The Power of Ritual
Throughout history, humans have used rituals to motivate, move and connect – and ultimately, create meaning in our day-to-day lives. They provide an opportunity for self-expression, allowing us to find a sense of grounding in a fast-paced world that is continually changing and often, stress-inducing.
Rituals are at the heart of Ancient + Brave: they bring us back to our reason for being, connecting ancient wisdom with modern science – with the ultimate aim to achieve and celebrate whole body health. Read on to discover just how powerful rituals truly are.
Why Are Collective Rituals so Powerful?
Studies have shown that when rituals are taken away from humans, we quickly make new ones. In the case of the pandemic, people all over the world created communal joy by banging saucepans together to express gratitude to healthcare workers. This was an expression of ‘collective effervescence’, a term coined by sociologist Emile Durkheim a hundred years ago, to describe the feeling people have in religious rituals when they come together to communicate the same thought and participate in the same action. In other words, intense connection.
Rituals can be religious or secular (think sports events or gigs for the latter), and often mark a transition in our lives. In a communal setting, we allow others to bear witness to these life changes, for example in weddings and funerals, giving the event more meaning and a heightened sense of connection.
Birthdays and anniversaries are another example of this. While they may just be another day in the calendar year, it is our ritualized marking of them that creates a sense of transcendence – giving the date more meaning.
Evidence backs up our need for collective ritual. Research by Shira Gabriel, a professor of social psychology in New York State, suggests that shared ritual (be that a big event or an everyday interaction) makes us feel more connected to others, and that our life has meaning. Her research also suggests that people who experience it are likely to be happier and less anxious and depressed.
The Importance of Individual Rituals
While communal rituals give us the comfort of familiarity, solidarity and shared experience, personal rituals can create a feeling of connection to ourselves and the wider world. We can also use them as private moments of reflection and mindfulness, whether that be a formal religious service or a daily journaling practice.
According to psychiatrist and author Abigail Brenner, “The invitation to create meaningful rites for ourselves, then, is a radical one. It is an invitation to move freely into our own spiritual lives, to take charge of marking the passages that we find significant, in the ways that we deem meaningful.”
Unlike habits, which are often automatic and mindless, individual rituals are mindful – a series of actions carried out in a specific way for a specific purpose. Approached like this, we can turn the most mundane everyday tasks into sacred rituals – lending a richness and depth to our lives in simple ways. Often there is an aesthetic element to these personal rites. Take Japanese tea ceremonies as an example: they intentionally use aesthetically beautiful utensils, which are highly prized as an essential part of the ritual, giving even more meaning to a simple moment in time.
[1] The psychological importance of collective assembly: Development and validation of the Tendency for Effervescent Assembly Measure (TEAM) - Shira Gabriel 2017
[2] Brenner, Abigail. Women's Rites of Passage: How to Embrace Change and Celebrate Life. Rowman & Littlefield, 2007.
Our habitual morning coffee, for example, approached as a ritual and served in a special cup, marks our movement into a new day and becomes much more than a shot of caffeine. It gives us a moment to pause at the threshold of the day: to consider what we might want from it and to be mindful of how we are entering. Similarly, we can turn the simple act of cleansing our face in the evening into a ritual: showing ourselves gratitude and appreciation in the way we care for ourselves.
