I have extracted this simple workout from my book Workout for the Soul: 8 Steps to Inner Fitness, published by AsLan Publishing, 2001, so that you can use it every day. It will take a minimum of only five minutes and a maximum of - well, as long as you want! (With spiritual practices, the longer the better, but it is better to do five minutes than nothing at all.)

To start: Find a quiet corner of your home that you can dedicate to your soul workout. This need only be a bookshelf, or table you can use as a focal point, and as an altar or sacred space to put the spiritual artifacts that you will collect and that you will find will come into your orbit. This is because once you start doing spiritual practices, you will attract to you those objects and opportunities that will help you in your desire for spiritual growth.

Step One - Preparing the Temple (one minute):
Be seated in front of your altar with feet flat on the floor and your spine straight, head in line with your spine. Now close your eyes, detach from your environment and go within.

Step Two - Refreshing the Soul (one minute):
Be thankful for this opportunity to reach within and feel appreciation for all the rich experiences of your life. Allow this attitude of mind to bring you calm and inner peace.

Step Three- Harmonizing with the Breath of Life (one minute):
Be still and concentrate on your breathing. Breathe deeply and evenly and practice the Complete Breath. At the end, your abdomen should be slightly drawn in. This is done in one continuous movement with each phase of the breathing merging with the next, like the swell of the ocean.

Step Four- Awakening Your Creative Powers (one minute):
Allow your thoughts to float before your mind and watch them until you start to gain control. Do not be attached to your thoughts. You are learning to exist in the present moment, in peace.

Step Five - Visualizing Mystic Practices (one minute):
Now perform the sacred visualization practice of the Violet Flame. Think downwards to the Mother Earth and be aware of this great planetary home beneath our feet. Make a reverent request to this great Mother, for her beautiful Violet Flame of protection and transmutation. See and feel this coming up from the Logos of earth, through your feet and legs. Take it right up through your body, out through the top of your head, to a distance of 30 or 40 feet above your head. See yourself bathed in this wonderful Violet Flame of transmuting spirituality.

Step Six - Building a Bridge to your Soul (one minute):
Remember that one of the most direct ways to manifest your higher self is through the use of positive, spiritual affirmation. By repeating the following affirmation:
"I am the Divine Presence which is creating perfection throughout my whole life"
you are affirming to yourself the truth that within you lies an aspect of Divinity itself. Repeat this silently but intently for about thirty seconds.

Step Seven - Prayer, the Song of the Soul (two minutes):
Offer a prayer of thankfulness and guidance. Visualize prayer energy radiating from your hands and heart centers as a pure, white light. Allow this to flow as you pray with all your love and feeling. (See the section on prayer on my website for further information and prayers.)

Step Eight - Healing, Nourishment for the Soul (two minutes):
Next is the absent healing section of your workout, which will strengthen you spiritually, as well as help others. Read aloud the names of people who are sick and need healing. Visualize them being filled with this pure light, but do not visualize their illness.
Also, if you hear of a natural disaster or tragedy that has taken place, send out your prayers to the victims and their families and to the relief workers to give them strength. Remain sending out healing power for as long as you wish to, visualizing a brilliant white light flowing outwards as a stream of pure healing light. Finish with a prayer of thankfulness. (See the section on my website on prayers for suitable healing prayers.)

Completion: Close with a mystic visualization, such as the Practice of the Presence, and finally repeat the affirmation. "Great Peace, Great Peace, Great Peace.. Thy Divine Will Oh Mighty God be Done."

Use the Mudra of Detachment. Sweep the right-hand palm over the left-hand palm once. This cuts off the flow of spiritual energy from your palm centers, symbolically allowing you to detach from this workout and move onto another completely different phase of your life.

Always remember that everyone faces challenges and tests in their lives. These are times when you will be faced with difficult choices. Try and pause before making your choices and contact the source within you by going into the silence of your sacred space. Then practice your Workout for the Soul, gather your inner strength and then afterwards remain seated in a reflective state until you feel calm, peaceful and detached from your problems. Then you will be ready to make your decisions in a balanced fashion, with your head as well as your heart. Recognize these times as opportunities for your soul to speak through you and provide you with the answers. Learn how to listen and remain open and receptive to the answers. If you do not receive answers the first time you do it, continue until you do. Eventually you will receive the guidance you need.

The choice we all face is whether we should live our life on the surface or whether we should courageously reach deeper into the richness, mystery, beauty and power of the soul within. Remember: all that glitters is not gold, even though it may appear to be. Everything spiritual is more precious than the most precious metal and far more lasting.

May God be with you to guide and inspire you always.

© Extract from Workout for the Soul: 8 Steps to Inner Fitness, published by AsLan Publishing, 2001.