How to Grow Your Spiritual Practice for Travel
Your spiritual practice will serve as your guiding light as you travel. Your daily spiritual check-ins will keep you walking in the right direction and your emergency spiritual practices will come to your rescue when you miss a bus, miss your friends or miss your bed.
But your spiritual practice will also be the force that keeps you growing when you return home. (The worst feeling is to lose the girl you found on your trip).
So in this article, I’m going to bare my soul and tell you how I have realistically woven my spiritual practice into my life – but while traveling at home. No, I don’t wake up at 5am to meditate. But I do talk to myself…a lot. I talk to myself, I talk to the moon, I talk to the mirror, and I talk to the Universe. I express myself often. So often that the Universe starts to express what it wants for me through me.
I wasn’t always like this, however.
My personal journey began when I relocated to Indonesia as a staunch atheist. I found myself cynically dismissing expressions like “manifestation” and references to the “Universe.” But then…a series of wild things started happening to me.
Spiritual healers cracked my soul open.
The energy of Bali turned me into a magnet for my dreams.
I developed a vizuliation practice that helped me manifest my soulmate.
I met with a healer that told me I needed to write a book…and I did.
And I developed such a strong connection with the Universe that I am connected at all times no matter where I go.
Today, I am a crystal collector that talks to the moon. My religion is my intuition. I trust it so strongly that I believe that, sometimes, relying on intuition rather than logic proves to be the most sensible course of action.
Whenever feelings of isolation or aimlessness arise, my spiritual practice becomes my compass guiding me back to my authentic path.
I opened up about my spiritual journey on a podcast called Manifest It A.L.L. If spirituality is calling to you, listen to that episode and then meet me back her so I can introduce you to my spiritual practices.
Now let me pass this on to you.
Alexa’s Spiritual Travel Toolkit
If you own my book, The One-Way Ticket Plan, then you have already gotten the low-down on these practices. In this article, I’m going to give you resources to follow to bring these practices into your own life.
1. Morning Pages
My best friend, Emilia, taught me about morning pages. I used to wake up and scroll on my phone or check my emails. I’d waste the most wholesome part of my day by immediately diving into work or overstimulation. So here’s what I do now.
On my bedside table, I have replaced my phone with a journal and a pen. My phone sleeps in the other room. When I wake up, I grab my journal and I write. I like a big notebook like this. The rule for my morning journal is positive vibes only. I don’t start writing about what I’m stressed about. I write 6 things I’m immediately grateful for and then I fill the page with happiness. And holy shit it has changed my life. It takes 5 minutes. FIVE. While still in bed. In those five minutes, I connect with myself. With the happiness of the Universe and the gratitude I have.
And sometimes I get my boyfriend to bring me a coffee for my journal session.
2. Body Connection
I keep my yoga mat next to my bed. On lazy days, I roll out of bed and onto my yoga mat and stretch for 3-5 minutes. This is the exact yoga mat I use. I connect my body with my brain. On more energetic days, I take my yoga mat in my backyard and point it towards to sun. Sun in your eyes in the morning is so good for you. I still just stretch. I stretch until I’m full of energy.
…and then I go check my phone.
3. Visualization Exercises
I can’t stand meditating but I have experienced profound revelations. This is the guided meditation / visualization that changed my life: “Lisa Nichols Guided Visualization”. I recommend putting a blanket on the floor, laying on the floor and listening to this. Put your phone in another room.
4. EFT Tapping
Anxious? Tap. Feeling like a badass? Tap. Want to manifest? Tap. For guidance, turn to Gala Darling’s EFT tapping sessions on YouTube. Again, my bestie Emilia introduced me to tapping. It’s basically like acupuncture without needles. You tap on meridians of your body while saying positive mantras and holy shit does the rewire your mood and clean your energy.
Whenever I’m sad or stressed, Emy will say, “Lets tap on it”. Sometimes we will just be in a taxi and tap silently by ourselves for a minute or two. More often, we’ll pull up Gala Darling and find a tapping session that speaks to us.
This is a good video to start with…
5. Mirror Work
As recommended by author and motivational speaker Lisa Nichols, daily mirror work involves gazing at your reflection while repeating positive affirmations. Start with this!
Sometimes I’ll sit on the floor in my bedroom in front of my mirror. Or I’ll so mirror work while I’m doing my makeup. The point here is to see yourself being yourself. To love yourself loving yourself.
If this feels too vulnerable (you’d be surprised) then play some background rain music while you talk to yourself. It takes the edge off.
6. Connect with Your Higher Self
Your higher self is your spiritual core. Its your soul beyond your body. She is all-knowing. She is confident and untouchable. She is happy and wise. When you strip away all the bullshit of our human existence, you have your higher self. She is always here for you and you can all on her whenever you need her.
When confronted with challenges or stress or drama or indecision, I summon my higher self to provide counsel. I envision her as the most gorgeous and serene version of myself, seated beside me or across from me. I turn to her for guidance, recognizing that beneath the layers of drama and overthinking, my intuition and higher self always hold the answers.
Do this in a taxi, in the shower, on a sidewalk with a beer. She’s always with you.
Pause.
This is a photo of me and Emilia after meeting with my secret healer in Bali.
7. Oracle Cards
For those seeking an advanced spiritual practice, I recommend starting with one of Rebecca Campbell’s oracle decks. The concept is this: You are an antenna for higher energy. When you ask a question, pause and take a moment to connect with higher energy, they deliver messages to guide you.
Sounds crazy until you try it.
I often pick a card for past, present and future. Or a message of the day.
Before you start, I recommend you watch this video to get tips on how to use oracle cards.
Just like anything else in your life, you have to be consistent with your practice. That’s what it’s called “growing” your spiritual practice. Show up for yourself in one way every day – whether that’s mirror work while brushing your teeth or laying on the floor for ten minutes and envisioning your day going amazingly well. Just show up. Your practice will begin to guide you.
I love you and the universe does, too.
xoxo, Alexa
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I'm a bestselling author, hotel reviewer and pickleball player. I teach women how to travel the world solo without going broke or getting kidnapped.
In 2011, I left Seattle with just $200 in my pocket to travel the world solo. Today, I'm the founder and creator of The Solo Girl’s Travel Guide, the #1 travel guide book series for women - and the author of The One-Way Ticket Plan.
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