HOW I ACTIVATED SPIRITUAL SELF-CARE QUIETING THE BODY, AMPLIFYING THE SOUL

By Markeyla Henton

I use four practices to maintain my mental health and spiritual care: contemplative prayer, deep breathing, mindfulness and self-hypnosis. Contemplative prayer employs silence and focuses the mind in anticipation that God will speak. Deep breathing engages the lungs to manage stress, control emotions and slow the heart rate. Mindfulness helps you acknowledge and accept the present. And self-hypnosis is the work of focusing your attention to manage emotional responses. Through these four practices, I have increased intimacy in my spirlity, released my fears and discomforts, and controlled my spirituality, released my fears and discomforts, and controlled my response to pain and emotional distress.

I started this inner work in 2013, through contemplative prayer. My pastor challenged me to increase my belief that God wanted to speak to me. Quieting my thoughts and emotions deepened my ability to trust in God, because the emphasis wasn’t on me anymore. I learned to allow peace and God’s direction to expand in my everyday life.

My contemplative prayers were enhanced in 2018, when I discovered mindfulness and deep breathing. In addition to resting in prayer, I mastered the art of slowing my heart rate. It took practice to remove the feeling that mindfulness was a waste of time. Cultural and religious constraints made me wonder if mindfulness was weird. I was set free from these limitations by understanding that I was in control of my own spirituality.

I was introduced to selfhypnosis while preparing to give birth. Adamant against an epidural, I needed painmanagement skills. Hypnobirthing revealed my authority in managing my attention. The mind can control pain. I know this because I was able to labor and give birth with no interventions. I did so calmly and with confidence in my body. Self-hypnosis taught me to trust my soul. The experience was extremely liberating and empowering. True spiritual care is about trusting your soul’s ability to be connected to God and your destiny; self-hypnosis gave me this power.

Everyone should learn the art of mastering their mind. Managing the noise of your thoughts, pounding of your heart rate and storm of your emotions is truly transforming. The mind is the birthplace for everything in our lives. If you can quiet your body, the purpose-cry in your soul becomes crystal clear. And an amplified soul will always be connected to your next best step.

As someone who values the importance of self-care, I genuinely believe that prioritizing our physical, emotional, and mental well-being is essential to achieving a balanced and fulfilling life. By consciously nurturing ourselves regularly, we can cultivate a more profound sense of self-love and improve our overall quality of life. Whether through exercise, meditation, engaging in