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The Power of Ritual

by Bhava Ram

Since the dawning of civilization, ritual has been at the center of spiritual and cultural practices. We have created ceremonies honoring the rising of the sun, the changing of the seasons, the planting and harvesting of our crops and the arrival of the new year. These rituals lend a deeper meaning to our endeavors and remind us of our connection with something much larger than our individual selves.

The inherent power of ritual also lies in the fact that repeated activities create patterns in our lives. These patterns most often become habits deeply ingrained in our beings. If we sustain a daily ritual of cultivating inner peace it is more likely that peace will become our nature and a habituated way of seeing and dealing with the challenges of life. If we continuously look to a higher power, we are less likely to get mired in our smaller and self-centered concerns and dramas. Even the simple daily ritual of brushing our teeth gives us the gift of fewer cavities, healthier gums and fresher breath.

However, the power of ritual can cut both ways. The tormented soul who awakens and turns to drugs and alcohol as their daily ritual faces addiction, depression and ruin. Chronic negative thinking, anger, fear and indecision create their own emotional habituations and destructive forces. In essence, we become what we think and do, positively or negatively. If we have patterned ourselves through years of repeated negative rituals, changing our ways and healing ourselves can be a daunting task.

Millions of Americans attend Alcoholics Anonymous in hopes of ridding themselves of their drinking problems. It is a sophisticated, proven, spirit-based program, yet more than 90 percent of attendees wind up failing the program and drinking again. This high rate of recidivism also characterizes programs for drug abuse, tobacco addiction, obesity, gambling, perversion and most other personal problems that have become epidemic in modern society. Even if our situation is not extreme, and we simply long for personal growth, greater awareness and deeper meaning in our lives, achieving it can seem as elusive as it is for the addict seeking recovery. Just witness how often we make simple resolutions for the new year only to find ourselves failing once again after a few weeks or months.

Among the primary reasons that change is so difficult is that ritualized habit patterns, whether positive or negative, create grooves in our subconscious mind. When we resolve to change our behavior, we typically do so with our conscious mind. If the message fails to permeate down into the subconscious layer, we don't change those grooves and are set up to fail in our efforts. This causes a dissonance in our psyche that often leads us into even deeper negative behaviors.

A second powerful reason is that our conventional system of treating mental and physical disorders is primarily palliative and disempowering. We are given medications to tranquilize our depression even though it often arises from our continued indulgences. We have pills and potions to ease our pain, curb our appetite, mask our dyspepsia and counter our sexual dysfunction. Rarely do Western doctors urge significant and sustained changes in the lifestyles that have created or contributed to these maladies. The system is disempowering in that we are led to believe only the experts can treat us, through masking our symptoms, and that we are incapable of taking charge of our own lives.

Yoga teaches us that the opposite is true, that we all possess a miraculous inner power to heal and transform our lives, and it offers us a host of potent tools to assist our journey. The simple practice of a daily asana, Pranayama and meditation routine begins to lead us to physical and emotional healing. Techniques such as Pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses) and Pratipaksha Bhavana (the cultivation of opposite emotions) help deepen our healing and personal growth. Yoga Nidra, the practice of creating a Sankalpa (resolve) and implanting it consistently into our subconscious through guided meditation, goes to the core of our resistance and helps remove blockages.

Much of the New Age self-help movement arises from these ancient practices, yet it is often packaged as another quick fix that takes little or no effort. These modern gurus often preach that if you simply visualize that great new job, relationship or possession that you want so badly it will be yours in no time at all. The visualization part is largely true. We do tend to manifest what we desire, good or bad. The missing element here is Tapas, the sustained dedication, self-discipline and devotion that all of the great yogic texts insist is essential to achieving our goals.

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali hold that self-discipline and sustained intense practice are essential for transformation and self-realization. Patanjali further advises us to practice Abhasya and Vairagya, which mean perseverance in practice with non-attachment as to the outcome.

The Hatha Yoga Pradipika echoes the Sutras, telling us that Yoga is achieved by courage, daring, perseverance, knowledge, faith and aloofness. It goes on to instruct us that we must discard laziness and that practice alone guarantees success.

This is where the power of positive ritual comes in. The more we take the wisdom of Yoga and apply it to our lives in a pragmatic and consistent way, the greater our personal growth will be. Creating and sustaining new rituals is the key to vanquishing old patterns that inhibit or harm us. This is truly the work of self-transformation. We change our lives by changing our lives, by doing something we know is in our best interest over and over again until it becomes our dominant mode of behavior.
Here are four suggested ways you can begin to establish new rituals in your life for the new year and start tapping into your own inner power:

Through embracing simple rituals such as these you sow the seeds of change in your life. As you sustain these rituals over time, with dedication and faith, you begin tapping into your inherent inner power. This power is the catalyst that transforms those seeds into sprouts, sprouts into blossoms, and ultimately brings forth the fruits of healing and personal growth.

Bhava Ram is certified in Ayurveda and Yoga by the American Institute of Vedic Studies, registered at the E-RYT 500 level with the Yoga Alliance, and holds certificates in the Yoga Sutras, Yoga Therapy and Vinyasa Krama. He is co-founder of Deep Yoga with his wife, Laura Plumb. Bhava and Laura see private clients for healing, wellness and personal growth, plus lead retreats, intensives, and seminars in Ayurveda, Yoga and meditation. Deep Yoga is offering a Life Mastery Training series this May, along with a Teacher Training for certification with the Yoga Alliance. For information please see www.deepyoga.com or email Bhava at bhava@san.rr.com.

Energetic Healing

by Phyllis Light, Ph.D.

There are two fundamental dimensions available to us as humans. The third dimension is the world of physicality, while the fourth dimension is the world of energy and consciousness from which the physical world springs—the same realm of consciousness from which we experience thoughts and feelings. Our thoughts create our reality because they come from the energetic realm of consciousness and "descend into matter" to create the world around us. What you experience in your life is no accident, since the energy that attracts a particular circumstance to you originates in your consciousness.

Energetic healing needs to start at the deepest levels of consciousness to be truly effective. What past decisions did you make that are still energetically with you today? What trauma did you experience that has left an energetic scar, wreaking havoc on your health, love life, or ability to earn a decent living?

There are a number of "subtle bodies" surrounding each person that form an energy field. This field carries all the different thoughts, feelings, and experiences of everything that has happened to us, and this is why it can be so hard to get rid of negative patterns, since the source of them is actually within us. Although we may want to, we can't leave our negative patterns behind just by leaving our job, spouse, or city.

Energetic healing can help you change your circumstances in life by helping you clear the various negative components from your energy field. However, without addressing the root causes, negative patterns can return. In truth, all problems here in the physical world are spiritual problems at their base. We've come to believe in the physical world as the only "true" reality, and if we can't experience something with our five senses, it must not be "real."

Most people who scoff at anything metaphysical are in this category. They don't understand that there is a dimension of energy and consciousness that underlies the world in which we live. They've lost touch with the true nature of life, the knowledge of which empowers us to create the life we want. When you believe that the physical world is all there is, you give no credence to your intuition, your sixth sense. However, that intuition is how you access the world of energy and consciousness.

Energetic healing at its best can help you re-connect with your true spiritual nature and can help restore your faith in the unseen world of the "meta-physical," which simply means "beyond the physical." There is more to life than meets the eye—literally! A good energetic healer can help you open up and experience the "more" that life has to offer. You simply need to be open.

Since your thoughts create your reality, if you're not open and have already decided that something like this could not possibly work for you, then you'll prove yourself right. However, if at some point you find that your current world view doesn't support your full enjoyment of life, this may be your moment of opportunity—the moment your higher self has chosen to help you wake up to a reality that is more comprehensive and nurturing than your current one.

It is this process of waking up that helps you grow and develop as a spiritual being. Sincere desire is what will get you to where you want to be, and attract the people and resources that feel good to you, deep down inside, to help you along the way. Although it may be challenging to learn to see life in a new way, this is a journey well worth taking.

Phyllis Light, Ph.D. is a counselor, author, and expert in Telepathic Healing. She is the creator of Rejuvenizers—protective, healing devices designed to combat EMFs and other ills of life in a high-tech world. For more information go to www.lighthealing.com or call 512/301-2999.