Category Archives: ritual

Raise Your Vibration

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Nikola-Tesla-quoteMy intent in a large part of this blog is to make integrative holistic knowledge understandable and accessible to anyone. Many people hear of alternative health practices (energetic medicine, essential oils, crystals) and scoff due to the mainstream presentation of these methodologies being woo-woo and conducted by people resembling Professor Trelawney from Harry Potter:Pdahq1_(1)The truth is, these practices have been around a lot longer than modern medicine. They all revolve around the same thing: energy! Everything (and I mean everything) has a frequency. These electrical frequencies are scientifically measurable, empirical phenomena that have major implications. Different things will have different frequencies, and higher frequencies have been correlated to better health in living beings. Scientists have measured the frequencies of people and found definitive frequency ranges for different diseases.

The analogy of keeping food hot because at lower temperatures bacteria starts to grow and thrive is helpful in understanding talk of keeping a person’s frequency high. The same concept applies to frequency; if disease has definitive ranges and thresholds at which it can survive and thrive, by keeping the vibration of the body high you can maintain health and vitality.

So, how can we raise our vibrations? The good news is, everything you do has the potential to raise your vibration. Even the thoughts you think (whether you’re ruminating on something negative or reframing/refocusing on something positive) can have an effect on your vibration. Major shifts in vibration come from putting high vibrational objects into your vibrational field.

One way to raise your vibration is by eating fresh, high frequency foods. As a general rule, the closer a food resembles what is found in nature, the higher the frequency. Dried food and herbs still have frequencies, though lower than fresh. Unfortunately, the “easy” foods we usually reach for, canned and processed foods, have 0 Hz.

Other major ways to increase your frequency include the use of high-frequency crystals and/or essential oils.  When we use an essential oil or bring a crystal into our electromagnetic field, the frequencies of the crystal or oil will vibrate with related frequencies in our own energy field. This effectively creates a third, high frequency energetic field, and raises our vibrations.

Exercise (yoga!), meditation, positive social interaction, expressing gratitude, energy work (Healing Touch, Reiki, chakra work), and positive speech are also some of the ways to keep your vibration high. There’s an interesting article on the power of positivity and its effects on the external  world that outlines some of the physical evidence of the power of vibration. These studies conducted by Dr. Emoto can help some of us more left-brained people wrap our minds around the concept that we have immense power and influence over ourselves and everything around us. Below is a water crystal from Dr. Emoto’s work that had the assigned word of “love.”
Water-Crystal-Dr.-EmotoI hope that this post has helped to explain some of the concepts and tools used in holistic healing in a way that is easy to understand. If you have questions about anything please comment below! Also, I offer many of the services outlined above that can aid in raising your vibration- including yoga, meditation, Healing Touch, chakra work, Reiki, and essential oils. I would love to work with you on a personalized plan to empower you to be your best self ❤

Keeping an Open Heart

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I have been working on creating a recorded yoga series focusing on balancing the chakras. I began with focus on the heart chakra as it is my personal chakra needing the most attention. In writing and practicing my class, I reflected on the journey I have been on in the past year or so, and the struggles I continue to deal with as a result. During my Yoga Teacher Training, my teacher used a quote that really resonated with me:

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This quote has been playing in my head for the past few days, and I have been processing the significance of how much of the negative emotion we struggle with in our heart center is purely from grasping, from ruminating, from closing ourselves up and holding on. I reflected on my worst days, and found this to be absolutely true. When I was in my darkest moments, it was solely due to me getting in my own way; my fear of feeling what was inevitable was blocking the flow of energy and causing me even more distress.

Getting rid of negative emotions is not a healthy goal to strive for; being angry, annoyed, sad, or nervous are natural human responses to situations in life. Balance in life requires the lows as much as the highs, but one does not need to get stuck and suffer longer than is necessary. The trick is to work to keep the heart open,  allow the energy to flow freely, and experience fully the emotions as they move through you. The emotions cannot last longer than  the energy feeding them, so if you sit with them long enough for them to move, you will experience relief.

Emotions linger and escalate when we try to block them. If I tell you not to think about a pink elephant, chances are you’re thinking about a pink elephant right now. If you set your mind to not feeling the anger/sadness/anxiety/fear that is caused by your situation, you’re effectively putting a cork in your heart and bottling that emotion to brew and intensify. By opening your heart, you take the cork out and let the emotion express its way out of your body which can take many forms and only you will know best how to work it out. Follow your impulse (as long as it’s safe): if you feel like you need to cry, cry. If you want to run away, put on your sneakers and go for a run. If you feel like you want to rip the situation up- write it down and tear it to shreds. If you feel like venting, call a safe friend and tell them you just need them to listen without feedback for a few minutes. Do whatever you can to let it out, sit with it, feel it, and then cleanse yourself with a few deep breaths once you feel it slip away.

This process is easier said than done, and I continually work myself to keep myself open. Doing chakra-specific meditations and yoga helps to physically and mentally align the energetic centers of the body. A Reiki energetic healing session can also help in balancing the chakras. You can also simply set an intention to keep an open heart, and be mindful of unintentionally blocking when you feel negative emotions coming on. Finally, you can use this mantra either written where you can see it, mentally, or saying aloud to help to stimulate the heart chakra:

“I am grateful, courageous, and willing to open my heart to unconditional love.”

 

The Importance of Ritual

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This morning I explained my morning routine on Instagram:

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“Morning ritual. I used to wake up with just enough time to get ready and run out the door; usually with a granola bar hanging out of my mouth and half the time spilling tea or coffee everywhere in the rush. This year, I have committed myself to waking up at least an hour earlier to practice yoga and have a relaxed breakfast and journal/planning time with my Desire Map Planner. I was the person who would roll my eyes and say “I’d rather have the extra hour of sleep…” But I find this hour invaluable now. Starting my day in a centered, grounded, and intentional way helps to set me up for a less stressful, more joyful, and more productive day. Try it for yourself for a week, and then keep enjoying it as you won’t want to go back!“

After posting, I continued contemplating the importance of rituals throughout the day, not just in the morning. For my Reiki practice, I begin with a specific prayer to signify to spirit that I am ready to connect and begin the healing process. For my yoga practice, I always start in a seated pose breathing deeply to become fully present, and I always end in savasana, followed by a bow to signify the end of my practice. These ritual cues allow my mind, body, and spirit to shift into and stay present with my different activities.

After considering the practices where I already have rituals, I began to think about other times when a ritual may be useful for getting prepared for a transition. The two that really stood out are my arrival at work and bedtime. For the next week I have decided to incorporate two new rituals to see the difference they make in how I feel. I plan to sit in my car upon arrival to work, close my eyes, and take a few diaphragm breaths to center myself before starting my workday. Before bed, I plan on applying my sleep essential oils, taking a few deep breaths, and mentally reiterating what went well during my day and what I am grateful for. As I said in my post yesterday, I already focus on gratitude in the mornings, but I think it would be excellent practice to begin and end my day in gratitude.

Think about your own life and where a ritual may be beneficial to help you with transitions. Try to incorporate one for a week, and see if you can feel the difference!