From Mundane to Sacred – How to Elevate Your Daily Habits
A few years ago I met with an a lovely woman, a Vedic astrologer with an Ayurvedic practice in Toronto, Canada. My consultation with her was very helpful and inspiring, she had some great insights into my personality. During our session, she “gifted” me with a very special and beautiful ritual that I was to perform every Friday for five weeks.
I affectionately began to call it my “Five Friday Ritual.” Here were the instructions she gave me:
- Go to a nearby river and sit on the river bank, offering various fruits, flowers, coins and honey to the Deva or Goddess of the river in exchange for guidance, wisdom and prosperity.
- Wear something nice, something more elegant than my everyday attire. I was told to imagine that I was truly meeting with a Goddess and to wear something appropriate for such a sacred encounter.
- She instructed me to be very present and to honor my highest vision of myself. I was to pray and give thanks for each item before offering it to the River. And then to pause between offerings, allowing for space.
- Once the ritual was complete I was to sit and pay close attention watching for signs from nature that might show up as a message, a symbol, or “good omen” along the river bank.
Thank God It’s Friday!
I followed all of her instructions very carefully and carried out the steps each Friday for five consecutive weeks. I began to deeply look forward to Friday evenings when I would finish work, rush home to gather the supplies that I had lovingly chosen earlier in the week from the grocery store, and head to the river. The first week I wore some pretty earrings, a silk scarf and some lipstick with a flowing skirt. For the offerings, I had chosen a small bunch of grapes of which I offered five grapes one at a time to the river, along with 5 shiny bright coins, a small jar of honey and 5 daisy flowers that I had picked. I then lit an incense to let burn by the side of the river, watching the tendrils of incense smoke flowing with the air currents along the river’s edge. The second week I stepped it up a bit and wore some gold bangles, one of my favorite necklaces and bought a bag of apples and some more daisies. By week three I couldn’t wait to get to the river bank after work, and had been daydreaming all day about what I was going to wear, and how lovely it was going to feel to sit by the river.
TGIF For My River Dates
Each week I felt more excited about my ritual and brought higher quality offerings. By the end of the five weeks, I was wearing a beautiful kimono woven with golden threads and tossing gold pears, shiny dollar coins, organic honey, and store bought gerbera daisies to the river. I was sparing no expense! I had begun to love my weekly ritual so much that I was sad my five weeks had come to an end. I noticed that the experience of it all left me feeling empowered and beautiful. I felt as though I was a sacred Deva or Goddess myself. And the prayer and meditation had their effects on me too. I was more grounded and peaceful. I felt more creative and happy. And although I did actually get some powerful messages at that river’s edge, I realized that those messages weren’t even the best part of it all. What really became sacred for me was the ritual itself. It was the extra care I took to groom and prepare my appearance, and the thoughtful manner in which I selected the special items each week for my offerings, the time I gifted myself each week to go and do something special just for me! These were the gifts, this was the magical experience that I took away from it all…that I was worthy of such care, that I deserved the best, and that my time was sacred.
Through Ritual the Mundane Becomes Sacred
What if we began to see our daily Habits more like a sacred ritual? How would making habits sacred change the way we began, moved through and ended each day? That experience of following the “Five Friday Ritual” created in me a deep connection, and I often find myself craving to repeat it, and perhaps one day I will. What I have come to realize lately is that the Daily Habits we keep can also become like sacred rituals. As I shift deeper into the Body Thrive Habits, repeating them over and over in the past year, I really allowed them to sink in. I realized that I can bring that same level of magic and sacred nurturing into each day. Now as I drink my warm water in the morning I can view it as offering honey to my inner goddess. My daily oil massage becomes a way to honor the divine through my own hands. My meditation can be an offering prayer and gratitude to the river. My breath body practices can be like a dance to connect inward, and each choice to nurture becomes a sacred ritual in honor of my purpose, my Dharma, each step a moment to pause and choose my own divinity.
Self Massage For Your Inner Goddess
Here’s my tip on how to bring the sacred into your own daily habits, through the practice of Self Massage. Before beginning your daily self massage routine, pause, taking a few conscious breaths and set intentions for your Abhyanga practice. Close your eyes and allow your imagination to play with what you want. Ask yourself how would your skin and body be treated if you were a goddess? And follow your thoughts into how that might look or feel. Perhaps your skin would be lovingly massaged with warm deliciously scented oils, maybe you would be in a luxurious room with decadent lush towels and beautiful flowers. Perhaps there would be soft angelic music drifting through the room and a feeling of deep belonging and worthiness. A sense of sweetness surrounding you. Allow the images and feelings that come to you to vibrate deeply within you and then loving begin to touch and rub and massage your own being as though you are also that incredible Goddess too.
Use These Tips for All of the Daily Habits
Take my approach into all of the Daily Habits and make them sacred. Use your imagination and have fun with it. Connecting to something bigger can truly enhance your experience of the habits and strongly bring in the deep care and nurturing that you as a human Deva or Goddess deserve naturally.
