Empowerment rituals
Change your life for the better!
It is no secret that some of the world’s most successful people use rituals on a daily basis to ensure they achieve success, explains Catherine Kladakis.
According to mindset specialist Kylie Ryan, rituals are an effective technique to break out of negative patterns and unhappiness while creating a new change or a positive habit through learning by repetition.
You don’t have to be a millionaire or elite athlete to take advantage of this priceless social technology.
“Rituals are fabulous antidotes to those common crazies we all have in our daily lives – from self-sabotage, to not quite knowing what you want to do in your relationship or business,” says ritual designer, Emily Tepper. They can also be used to accelerate weight loss, improve finances, beat depression, and more.
How do rituals work?
Rituals are more than just mere repetitive actions – they involve setting intentions and manifesting them through the mind, and to a greater extent, the body.
“It’s about understanding your body as your creative instrument or pen, and using it to write the life you would most like to have,” says Tepper.
But it is not enough to repeat new habits, particularly if you unconsciously have doubts or limiting beliefs. This is because 95 per cent of your mental programming occurs in the subconscious – according to hypnotherapist, Jeremy Britton.
“Rituals align your subconscious thoughts with your conscious actions,” explains Tepper.
“In the personalised rituals I create for my clients, your fears and insecurities are not only invited to the conversation, they are an honourable part of the ceremony. When we bring the subconscious into the light and honour it with love, it becomes the sticky glue needed to create and have what you want.”
Rituals also help keep you on track with long-term goals – whether that be weight loss, business related or anything else you are working towards in your life.
“In order to reach these goals, we must be willing to endure the short-term external pain of action steps, which are challenging and difficult,” explains Ryan.
“Ritualising the small steps involved brings a sense of comfort to otherwise challenging steps and makes it easier for the process to become part of daily habits. When you are focusing on creating the ritual, you will more easily manifest it into your life and more easily avoid external quick-fix pleasures that you may have turned to in the past, which sabotage your efforts.”
Rituals for weight loss
The Wonder Woman Pose: “I teach my clients to repeat power mantras in the shower while standing strong in the ‘Wonder Woman’ pose,” says Ryan. Research shows that just two minutes in this pose puts you in a state of calm and power while lowering cortisol – which is associated with weight gain.
How to do it: Put your hands on hips, legs apart, head up.
Also, slow breaths between eating will not only help you enjoy your food more, but it will help you to feel fuller faster by giving your brain time to register when you have eaten. Put your knife and fork down and take three deep breaths anytime you are eating super fast, advises Ryan.
Think like a millionaire
Hypnotherapist and business coach Jeremy Britton spent years studying the mindset of the successful – from Donald Trump to Oprah Winfrey. He has since devised a ritual he has called, ‘Flick Your Rich Switch’.
“It's about flicking your mindset from poor to rich,” he says. “Successful entrepreneurs do think very differently from the average person – who is likely to be living from pay cheque to pay cheque.” Some rituals you can use at home to get you in the ‘success mindset’ include:
The modelling ritual
Mirror people who you aspire to be like. For example, if you wish to be happy, spend time with optimistic people; or if you wish to improve your fitness, find a fitness buddy who exercises everyday.
Also, make it a ritual to focus your attention on what you want – as what you focus on grows. For example, if you want great finances, incorporate an education-based ritual each day. Inspiring biographies such as Richard Branson’s book, Losing My Virginity: How I Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way, is a good start.
Rituals for mental wellbeing/depression
Meditation is a useful ritual. Not only because it stills the mind, but because research suggests it can actually physically change the structure of the brain associated with learning, memory, self-awareness and compassion. Britton wakes up every morning at sunrise to perform a Vipassana meditation on the beach – a ritual that helped him beat a bout of serious depression. He also recommends The Five Tibetan Rites – a series of yoga poses designed to give you a renewed sense of energy and vitality.
Hearty Sunday food preparation ritual
Cook a hearty vegetable soup in a big bowl or crockpot. Cut and prepare your vegies and snacks for the week in handy packs ready to go while your soup is cooking.
When cooked, dish out into single serve portions and keep some in the fridge and some in the freezer for an easy late-night warming meal.
30-day winter challenge celebration calendar
When it’s tough to motivate yourself to keep your exercise up during winter, use the power of the 30-day activity challenge. You don’t need to slog it out on the pavement or gym every day. Just commit to doing some kind of activity every day for 30 days. Even five minutes of stretching counts. You’ll find that some days you do more, some days you do less, but counting the activity on a monthly calendar will motivate you to do something every day.
Sunseeker ritual
Make it a daily ritual to spend at least 15 minutes in the sun each day. This will help prevent seasonal affective disorder (SAD) as well as boost your vitamin D levels.
