What A Spiritual Connection Feels Like

By Judith Orloff in Positive Energy : 10 Extraordinary Prescriptions for Transforming Fatigue, Stress and Fear into Vibrance, Strength, and Love (Hardcover)

What a Spiritual Connection Feels Like
Don’t convince yourself of anything. Go for where the energy is. How? You’ll sense this connection in your body, whether it’s slight or an epiphany. Expect to feel warm, comforted, uplifted. Intuitively, it feels like a “coming to,” a clearing. While meditating, I sometimes get shivers, goosebumps, or be moved to tears. Two specific subtle energy centers (chakras) drive this experience. The crown or “halo,” at the top of your head, and the heart in the mid-chest. You might feel a growing heat in these areas, an opening, or sense a cap lifted from the crown. As you experiment with different practices notice: Is something in you stirred? Do you feel more centered? Compassionate? It may be an instantly positive reaction—as Tennessee Williams writes, “Sometimes there is God so quickly.” Whereas other practices may just feel wrong. With some though, you may intuit a vague affinity, so stick with it a few weeks; see if the energy grows. There are also cycles of connection, times when we feel spiritual energy more or less. This is natural. Don’t expect the peak moments to be sustained. Even if you never have one, don’t worry. Bottom line, with a successful practice you’ll feel more energy and love.

What a Spiritual Connection Doesn’t Feel Like
There isn’t a mystery to this. Lack of spiritual connection is evidenced either by no energetic response (what I call spiritual flat-lining) or an off-putting one. Your mind—or your mother!—may be trying to convince you of the merits of some path, but nada is happening. A positive energetic bond never needs to be coerced, nor does it make you feel worse about yourself. Guilt, judgment, and condemnation are all man-made—not a byproduct of a compassionate intelligence.