Rooted and Rising: Spiritual and Existential Practices
This post completes our Rooted and Rising series at Clark Counseling Services, LLC. Throughout this series, we have explored five foundational domains of well being including nature connection, movement and physical activity, intellectual curiosity, pleasure and play, and social connection. In this final installment, we turn to a domain that gives depth, coherence, and meaning to all the others. This domain is spiritual and existential practice.
Understanding Spiritual and Existential Practice
Spiritual and existential practice refers to the ways we search for meaning, purpose, and a sense of belonging within a larger context. This can involve religion for some individuals, but it does not depend on religious belief. Instead, it includes any intentional process that helps us connect with values, purpose, or a sense of something greater than ourselves.
This may appear as mindfulness, contemplative reflection, time in nature, meditation, journaling, ritual, prayer, participation in community life, or simply the practice of pausing to consider what truly matters.
These practices are not abstract. They offer grounding in moments of uncertainty and serve as guides for how we move through the world.
Why This Domain Matters
Human beings naturally seek meaning. Whether we are aware of it or not, we constantly attempt to make sense of our experiences, our relationships, and our place in the world. Spiritual and existential practices provide a framework for these questions.
Research in existential psychology, mindfulness, and spirituality and health studies consistently shows that practices which cultivate meaning and purpose are associated with:
Increased resilience
Reduced anxiety and depressive symptoms
A stronger sense of identity
Improved emotional regulation
A greater capacity for hope and gratitude
When individuals feel that their lives have meaning, they are more likely to navigate challenges with clarity and strength.
Clinical Perspectives
Within psychotherapy, exploring meaning and purpose can be a deeply transformative process. Clients often enter treatment searching for understanding or direction. They may ask questions such as, “Who am I now,” “What do I want my life to stand for,” or “How do I live in alignment with my values.”
Existential and spiritually informed therapy approaches help clients explore these questions with compassion and curiosity. These approaches do not impose belief systems. Instead, they invite clients to clarify their own.
Clinicians frequently observe that when clients begin connecting with their internal values and deeper sense of purpose, their choices become more intentional, their emotional resilience strengthens, and their relationships become more authentic.
Spiritual and existential work can also help clients navigate grief, trauma, and major life transitions by providing a framework through which to understand experiences that feel overwhelming or disorienting.
Bringing Spiritual and Existential Practice into Daily Life
This domain does not require elaborate rituals or extensive time commitments. It simply requires intentional reflection and openness. Individuals can nurture this domain by incorporating practices such as:
Mindfulness or meditation: Spending a few quiet minutes focusing on breath, presence, or gratitude
Meaning reflection: Journaling about values, purpose, or personal growth
Time in nature: Allowing the natural world to inspire perspective and calm
Acts of service: Offering time or support to others in ways that align with personal values
Creative expression: Using art, music, or writing to explore inner experience
Ritual or ceremony: Creating personal practices that mark transitions or honor important moments
These practices encourage clarity, groundedness, and connection to something greater than the immediate moment.
A Integrating Perspective
Spiritual and existential practices help unify the entire Rooted and Rising framework. Nature connection supports awe. Movement supports presence. Curiosity supports growth. Pleasure supports vitality. Social connection supports belonging.
Spiritual and existential practice holds all of these together by helping us understand why they matter and how they shape the story of our lived experience.
In this way, this domain represents both rooting and rising. It roots us in values, purpose, and meaning. It lifts us toward self actualization, compassion, and intentional living.
Closing the Series
This final post completes the Rooted and Rising series, but it also marks the beginning of continued integration. These six domains are meant to work together, supporting a balanced and authentic life grounded in awareness and aligned with intention.
At Clark Counseling Services, LLC, our goal is to offer pathways that support holistic well being. The Rooted and Rising framework invites each person to cultivate practices that strengthen resilience, deepen connection, and foster meaningful living.
If you would like to explore how any of these domains intersect with your own mental health journey, therapy can offer a collaborative and supportive space for that exploration.