Summer is the ideal time to get outside and re-engage with your spiritual side. The weather invites you to linger, meditating on the miracle of life all around you. It’s the perfect time to adopt a new practice.
Embrace practices that you can do anytime, anywhere, regardless of what you have in your wallet. Here are nine recommended ways to seize the season and practice summer spirituality.
Take a Moment First
Before you do anything, pause for a mindful moment. Engaging your spiritual side is a celebration, not another chore to add to your overflowing to-do list. Ask yourself what you truly enjoy. For some, it might mean engaging your physical self to touch your spirit. For others, quiet, peaceful time to simply breathe soothes the soul and brings unity with the Divine.
Consider practices that make you feel free. While you should set aside time to nurture your spiritual side, there’s no need for an “if it’s Tuesday, it must be yoga day” agenda. Part of nurturing your soul is to validate it, listen to its needs, and honor them. Your union with Divinity may look like sitting on the beach, tracing patterns in the stand, or punctuating it with hundreds of footprints as you break into expressive dance — whatever liberates you at that given moment in your journey through time.
1. Practice Earthing or Grounding
What is earthing? It’s a deceptively simple practice that may have considerable health benefits. It entails putting your bare feet — or any naked part of your body — against the ground.
Doing so puts you in direct contact with the Earth’s electromagnetic charge, allowing you to exchange electrons and promote healing. Summer is the perfect season for kicking off your shoes and digging your toes into the dirt.
Earthing is connection. It reminds you everyone originates from the same source. In the Christian tradition, the Ash Wednesday scripture of arising from and returning to dust comes to mind. In Buddhism, the concept of interdependence invites reflection.
How did you — or any of this — get here? Science can explain the mechanisms of how things work but not why they are. What gave birth to existence? What is existence? Eternity? Ponder these questions as you sink your feet in the sand.
The Science of Earthing
Several investigations demonstrate this practice may have various health benefits:
- One study demonstrated a decrease in blood pressure among hypertensive patients who practiced earthing.
- Another showed that patients who practiced earthing for one hour improved blood flow and lowered inflammation.
- Additional research showed earthing lowered blood viscosity.
Other studies show earthing has a beneficial effect on mood. However, going outside also improves your mindset, so researchers need further investigations to discover how much of the antidepressant and anti-anxiety effects stem from contact with the Earth’s ions.
2. Take Your Yoga Practice Outside
One easy way to practice earthing is a summer spiritual practice in itself. The word “yoga” means “union” and represents that in countless different ways. It can refer to the marriage of your breath and body as you flow through various poses, the linking of physical movement with mindfulness, a deeper understanding of how different parts of your body work together, even the indivisibility of all things, bound together in the mysterious haze of existence.
There’s no need to carry a mat wherever you go — although keeping one in your car is a wise idea for engaging in spontaneous practice. If you can find a soft spot on the grass or perhaps a smooth rock in desert regions, you can flow through various asanas on the bare ground.
If you aren’t comfortable enough in the poses to practice independently, seek an outdoor class. Many guides switched to this format during the pandemic and continue offering such options to members who prefer the fresh air. You can also download video content or stream it from YouTube anywhere you have a WiFi connection, which is all but the most remote places these days.
3. Garden
Gardening may be the ultimate summer spiritual practice. It casts you in the role of assistant creator as you provide the fertile environment that nurtures your baby plants to maturity and puts you in sync with the natural cycle of life.
This hobby also develops your sense of agency — or your belief that your actions can make a positive difference. Learning how to feed your family with homegrown goodness takes time, and your initial attempts may leave you frustrated. However, each mistake gives you a chance to learn what didn’t work and what to do differently. Your reward for your persistence is fresh, organic goodness chock-full of nutrients that didn’t deplete over their long trip to the grocers.
Track your progress using a journal where you keep photos and notes. Your work can become an almanac for the next people who work your land, informing them of what grows well in the region. Even if not, pouring over the evidence of your progress increases your confidence and sense that you, too, have a role to play in the ongoing theater of life.
4. Dine Alfresco
What better way to enjoy the fruits of your gardening labor than to dine alfresco, perhaps setting up a table adjacent to your garden? Better yet, invite a crowd. Houses of worship fill for a reason — people enjoy engaging in spirituality together, and not long ago, folks held many communal meals outdoors because they lacked sufficient indoor space for every guest.
When dining alfresco, get mindful, beginning with preparing your meal. Notice how the colors and flavors change as you add various ingredients. Dine slowly, placing your fork down between bites to engage in conversation. Savor the way the fresh fruits and veggies of the season dance on your tongue and remember to give thanks — even silently — for your repast.
Better yet, go around the table and share gratitude. Why wait for Thanksgiving to celebrate the good?
5. Take a Mindfulness Walk
Mindfulness walking is a part of many spiritual traditions. Some extend theirs into a pilgrimage, although you don’t need to spend money or travel hundreds of miles. A mindfulness walk can be as simple as a stroll down the street while you tune into each sense. What do you see, feel, hear, taste and smell?
A labyrinth is an ideal tool for a mindfulness walk. You can find these at many churches and abbeys, with open hours for the public — you need not be a member of the congregation. As you make your way from the outside to the center, focus on a prayer or mantra, pausing when you reach the center for deeper insight and giving thanks for the wisdom received.
You can also use mindful walking to build a sense of community in your neighborhood. Lace-up your shoes and go around the block, pausing to greet others. If they have a minute to chat, do so — and genuinely listen to what’s happening in their lives. As a bonus, you might get to pet a few cute puppies if those you meet are dog walkers.
6. Dance Like Nobody’s Watching
Expressive dance requires no formal lessons or special shoes. You can do it barefoot on the beach as you whirl like a dervish, spreading your arms wide to embrace the morning sun.
Music plays a role in countless spiritual traditions, and you can groove to whatever uplifts your spirit. For instance, some may clap, sway and sing along to their favorite gospel tunes, while others prefer Native rhythms, perhaps joining a drum circle.
Whatever your musical preference — even if it’s the songs in your head — let your body free, moving and swaying as if no one is watching. Heck, invite them to join you, spreading spiritual love and joy.
7. Take a Volunteer Vacation
Summer is traditionally holiday time, and you can make yours into a spiritual practice by taking a volunteer vacation. If you belong to a particular faith, check with your religious leaders — many such organizations have mission trips.
Those who ascribe to no particular faith can still find ample opportunities. Those with the means to travel might learn to surf in Costa Rica while saving baby sea turtles. Others enjoying the trusty budget “staycation” might socialize shelter dogs to prepare them for adoption or participate in local cleanups or tree-planting initiatives.
8. Breathe With the Waves
Maybe your idea of time off is less labor and more relaxation. Kicking back at the beach can be a highly spiritual activity. Being near blue spaces imparts healing like green areas, and you can engage in this simple mindfulness meditation as you gaze at the incoming and outgoing tides:
- Get comfortable, taking your preferred sitting position for meditation or even lying in the sand.
- Observe the waves as they roll to shore. Hear and feel the peak, crescendo and denouement.
- Draw your awareness to your breath next. Simply observe it at first.
- Synchronize your breathing with the waves, inhaling as they come to shore and exhaling as the waters retreat. It feels as if you are one with the Earth, breathing together.
9. Sleep Under the Stars
Camping is an adored summer activity. It’s affordable and accessible, with some folks going into the wild with little more than a $9 Bivvy bag. However, you head out — whether on a solo AT trek or a glamping expedition in a well-appointed trailer — spend at least part of the evening outdoors. The further away you can get from light pollution, the better you can see the stars.
What is out there in this vast universe? What do you think life on other planets is like if it exists? What design did the Creator have for all of this? Is everything a part of some masterful work of art in progress?
The goal isn’t necessarily to answer such questions but to ponder them. Doing so puts you in touch with your deeper, spiritual side.
Some people enjoy testing their limits as a spiritual exercise. You might decide to see how far you can hike in one day, whether you can brave a night alone in the forest or how long you can survive on minimal supplies.
Use good judgment and remember that rescuers must put themselves in danger to save you. Challenge yourself, but learn when it’s time to say “when.” Acceptance and humility are also parts of spirituality.
Give These Spiritual Summer Practices a Try
Summer is perfect for getting outside to seek inner peace and reconnect with Mother Earth and your spirituality. Regardless of your faith — or lack of one — you can embrace the season to connect with who you are at an existential level.
Draw inspiration from the ideas above to create a personalized summer spirituality routine. Be fluid with it, listening to your intuition and engaging in practices that heal, calm, and rejuvenate your soul.
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Guest contribution by Author:
Cora Gold | Editor-in-Chief at Revivalist Magazine
Cora Gold is a wellness writer who aims to live a happy, healthy and mindful life. She is the Editor-in-Chief of women’s lifestyle magazine, Revivalist. Connect with Cora on Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest.
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