Spirituality is a personal path, but it’s one that undoubtedly offers an array of both physical and emotional benefits. Women who practice spirituality see improvements to their health and well-being. Here are some of the many perks a spiritual lifestyle offers.
Spirituality Can Improve Fitness and Self-Confidence
When you become part of a spiritual community or embark on a spiritual practice, you boost your mental outlook. That, in turn, leads to taking better care of yourself. From a physical standpoint, exercise pumps oxygen into your body while increasing blood flow. It also reduces blood pressure and elevates your mood. It’s no wonder, then, that many women find participating in a yoga session or simply walking in nature to be a spiritual experience.
Spirituality Can Help You Heal Others
Your own spirituality can have a positive impact on those you love as well. Spiritual women are often natural healers. If you have someone in your life who has experienced loss or trauma in their past, or who struggles with their mental health, your spirituality can position you to offer comfort and create a strong support system for those folks who are in need of healing.
Spirituality Can Decrease Your Disease Risk
Stress is frequently linked to elevated blood pressure. If it isn’t treated, elevated blood pressure can lead to serious life-threatening events like strokes, heart disease, and kidney disease. Because spirituality creates positive feelings, it can lower your levels of stress and bring down your blood pressure. In the long run, that decreases your risk of various diseases.
Spirituality Can Improve Your Emotional State
Spirituality tends to foster close bonds with friends and family, helping you to cope with emotional or physical pain and the general stresses daily life throws at you. If you choose to join a spiritual group or community, that strong sense of community can combat feelings of isolation. Spiritual people often enjoy a more positive outlook than those who don’t consider themselves to be spiritual.
Spirituality Can Boost Your Immune System
Your immune system is your first line of defense for fighting off both bacterial and viral issues and chronic infections. Stress can negatively impact your immune system. So, finding ways to bring down your stress level is so important. Enter: spirituality. By creating a sense of well-being, spirituality floods your brain with hormones that boost immunity.
What Does Spirituality Look Like?
Spirituality can look totally different in different women. That’s because spirituality is incredibly personal. Some ways you might explore and connect with your own spirituality include:
- Self-compassion. The practice of self-compassion involves paying attention to your feelings and embracing the good and bad sides of what it means to be human.
- Meditation. Commit to meditating for about 10 to 15 minutes every day, making sure to stay engaged with the practice.
- Mindfulness. Try mindfulness to become aware of and appreciative of your present moment (this can also help you become less judgmental of others and yourself).
- Empathy. Focus on empathy and open your heart to helping others.
- Gratitude. Practice gratitude through a gratitude journal where you record what you’re grateful for every day.
Everyone’s path to spirituality is unique. No matter how you choose to practice spirituality, though, you can look forward to benefits to your health and well-being.