Australia, as a survey suggests, is a country that has tight roots with spirituality, mainly due to a sense of wanting to belong to the land, to the sea, and to the people. What attracts Aussies to religion and spirituality is seeing people who live out a genuine life and follow a journey of self-discovery.
Luckily, there are Australian celebrities that do promote such a lifestyle and are not afraid of speaking out about their beliefs!
Nicole Kidman
Known for her roles in films like Batman Forever, Eyes Wide Shut, and The Hours, for which she won an Academy Award for Best Actress, Nicole Kidman is not afraid to talk about her faith and belief in God. While giving an interview, she admitted she is, “spiritual in the sense that I absolutely believe in God”.
She then went on to reveal she thought about becoming a nun at one point in her life. The news fits well with her role in the new film Boy Erased, in which she plays a pastor’s wife.
Back in 2014, together with her country music star husband Keith Urban, Kidman visited Monash Children’s Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, located in the suburbs of Australia.
Check out the video of Urban and Kidman:
The two visited children with cancer, offering gifts and singing ‘Amazing Grace’ with them and the staff. A video of the couple’s visit even shows Kidman helping her husband remember the second verse of the song.
Hugh Jackman
Wolverine star Hugh Jackman has always been open about his spiritual side, especially meditation and how it changed his life. Over the past 20 years, he’s made meditation and relaxation an integral part of his life.
“In meditation, I can let go of everything. I’m not Hugh Jackman. I’m not a dad. I’m not a husband. I’m just dipping into that powerful source that creates everything. I take a little bath in it,” he explained in an interview with Oprah.
Hugh admitted that it’s transcendental meditation that keeps him calm and happy in his otherwise busy life. This meditation technique is one of the most widely practiced and it involves the use of a mantra for 15 to 20 minutes twice a day.
A mantra, as TheCircle explains, is a simple word that you repeat in order to still your mind. For example, you can choose two simple words such as ‘peace and love’ and repeat them for however long you can. And if your mind starts wandering, use your mantra to bring it back to meditating!
Teresa Palmer
Teresa Palmer, known for her roles in Warm Bodies, Berlin Syndrome, and Lights Out, co-created with her other Aussie actress friend, Phoebe Tonkin (H2O: Just Add Water, The Vampire Diaries, The Originals), the health and wellness website Your Zen Life. After having her first child, she also launched Your Zen Mama, a community that aims to empower and inspire people.
Through her websites, Palmer wants to affect positive change by speaking about ways to fulfil your life. These include nutrition, meditation, mindfulness and eco-living.
In an interview for Vogue, she admitted that her “journey of self-development, mindfulness, and spirituality” is her “greatest wish”. She advised that keeping a balance between mental, physical, emotional and spiritual is key to a healthy life – when one of those is not right, then everything else falls into imbalance!
