Beginners Guide to Spiritual Awakening Starts Here2021-01-11T18:44:23+00:00
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A complete guide to spiritual awakening for beginners including clear direction for your spiritual journey with stages, paths, and steps along your way.

A Guide to Spiritual Awakening for Beginners

  Questions and Answers.

Quick answers related to The Process of Spiritual Awakening.

Spiritual awakening is where you realize that you are more than your personal self. It gives you a direct experience of union or yoga.

The personal merges with the universal. Time merges with eternity and the finite merges with the Infinite.

The mystic poet Rumi says it this way.

The dewdrop merges with the ocean and the Ocean merges with the dewdrop—Rumi.

The Master Jesus Christ speaking as the awakened Christ says it this way.

I and the Father are One – John 10:30

This spiritual awakening experience is given through Grace. You don’t earn it. You can never earn it. You can’t earn what you already are.

Spiritual awakening makes you a mystic. A mystic, as I define it, is someone who has had at least one DIRECT encounter with the Divine.

Spiritual awakening experience makes you a KNOWER.

Know this, if you claim to be a believer is any religious teachings then you have not had a direct encounter with the Divine.

This is spiritual awakening as revelation. This is the end result (that never truly ends) of the spiritual process of bringing Heaven on Earth.

Here I share 10 Common Signs of Spiritual Awakening that were part of my experience.

the process of spiritual awakening

Journey into the Light.

Photo by Matese Fields on Unsplash

The process of spiritual awakening is a journey within time to the revelation of the timeless.

Yoga Journey for Life shares various maps of the process of spiritual awakening. This is the journey we all take. Yoga’ means ‘Union.’

This union or yoga takes place through revelation. This is not something you achieve. It is something you can companion.

These maps of the spiritual journey have themes in common. These include:-

  • The Territory.
  • The Ways.
  • The Paths.
  • The Stages.
  • The Signposts.
  • The Steps.

There is also the language of spiritual awakening.

Here at Yoga Journey for Life this language we use includes:-

I ground this journey that is the process of spiritual awakening in the many spiritual practices explored here. Key practices include:-

When I refer to Stages in the spiritual growth and development, I include:—

These stages of awakening refer to the different maps of the territory.

They all point in the same direction. So there is no right way to journey. There is only your way.

It’s your road, and yours alone.
others may walk it with you,
but no one can walk it for you.

― Rumi

On this website, that shares with you key signs of spiritual awakening we invite you to understand the real meaning and purpose of Yoga, which is the union of the personal with the Divine, Time with Eternity and the personal with the universal.

Understanding the different stages of the journey is important because this will allow you to recognize if you are pushing the river for results.

Different mystics of various times and traditions have mapped the above stages of the spiritual journey. Mystics are the true guides to the paths of spiritual awakening. Anyone else is really the blind leading the blind.

The language that I write from includes; –

The above invite a feeling connection to the heart. What I invite is not more information but an experience of transformation through the language of the heart.

For example.

In Ireland I run a workshop entitled Companioning YOUR Greatness.  I love to introduce myself with a favorite poem that shares the 3 Stages of my Life.

With That Moon Language – Hafiz.

Admit something:
Everyone you see, you say to them,
“Love me.”
Of course you do not do this out loud,
otherwise
someone would call the cops.

Still, though, think about this,
this great pull in us
to connect.

Why not become the one
who lives with a full moon in each eye
that is always saying,
with that sweet moon language,
what every other eye in this world
is dying to hear?

The 3 Stages of my life are about dependency (Love me), Think about this longing to Connect and Becoming one who speaks with a full moon in each eye.

The moon is a symbol of wholeness that lights up the darkness.

The Journey of Spiritual Awakening is not all bliss.

It is a fabulous journey of possibility but you will find challenges along the way. In this Yoga Journey for Life I will be introducing you to those pitfalls which many people fall into.

These include: –

The pitfalls along the way are wonderfully illustrated in the mythological Greek story of The Fall of Icarus. This is where the Hero (you) flies to close to the Sun (enlightenment) and falls to earth (becomes disembodied).

If I were to recommend four key practices foundational to the unfolding of the spiritual process, I would recommend.

Without trust and commitment, you will not get very far. The German psychologist Eric Fromm writing in his international best-selling book The Art of Loving includes discipline, patience and commitment as central to the art of Loving.

The entire journey of spiritual awakening is the experience of deepening surrender. This requires trust. Another word for trust is faith.

Do not confuse the faith with the word belief. It is essential that you understand the difference, otherwise you will become a signpost clinger along the way.

I have written extensively on this issue of belief and faith in The Power of Faith which you can read more about here.

I think this understanding of the difference between faith and belief is an essential part of the journey of spiritual unfolding.

The practice of faith will take you into that dimension beyond belief. However, you have to move beyond belief into the unknown in order that you might be KNOWN THROUGH.

There are signs along the spiritual journey into awakening that show you are becoming more aligned with your purpose and the purpose of the Universe.

These signs include: –

The important thing is to notice these new experiences rather than go in pursuit of them.

If you are really travelling that the poet Robert Frost terms The Road Less travelled By you will be drawn to be of greater service in the world.

Do not confuse signs for symptoms.

I share twenty-one signs that point toward progress in the spiritual awakening journey. There is a paradox to be realized on this journey.  This is that you cannot improve upon who you truly are.

Each person comes into this world with a specific destiny–he has something to fulfill, some message has to be delivered, some work has to be completed. You are not here accidentally–you are here meaningfully. There is a purpose behind you. The whole intends to do something through you. ― Osho

The steps along the journey relate to practices that are more than practicing asanas.

These practices include the essential steps that you need to take to move along the journey that is the process of spiritual awakening.

Such steps include: –

  • Meditation/Contemplation.
  • Prayer and Devotion.
  • Gratitude and Thanksgiving.
  • Service and Receiving.
  • Shadow and Yearning.

This is not an exhaustive live and there are many more. You are not required to practice all of these.

There will be practices that you will be drawn too dependent on your personality, the style and the path of awakening that you take.

I love this question, “How do I recognize spiritual guidance?” This is the kind of question that can really take you on a quest for finding real meaning and purpose for your life.

I think if you are interested in learning how to recognize spiritual guidance, you first need to be clear what it is you mean by the word “spiritual.” Such an understanding is foundational to being able to recognize spiritual guidance.

You will find different definitions of what it means to be spiritual. As a writer on the spiritual awakening process and revelation, I like to share my understanding of what it means to live spiritually.

The best definition is one that you discover for yourself and that you FEEL aligns with your heart and soul.

At close to 70 years of age, growing bolder not older, my definition of what it means to be spiritual includes:-

Being spiritual does not mean you are affiliated with a religion.

Neither does it not mean you are so affiliated. I do not belong, nor do I attend at any church other than the Church Made without Hands.

There are many sincere individuals who wish to learn how to achieve a spiritual awakening. This is the wrong question. The better question is, “How can I allow a spiritual awakening to happen?”

To better explore this question it best to look at the difference between what I call spiritual revelation and spiritual process.

I share an extensive reflection on this question at Why Asking How to Achieve a Spiritual Awakening is the Wrong Question.

In sharing with you what spiritual awakening is by way of revelation I am sharing from personal experience. When I use the phrase “personal experience” I am mindful that the experience of spiritual awakening is a paradox.

It is the experience of the personal within the impersonal or universal. A most beautiful metaphor used by the mystic Sufi poet and teacher Rumi says:-

The dewdrop is in the Ocean and the Ocean in the dewdrop.

The dewdrop is the sense of personal self and the Ocean the Universal Self. In reality they are never separate but you feel that they are which is the primary cause of personal suffering.

The Master Jesus says it this way:-

I am in the Father and the Father is in me.

Each is saying the same thing in different words. They are referring to what it is to live from an experience of awakening to the True Self.

Transform Your Life.

The Secret of Secrets is Inside YOU.

The spiritual awakening process is the journey into REAL Yoga. It is the union within yourself of the two worlds.

  • Personal with the Universal.
  • Time with Eternity.
  • Finite with the Infinite.

Claim you birthright in KNOWING the magnificence of the Light of your own Being.

Discover the Secret of Secrets inside you.

A Guide to Spiritual Awakening

In-depth features for the Journey of Spiritual Awakening and Revelation

Chakras and Emotions – Gateway to Higher Feelings

I wonder what the intention behind a search such as “chakras and emotions” is? I suspect there is the wish to explore what it means to heal emotionally. When I explore the seven chakra system I do so for the purpose of healing. I follow the view of the writer Colin Tipping – Radical Forgiveness - when he says, Quotation You can't heal what you don't feel – Colin Tipping – Radical Forgiveness. The writer spiritual teacher and mystic Carolyn Myss who has long been an authority on chakra healing says the reason people don't heal is because they block their emotional energy systems to a degree of up to 80%. Here is how I define the subject of “chakra and emotions.”

Yoga for the Heart Chakra – 12 Steps to Freedom

I wonder what people are searching for when they search for the term “Yoga for the heart chakra?” What can be understood by the intention of such a search. As a writer on the heart chakra (Awakening the Heart – 21 Ways to Follow Love’s Message) I want to share with you what I understand by this “Yoga for the heart chakra” enquiry. There are different ways to look at this enquiry.

Karma Yoga Examples – A Expansive Way of Living

Karma Yoga examples are demonstrated most clearly in the way you live your life. The person practicing authentic karma yoga is focused on a different way of living. They begin their day with a clear and heart felt intention. In this blog post I will share with you a quote from a poem that I love, and which forms the foundation for the path of Karma yoga which I step out onto each day.

What is Bhakti Yoga – Stage 1 Practices for Beginners

A question that people search for is “What is Bhakti Yoga? Do you have to wear orange or white robes? Do you have to learn Sanskrit in order to chant mantras? Do you have to belong to a formalised religion where you are expected to give up sex and transcend the material world.

Your own Self-Realization is the greatest service you can render the world.” “A single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us. To live is to be slowly born. – Anonomyous

Quote about Awakening

Spiritual process is not a divorce from life. It is an irrevocable love affair with life – Sadhguru.

Quote About Spiritual Process

The moment of surrender is not when life is over, it’s when it begins. –  Marianne Williamson

Quote about Spiritual Surrender

Drop the idea of becoming someone, because you are already a masterpiece.  You cannot be improved. You have only to come to it, to know it, to realize it. ― Osho.

Quote about KNOWING

Faith does not need to push the river because faith is able to trust that there is a river. The river is flowing. We are in it.― Richard Rohr

Quote about Faith

So, if you are too tired to speak, sit next to me, because I, too, am fluent in silence – R. Arnold.

Quote about Silence

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