God. Buddha. Allah. The Southwest Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki footlong from Subway. All of these things are gods to some, higher powers that dictate or guide the threads of our lives. Even for those of us who don’t ascribe to a higher power, we still find a form of spirituality in our lives.
It’s easy to fall prey to the notion that spirituality is something that is bound to religion. However, that’s not the case. The majority of us apply spirituality into our lives in ways that we don’t even recognize or are conscious of. Whether it’s taking a few minutes a day to regulate your breathing, closing your eyes and attempting to clear your head, or simply listening to calming music with half-closed eyes, all of these are spiritual in nature.
This thread of spirituality runs through all of us. While the way it runs through us all is varied and complex, we all share that inner thread. How we pull on and utilize this thread can greatly enhance or detract from our day-to-day lives. This truth was not lost on Darryl Elvina, Spiritual Shaman, and Life Coach.
The thread of spirituality is strong and thick in his life. He doesn’t ascribe his spirituality and practices to a religion, but rather to the unique lives of every client he works with. He strongly believes that the inherent spirituality in all of us is key to unlocking our best selves, even when we don’t realize it.
Spirituality and the Modern Man
So what does it mean to be spiritual? If we go to the dictionary we’ll find this, “Spirituality is relating to or affecting the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things.” In short, spirituality is addressing the human condition, our “spirit” if you will. This idea of a spirit doesn’t work for everyone however, rather this “spirit” can be referred to as the unconscious. The unconscious is what makes up who we are. As Elvina puts it, “All learning, behavior, and change is at the unconscious level.”
As Elvina explains, all of us have conscious and unconscious selves. These two selves, ideally, work together to achieve the things we want and need. However, that’s an ideal world.
In reality, these two selves can find themselves at ends with each other. This is where Elvina focuses his spiritual work. He realized that “it’s not about what you consciously focus on, it’s about aligning your unconscious mind to the goals that you consciously want.
Focusing on Change at the Unconscious Level
Mindset work is not enough. Accountability is not enough. You have to focus on change at the unconscious level.” It’s with this focus that spirituality finds its way into all of our lives.
An easy way to think about this duality is the mind and the heart. Often times our minds think they know what’s best for us, but deep down our hearts ache because this isn’t what we truly want. This schism in mind and heart is what leads many of us to be unhappy and stressed. Even when we know what the problem is, it’s not exactly easy to just fix it.
So how do we address this while we all operate in the fast-paced world we’ve built for ourselves? As Elvina points out, “the work I do IS spiritual, esoteric, and kind of out there. But it fits right in with our modern lifestyles. There’s no need to forsake your material possessions, reduce your wants, or go to a mountain for a 7-day silent meditation retreat. Spirituality can fit right in and become a part of your every day, and it’s the biggest “performance and life hack” that more people need to tap into.”
While this may seem daunting, as I mentioned before, we all engage in spiritual acts in our day-to-day lives. Elvina highlighted this, mentioning that “People are already doing spiritual things, maybe without realizing it… So why not fully tap into it?
Things like meditation, visualization, the law of attraction and manifestation, breathwork, etc.” All Elvina aims to do with his clients is draw upon those pre-existing spiritual elements and go deeper. Allowing ourselves to get in touch with our unconscious selves and breaking through those inherent blockages is all the spirituality needed to enhance our lives.
As a student of Huna Hawaiian Shamanism, Elvina has tr come to take these facts as self-evident truths. By discovering the small ways that spirituality already exists in our busy lives, we too can achieve synthesis with our unconscious and conscious selves.
Moving Forward
While this can be fully achieved best during a session with a trained mentor like Elvina, we all can explore these small spiritual elements deeper in the framing of our own lives. By looking into ourselves and addressing our unconscious needs, we can achieve inner balance and success that previously seemed out of reach.
You can find Darryl Elvina on social, here:
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