4 HEALING EXERCISES AND RITUALS
Why are rituals so important to receiving healing? Creating rituals or healing practices is a way to remove resistance we may be unaware that we are holding onto in order to allow a flow of healing energy to come through. Putting effort into creating the environment they take place in, curating the items you’ll use, and setting clear intentions for them strengthens our awareness and willingness to accept the changes we desire to bring forth.
At a time where so much emphasis is put on how we appear to the outside world through social media or otherwise, creating acts meant solely for the purpose of communing with the self in a meaningful and loving way is more valuable now than ever.
It’s been proven that the higher our emotional response is to a situation, the more vivid our memory of the event will be. When we practice submitting ourselves and feeling deeply, we are creating more impact within our minds, bringing about more impactful change.
Creating Sacred Space
The act of creating a special and safe environment for yourself is an important element of the work. It’s part of the overall recognition that everything has energy and we are affected accordingly. Giving attention to the location you will be occupying for the following exercises sends a signal to your subconscious: This is a space being created for your specific intention. This practice—and you, the beneficiary of this practice—are important and worthy enough to warrant the creation of a special, protected space.
I recommend a clean and quiet area, but it is also okay if it isn’t immaculate. If there is laundry that needs folding, or some clutter, use that as a reminder that even in the chaos, there is perfection. The space can be indoors or outdoors, as long as you feel comfortable and know that you will not be disturbed for the length of the exercise.
Cell phones, TVs, computers, and anything connected to Wi-Fi puts invisible electromagnetic smog in our environment. Removing anything transmitting these signals is beneficial when creating a space. Power lines outside our homes also put subtle vibrational disturbances in our environment, but placing crystals in your space specifically for this purpose can disrupt this. If spending time in nature is a natural antidepressant for you, crystals are pieces of nature you can have in your home to support the same effects.
Set Your Intentions
Create a space that’s meaningful to you, but don’t get caught up in ideas of what being “spiritual” looks like. You don’t have to wear bohemian-style clothing or trade in handshakes for prayer hands unless they feel authentic to you. When given proper attention, anything you see or experience can be understood as sacred. Opening yourself to the big picture of life enables you to see everything as valuable and meaningful.
Intention setting is one way to give that necessary attention to a thought, making it sacred. Without necessarily realizing it, we are in a constant state of creation. Because everything is energy, our thoughts and moods affect the world around us. When performing an exercise or ritual, we have a clear space not only in our environment but in our minds to put forth a deliberate intention, as opposed to creating our lives through idle thoughts.
Choose a word, phrase, or visualization to be your intention in these exercises. Depending on what you are inviting to your environment, it could be something like, “I am worthy of the love I receive,” or something that resonates with you. Whenever you find yourself losing your focus or getting distracted, come back to your intention. You can chant it like a mantra, or say it silently to yourself. Setting an intention will provide mental clarity as a focal point for when extraneous thoughts or worries pop up. Reminding yourself of how you want to feel contributes to making it a reality. If setting an intention feels strange, or as if you are lying to yourself, a simple change can help. In the book The Amazing Power of Deliberate Intent, Esther and Jerry Hicks suggest that saying, “Wouldn’t it be nice if…” in front of your intention will help bring your vibrational frequency closer to what you are trying to achieve.
Bringing Yourself
One of the most difficult and most necessary things you’ll need to bring to the exercises in this book is simply yourself. Why is it important to gain self-awareness? I’ve had to ask myself this question a great deal. While creating my brand, I was driven to also understanding the philosophies behind it, which proved to be just as, if not more important, than the products.
Honesty is the path to love. We are dishonest without knowing it, which is why we all hurt each other to some degree, often unintentionally. We are dishonest because we do not yet know who we are. But how could we, unless we give time to evaluate what is important to us, what events have truly shaped us, and what our most important values are?
We can’t avoid spending a portion of our lives without knowing who we are. We’re meant to get lost, make mistakes, and even fall in love with the people we ultimately know are “wrong” for us. But it’s reflecting on these moments that becomes the lifeblood of the rest of our lives. Becoming clear on what we value and why is necessary in developing our self-awareness, which leads to honesty.
If you don’t take time to deepen your understanding of who you are, it becomes difficult to receive love. If someone is offering you love but you lack self-awareness, you won’t be able to receive that love because you are not being true to yourself. In order to receive the love you are given, you must insist on showing your authentic self. This takes patience, introspection, and dedication, but it is worth it.
Come Naturally
Why do we stay in relationships we know aren’t good for us? Why do we eat poorly when we know we should eat healthy? How is it that we know intellectually how to take care of ourselves, yet still make choices against it?
The choices you make all stem from your current state of vibration. To feel in alignment with a decision, your current energy has to resonate with what you choose. Change is difficult because when we tell ourselves we should do something, we create a sense of shame. We can have the education and emotional awareness of what is of most value to our lives, but unless we are coming from a place that is inherently choosing to make these healthy choices, they usually won’t last.
Instead, what we need to do is find the root of why choosing the wrong relationship feels right, or why choosing to stay in a job that doesn’t fulfill us brings us comfort. When that underlying issue is fixed, doing what is truly healthy for ourselves will feel natural, and that brings about lasting change. Gaining this self-understanding gives you another perspective as you work toward change. Through working with the chakra system and acknowledging the energies at play, and through using crystals to raise vibration to states of health and harmony, the practices in this book address the underlying culprit in making decisions we know aren’t aligned with our ultimate well-being: neglecting the needs of our energy field.
What’s Your Style?
Each of us has a different intuitive style that can be further developed by working with our flow of energy. Some people are good at visualization, and others are sensitive to sound. When you discover what type of sensitivity you have, use that as a tool to enhance your experience.
One way to determine your sensitivity is to look at what instinctively turns you on. If visual cues such as erotica turn you on, chances are exercises with visualization will be most beneficial to you. If you are a big fan of dirty talk, introducing sound should be a crucial piece of enhancing your practice. Be it touch, smell, or taste, these are all energy enhancers that can be introduced in each exercise to improve your experience. With repetition and intention, these are muscles that can be strengthened over time. Try different things to see what is most useful for you.
BRING YOUR HONEST SELF AND EMBRACEYOUR SENSUAL ENERGY.
Acting It Out
I spent most of my adolescent life in acting school. Acting at its most fundamental is about the actors willingly changing their energy to achieve a desired performance. A truly gifted actor can access their energy and transform it to fit the scene. It is not just about raising the voice or waving the arms to display anger; it is about evoking that energy from a source of inner power.
While performing the exercises in this book, certain instructions may feel foreign or even silly at first. But by “acting” like you feel the energy of your chakras and the crystals, you create the space to actually feel them.
When a skilled actor is performing a scene in which he needs to convey joy or sadness, he will often look for ways in which to actually conjure up this emotion. It is the same principle when it comes to increasing positive energy in your body. You have the resources within you to bring forth what you want to feel, and sometimes a “fake it ’till you make it” attitude is helpful.
Just as an actor does, when you perform an exercise you are reciting the script, being aware of the movements, and bringing up energy that is necessary to experience the objective and make it feel authentic. The better an actor knows the script and blocking, the easier it is to find the essence of the mission of the scene. Just as an actor rehearses to accomplish this, read through the exercises ahead of time and prepare yourself to get started.
Grant Yourself Consent
Before performing any of the self-love practices, create a dialogue with yourself to make sure you feel open to receiving and giving yourself this intimate attention. This creates a bond with your body and your intentions and helps strengthen the trust you have with yourself. Many of us engage in sexual activity before we comprehend the powerful energy that plays a part in it. Learning to consent with ourselves and making sure we are honoring our own boundaries is important for deepening our self-love.
All these exercises can be modified to fit your needs. For example, you may decide not to practice sexual touching and instead focus on the breath and tuning in to your crystal. Listen to yourself and what is right for you. Sometimes it may be right to nudge yourself toward trying something new, and other times it may be right to be patient with yourself as you open to this type of healing. There is no wrong choice here.
ASK FOR AND GRANT YOURSELF CONSENT TO EMBRACE SELF-LOVE.