Kate Love, our Director of Learning, shares her top four tips on how to be a travelling ritualist and create rituals on the road.
The need for ritual when travelling
Recently I travelled overseas ~ across the globe, in fact, to meet my new baby nephew. One thing I realized as I was preparing for this journey was that my self care rituals would become even more integral for my mental and emotional wellness. I knew that travelling across the international date line, jet lag and all, not to mention entering a whole new world where my brother and his family now lived, would be best supported by doing the things I already know serve me.
As I packed my bags, I also packed my portable rituals, reflecting on what items and symbols would help me best show up for myself during this journey down under.
Here are my top four tips for travelling with rituals:
Bring items that ground you
Space may be limited, and travel restrictions are tough, however it’s easy to bring a few small ritual tools like a special journal, a favourite scent, or a beach stone or crystal that connects you to a person or place. Our ‘travel altar’ ritual in the App offers some more unique and meaningful items that you can place inside your bag and create your own makeshift altar wherever your travels may take you.
Adapt to your new environment
Movement is my medicine. Being in Australia and out of my daily routine, I knew I had to adapt my coffee-walk-podcast ritual. I decided to go for a a daily beach walk, where I made sure to carve out space for whatever emotions needed to surface. Some days tears came, other days laughter, and sometimes I used that ritual time to feed my introverted soul after hours of ‘being on’.
Be open to new rituals
While ritual and ceremony are universal, travelling to new places may open your eyes and inspire you with new ideas. With a keen eye on cultural appreciation over appropriation, there are many ways to learn from the new situations travel provides. For me, this included going to an outdoor yoga class in the middle of winter and learning what they did differently, and doing a massive hike during a rainstorm, where I embraced the phrase ‘one step at a time’ as I made my way to the top of Mt Coolum.
Find space for quiet
Travel can be action-packed and stimulating, and if you’re not careful it can leave you feeling rather depleted. When I felt flooded or overwhelmed, I retreated from the situation I was in and found a place to sit quietly. When I was feeling tired or drained, I made my way to the beach to soak up the scenery. When I was feeling ungrounded, I closes my eyes and did my favourite breathing ritual ~ inhaling three shallow breaths, then exhaling at the top, releasing my breath like a balloon.
Why we need rituals
I found myself feeling overwhelmed some days, which turned to grumpy a few times during trip. I remembered our daily ritual framework of ‘Call and Response’, so I started to notice my feelings and consider what ritual would best respond to that emotion.
My biggest takeaway was that in order for rituals to serve my emotional and mental wellness, they need to be are adaptable, flexible and accessible no matter where I find myself in the world. Having practiced and flexed my ritual muscles over time, I was amazed at how easily my ritual toolbox adapted to my new surroundings.
The rituals that served me on this trip felt natural and meaningful, and it allowed me to keep up the ritual mindset that has served me so well the past decade.
Check out our daily rituals for self care
We’re excited to share that we’re adding a new feature to our App that will inspire and support you with Daily Rituals that fit whatever mood, need, or time of day you find yourself in. Drawing on our signature ‘Call & Response’ ritual framework, you’ll be able to find rituals that respond to the different emotions that can arise in day-to-day life.
We’ll have some free rituals to draw from, or you can unlock all of the Daily Rituals with an annual membership (which also grants you access to our online community and the ability to create unlimited ceremonies for you and those you care for!). Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay in the loop!
