8 Key Benefits of Rituals + How to Create Your Own
As a first generation Southasian American, I had the opportunity to grow up in a household that embraced both western and eastern traditions. This means we had an abundance of rituals...and celebrations that we observed and created as our family assimilated. What I’ve come to learn is that rituals are powerful tools that help us reflect, grow and celebrate. Often steeped in religion, culture and cycles of nature, rituals inspire us to look inward to help us balance our inner and outer lives so that our soul and spirit can fully show up and glow.
"By creating and performing personally expressive rituals for our selves we move freely into our own spiritual lives, taking charge of marking and honoring the transitions, the special moments in our lives that we find significant, in the ways we deem meaningful. Rituals are tools that give us the freedom to take responsibility for the direction and purpose of our lives. Our task is to seize and shape this freedom—consciously, deliberately, and joyfully.” - Abigail Brenner, MD
Rituals I grew up with....
Whether you realize it or not, we’ve all grown up with rituals. The following is a list I grew up with, but this list is only the tip of the iceberg, there are so, so many more :).
- Birthday are celebrated with CAKE and pizza (or my favorite curry) :)
- A ghee lamp is lit before we say prayers at our home altar.
- Good grades were celebrated with special family dinners….now big wins are celebrated the same.
- Family and close friends are greeted with salutations to the divine (Jai Shri Krishna, Sita Ram, Jai Ma).
- The first day of school started with pics by the front door and my parents feeding us little kernels of jaggery (a type of sugar that Ganesh loves) for good luck on our new endeavor. Now whenever we’re about to embark on a new venture....jaggery still finds it’s way to your mouths.
- Special fasts are observed around the cycles of the moon.
- Always ending phone calls with family with salutations to the divine + I love you.
- The five days before our new years, we wash and decorate the threshold of our front door to invite the divine into our homes and hearts.
- Honoring our ancestors every fall through various ceremonies and celebrations.
Rituals I've created....
Now into my adult years, I still observe the above list (and more)...but have consciously created new rituals as needed for my self-growth as well as to support those around me. For instance, to help support my self-care journey over the years, I started doing the following:
- Rubbing my feet with peppermint foot cream before bed.
- Starting my day with a daily meditation + japa practice.
- Taking triphala every night before heading to bed.
- Doing an annual spring and/or fall cleanse.
- Starting every new year off with ample time to reflect and collage new intentions for a new beginning.
8 Key Benefits of Rituals
After spending some time thinking about the rituals I grew up and the ones I have now started, I see these being the key benefits and power that rituals provide:
- Rituals provide meaning to our lives and purpose to our individual journeys.
- Rituals provide occasions to gather and create community.
- Rituals provide ways to connect with our roots and honor our ancestors.
- Rituals provide inspiration to step out of our ordinary routines and into sacred spaces.
- Rituals provide structure and stability during both peaceful and turbulent times.
- Rituals provide opportunities for reflection.
- Rituals provide tools for us to co-create our lives with intention, love and the divine.
- Rituals provide a bridge between our inner and outer worlds, and between the ordinary and extraordinary.
How to Create Your Own Rituals
GET STARTED: To create your own rituals, think of an area you want to intentionally infuse some energy and love into....and then plan out small steps you can take to support that intention through honoring, celebrating and/or sharing it.
An Invitation to Create a Full Moon Ritual
As someone who’s always tuned into the sun, moon and stars, I’ve never actually observed a non-religious ritual around this topic. However, after reading an article by astrologer, Tanaaz Chubb, and learning that the full moon this month falls in the sign of Scorpio and is said to be a potent time for release and transformation....I was intrigued.
Especially since my focus this year has been around self-love + change, I’m feeling called to try this Full Moon Ritual out. In her write up, Ms. Chubb shares that “this full moon is going to be a tender, yet powerful one...a time for us to explore the alchemy of transformation, this is a time for us to focus not on what we are doing, but how we are doing it and to remember that we are always on the right path...This Full Moon is really going to be calling on all of us to shed and peel back the layers that block us from stepping into our authentic selves and into the fullness of our being....”.
If you’re new to full moon/ self-love/ intention setting rituals like me, but are interested, Ms. Chubb has a helpful write-up you can check out here.
What rituals do you have?
I'd love to hear what you grew up doing or what you've incorporated into your wholesome soul journey :). So, please leave a comment below!
Here’s to creating new rituals, honoring ancient rituals and stepping into the fullness of our beings!
Xo,
Kajal
