Sacred Resourcing Through Embodied Rituals
Regina Eastman is an inspiration in the field of Wholeness. She is the founder of Ariel Grace Integrative Therapies and holds a Master of Arts in Applied Psychology. She is a Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapist, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, and a Body and Energy Worker.
Dearest reader, as the summer (or winter, depending on what hemisphere you are on the planet) comes into its invitation of vitality (or quietness for winter), I’ve been called to share that participation with the natural world through embodied rituals can ground us in an ever busying world, connect our inner world to lovingly influence the outer world, and carry us throughout each day with a sense of fundamental and authentic peace for ourselves which we then can, by nature, share with others.
What is ritual?
For many, and at a time long ago in my life, the meaning of “ritual” had a more rigid, oppressively religious, and dogmatic feel. Yet, upon reflection, I had ritual running throughout my life. For me and many others, Mamma Nature created and continues to influence ritual through appreciation, connection, and care of self through Her, and care of Her through care of the self.
Depending on our mindset, our daily patterns can be either habits or rituals. Habits tend to be more mechanical, surface-level, like pushing the coffee maker button or putting on your seatbelt, while ritual brings depth, heart, meaning, and fullness, lending a certain spirit to our day-to-day lives. Typical rituals in our culture include rites of passage, such as weddings and funerals, as well as prayer and meditation in our churches or spiritual communities. Ritual simultaneously keeps us embodied, grounded, and in the world, as we are open within ourselves as a part of life. Ritual is a conscious, heartfelt choice and action we make, whether each morning, afternoon, evening, or during certain times of the year, to receive and express ourselves as a part of an ongoing process while we live this beautiful, often challenging thing called life.
Ritual that is outside the norms of society
Ultimately, when we participate in a ritual, connection, or resonance of feeling, what matters is that the ritual fits us. Over the years, those whom I’ve supported, as well as myself, have come to refer to us as “seekers” of our self-realization.
Most of us have been brought up in a culture of rituals that were more or less imposed on us. This was and continues to be the norm within our culture. As we receive, adopt, and adapt within a patriarchal system of ritual, how often would I hear the expression “I’m a recovering Catholic, Christian, Jew, etc.”? These are examples of the outer world, if you will, influencing or directing one’s inner world. Their religious rituals often left us with a sense of emptiness, confusion, and resentment. These, from a subjective experience, are more of a habit, an action without the investment of one’s heart. Not that being of a religious tradition is wrong in and of itself, there was simply a lack of connection within the individual to the teachings and rituals of one’s familial religion. Many have returned to the religious traditions of their upbringing with a new appreciation due to their inner, heart-directed, and intuitive connection. When we feel this resounding connection from within us, then what we have connected to outside ourselves has vitality, expression, and life.
Letting what is not of us fall away
Returning to our nature with regard to forming rituals is, in itself, a process of discovery for many. In my work of service, I have found that we have the sacred makings of ritual built within us. For many whom I’ve had the great fortune to support, one of the major steps in the process of ritualization is bringing the head or thinking aspects of being directly into our hearts and our feeling capacities.
Intention toward deepening oneself can be actualized as a ritual, a sweet, simple, and often tricky undertaking, for, again, we are more creatures of habit than of ritual. As the saying goes, habits can be hard to break. I say let us not break them, but instead, soften them so that they may come to bend. In this case, bending the mind in honor of the heart. As thoughts slow and our intentions allow for deepening, we begin to feel. For many, as we begin to feel around and within the heart, we have no words to describe. This is often because we have lived much of our lives from the head’s perspective, leaving the heart uncharted territory. The good news is that you own this land and may come to know its terrain and build within it through ritual.
The heart is central to our inner realm of experience. Once we begin to connect to its intelligence from the heart, the journey of self-realization through ritual can grow.
How you might begin making ritual a resource
Ask yourself, what, either as a child or in your younger years, brought within you a sense of awe, joy, freedom, connection, or wonder? When was this removed, taken, given away, or replaced?
Letting yourself re-remember through your innate abilities, whether they be through feeling the memory, seeing it in your mind’s eye, remembering hearing the sound, or sensing the memory, you have begun to have the starting element to form a ritual. These expressions through feelings are heartfelt, filling us with meaningful energy. This remembering of connection is now again in your possession to create with it and foster it into manifestation. Most often, for children and young people, we are curious and therefore open creatures, allowing connections to take place. In our youth, we have a strong tendency toward creativity and playfulness, knowing that we are part of this wondrous world through our connection with others and with nature. As adults, it is no one’s responsibility but ours to return to the light and joy of the child. Whether we remember moments of play, connection, awe, or, if we came from a place where the want to play and connect were absent, it is never too late to begin. Our hearts and minds are powerful allies. We need only to begin sincerely, and therefore we have begun.
Some examples of beginning ritual
I have found over the decades that although we innately have available within us the means to put ritual as a sacred and meaningful practice into our lives, sometimes, with starting, we need a bit of support by pointing out some possibilities. I preface these offerings with a suggestion. Leave the outer world’s influence on and through you, with judgment and scoffing, by the wayside. Setting aside our self-criticism and judgment in creating sacred ritual, we can come to see that this may also need some practice. Here are a few ideas to “start” the path of ritual making:
Upon awakening in the morning, or evening if that is your cycle to your day’s start, bring awareness that you are a conscious being. In the moment, hear yourself speak in acknowledgment, “Good morning, Life, Spirit, Name of Self, etc.” Slowly move your fingers, toes, neck, shoulders, and legs, and relish the capacity to move, feel movement, and the experience of being alive. Be curious, "How does your body want to wake as a ritual- serpentine movements, stretching, shaking?"
Bring in a positive emotion such as gratitude while still fresh from awakening. Give yourself some space and time to simply be still in body and feel the expression and qualities of how gratitude is within your body. Give thanks for the ability to feel these qualities from within. After connecting with the felt sense of gratitude, give it a fuller life by gifting this feeling to a loved one. Think of them as you feel the emotion, then intend to send it off by acknowledging its movement from you, expanding onward to your loved one.
If you live in an area with nature around you, or if you have just one plant in your home, standing in its presence, appreciating forms of nature as kindreds to ourselves, conscious, life-providing, as well as beautiful beings, begins to produce the ritual of awareness, connection, and the opportunity of creating form as a part of sacred ritual.
First thing upon waking and greeting the day, and while still feeling the veil of the sleep/dreaming realm, have a journal and pen easily accessible from the place of sleep and give a few minutes to write without topic or prompts. This can be referred to as a form of “stream of consciousness”2 writing. This type of ritual can connect you with your self-experience in the present moment by moving out the surface thinking within your mind and, over the course of writing, accessing the truth and depth of yourself, which otherwise would be overridden by the habits, world pace, and the voluminous noise of each day, all recycling within the mind.
Sharing my daily sacred ritual
In sharing my ritual, please feel free to use any of my ways to spark your own. My ritual has grown over the years as I have had the good fortune to experience many forms of spiritual traditions and their practices. From my experiences, I created a way that is from me, to me, and to life. My ritual began with awareness, feeling, and appreciating myself as a sensitive being. I began with grounding, walking and standing mindfully while barefoot on the grass and giving thanks to feel the connection of my energy with that of the Earth, Mother.
A wonderful meditation teacher said to me long ago that a primary goal of the practice of meditation was for each of us to become our very own best meditation teacher. I have extended this into the formation of ritual as my inner self expressing and thereby connecting to the outer self/world. I extend the same prayer and invitation to you. Become the maker of your ritual, thus making it a sacred practice.
Each day I awaken, I meet the morning, aware that I continue to exist in this conscious, human form. I give a “Good Morning, Spirit” and enjoy the experience of coming from the restorative dreamland to the embodied realm. I prepare a ritual through cacao making while singing my thanks, Mamacita Cacao coming from the jungle, into my heart as a sacred medicina. The Cacao follows me into my 7-directions prayer. Standing barefoot, I give acknowledgment and thanks to the abundance of plant flora, the heavens above, and the winged and four-legged creatures with my creation of dance, song, drumming, and fluting. Then, I sit quietly, inwardly calling upon and giving thanks to poignant experiences that have and continue to define my life as sacred. I continue to allow everything else to “fall away” so that I find myself.
Giving sacred ritual life gives, in return, a fuller life
Starting seems to be the hardest part in any process for most of us. Being simplistic, which I have found is steeped in sacredness. Knowing that life itself is conscious, for example, this time of year, I have finally succeeded in growing morning glories. Throughout their growing complexities, I have approached them, touched their greenery, acknowledged and given thanks, often reminding them how beautiful they are. That simple act brings me into my heart as well as being a part of this lovely place on the planet in which I get to live. The point is to connect, however briefly and simplistically, especially at the start of ritual building. By connecting your inner realm with your outer realm, you begin to grow a deep sense of self, life, and a conscious, unwavering center that understands self, shares these benefits with others, and lives with more openness, flow, and ease.
I have included one of my favorite getting-started books that you may purchase or check out at your local library, Ritual as a Resource by Michael Ricucci.
Here are links to a research article and a magazine article on the impact and importance of ritual:
You may also find more information about me and my offerings here. With deep abiding gratitude, Regina.
Read more from Regina Eastman
Regina Eastman, Integrative Therapist & Doctorate of Ministry (c)
Regina Eastman offers the weaving and evolution of her life experiences and academic achievements as a work of sacred service. From early childhood, her connection with nature from both the seen and unseen perspectives, in relationship with her curiosity and sensitivities, has brought her to the stages of wisdom. Presently, with her candidacy for a Doctorate of Ministry in Engaged Wisdom, this wisdom is ripe to be shared. She is the founder of Ariel Grace Integrative Therapies, where she invites and supports you in embodying yourself as conscious wisdom through the physical, emotional, heart, energetic, spiritual, intuitive, and conscious and unconscious dimensions of Self.
