Creating Ceremony
I have always been fascinated by the ceremony.
On my many ashram visits, the times I looked forward to the most were morning prayers and the weekly kirtan. In the half-light we would sit in stillness in the temple room wrapped in blankets to ward off the chill whilst incense burned and the volunteers dressed the altar. We would listen to a reading from a sacred text and chant before concluding with a silent meditation.
In the evening there would again be a short period of silence then prayers, mantra and to conclude a silence before sharing sweet treats handmade with love in the ashram kitchen.
Ceremony is not tied to religion but rather whatever is sacred to you.
Whilst my experience of ceremony is mainly in the Hindu or Hare Krishna traditions I have also participated in Pagan, Goddess and Christian ceremonies and indeed ceremonies from no tradition. Ceremony is not tied to religion but rather the sacred whatever that might mean to you.
That deep affinity with ceremony continues today and I have been looking into creating my own ceremonies under the guidance of Emma Jane Cross and the wonderful book Creating Ceremony by Glennie Kindred and Lu Garner. A ceremony doesn’t have to be complicated – the simplest ones are often the most powerful.
A ceremony according to Emma Jane Cross has certain parts:
- Conscious preparation
- Setting up a sacred space
- Sensory transition
- Action
- Deep connection
- Gratitude
- Grounding
- Closing and
- Transition back to normal
I realised that a yoga practice is a ceremony
The more I looked into it the more I realised that a yoga practice is a ceremony. A time to experience the sacred. Yet this is something we may do many times a week without giving it a thought.
I change into clean yoga clothes and enter my yoga room [conscious preparation] and roll out my mat [setting up a sacred space].
I rest in stillness to ground myself for the practice to come. I chant to open the practice [sensory transition] before moving into the physical practice [action].
I stand with hands in Anjali mudra [deep connection] and chant again [gratitude]. I rest in stillness [grounding] before mindfully packing away [closing] and leaving the room [transition back to normal].
Approaching my own practice and the classes I guide in this way has been a real revelation to me and has really changed the way I view them. They have become a much deeper spiritual experience.
And the real beauty of ceremony is that anyone can do it – it requires no initiation or specific training [though some guidance might be useful] nor does it require following a particular tradition or religion.
Ceremony can be personal or to be shared with others. Whatever your situation ceremony is something to be savoured and enjoyed and for me has really deep