This blog post by Float Ambassador Jody MacDonald will inspire you to create rituals of your own!

Ritual can be defined as a ceremony consisting of a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order. So many rituals exist in our day to day lives, many of which we wouldn’t even name it as such simply brushing it off as being the way we do things. It changes when we bring intention into the chat. This is where we have the opportunity to bring the things we do on autopilot into being a ritual. Allowing yourself to focus energy on building rituals we in turn create the perfect environment for deeper connection to ourselves. 

One of my core values is CONNECTION. This can show up in a multitude of ways and there is no playbook on how it is meant to look. Something I know for sure is that your ability to connect with others on a deep & profound level correlates directly to the connection and relationship you have created with yourself. The work of getting to know ourselves is a lifelong endeavour, one that is both painful and exhilarating all at once. Walking the path of self connection, making a priority to travel inward, is not a simple stroll but one that is constantly shifting, the terrain changing without warning and the weather is unpredictable…AND it is some of the most rewarding aspects of personal work we can take on.

Creating ritual in your life can be one of the most profound actions/changes you can embark on. What happens when you start to prioritize ritual is that you start to prioritize yourself. It can range from something as simple as taking 5 deep intentional breaths as you wake up to any complex series of events that truly support you in connecting to yourself on a deeper level. The first thing to consider when creating your ritual is to find something that really lands in your body, something that you truly enjoy and brings you a sense of calm within. 

Personally, I am a huge fan of the morning routine, something we do before all else…creating this space for yourself first thing can set you up for success throughout the rest of the day. My morning ritual is something that is non negotiable for me…and let me tell you that when I am in a situation where it isn’t possible/I can’t make space for it I really feel it. Acknowledging there will be ebbs & flows and that rituals are practices that will shaft and change as naturally as we do. I believe it is really important to note that even if you “fall off the wagon” with your ritual it doesn’t mean that you can’t just pick up where you left off, that you allow any part of your ritual to be ENOUGH and recognize that every moment you spend pouring into and investing in your connection to self is worth it. 

MY MORNING RITUAL…

I want to be fully transparent here, I have created this ritual over the course of the last 5+ years and this is a snapshot of what it is in this current moment.

• early AM wake up…cat cuddles always 
• fill up a liter of water & add a pinch of sea salt and cpl lemon slices
• light some incense & press play on some solfeggio frequencies 
• sit with the morning pages 
• roll out my mat and move my body intuitively. zero expectation another than showing up for myself

It is so important to explore and find what works for you and perhaps even more importantly weed out  the things that don’t! I am well aware of what works for me right now and I am forever ebbing & flowing with new things to see what may stick. I have discovered that the most effective way to build these rituals is to start small, choose one thing you will do daily that you know leaves you feeling refreshed or settled and then you choose your duration you are going to work with it. Make sure that this is something you can reasonably fit into your day…it is ok for it to take a little bit of maneuvering, maybe getting up 15 minutes earlier to make space but we want to make sure it is something you can make happen to ensure success. I recommend setting a fixed amount of time where you commit to doing something new dail, it could be two weeks or a month…once that time frame has gone by, take a moment and reassess, look back on what that commitment to yourself and building your ritual felt like, is it something that simply happens now and feels natural? IF the answer is yes, you’ve created a new ritual for yourself. If the answer is no then try something else! 

 Some examples of rituals 

• morning pages…this concept of free writing/brain dump of 3 full pages a day comes from the Julia Cameron and the book The Artists Way
• meditation 
• breathwork 
• lighting a candle 
• lighting incense and allowing time to watch the smoke rise 
• journaling 
• intentional movement
• GO FOR A FLOAT!