6 Spiritual Habits That Boost My Energy and Performance at Work

I don’t wake up at 5 am or take a cold shower.

Aug 07, 2022

Here’s a secret — some of our core strengths at work come from something outside of work. Find them and use them to your advantage.

I don’t think I’m productive or try extra hard to be disciplined.

But I’ve been working out and eating healthy for 8 years. For the longest time, I didn’t realise that this helped me:

be disciplined
delay gratification
show up consistently

I started working out to shed 50lbs and I developed these skills along the way. Now, working out is a habit, and eating healthy is a lifestyle.

It’s effortless.

But being fit has helped me be sane as a self-employed writer — a benefit I didn’t expect.

As a writer online, it’s easy to give up or keep chasing traction. But this hasn’t been an issue with me.

Here are my daily spiritual habits that help me boost my creativity and performance.

“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves.” — William Shakespeare

1. 5 Minutes of Ancient Breathing Practices

Waking up and doing yogic breathing exercises is such a tiny action, little time investment, with tremendous returns.

I do them as soon as I wake up. I also make sure I do this before meditating as meditation is less physical effort and more calming.

Kapalabhati

Kapalabhati is also called skull-shining breath.

I wake up and do this 250–400 times on an empty stomach. It helps you:

enhance lung capacity
increase metabolism
improves digestion
rejuvenates the nervous system and brain cells
cleanses nasal pathways
trims belly fat

You can read the steps here.

Time commitment: 2–4 minutes

Anulom Vilom

This is also called alternate nostril breathing. I do this 21 times after Kapalabhati.

It leaves me feeling calmer.

The benefits of doing this are:

relaxes the mind
releases stress
helps balance both hemispheres of our brain

You can learn how to do it here.

Time commitment: 2 minutes

2. Chanting

We all have seven chakras or energy channels. Sound vibrations help these chakras cleanse and energise.

I learnt AUM (pronounced as aa-oh-mm) chanting from Sadhguru’s Isha Foundation. I’ve been practising it for over two years and I feel it’s helped me become more ambitious and focused.

Spiritually, the sounds

aa stimulates the solar plexus, which is the chakra for success and work
oh stimulates throat chakra that helps in communication
mm stimulates the third eye chakra that helps in intuition and intellect

Studies show that aum chanting:

enhances concentration
improves brain function
bridges the gap between knowledge and behaviour
gives peace and steadiness to our mind
relieves unreasonable fears and nightmares

This is a wholesome powerhouse for prosperity.

I do this 21 times every day on an empty stomach or 2 hours after food if I wake up hungry and eat first.

You can learn it here.

Time commitment: 5–7 minutes

3. Exercising

This isn’t spiritual per se, but the perspective is. Also, I do yoga if that suffices as spiritual enough for you?

Working out has been an integral part of my life ever since I dropped weight.

You already know exercising is good for you, so I won’t need to list the benefits.

But I encourage you to move a bit every day. Working out for 30 minutes thrice a week is better than zero.

Your body deserves it.

Time commitment: 30–45 minutes

I do my 10-minute meditation after this on Headspace. I’m pretty sure you’ve heard enough about the benefits so I won’t bring it up.

4. Affirmations

According to Psychology Today,

“Affirmations are statements that we say to ourselves that can shift our mindset and make us feel better about ourselves.”

They need unwavering belief.

I’ve been practising affirmations actively for three years. It helps me feel more aligned with why I’m doing what I’m doing and enables me to visualise success.

Honestly, I also feel it helped me become kinder to myself and love my body instead of criticising it (an old habit).

Here are some benefits of reciting affirmations:

can help boost self-esteem
helps you focus on your goals
make your thought patterns more positive
influence your subconscious thought patterns

I recommend reading books like You Can Heal Your Life to help you with it.

My affirmations are mainly around self-esteem, health, wealth, work, and creativity.

Time commitment: a minute

5. Gratitude Journaling

I’ve been doing this for five years. And wow, this is so underrated.

Each day I write ten things that I’m grateful for. It helps me be so happy about small things such as sleeping well or having a safe house to live in — things we take for granted so easily.

According to science, this helps you be more satisfied, patient, more positive, and lowers the level of cellular inflammation.

The biggest change I’ve experienced is to be more cheerful, happy, and content.

Time commitment: 5 minutes

6. Practicing Optimism

I have relentless faith in the universe where I wholeheartedly believe that everything happens for a reason and for good. Thinking this way helps me control my emotions and stay hopeful.

Also, what’s the point of feeling bad or regretting things? It changes nothing.

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow. — Helen Keller

Honestly, I don’t regret things in my past not working out because all that has resulted in where I am today. Something I won’t change for the world.

I try to see the best in people and situations.

Actively practising optimism decreases anxiety and keeps you happier. According to studies, it may help you live longer too.

Time commitment: ongoing

Lastly

I do the first five things in the morning as it boosts my day ahead. Without this, my day feels hollow.

A thriving mind and body works and produces results like nobody else.

I encourage you to try this before you blatantly follow productivity techniques. It will help you come closer to yourself and your purpose too, which is the sweet nectar of living.