Beginning a Spiritual Practice
Part 1 - The Importance of Beginning
By Julie Redstone

Often, the most difficult hurdle to overcome in a spiritual practice is the hurdle of beginning. For even though one has the best intentions to improve the quality of life and to deepen one's relationship with Spirit, it is in starting that a space must be made among many other competing priorities so that what did not exist before can be given room to grow and flourish.

The challenge of beginning lies in this: It must seem centrally important to the self to move in the direction of spiritual deepening and greater awareness in order to make the sacrifices needed to do so. While spirituality remains an area of interest or of curiosity, this degree of inner necessity may not be present. Reading about spiritual subjects or attending lectures or workshops may be sufficient. But when the longing grows to experience something more of a different way of living, to transform life, or to experience God and one's higher Self directly, then more than reading or learning on a mental level is needed. Then, actual 'on-the-job' training is called for.

This is what a spiritual practice does. It offers an invisible step-by-step program toward heightened awareness, greater peace, and a spiritually-based outlook on life. To integrate this awareness into everyday life, one must have daily contact with the source of this new experience. This contact occurs not through the mind, but through the body and its spiritual senses, and through the heart and its deeper intuition. One cannot 'think' one's way into a new life. One must have experiences in order to do this.

The sacrifice needed in order to begin a spiritual practice may be that of letting go of another activity or another use to which time has been put. Or, it may be that one sacrifices the comfort of ordinary conversation and time spent with others in order to pursue something more solitary whose rewards are yet to be seen. The willingness to engage in something whose outcome is unknown can be exciting, but it can also demand courage and commitment from the self and a willingness to say "no" to other demands that are also placed upon one's time.

Having determined to begin such a practice, the first step required is to:

Be simple. Do what you can do, and do not strive to do what seems impossible to do or very difficult to do. Later on more difficulty can be added.

For example, if it is not possible to set aside twenty minutes a day to sit in a meditative way, then set aside ten. Begin where you can begin, and determine to make your time a regular daily practice, for in this regularity lies the means for growth and improvement.

Secondly: Be creative. What is most important in establishing contact with the indwelling Spirit and with the spiritual around oneself is to be in a place that feels sacred - a place that communicates a sense of the higher realms and of the Invisible, not a place that is ordinary or filled with the vibrations of others.

Allow your creativity to find a way to define or locate a sacred space in which you can create an altar that will represent your commitment to your spiritual practice. This altar can be very simple. It can be constructed out of a wooden shelf, a small table, or anything that will hold a single candle that can be lit during one's practice. That is all. For the altar to resonate with a sacred vibration, however, it must not be used for anything else – neither to put other things on, nor as part of a different purpose, other than its sacred one.

Third: Be committed. Be willing to sit in front of your altar and breathe quietly with your hand over your heart center in the center of your chest, allowing your mind to let go of thoughts as best as it can. In beginning, there is no more needed than this: to sit, to breathe, to bring energy to your heart center, to try to empty your mind.
Regular practice of this very simple kind, whether for ten or twenty minutes a day, will begin to make an inroad into your body's knowledge of what is actually taking place. It will begin to open the lines of communication between your everyday physical self and your soul-self that exists as another layer of your being.

Seeking to join these two parts so that they become one is the purpose of a spiritual practice – a holy endeavor whose goal is that life be lived more fully and with greater sacredness within the framework of everyday reality, and that the perception of oneself shift from that of personal and biological history to the deeper knowing of oneself as a child of God.

Part 2 – Creating an Altar
An altar does not belong to any one religion or practice.  An altar is a place to which one comes in order to honor the sacred, by whatever name the sacred is perceived, and to deepen one's experience of the latter. 

The purpose of an altar is to act as a window to the Divine – to open the channels of communication to the world of Spirit by virtue of the purity of its intention and the use to which it is put. 

Altars can include objects that are perceived to be holy or sacred,  however, all that is really needed is a space containing a shelf, table, or other surface that is clear of everything else, and a candle which can be lit during the time one sits before it.  The candle may be thought of as a symbol of the light of God which is always present that one seeks to invoke through prayer, meditation, or attunement to the higher realms.  Yet, the candle is more than this.  It is also a direct descendant of the spiritual light that one seeks, for one manifestation is not separate from another.  The flame of the physical candle partakes of the flame of the Eternal.

Since the purpose and use of an altar is holy, its purpose is diminished if the space in which it resides is used for other activities as well, or if things that do not carry a sacred vibration are placed on it or near it.  In relation to spiritual attunement, the energy within and around things is singularly important.  This is because the experiences that come from the realm of Spirit are often subtle and can be covered over or missed entirely if there are other distracting energies present, or if the altar is not kept in a pure state. Often, some thought needs to be given to this requirement, since in many homes space is limited, and it may not be possible, at first, to find a unique corner in which to create a sanctified space.  In such instances, it may be possible to create a covered altar – one that is screened from view during the ordinary activities of the day, but that is taken out or opened up when one wants to sit in front of it.  The privacy and deliberateness of such a gesture can accompany the prayer of a sincere heart which seeks an experience of the sacred, and one's relationship with such an altar can be preserved by this intention.

One's heartfelt relationship with an altar is the single most powerful feature that gives to it its ability to act as a conduit for energies of light and holiness, and that makes of it the center of a sacred space.  This relationship is built out of several things:

• the regularity of a sitting practice which displays one's commitment to reach out to the Divine,
• the heart's emotional involvement with what is taking place,
• the sense of importance given to the altar-time and the willingness to let go of both past and future thoughts and activities. 

Since the feelings and longings of the heart carry a vibration of their own, these feelings, when activated by prayer or within a meditative silence, give to the altar an aura which remains during the time in between sittings as well.  This can be of great benefit to the rest of one's living space which then moves into a higher vibration.

In relation to spiritual life, the presence of a physical altar in the home is not a necessity but a very helpful support for maintaining a sacred consciousness and for being able to connect with Spirit throughout the day. Such support enables an easier transition into the realm of the sacred by creating a bridge to the higher realms which can operate in two directions: In one direction one crosses over it into the realm of the holy.  In the other direction, energy from the higher planes enters the physical realm to infuse all of life with its blessing.

As a window to the Divine, a sacred altar carries an energy of invitation that remains as a light and beacon that can be returned to over and over again.  With each return, the light becomes stronger, and the path of return is made easier.

Julie Redstone is a teacher, writer, and founder of Light Omega, a center for spiritual teaching and healing in Western Massachusetts. The purpose of Light Omega is to create an understanding of the sacred transition into light that the earth is presently going through and the changes this will bring to individual and planetary consciousness.  For more information visit Light Omega at www.lightomega.org.

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