Practices

On this website, you'll find various kinds of practices to explore and experiment with using that are intended to enrich your experience of the Spirits of the Urban Sacred.

Through guided meditations, rituals, and other ways to develop an ongoing, living sense that, in every moment, in every interaction with everything you encounter, you are in relationship with the Sacred in form. Remember, the Sacred is One and what we think of as our world of form represents the Sacred dressed up in an infinite array of costumes.

Everything and anything you can imagine in your physical world is an expression of the Sacred in form. Any thought, feeling, spiritual state or awareness of any kind is also the Sacred in form, within the vast array--probably infinite--of frequencies and possibilities that exist.

One of the most basic practices in living with Spirits of the urban sacred is to support an awareness that everything you encounter in the course of a regular day is an embodiment of the same sacred source as you. Non-indigenous humans have had a tendency to experience reality as a pyramid, with human beings at the top of the pile, in terms of thinking of ourselves as more evolved and, perhaps, more important than other species. This is quite different from the indigenous view, where all life is seen as part of one, indivisible circle, with no life form more important than any other.

The practices you will find on this website seek to support a perspective that there is nothing that is outside the sacred expression of Spirit in form and that no life, whether in the visible or invisible realms, is more important than any other. For those of us raised with a Western point of view, this can be a challenging shift, and it is my hope that the practices offered here will help create and support a perspective of oneness, a lived experience of our place within the whole that is Spirit in form.
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Dec 02 2022

FINDING BEAUTY

For some of us, the change of seasons from summer to fall means watching the beauty of green leaves on the trees disappear as the leaves change color and eventually fall to the ground. Even with the captivating beauty of Fall colors, there can be a sense of losing something precious as the green disappears. Some of us have found that the shift from lush leaves of summer to bare branches and trunks of trees offers an often unexpected opportunity to see the unique shapes of trees. We discover that there are no two trees exactly alike and that under all those leaves branches and trunks were “dancing”, creating previously hidden and intricate patterns.

This practice invites us to discover the beauty in what is around us, even when we may feel that the beauty we love is being lost. For this practice, offer yourself an opportunity to seek out what fills you up in a way that nourishes your eyes, your heart, your soul. This might be a visual discovery, maybe a building you had never noticed before that you somehow see in a new way, perhaps being drawn to the artistry of the architect. Maybe it is the sound of something that you haven’t paid attention to until now. Many people have felt the experience of discovering the silence that comes after a snowfall–the “sound” of silence.

Whatever it is, orient your awareness to discovering beauty in some of the everyday things you encounter all the time. Look for something new, something previously unrecognized. Discover or enhance your experience of the fact that our intention to find beauty orients our perceptions and awareness to do just that.

Here’s an audio version of the written information below, if you prefer to listen to it.

Dec 09 2017

OFFERING BLESSINGS

Along with gratitude practice, one of the most powerful practices we can engage in an ongoing, daily way, is to offer blessings to all we encounter. This includes blessing the spaces we enter or inhabit, the people, animals, other-than-human earth-kin we encounter along the way, the gadgets we use, the furniture that supports us, the cars we drive—the list is endless, as well as the subtle beings who collaborate and participate with us all the time.

Here’s an audio version of the written information below, if you prefer to listen to it.
As you listen, please press pause when you need additional time to take in the practice.
And, please remember never to listen to these recordings when driving or using machinery.

Dec 09 2017

HONORING SPACES YOU ENTER

One of the important practices of Spirits of the Urban Sacred is to honor the life that enfolds and embodies all the spaces we enter on a daily basis. For example, each building has its own Spirit, its own qualities and tone. In addition, each room has its own ensouling or embodying Spirit, its own qualities and tone. Add to that the fact that we touch each space with our own qualities and tone whenever we spend time there, so we are in constant interaction with the Spirit of wherever we may find ourselves. View More

Aug 17 2014

HONORING YOUR GADGETS

One of the things that we all share is that we engage gadgets and objects all day long, everyday. Whether we begin by touching sheets on a bed or clothing of some kind, or some other object in our immediate world and experience, we constantly encounter a wide variety of embodiments of the Sacred as move into and through our daily lives.

Aug 17 2014

EXPERIENCING EVERYTHING AS SACRED

This practice is simple, straightforward, and to the point. Its goal is to offer you support in developing the habit of remembering that everything you encounter, including the air you breathe, is the Sacred in form, is Spirit dressing up as all that is.