your memory, there is fog in your head, the simplest mental activity causes headaches and irritation.

As a result, you will gain greater clarity and precision. You will begin to see the bigger picture as a whole. The mind will become calmer, the internal dialogue will cease without any effort on your part. The main thing is to trust the ongoing process and not exhaust yourself with unnecessary doubts and worries.

3) Cell mutation

You are all familiar with the manifestations of the “spiritual” flu:

• increased body temperature, although the thermometer shows that everything is normal,
• painful sensations if you pass something over open skin,
• the body seems to melt and break, including in the joints,
• increased heart rate and general weakness,
• pressure on the temples or impulsive sharp pain in them.

All of the above are similar to the symptoms of a very high fever... But from a medical point of view, you are completely healthy - your spiritual transformation will transform the cellular structure so that your cells can accommodate more light and energy. I call this “cell mutation.” A very accurate metaphor, in my opinion.

4) Energy sensitivity

A side effect of spiritual practices is increased sensitivity to various energies. Just by looking at a person, you can determine what mood he is in and whether he is worth trusting and doing business with. You immediately see a person’s type of thinking - whether he has a positive or negative view of the world. Sick or healthy, full of energy and strength, or de-energized. This is undoubtedly one of the benefits of spiritual practices.

On the other hand, increased sensitivity causes difficulty in distinguishing between your thoughts and emotions and those of others.

You easily read a person’s energy, but often mistake someone else’s state for your own.

It is difficult for you to be in crowded places (large supermarkets, concerts, folk festivals), because... you get tired quickly and feel exhausted.

Let's summarize what was said above:

If you begin to notice strange changes in your body and behavior, atypical bodily sensations, dizziness, changes in sleep or diet), do not worry. Everything that happens to you is a symptom that accompanies spiritual growth. Or – arising as some kind of spiritual resistance, in response to an increase in your vibrations. You shouldn’t be afraid of them - you just need to study them and know how you can help yourself in each specific case. These are natural processes.

Sometimes it is difficult for a person to cope with some stressful situations or severe streaks of failure. Depression and despondency reduce the quality of life and lead to depression. The days turn into a bleak, gray existence.

People who use spiritual practices recover morally, replenish internal energy resources and find themselves. You can look at yourself from the outside, study your inner world, and outline paths for personal growth and development.

What it is

Spiritual practices are different, but they all consist of a set of activities that help a person in self-knowledge, strengthen willpower and self-discipline. Such exercises help to know God, look inside yourself, and overcome complexes and fears.

Since ancient times, people have wondered about their origins and the purpose of existence. At a certain point, there was a need to create a certain system that would bring peace and tranquility to the soul. Such systems began to exist thanks to ancient religious traditions. For example, yoga is a Hindu philosophical order.

The concept concerns the study of deep human feelings and experiences (love, happiness, loneliness, joy and others). Practitioners look inside themselves, looking for the meaning of good and evil, life and death.

What are they for?

Every day a civilized person observes basic rules of personal hygiene: brushing teeth, showering, washing hands before eating, etc. All this protects against diseases and disorders. In the same way, the soul periodically requires cleansing. Everyday life clogs your internal energy with negative thoughts and negative emotions that destroy harmony and balance. Studying the soul provides the necessary inner rest, moral relaxation and lightness.

Where to start classes

After it has been clarified why sublime psychological quests are needed, you need to decide in which direction to move.

Where to start classes:

1. The choice of high (religious) customs and values ​​(Orthodox, Catholics, Muslims and others). Nowadays there are quite a lot of different religions. The main criterion for choosing one’s religion is that a person should feel comfortable.
2. Find a person (mentor) with experience who could answer any questions.
3. From the first days you need to set aside daily hours for exercise.
4. Regular reading of thematic literature is an integral part of classes.

Psychological attitude

The goal of any moral activity is to calm the mind, change the worldview, and be able to combine disparate elements of spirituality. Time and regularity are required. It is important to overcome laziness with the help of willpower and do exercises daily to get involved. You shouldn’t break yourself, everything should be a joy, a pleasure.

Physical training

Performing static and dynamic exercises requires certain physical skills. You can’t risk your health, you need to start with such activities so as not to harm yourself. Gradually, the accumulated experience will allow you to move on to more complex tasks and increase your training.

Directions spiritual practices

There are a great variety of directions here. It is important to choose the right one. It is not forbidden to try different teachings. If the soul is in peace and serenity from the activities, then there is a result, the choice was made correctly.

Meditation

Going deeper into yourself and focusing on something or someone helps you calm down and relax both your soul and body. Meditation through detachment clears thoughts and pacifies negative emotions. The main benefit of meditation in everyday life is the ability to concentrate on the main thing and not react to distractions.

Yoga

Regular exercise not only helps you get your body in great shape, but also helps develop endurance, tolerance, and attention. There are a sufficient number of yoga courses, but they are all aimed at the physical development of the body, achieving a balance of internal forces, and achieving harmony.

Modern directions of yoga:

• hatha yoga is a classical school where they teach breathing exercises, relaxation, and the simplest asanas;
• Ashtanga Vinyasa is a yoga suitable for those who like an active pace: the exercises are energetic and fast, good physical shape is required;
• Iyengar is a very slow yoga that requires holding asanas for a long time;
• kundalini - aimed at purifying energy and raising mood;
• Bikram - helps to lose weight, get rid of toxins, as the exercises are carried out in a heated room;
• tantra - classes are held in pairs and open sexual energy, eliminating complexes;
• sukshma-vyayama - joint gymnastics;
• Nidra - effectively helps relieve stress, relaxes the body, calms.

Martial arts

Many people associate martial arts with violence or perceive them as a sport. Indeed, the main thing in martial arts is the development of excellent physical fitness, training of strength, agility, and attention. In fact, many martial arts are complex philosophical teachings.

Here is a list of the most famous and popular martial arts with a moral code:

• taekwondo;
• aikido;
• jujutsu;
• judo;
• sambo;
• karate.

Some use martial arts only as training, for others it is about internal growth and development.

Corporeal-spiritual systems

In a healthy body healthy mind. An exhausted, sick body will not allow a person to concentrate on his personality, on the positive result of his work. Only a healthy, active and flexible person will be able to reveal the beauty of his body and his soul.

Breathing and energy exercises

With the help of breathing-energy gymnastics, a person replenishes energy balance, removes physical or psychological discomfort, and relieves stress. You should start exercising at low intensity for 15 minutes a day. Gradually the number and duration of sessions can be increased.

Asceticism and fasting

To strengthen the connection with God, to maintain moral and physical purity, some resort to asceticism. Asceticism is a voluntary and conscious limitation of oneself.

The following austerities are known:

• asceticism of the body - fasting in food, making pilgrimages, limiting bodily joys and desires;
• asceticism of speech - to tell the truth, not to criticize, not to judge, not to gossip, not to impose one’s point of view, to be able to listen, to avoid scandals;
• asceticism of the mind - strict control of emotions, pacification of pride, avoidance of negative thoughts and emotions.

Static exercises

Not everyone likes dynamic training; for some, static training is more suitable. In yoga, static exercises are considered to be holding asanas for as long as endurance lasts.

Benefits of static exercises:

• endurance;
• flexibility;
• dexterity;
• force;
• weight loss.

Such exercises are suitable for older people with high blood pressure or those who have suffered injury. After static exercises, health is noticeably improved. Ideally, it is possible to combine dynamic and static classes.

Reading mantras and affirmations

A mantra is a cleansing word that has divine power and light. Reading mantras not only affects the body, but also frees the mind, filling it with positive energy. Mantras have a unique ability to attract desired material benefits.

Affirmation is a favorable statement that gives the mind a mindset to achieve a goal and a positive future. Thoughts, emotions and words color a person's life. If they are initially cheerful, they will have a beneficial effect. Positive, good, good attracts the same from the outside, and, conversely, negative and negative will attract many fears and complexes.

Reading prayers

A believer must constantly communicate with God. Prayer is the easiest, most accessible way to establish a divine connection. To pray, you can go to a temple, or you can do it at home alone. Through prayer you can ask for health for yourself and your loved ones. Others need protection. You can also ask for guidance in life. In other cases, the believer in prayer expresses gratitude and praise to the Almighty.

Other types

In the modern world, everyone finds themselves differently. Some methods of psychological research have centuries-old roots and use the experience and knowledge of traditional religions, others exist quite recently.

In addition to those listed above, there are other directions:

1. Ceremonies (rituals) are expressions of gratitude or expressions of requests in the form of certain actions. Designed to calm mental anguish or, conversely, provoke powerful psychological inspiration.
2. Places of power are energetically unique places that change a person’s psychological state (Egyptian pyramids, Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Lake Baikal and others).
3. Channeling is the telepathic reception of valuable psychological messages from higher channels.
4. Energy practices - energy management for healing the soul and body, for cleansing of negativity, for correcting fate.
5. The study of literature - the analysis of various sacred scriptures changes the personality, allows one to identify the deep meaning of any life events and situations.

What to choose

It is difficult for beginners to navigate the variety of areas of yoga, asceticism, meditation and other things. The first thing you should pay attention to when choosing is that everything should be clear and understandable. What is good for girls may not be acceptable for men.

It happens that partners look for their inner path in one system, but this situation should develop naturally. There is nothing wrong when a husband and wife adhere to different teachings (for example, one does yoga, while the other finds himself in martial arts).

For women

Feminine nature is different from male nature. If men more steadfastly perceive various strict restrictions and rules, then for a woman this can turn into a real energy disaster. Moreover, the woman may get sick. For example, rare fasting is normal, but more frequent food restrictions will lead to hormonal imbalances and a weakening of female strength. In addition, a lady should enjoy all events. Only in this way can one reach the heights of self-improvement.

For men

The stronger sex strives to develop leadership in itself in order to lead. Therefore, practices focused specifically on this will suit him. A man, by practicing, accumulates masculine energy in himself. Strict asceticism, seclusion, icy dousing, vows of silence - all this suits men perfectly.

Benefits and results

The natural result will be a complete change in both the inner worldview and everyday life. Changes will be required in all areas: from ordinary household details to the way of thinking. You need to constantly listen to yourself, study your body, respond to all transformations of soul and body.

Changing your daily routine

Restructuring a person’s inner world will force the daily routine to change. Basically, the hours of sleep and wakefulness change. For example, after three hours of sleep, a person can remain awake for two hours. During this time, he meditates, performs static exercises or studies the scriptures.

Normalization of the nervous system

A new way of life makes a person perceive familiar things differently. Smells, colors and tastes are experienced differently. Feelings and emotions are experienced more intensely and vividly.

Changing your diet

Exercise brings about more than just psychological changes. Over time, a person will need to change his diet.

Practitioner's diet:

1. Pure water. Various drinks familiar to everyday life will no longer satisfy. There will be a need to drink more water per day. Water accumulates positive energy and removes negative energy.
2. Proper nutrition. The system forces you to listen to your body, so giving up unhealthy, heavy food will become natural.
3. Refusal of dyes, preservatives, harmful additives.

Increased sensitivity

As a result of moral development, there is a high probability of increased sensitivity. Most likely, there will be a feeling of aversion to non-natural materials. The skin will instantly react to synthetic fabrics in clothing and harmful components of cosmetics.

Restoring normal body weight

After starting classes, fluctuations in body weight may be observed. This is also affected by changes in diet and daily routine. To avoid gaining extra pounds, you should exercise regularly.

Increased energy reserves

Changes in the energy system cannot be avoided. Over time, the practitioner begins to feel the auras of those around him. Feels the quality of energy: negative or positive. Sometimes a practitioner begins to feel someone else’s state of mind, feels it as his own, so it is difficult for him to go to places with large crowds of people (shops, markets, concert performances, etc.).

Video

The video tells how to improve the quality of your life and achieve spiritual growth.

There are a huge number of spiritual practices in modern society, and there is a great passion for them. But the outcome of these practices remains highly controversial. People who practice yoga, qigong, Osho meditation, etc., surprisingly do not achieve what these practices are intended to achieve. Years pass, the passion for practices can either fade away or remain the same, but the person who practices remains the same.

Let's look at several reasons that lead to such disappointing results.

1. The first reason that Osho spoke about loudly and very clearly is the absence of a living Master. The master died and so did his method. Those. only a living Master can convey to the student those practices that will be meaningful and allow him to move along the spiritual Path. At the same time, many people appear, as in the Osho commune, who continue practices that do not contain the strength that the Master put into them. It would seem that wearing someone else's clothes is funny and absurd; it is better to wear your own, but people continue to do this, thereby stopping their search, their path and the opportunity to be Masters. And then the spiritual direction that a person led, created him, becomes a spiritual practice and nothing more. Such practice will never become the Path and will not lead a person inside the treasury of his spiritual wisdom. All the Masters talk about this, unfortunately, few people listen.
2. The second reason that makes spiritual practices useless is the use of spiritual practices as a tribute to some fashion, as an attempt to fill your life with at least something meaningful, and, as the modern term says, to engage in self-development. Any spiritual work is aimed at a person knowing himself, at moving deeper, to the center. This is serious, thorough work, which cannot be a hobby, entertainment, or leisure. In this case, spiritual practice becomes a semblance of fitness yoga, loses its spiritual basis and becomes ordinary physical education, having only an externally attractive picture and the taste of new fashion trends. This situation exists in mantras, and in qigong, and in any other direction known to the modern world.
3. The third reason is the lack of a moral aspect. Any spiritual direction is called that way because we are talking about spirituality. Spirituality is always based on morality, and spiritual practices intended primarily to strengthen the Spirit. Spiritual practices are designed to ensure that the Spirit triumphs over our emotions, passions and to calm our fussy mind. The moral aspect of practices is the most important quality, the definition that makes a practice spiritual. And if we are talking about spiritual self-improvement, then this is, first of all, morality; it is by this that the degree of a person’s spirituality is measured, and not at all by the ability to see an aura, levitate, walk on coals, swallow nails, or rest his neck on a spear.

Spiritual practices are designed to strengthen internal spiritual discipline, the ability to control your feelings and emotions, not allowing everything dirty and base into your thoughts, heart, and actions. It would be possible to highlight several more reasons that devalue spiritual practices, making them useless, but let’s move on to the essence, understanding, specifically the spiritual Path, and what accompanies it.

The term spiritual practices itself is paradoxical. Those. it turns out that we practice spirituality without actually starting to do it ourselves. For those who are looking for true meaning, for those who are looking for spirituality, for those who want to know themselves, the following message is intended - stop practicing! Go! Go into spirituality, awaken love and morality. Look for your Path, and no practice is needed here. All you need is thirst, desire, and a willingness to change yourself, your inner world, a willingness to transform your body and find the Path. You don't need spiritual practices, you need a spiritual Path. Please don't confuse one with the other. Look for someone who knows what the path is, who can point to it or point to the one you call Teacher or Master, Guru, Sensei or Shifu. Look for the Master! And ask him what you should do. He has an answer for you. Let it destroy you, because everything you know is just a reason to search. This is the past you have lived, which cannot be a measure, an assessment, of what will happen after what the Master offers you. Remember, you don't know anything about what it should be. And what he should do. Now you have no categories with which you can evaluate this, which is precisely why there is a need for a Master. The Spiritual Path is always something that you do not know, otherwise it cannot be a spiritual Path, otherwise there can be no transformation. If you know what you are doing, then you are continuing yesterday, nothing new has happened, you have remained the same. If you want to continue this, engage in spiritual practices and forget about the spiritual Path. If you want true transformation, surrender to the Master. Do not evaluate him, do not bring him your beliefs, assessments and claims. All this is yesterday. They're dead. The master is alive. And only he will teach you to be alive, authentic, blooming. It will teach you to live without these assessments, with the help of which you kill your life.

The path to the Master can only lie through thirst, spiritual thirst, the authenticity of which is determined by love. Only if you are able to love, are you able to be alive, are you able to throw away everything that interferes with the dance of your love, your flowering. If love is strong in a person, then it is embodied in the person’s actions, and the symbol of these actions is morality. Only this will make your spiritual Path, your meeting with the Master possible. And at the same time, it doesn’t matter to you whether your master is engaged in fashion, what he looks like, how many diplomas or awards he has, how much he charges for classes and all that kind of nonsense. As a great Miracle occurs, the rarest opportunity in the world opens up - to become a disciple. Learn the path, achieve spiritual perfection and, quite possibly, become a Master.

What is spiritual practice? Before answering this question, the concept of “spirituality” should be clarified. The most capacious, precise, formally verified definition of this word was given by Alexander Zinoviev. He wrote:

Spirituality is not measured by the level of education, everyday habits and general culture, “correct” - from the point of view of the prevailing fashion - beliefs, even personal sincerity and kindness. All this is significant, but all these are just accompanying signs, consequences and epiphenomena. A spiritual person may be uneducated, have bad manners, very strange beliefs and a bad character. Because spirituality is not defined by this. But only one thing: a voluntary and conscious refusal of the main social pleasure - participation in the eternal and universal humiliation of man by man. Thus, he goes against his own human nature - and to the extent that he succeeds, he ceases to be a person and becomes something else.

But do not be mistaken: such rebirth, even if it is possible, is the privilege of a few strong-willed people.”

That is, in order to be called spiritual, a practice must

• have in your arsenal ways and methods that allow a person to see the malicious intent of which he is the bearer
• possess ways and methods that allow the process of defragmentation of the human personality to the extent necessary for a person to be able to accept responsibility for malicious intent and its consequences

Few of the currently existing practices meet these requirements. And a special place among them is occupied by “game processing” by A.V. Usachev, as it allows one to directly clarify and reduce malicious intent.

Currently, spiritual practices are often confused with various psychotherapeutic methods, healing systems, healing, religion, magic and other methods that allow influencing a person. All of the above areas undoubtedly have their right to life, have their place in the social structure of society, and in certain cases can be very effective and efficient. For the most part, they are focused on healing a person’s physical and mental ailments, stimulating leadership qualities and suppressing “unsuccessful” traits of human character. However, “pseudo-spiritual” practices do not affect the deep foundations of the human “I”, and, trying to “improve” the existing personality that a person currently wears, they act within the framework of this personality. Spiritual practice is primarily aimed at transforming the human personality.

Despite the fact that interest in spiritual practices is enormous, few people who begin to engage in spiritual practice have a clear idea of ​​what spiritual rebirth is and what they will have to face. After all, the process of a person’s spiritual rebirth is qualitatively different from the psychophysical correction of his personality.

Of course, spiritual development is an amazing, exciting process, rich in amazing discoveries. This is a fantastic, fairy-tale action in which the main character is the one who follows the spiritual path. But this path is replete with obstacles and dangers, overcoming which requires a person to give maximum effort and the utmost concentration of all his forces.

Spiritual practice, causing changes at the level of spirit, initiates a restructuring of the entire “human” system as a whole. Therefore, everyone who was engaged in any spiritual practice (including processing) had to deal with a variety of physiological disorders of varying degrees of intensity - exacerbations of chronic diseases, with lightning-fast developing acute processes; fall into depression; experience bouts of euphoria; change externally and internally. This is due to the fact that spiritual awakening, despite the positive nature of the changes occurring at the spiritual level, causes a violation of the “internal environment” in the “human” system. (The state of the system is stabilized only after complete processing of the material raised during spiritual awakening). The levels of the system are forced to change in order for the system to maintain integrity and stability. The process of “restructuring” in the system can occur unnoticed and calmly, or it can manifest itself in the form of some dysfunctions and malfunctions in the work of one or another level (or levels). If “perestroika” is impossible for some reason, and the levels of individuality, mind and body cannot be transformed in such a way as to correspond to the changed spiritual level, then the system loses stability, integrity and collapses. For this reason, unsystematized, independent practice of spiritual practices without prior thorough preparation can cause significant impairment of physical and mental health.

In order to carry out a “restructuring” and gain stability in a new quality, the “human” system must have sufficient resource and energy potential. If the system does not have sufficient potential for “restructuring”, then it needs an influx of external resources in order to move to a new energy level. In this case, self-study, without the support of a professional, can lead to extremely undesirable consequences.

In order to engage in spiritual practice, you do not need “seven spans of intelligence.” Almost any person has all the necessary abilities to begin his spiritual ascent. But only a few continue to consistently move along this path. One of the reasons that hinders the process of spiritual awakening is the lack of information about how the transformation of the spiritual level affects the levels of individuality, mind and body.

A person turns out to be unprepared for the fact that during the period of “perestroika” the system can be “broken,” “fevered,” “torn into pieces,” etc. Faced with such manifestations of spiritual awakening, a person, as a rule, begins to pay more attention to the complications that have arisen than to engaging in spiritual practice. As a result, spiritual growth slows down or stops altogether, and the states of the “perestroika” period become protracted and chronic. The situation is aggravated by the fact that health deviations resulting from destabilization of the spiritual level are difficult to correct with medications and are completely resolved only after the situation has been completely resolved at the spiritual level.

The literature devoted to spiritual practices (Roberto Assagioli “Psychosynthesis”) describes some of the states that arise in the process of spiritual growth. The clinical manifestations of these conditions are the same as those of diseases that develop in a person during a person’s life in a “natural” way. The difference, probably, can be considered that diseases caused by the “restructuring” of the spirit-individuality-mind-body system appear as if suddenly, without any reason, out of the blue. Moreover, the symptoms that appear at first do not have an organic substrate, which misleads doctors. Ultrasound, ECG, encephalograms, X-rays, tomograms, all kinds of tests do not show deviations from the physiological norm, and the person feels unwell, although, according to the examinations, he should be healthy. And only after some time do doctors manage to identify the cause of the disease. In this case, the cause of the disease is a consequence of the activated and not considered material. And the time to search for organic changes is the time that the body needs to “reform itself” and create a disease in itself, according to the initiation that occurred. As the activated material is examined, diseases often disappear on their own or are relatively easily resolved with proper treatment.

When we say that spiritual practice is important, what do we mean? Are three prayers a day and a Sunday visit to church enough? is that enough? Or is it not?

Let's look at a woman's spiritual practice in more detail. And let me start with the fact that the Scriptures say that a woman receives everything through her husband. Everything, even liberation. A faithful and chaste wife will follow her husband to heaven. That is, her entire spiritual practice is not about feats, but about accepting her husband and sharing his vows.

ShB 7.11.29
“A woman who serves her husband, following the example of the goddess of fortune in everything, will certainly return home, to Godhead, and along with her husband, a devoted servant of the Lord, will live happily in the Vaikuntha planets.”

That is, purely theoretically, it is enough for a woman to live a pure and chaste life, putting her family first.

Asceticism, fasting and other abstinence are less tolerated by women, and sometimes it even has negative consequences. Remember how the mothers of the family sit at their posts. They become angry and irritable. But in theory, fasting should bring her closer to God. But in fact, the restriction leads to the fact that she shows her worst qualities, and her loved ones suffer from this.

“As stated in Bhagavad-gita (9.32): “striyo vaisyas tatha sudras te'pi yanti param gatim” - women are not characterized by strict adherence to the rules of spiritual life, but if a woman is fortunate enough to marry a spiritually advanced person, and if she constantly will serve him, she will reach the same level as him... A woman should serve her husband faithfully, and then if her husband is spiritually developed, the wife will also have the opportunity to enter the spiritual world. (Even if she's not ready for it).”

Now it’s worth considering the life of an ordinary woman who, for example, has two children. What does she do during the day? She needs time to take care of both her husband and children. So that everyone is fed, so that there is something to wear. And besides, and more importantly, take care of their souls. Listen to children, collect negative emotions from them, digest them, thereby calming the children. While the children are growing up, she will have to go through many crises with them, with each of them.

Motherhood is generally a huge school for developing the qualities of a holy person - patience, generosity, humility, acceptance, gratitude...

Add here a husband who also needs attention, who also needs to be adjusted to. Learn to balance between the five roles of a wife so that everyone in the family lives warmly and well. Appease his anger, inspire him, take care without overprotection and be his best friend, fighting girlfriend.

And if you add family in the expanded sense of the word - the husband’s parents, who can interfere and cause confusion, the woman’s parents, who also do not always remain just parents. It is the wife’s responsibility to build these connections so that everyone feels good. So that children have grandparents, and so that the relationship between spouses does not suffer from this.

In addition, there is a huge world around every woman - girlfriends, friends, neighbors, grandmothers in queues. And learn to communicate with the world in such a way that there is no shame later and excruciating pain - that’s spiritual practice.

Love your neighbor, remember, right? This is a completely accurate description of a woman’s spiritual practice and its main goal.

The life of any woman, even without religious fasts, is full of restrictions. Then she’s pregnant, and this is already a certain asceticism when you can’t even sleep on your stomach. Then you are breastfeeding, and you cannot wear what you want and eat everything you want. A mother's body very rarely belongs to herself, just like her time. You must drop all your important activities at any time when your child urgently needs help. Yes, you always have to look for a balance between family and - if there is one. And if there is no self-realization, then a feeling of guilt is added, like, I’m somehow not like that.

Why am I doing all this?

Moreover, the most important spiritual practice for a woman is in family life. It is there that maximum exams and tests of strength await her. This is where you need to put your whole soul.

It is family life that will allow her to cultivate in herself a huge number of qualities of holy personalities. True, a reservation must be made: for this, a woman’s family life must be in goodness. In purity, in chastity, in correct communication, in raising children with a positive example and love. Then the first level of a woman’s spiritual life can be considered realized.

One example that stuck in my mind was when Srila Prabhupada, a saint of the last century, wrote to his disciple that if her children interfere with her religious rituals, she should stop performing them and relieve herself of these responsibilities. Because children should now be above all else for her. This is her main practice.

And with another mother of many children, we once started talking about the same topic, whether she had enough time for important things in the spiritual sense. And she answered me that at this moment in her life she serves small deities. And she smiled at the fact that the Lord always takes this service personally.

It is very easy to be spiritual theoretically, somewhere out there, but family is exactly the place where we learn in practice. This does not mean that you should not try to keep fasts, perform rituals and go to temple. I hope you understand that this is not what I mean? I’m only saying that fasting that turns you into an evil hag who takes out her hunger on children will not bring any benefit. And even if you stand all night at work and hiss and growl at your husband at home, such asceticism is also of no use. Or leave the temple, absolved of sins, and kick the dog and be rude to the grandmother in line. Very spiritual.

A woman’s spiritual practice is her whole life. We learn the most important thing - to love our loved ones, and through this - “love your neighbor” - we draw closer to God.

We learn to love not selfishly, but with all our hearts. Forgive, accept, fulfilling your duty.

Yes, in addition to this, we need to make God, in some sense, a member of the family. So that he would always be with us, in our home. Talk about Him with children, pray together, listen to spiritual music, read the Holy Scriptures, do good deeds. Constantly. So that He is always invisibly present nearby. This will allow us to learn to love and accumulate the energy that is needed to build close relationships.

For example, I pray when I cook food, when I put the children to bed, when I do beauty treatments, when I go somewhere or get a massage. At any time when this is possible, because now, with four kids, finding several hours a day for prayer is unrealistic. If you get up early, they will get up with you. If you go to bed late, you won’t get up in the morning. Every day I try to read at least a couple of pages of scripture—again, whenever I have the time available to me. Fortunately, I downloaded the books to my phone.

Sacred music is played very often in our home and car. Not all the time, but I am working in this direction. We consecrate together with our children whenever possible. We watch cartoons about God, read books, draw Him. Whenever possible, we invite guests with whom we can talk about God. We make pilgrimages at least once a year. On the right days we try to fast and explain this to the children. This is all important. And this is built into the life of our family as a basis. As something very important and necessary.

Spiritual practice is very important, but for a woman this concept is broader. And it remains much more difficult for me personally to fulfill my duties.

It is much easier to go to a temple and pray there for a couple of hours than to endure the same couple of hours at home, with children, especially on difficult days, so that no one gets hurt.

It is much more difficult to learn humility in your relationship with your husband, to hear his criticism, to accept it, and not to kick back and not be offended.

Let me summarize what was said:

1. Basic spiritual practice for a woman is relationships within her family. It is there that she can acquire the personal qualities she needs. If this base does not exist, then another practice will not work, there will only be an illusion.
2. And in order for this spiritual practice to take place, you need to learn to feed from the Highest Source - in any way available to you. Prayers, meditations, music. According to condition and whenever possible. Take it there and give it to loved ones.
3. God must become a member of your family, an integral part of it, not just a set of rituals, rules and restrictions. Get creative with this issue.
4. in his spiritual progress, without envy and irritation. Remember that the fruits will then go to you too? :)

Leave harsh austerities to men, they are for their benefit. There are also enough austerities in your life, and they are no less difficult, believe me. Spiritual life - especially women's - is not only about religious rituals. It is a way of life, an attitude towards oneself and others.