Your Spiritual Tool Box for Stress & Anxiety

Whether you’re in full-on crisis mode or wading through a stressful season of life, knowing which direction to turn for relief can feel overwhelming. A quick fix like reaching for a glass of wine or a shopping splurge might help now and then, but it’s not a long-term solution. What tools can you rely on to help keep your cool when things seem to be falling apart around you?

As a new mom to twins and a business owner, stress and anxiety have become part of my norm. Over the last year, I’ve had to put my spiritual tools to work like never before. I believe we all come to the Earth plane with an assortment of battles to accept and overcome to help our souls progress. We’re all fighting battles. The important part is how you walk through it.

Crisis often brings people to spirituality. I’m frequently asked, “ XYZ horrible thing has happened. Where do I begin?” Here are my top go-to tools that I turn to when life feels out of control.

1. Meditation & Mindfulness

Sit. Be still. Heal. When most people reach out to me asking how to ease stress and anxiety through their spiritual practice, they want a crystal suggestion to make everything OK. Sometimes, a crystal just won’t cut it and work better as an ancillary tool.

Meditation and mindfulness are at the top of my list because if you’re practicing them regularly, even five minutes a day, the rest of these tools will come easier.

Sitting in silence may feel incredibly uncomfortable, initially, if you’re going through a stressful season of life. If you haven’t given yourself a moment to process anything that’s happening in your life, of course, your mind is going to be running a mile a minute the moment you sit down.

During stressful times, I find it helpful to look at meditation as more of a time process and purge. Let all of the stuff that’s been running around in your mind run free. Permitting your thoughts to race around will allow you to process things you’ll otherwise keep cycling through over and over.

Once you’ve allowed your mind some time to run free with your worries, you might find a guided meditation helpful. I love all of the guided meditations from Meditation Oasis, and they have a wonderful selection of free meditations, including several specifically for stress and anxiety. You can also check out my Energy Reset Meditations Bundle and other guided meditations here.

Try meditating or sitting in silence for five to ten minutes a day for a week and see how you feel — having a hard time sticking to your meditation practice? Check out this blog post for ways to stick to it.

2. Body Awareness 

Your miraculous body does so much for you during times of stress! Taking time to become aware of your body offers the opportunity to tune into something other than your worries and can give your body a needed release. We store stress and anxiety all over our bodies but often don’t even notice it because we become so used to it. Try this body awareness exercise a few times a week if you’re in the midst of a stressful time.

To become more aware of your body sit or lie down and name each part of your body. Start at your toes and work your way up to the top of your head. You can do this by saying something like “I feel my left big toe” or “I breathe into my right thigh” etc. for each body part. Take a breath for each body part you go over and spend extra time on any parts that feel extra tense. You can make this activity as long or as short as you need. If your time is limited, try doing this activity in the shower or at a stoplight. Even little moments of body awareness can help.

Mudras are another great tool your body offers. Learn more about using mudras during times of stress here.

3. Breathwork

When we’re stuck in worry and fear, our breath often stays high in our chest. Short chest breaths signal to our body that there’s danger nearby. Directing your breath deep into your belly can help break the anxiety cycle and send messages to your body that it’s OK to relax. It also can take a little bit more focus to remember to breathe from your belly, which can give your mind a break too.

Deep belly breaths are a given if you’re meditating or practicing body awareness but can be an invaluable tool when you’re on the run. Running late and stuck in traffic? Have a screaming child in your arms? Whatever your stressor and wherever you’re at your breath is available to you. The hardest part about this tool is remembering that it’s available. You can learn more about breathwork here.

Remember how I said that meditation and mindfulness would help with all of the other tools? If you’re meditating regularly, even five minutes a day, the thought to take deep belly breaths may come to you more readily than if you’re not meditating.

4. Accept the imperfectness 

During times of stress and anxiety, it can be helpful, and sometimes necessary, to shift our expectations of ourselves. We so often compound our anxiety by placing pressure on ourselves to continue to perform at a near-perfect level even if we’re going through a stressful time. Warning, this one can feel the hardest because it often involves letting others see you in a vulnerable state.

Take an honest look at your week, what can you let go of to help you through this challenging time? Can you let go of cooking a few times and eat out? Can you call a friend or family member to ask for help with something you usually do for yourself? Can you take some time off from work to reset?Whether you choose to let some things go or are forced to, accept yourself and your life where it is in the moment, even if it doesn’t look the way you want it to right now. Accepting yourself where you’re at will let you off the hook from unnecessary self-imposed stress.

Working with a mantra can be helpful when working on acceptance. Find a list of mantras and learn more about using them here.

5. Crystals 

Even though crystals may not be a cure-all for working through stress and anxiety, they can still serve a purpose. I like to think of crystals as a physical reminder of the tools I do have during stressful times.

Grounding stones like jasper, obsidian, onyx and smoky quartz are great candidates when it comes to keeping calm during times of stress. Beyond the grounding energy these stones offer, keeping them nearby can remind you throughout your day that you do have tools to help you through times of stress.

For more tips to help you get grounded, check out this blog post all about the root chakra.

I hope these tips make you feel more supported and offer some relief if you’re facing a hard season of life. Know that it will pass and that The Universe wants nothing but the best for you. Your soul is here to learn and grow!

Heart-opening Yoga practice & breathwork to cultivate self-love

Every February, we’re reminded of the love that already exists within us. While there are so many different kinds of love in our lives, it all starts with us: from a place of deep self-love.

In this blog, I’ll be sharing a heart-opening yoga practice and a Kundalini breathwork meditation to help you cultivate self-love.

Kundalini Breathwork meditation

This Kundalini yoga breathwork meditation is said to help give strength to your heart and open up your heart center.

Find a comfortable seat and extend your arms straight out in front of you. You want them to be parallel to the mat with your palms facing down. Close your eyes and focus your inner gaze at the center of your chin. Start to take long, slow, deep breaths, holding your arms steady in front of you.

Hold this breathwork meditation for three minutes. Then, move into our asana practice below.

Yoga practice

This yoga practice is focused on heart-opening yoga poses because heart openers, like the name suggests, help balance and open your heart chakra. Your heart chakra is the center of giving and receiving love in your body. Opening this center helps open you up to a flow of unconditional love within and outside of yourself.

Heart bench

As someone with chronically tight shoulders, heart bench is my favorite restorative pose to start off a yoga practice. For this pose, you’ll need two yoga blocks. If you don’t have blocks, try getting creative with stacks of books or a rolled yoga mat under the shoulders.

You’ll take your first block at either its low or medium height and place it lengthwise along the spine between the shoulder blades, opening the heart. The second block will go under your head at whatever height supports a long neck and open throat.

Breathe into your heart space here, visualizing each inhale sending breath into the chest and each exhale softening, opening, and expanding your heart chakra. Stay here for 3-5 minutes, breathing deeply.

Half-pigeon variation

To transition out of your heart bench, lower all the way onto your back, bend your knees, and press your whole back into your mat. Feel your whole back grounding into the Earth, resetting the spine.

When you feel ready, cross your right ankle over the bottom of the left thigh (right under the knee). Then prop yourself up on your forearms and roll the shoulders back to open the heart as you energetically push your right knee away from you, stretching the hips. Spend a minute or two here, breathing deeply into the heart center, and then repeat on the other side.

Low lunge

Slowly find your way to downward-facing dog and pedal out the feet. When you feel ready, inhale to step your left leg forward. Lower the knee onto a mat or blanket, and create enough space in the hips so that you can really feel a stretch into your right hip flexor. Inhale to lift the arms overhead, bending back into a crescent lunge.

After a few breaths with this arm variation, stack your palms over your heart and breathe into your hands, keeping your back bending.

Stay here for ten more breaths, then repeat on the other side.

Mountain pose flow

From your lunge, step the back leg forward into a forward fold at the top of your mat. Hold opposite elbows to help pull your chest to your thighs and find a few breaths here.

When you feel complete, release your arms and inhale to a flat back, palms to shins or thighs. Exhale to fold forward. Inhale to roll all the way up to stand, reaching up and back. Exhale to fold all the way forward as you chant “YAM” (pronounced YUM), the bija mantra for the heart chakra.

Continue to flow with your breath for at least 10 complete cycles. Let yourself find a rhythm and find softness through the face, the knees, the heart, as you move.

Dancer’s pose

After your last exhale, hold in your favorite version of forward fold for a few more breaths. When you feel complete, inhale to roll up through your spine and find mountain pose with your arms at your sides.

Create a stable foundation by grounding down through your left foot, pressing into all four corners of the foot and through each of the toes. Bend your right knee and take the ankle into the right hand behind you. Inhale to lift your left arm over your head.

Feel free to stay here. If you’d like to go deeper, use your next exhale to slowly kick your right foot back and hinge forward at the hips, opening your heart and your right hip flexor. Stay here for at least 10 breaths. If you find yourself feeling unsteady or falling out of the pose, practice talking to yourself in a loving way and come back into the pose without judgment!

After ten breaths or whenever you feel ready, use an exhale to release everything back down and take the post to your other side.

Cobra pose or upward facing dog

From mountain pose at the top of your mat, fold forward, and step back to downward-facing dog. Inhale to shift forward to plank and exhale to either lower halfway or lower all the way onto the belly. Inhale to lift into cobra or upward facing dog. Stay here for a few breaths, rolling the shoulders back, pressing into the tops of the feet, and firming through the legs. After a few breaths, exhale to shift back to downward-facing dog.

Repeat this sequence one to three times, then stay in downward-facing dog for a few breaths.

Child’s pose

Inhale to lower your knees, and exhale to shift your hips back into your favorite variation of child’s pose. Let this child’s pose be a place of deep presence with yourself — with your breath, with any feelings or thoughts that are coming up to the surface. Practice speaking to yourself lovingly and tending to yourself with care. Stay here for about twenty breaths.

Cat/cow flow

From child’s pose, inhale to lift yourself into tabletop. Start to move through a cat/cow flow with your breath, using your inhale to lift your tailbone and open your heart, and your exhale to round through your spine and tuck your chin. Feel free to add in any other movements that feel good to you, like opening up through the sides of your body or incorporating hip circles.

Heart to Earth pose

When you feel complete in cat/cow, find your way back to a neutral spine. Start to walk your palms out in front of you, keeping your hips stacked over your knees, slowly lowering your chest and forehead all the way to your mat.

This intense pose invites us into a place of deep surrender. Keep your awareness on your breath, sending it into your heart space, and let yourself be with whatever comes up here. Stay here for at least 10 breaths, but feel free to stay longer if that feels right for you.

Bridge pose

Slowly shift back into tabletop and all the way onto your back, bending your knees and planting your feet on your mat. Inhale to slowly lift your hips and lift your arms all the way overhead, backs of palms touching down behind you. Breathe here in this bridge pose variation for 10 breaths, using an exhale to slowly lower your hips and arms back down.

Find a counterpose after you come down by walking your feet wider than hip’s distance and releasing your knees to rest in on each other. Place your palms on your belly and rest here for 5-10 breaths.

Reclining cobbler pose

Find your savasana in reclining cobbler’s pose, bringing the soles of your feet together. Rest one palm on your heart and one palm on your belly, letting yourself rest, relax, and integrate the benefits of your practice. Stay here as long as you like, but make sure you let yourself spend at least three minutes here.

Explore more blogs to help you cultivate self-love here:

• 7 Self-Love Rituals for Valentine’s Day

• The Only 3 Love Spells You’ll Ever Need

• 5 Tips to Open your Heart Chakra and How to Know when it's Blocked

• Attracting Love with Crystal Grids

What is The Soul Star Chakra and How to Connect to it

Have you ever experienced flashes or intuitive nudges about your past lives? If you have, you may have already connected to your soul star chakra. Your soul star chakra is said to be the seat of your soul, even though it’s located above your head. It gets its nickname because it’s your direct connection to your higher self, the Akashic Records, your karmic past, and your past lives.

Think of this chakra as a storage bank for your soul. The soul star chakra carries all of the information for your soul’s past and present purpose for being here.

Generally, this information about your soul isn’t readily available to you in your earthly body unless you accidentally stumbled upon it or inadvertently open your soul star chakra. All of this information is there, present within your energetic body, and can be tapped into with practice.

Where is the soul star chakra located?

Similar to the earth star chakra, the soul star chakra is outside of your physical body and located in your etheric body approximately six inches above your head. It resides within your auric field and is connected to your other chakras. The color of this chakra is up for negotiation. Some say it’s white and golden, while others ascribe a specific color to it. I suggest connecting to this chakra and deciding for yourself what color yours is.

What is the purpose of the soul star chakra?

Activating this chakra will act as a potent chakra balancing tool. Because your soul star chakra is connected to your higher self it is also connected to the light of the universe. This powerful energy can keep your crown chakra open and healthy along with all of your other chakras.

If you’re interested in tapping into your karmic past, past lives, or the Akashic Records, the soul star chakra is the key. Your soul star chakra is the direct link to all of this information. Tapping into your soul’s past may help you better understand fears and challenges in this current lifetime, why you’re being faced with them, and how to overcome them. Another benefit of tapping into your soul’s past is better understanding the relationships and people in your life.

Learning how to engage with information about your past lives and the Akashic Records can be powerful and life-changing. It could also be upsetting and shocking if you’re not ready for it. If you feel uneasy about it or encounter something you weren’t ready for, there are professionals that specialize in past life regression and the Akashic Records that can safely assist you.

As an added benefit, connecting with this chakra will also help support your psychic abilities.

How to connect to the Soul Star Chakra?

There are a variety of methods for connecting with your soul star chakra. Here are some of my favorites to get you started.

Crystals

Try holding any of these crystals in your hands during meditation to connect with your soul star chakra.

• Kyanite: This is a great crystal to use when you’re getting started working with this chakra. Kyanite will help gently cleanse and balance all of your chakras to ensure that your energetic body is in good shape.

• Phenacite: This less common crystal is a powerful one for connecting with all of your upper chakras and especially your higher self. Because this stone is rare it tends to be a larger investment. The other more common gemstones listed below will also prove helpful and you may already have some.

• Selenite: This super cleansing stone can help open up your crown and soul star chakra. Try waving a selenite wand around the top of your head around your soul star chakra and crown chakra to cleanse and open them.

• Clear Quartz: Clear quartz is queen when it comes to balancing all your chakras, and is especially helpful for your upper chakras.

• Lithium Quartz: If you need help calming yourself as you begin your journey with this chakra, this stone has all of the added benefits of clear quartz with the addition of calming energy.

Meditation

Start your journey with curiosity as you become familiar with this chakra. A soul star meditation will be similar to a white light chakra meditation, but with your intentions set on your soul star chakra. Here are steps to perform a meditation for your soul star chakra.

• Find a quiet place to sit and place some of the crystals mentioned above in each of your hands (the crystals are optional).

• Focus on your breathing and begin to imagine a white or golden light about six inches above your head. If you feel this ball of light wants to take on a specific color, go with it.

• Imagine a beam of white light from the universe zooming down to meet your soul star chakra. Once the beam of light connects to your soul star chakra imagine it growing brighter with every breath.

• Ask to be connected to your soul star chakra. If you work with any guides or angels this is a good time to call on their support.

• If you feel called to, repeat the mantra “I am divine light” or “I am love” during the meditation.

• Once you feel connected to your soul star chakra imagine the light from it radiating to the rest of your chakras balancing them and restoring them.

• Close this meditation slowly and thoughtfully by imagining the white light slowly retreating back to the universe. You can continue to envision your soul star chakra glowing above your head throughout your day.

Practice this meditation a few times, or until you feel comfortable, before asking to be shown information about your past lives or karmic history.

Have a healthy crown chakra

Because your soul star chakra links directly to your crown chakra it’s important to ensure that your crown chakra is healthy and balanced. If your crown chakra is blocked you may have a difficult time accessing your soul star chakra. Feeling stuck? Check out this blog post to find out if your crown chakra needs some attention.

Want to learn more about the basic chakra system? Understanding Chakras Book offers tools and information about your chakras.

How to Balance Your Throat Chakra & Know When It's Blocked

When your throat chakra, Visuddha, is balanced, you’re able to speak your authentic truth from a place of love. You set loving and firm boundaries, and stick by them. You’re able to find your voice and share your unique gifts with the world. You trust that what needs to come through you will come, and you don’t get stuck in self-judgment or self-doubt wondering if you should or shouldn’t say something.

So many of us get blocked at our throat chakra. When your throat chakra is blocked, it may show up as:

• Holding back from saying what you’re thinking and feeling

• Not standing up for yourself

• Not having strong boundaries

• Being afraid to be seen for who you are

• Having a sore throat, neck pain, or hoarseness in your throat

• Fear of being judged for what you say

• Having trouble listening to others

• Always needing to have the last word

Scroll down to look through some simple tips for opening your throat chakra.

Featured card from The Ritual Deck

Yoga Poses

Any yoga pose that stretches your throat is going to be really opening for Visuddha. Try one of my favorites below!

Upward-facing dog

Lift your chin and breathe deeply into your throat space. Try holding this pose for a few breaths instead of just flowing through it on your way from plank to downward facing dog.

Heart-to-Earth pose

Try heart-to-earth pose coming onto your chin instead of your forehead. This is a really deep stretch, so have blocks or blankets nearby to help you if you need them!

Camel pose

If your neck is healthy, try releasing your head instead of keeping your chin tucked. Bring your awareness to your breath flowing through your throat, dissolving any blockages.

Crystals

Working with crystals can be a beautiful tonic for your throat chakra. Try laying on your back and placing one of these crystals on your throat, sleeping with them by your pillow, or simply meditating holding one of them in your non-dominant hand.

• Sodalite to help you express yourself, set boundaries, and grow your self-worth and self-esteem

• Celestite to promote peace and soothe anxiety

• Lapis lazuli to help you communicate effectively

Scents

Plants are here for us as medicine, so let’s use them. Pick your favorite essential oil (or two, or three!) from the list below and diffuse it, make a rollerball to use on your skin, or put drops in your bath.

• Jasmine for greater communication

• Clary sage to allow energy to flow more freely through your body

• Cypress for transformation and renewal

• Eucalyptus to promote inner freedom and expansiveness

Work with Tarot Archetypes

Queen of Swords and King of Swords can be your inspiration for opening your throat chakra. The Queen of Swords helps you do the inner work you need to understand why your throat chakra is blocked, and the King of Swords reminds you that you do have something unique to share and that what you have to offer can only come through you.Try this Queen of Swords inspired tarot spread to help you understand why you might be energetically blocked in this area:

• What am I afraid will happen if I speak my truth?

• The wound or shadow underneath this blockage

• Advice for healing this blockage

• Why am I afraid to set boundaries?

• The wound or shadow underneath this blockage

• Advice for healing this blockage

• Mantra for working with the throat chakra

Journal about anything that comes up for you as you pull these cards. Place the Queen of Swords and King of Swords on your altar to remind you to speak your truth.

Meditate

I find that the heart chakra and throat chakra are so connected. If your heart space is closed, you’ll feel disconnected from your truth and not even sure what boundaries need to be set, so how can you speak your truth and set boundaries?

Try coming to a comfortable seat, closing your eyes, and placing one hand on your heart and one hand on your throat. Send your breath to your heart space, simply visualizing it arriving there and filling your entire heart with prana, life force energy.

When your heart feels full, begin to send your breath to your throat. Visualize your breath flooding this area, dissolving any blockages with love. Continue breathing into your throat space for as long as you feel you need.

You can also use this guided meditation to balance your throat chakra

Affirmations & Mantras

The bija mantra for the throat chakra is ham (pronounced “hum”). Try chanting that mantra, silently or out loud (out loud is super powerful!), or work with one of the affirmations below:

• I speak my truth with love

• I set firm boundaries easily

• I clearly state my needs

• My truth is love

• I speak my feelings easily

• I claim and honor my truth

• I release judgment over what I did or didn’t say

Play with Color

The color associated with the throat chakra is blue. Try incorporating this color into your life more! Some ideas to spark your creativity:

• Paint with different shades of blue

• Eat blue foods such as blueberries, blackberries, and plums

• Write in a blue journal with a blue pen

• Light blue candles

• Wear blue clothing

7 Tips for Psychic Protection

Once you open yourself up to working on your psychic abilities you’ll probably notice that you’re more in tune with subtle energies all around you. This is great most of the time but can also be troublesome when it’s negative or unwelcomed energy.

When you’re honing your psychic abilities it’s important that you learn ways to cleanse yourself after challenging psychic work, ground yourself, and protect yourself from unwanted energies.

In fact, you should perform some sort of psychic protection ritual anytime you perform an intuitive or psychic act. Leaving yourself so open may be seen as a welcome mat for negative energy and spirits.

I’m going to share simple and effective techniques with you so you’re able to protect yourself in a way that won’t block you off from all the positive effects of your newfound psychic abilities!

First, let’s cover some clues to know if you’ve ever experienced any negative side effects from doing psychic work. Keep reading for some common signs.

Have you experienced negative side effects from performing psychic work?

It’s true that there are many reasons you could experience the symptoms below. To be sure it was from practicing your psychic abilities, pay attention to your mood and emotional status on days you’ve been performing any psychic work.

• You feel anxious, nervous, or restless like you can’t focus on anything. This may indicate that you need to ground yourself more before practicing psychic work.

• You feel a heavy cloud of negativity for no reason at all that you can’t shake. This could mean that you picked up some negative energy from a lower-level spirit while performing psychic work.

• You feel a wave or attack of pessimistic thoughts about yourself. This might mean you’ve left yourself too open and receptive to others and are experiencing a psychic attack. People can knowingly or unknowingly psychically attack you.

• You’re receiving messages all the time and feel distracted and overwhelmed by them. This indicates that you need to learn techniques to better control when and how you receive psychic information. If you’re empathic, you likely identify with this!

How to protect yourself during psychic work

Shield Meditation

Create a psychic shield around yourself before practicing any psychic work or at the start of each day. If you’re very sensitive to the thoughts and energy of others you’ll find this tool very helpful! One popular meditation shielding technique is a white light meditation.To perform a white light shielding meditation, sit, close your eyes, get comfortable, and begin by focusing on your breath. Imagine your crown chakra (located right above your head) bright, white, and growing bigger with every breath. Next, imagine a cord of light stretching from your crown chakra out of your room, and out into the stars above you. With each inhale imagine light from this cord coming to your crown chakra and with each exhale visualize this white light creating a glowing white shield around your body. Continue this meditation until your shield is complete. You can visualize your shield anytime throughout the day as a reminder that you’re protected.

Crystals

There are a variety of protective stones available to you. The most effective are usually dark or black in color. Try having one near any time you practice psychic work or simply carry one around with you throughout your day for added protection. Here’s a short list of some of the most effective protective stones:

• Fire Agate: This stone is especially helpful at shielding you from negative thoughts from others and psychic attacks.

• Black Tourmaline: This stone is helpful at blocking negative energy of all kinds, it is also very grounding.

• Hematite: This stone is great for protecting and balancing your auric field. It is especially helpful for empaths and psychics who feel other people’s energy.

• Obsidian & snowflake obsidian: This stone does wonders for releasing and letting go of negative thoughts and energy. This stone will come in handy if you’ve picked up negative energy from a darker spirit and you’re having a hard time getting rid of it.

Salt

Cleanse, practice, repeat! Cleansing the energy of yourself and your workspace is key while doing psychic work and salt is a super simple and powerful protector and cleanser. Like I mentioned above, by opening yourself up, you may also be opening yourself up to some lower-level energy.Here are a few ways to use salt as a protective and cleansing tool:

• Create a mixture of salt and water to spray around the perimeter of your home and around yourself.

• You can also just sprinkle some salt around your house, this doesn’t work as well for cleansing yourself though!

• Cleanse your psychic tools (oracle cards, tarot cards, pendulum, etc.) in a bowl of salt (no water for this one!) every once in a while to keep them energetically sound.

• Take a salt bath! This is not only relaxing but will help wash away any negative vibes you’ve picked up.

Recruit the help of your favorite angels, guides & deities

This is a super powerful psychic protection technique that’s often overlooked. Your guides, angels, and beloved deities are always at the ready to help and protect you, but you have to ask! Place a picture or a reminder of some kind of your guides, favorite angles, or respected deities in your workspace, this will serve as a reminder to call upon them for assistance and protection during psychic work.

Ground yourself

One issue with honing your psychic abilities is that you may start to feel flighty and restless like you don’t belong here on the physical plane. Bad news, you’re still needed here and you can’t take off just yet! If you feel like your head is in the clouds call upon the nurturing and protective energy of Gaia after opening yourself up psychically. Click here to check out a previous blog post with lots of tips for getting grounded.

Cleansing Smoke

There are a variety of plants and herbs that can help cleanse your space and yourself. Bonus, some of them smell great too! Giving yourself a quick smoke bath in your favorite cleansing herb is a great way to “wash off” any residual negative energy from something you picked up while out or during a psychic reading. Click here to learn more about making your own cleansing smoke stick and which herbs are best suited for protection.

Prayer, mantra & positive affirmations

Super simple but very powerful, this is another protection technique that is often overlooked. The simple act of taking a few quiet moments to recite a prayer of protection can go a long way. Similar to asking your guides and angels for help, simply speaking it aloud and asking for what you need will help a lot. Here are some suggested mantras and positive affirmation to use during psychic work:

• I am safe and protected.

• I am surrounded by white protective light.

• I open myself up to only the highest beings of love and light.

• My guides and angels are always protecting me.

Try a variety of these tools out to know which ones work best for you. You might find that all seven bring some extra brightness into your day!

How to Open Your Crown Chakra & Know When it’s Blocked

Your crown chakra, known as Sahasrara in Sanskrit, is the highest of the seven chakras in the traditional chakra system. It’s located on the crown of your head and is the center of your connection with the Universe and with your highest self.It’s where you’re able to channel messages from the divine, access higher states of consciousness, and deeply trust the Universe. An open crown chakra helps you connect with something greater than yourself, experience the interconnectedness of all beings, and know that you are truly taken care of by an abundant, loving Universe.When your crown chakra is blocked, it may manifest as:

• Feeling disconnected from the Universe

• Feeling disconnected from magic

• Experiencing loneliness

• Feeling like life is meaningless

• Disconnection from your spiritual side

• Experiencing migraines and headaches

• Strong attachment to material possessions and achievements

If any of those sounds like you, don’t worry. Our chakras are ever fluid, just like us, and they can change from day to day. Scroll down to get eight ways to unblock your crown chakra and experience a connection with the divine.

Slow down

Are you stuck in the “grind?” Waking up, going to work, taking care of all the necessary human things in life but not tending to your inner world?The first thing you can do to open your crown chakra is to simply give it space to breathe by carving out more time in your day to just be. To read a good book, take a salt bath, or take a leisurely walk with the purpose of just experiencing the pleasure of the outdoors rather than getting somewhere.

Do a ritual

Maybe it’s been a while since you sat at your sacred space and made time for magick. That’s okay! Open your crown chakra by doing a ritual that is meaningful to you, or try this simple one.You’ll need:

• Purple candle

• Pen

• Piece of paper

On your paper, write “I connect with the Universe” or a similar phrase. Create a sigil out of the phrase by removing all of the repeating letters and vowels, and connecting the lines together into a symbol.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Cassie Uhl (@cassieuhl)

Breathe that intention into your sigil. Take a moment to visualize how you will feel when your crown chakra is open and energy is flowing freely.

Then, light your candle, and burn your sigil over it as you continue to focus on your intention. You might like to say, “As I burn this paper, I connect with the Universe.”

You can rewrite your sigil on another page and place it on your altar as an ongoing prayer to the Universe.

Affirmations

The crown chakra is not associated with a bija (seed) mantra like the rest of your chakras. Try meditating on one of the affirmations below instead.

• I am deeply connected with the Universe

• I trust the flow of the Universe

• I am a channel for divine wisdom

• I am a channel for divine light

• I am always open to receiving messages from the Universe

• I am magic

• I am light

• I am a deeply spiritual being

Use scents

Try using one or more of the oils below on your skin, in your bath, or in a diffuser to open Sahasrara:

• Frankincense for tranquility and meditation

• Vetiver to connect with the divine and your own spiritual nature

• Sandalwood to quiet your mind and ego

• Helichrysum to help you access higher spiritual states

• Palo Santo for healing, purification, and opening up to higher spiritual realms (be sure it comes from a sustainable and ethical source)

Learn more about balancing your chakras with aromatherapy and crystals from this past blog post.

Meditate

Find a comfortable seat and lengthen your spine from your tailbone to your crown. Start to breathe deeply, focusing on sending your breath to a white flower at the crown of your head.

As you continue to breathe, visualize this flower blossoming open, opening the crown of your head as a channel to the Universe, letting the bright white light of the divine enter your energy field.

When you feel complete, close with a deep breath in and a long breath out of your mouth.

You can also try one of our guided meditations here.

Crystals

Try working with rutilated quartz, clear quartz, sugilite, selenite, or amethyst to help you open your crown chakra. Meditate with them, place them on your altar or by your pillow while you sleep, and journal with them to see what comes up around what’s blocking your crown chakra.

Yoga poses

As we move up the spine to the higher chakras, they become more affected by meditation than by physical postures. But there are still some yoga poses you can use to open Sahasrara:

Headstand

This pose directly activates your crown chakra. It restores the flow of energy in your body and inverts the flow of blood towards your crown. If you have trouble balancing in headstand, try doing this pose against the wall— you’ll still get the benefits!

Savasana

The most important yoga pose. As you come into savasana, set your intention to open your crown chakra. Then remind yourself that it is safe to relax completely, and release into your savasana.

Half or full lotus pose

Lotus pose helps balance the body and mind, helping you tap into higher consciousness. Find a comfortable seat, and start in half lotus. If you’d like to go deeper, try the full version.

Pray

Send a simple prayer into the Universe: “Please help me connect with you. I am open and willing to receive messages.” Try saying this prayer or a similar prayer that resonates with you each morning when you wake up.

Yoga for the Dark Moon

I love the dark moon.

The dark moon is all about resting (think four of swords in the tarot), taking care of yourself, and shedding anything that still needs to be released this cycle.

The name of the game at the dark moon is soft, slow, and gentle. There’s no need to push yourself. What would make you feel good at this time? What would nurture your body, mind, and soul?

A yin yoga practice is so lovely at this time of the month. The practice below focuses on gentle opening and a little twisting to help you sink into your body and breath. You’ll want to hold each of the poses for 3-5 minutes and let yourself really relax into them.

Grab your own moon phase ritual cards including the dark moon card featured above by clicking here.

I invite you to use a mantra or affirmation that speaks to you during this practice: a simple and beautiful one is Soham, or “I am.” This affirmation brings you right into the present moment and allows you to be still with what is.

Get into something comfy, and grab your blocks, a blanket, a pillow, essential oils, and whatever else would make this practice really nourishing for you. Turn on your favorite yoga playlist, light some candles, and roll out your mat.

Cobbler’s pose

Sit up on a block or blanket, and bring the soles of your feet together. Bring your hands to your feet, and give yourself a little foot massage. Rub your feet, your ankles, your calves, and if you feel like getting wild you can make your way up to your neck and shoulders, too! If you’re using essential oils, you can incorporate them here. A simple warming sesame oil would also work.

Shoulder opener

Laying on your belly, stretch your left arm out to your side and roll onto your left cheek. Bring your right palm under your right shoulder and roll onto your left hip. You can stay here, or you might like to go a little deeper by bending your right leg and planting your right foot behind you, and wrapping your right arm around your back.

Stay here with your breath for 3-5 minutes. Then come back to center and repeat on your right side.

Half frog

On your belly, stretch your arms out to a T and roll onto your left cheek. Open your right knee out to your side, stretching it out even with your hip if you can. If your knee is sensitive, slide your blanket under it. Allow yourself to be supported in this pose, and remind yourself that it is safe to relax completely.

After 3-5 minutes, shift back to center and over to the other side.

Cat cow

As you breathe through each movement of flexing and rounding your spine, visualize your breath flowing up and down your spine all the way from your tailbone to the crown of your head. Make this dynamic pose your own by taking circles or figure eights with your hips, stretching through your side body, coming onto your fingertips to get deeper into your back, or coming back for a child’s pose. What is your body craving here? Let your breath take you there.

Child’s pose

Try bringing your big toes together and knees wide, and roll a blanket or place a pillow between your legs. Release your chest and forehead onto your makeshift bolster. If you need to, feel free to turn your head to one side. Just make sure you turn it to the other side after a few minutes!

Heart Bench

Set up your blocks at two different heights at the top of your mat: the low and medium setting, or the medium and high setting. The second block should be vertical (long like your mat) and the first block at the very top of your mat should be horizontal.

Lower your back onto your blocks, first setting the second block up to run along your spine and end under your shoulder blades. The first block will come to the base of your skull, supporting your head and neck.

Bring the soles of your feet together and knees wide, and both palms to your belly. Breathe deeply into your belly, noticing how it feels to really expand in this area where we so often try to shrink and contract.

Let your awareness melt away after a few moments, and completely relax into this pose.

Supine Twist

Hug your knees to your chest and guide both knees over to one side, stretching out your opposite arm and turning your head in that direction. If there is a gap between your knees, it could feel good to slide a block between them. After 3-5 minutes, switch to the other side.

In this twist, bring your awareness to anything you’d still like to shed or release this cycle. With each exhale, visualize it leaving your body, mind, and soul.

Savasana

Even if you’re tempted, don’t skip savasana! This is the most important part of any yoga practice, especially with the dark moon. Get cozy here with any combination of pillows and blankets that feels good to you. You might like to put a pillow under your head, a rolled blanket under your knees, or even take a grounding crone savasana on your belly with each shoulder resting on a block. Stay here for 5 minutes or longer, allowing yourself to really rest. If you have plenty of time, find a yoga Nidra meditation to play.

After you finish your practice, you might like to take out your journal and write about anything that came up for you here.

6 Ways to Connect with Goddess Kali Ma

There are many different stories about the Hindu goddess Kali Ma, and she is often thought of as something to be afraid of: a goddess of death and violence.

Kali isn’t about death or evil. She is about transformation, and as the counterpart of Shiva the destroyer she brings death to ego and attachment, not physical death or war.

She brings death and transformation that creates enlightenment and freedom. She can also be seen as the fierce, divine feminine, warrior energy, a manifestation of Shakti.

She can be scary because she brings change. She’s asking you to up-level, to evolve. And your ego never wants to be released. It wants to stay in control and run the show.

She reminds us that everything in life is a cycle: the old must be cleared out for the new to come in. Change brings your evolution. Birth and death are natural cycles of life, and we must allow them to happen.

When to Connect with Kali

When you’re stuck in fear and attachment, call on Kali.

When you’re afraid to move out of your comfort zone, to step into the unknown and into the mystery, she’s your goddess.

When you’re afraid to stand in your power, call on Kali.

When you’re struggling to release that which you know you need to release, call on Kali.

How to Connect with Kali

Mantra

Om krim kalikayai namah is the Kali mantra, meaning I bow my head to the Goddess Kali. It’s even more powerful if you chant it each day for several days in a row.

Meditate with her image

Print her picture out from the internet, buy a small statue of her, or create your own image. If you don’t want to do any of those things, you can also hold her image in your mind.

Bring one palm to your heart center and one palm to your belly, and ask yourself what message Kali has for you today.

Sit in silence, breathing deeply and holding her image in your mind, and allow any messages to come through.

Create a Kali altar

Make an altar dedicated to Kali (a perfect place to chant your Kali mantra and meditate with her image!) to create a physical representation of what she means to you. Some things you might like to include are:

• Physical symbols of what you’re ready to release

• The Wheel of Fortune tarot card

• The Death tarot card

• An image of Kali

• The 4 Queen tarot cards

• Snowflake obsidian, smoky quartz, or petrified wood to release old belief systems and thought patterns

• Rutilated quartz to facilitate change

• Tree agate to help you stay calm and grounded

Tarot spread

Use this tarot spread to understand your relationship with Kali. Draw 1-3 cards for each of the questions below, and note down your interpretations.

• What holds me back from embracing change?

• What does my ego tell me about change?

• What can I do right now to create space for change in my life?

• What message does my highest self have for me about embracing Kali’s energy?

• What might I experience if I embrace Kali’s energy?

• What might I experience if I don’t embrace Kali’s energy?

Cards are from the Journey Tarot Deck 

Journaling

Break out your journal and free-write to these questions:

• How do you feel about change right now?

• Think about a time when you resisted change. What happened? How did you feel?

• Think of a time when you listened to your intuition and allowed change to flow. What happened? How did you feel?

• Where are you being invited to release and evolve?

• What makes you feel safe to evolve? What other things have to be happening in your life to make you feel okay to release?

Intuitive movement

I recommend putting on your favorite music, whatever it is, and letting loose. Try shaking every part of your body, flexing your spine, swaying your hips, and maybe flowing through some yoga poses.

Go into this without an agenda, and ask Kali to guide your movement. As you move, notice how each sensation feels in your body.

What other ways do you connect with Kali? Let us know on Instagram!

Ways to Connect to Your Divine Feminine Energy (And Why You Should)

Divine feminine energy has a lot of names: yin, lunar, shakti, and passive, to name a few.

But they’re all the same thing. Divine feminine energy is the goddess energy within. It’s the energy of flow, of being, of intuition, of the moon.

Every human, regardless of gender, has both divine feminine and divine masculine (solar, yang, shiva) energy within them. Much of our modern culture focuses on the divine masculine: doing, pushing, producing, going.

Just like yin and yang, you need both energies: they complement each other. But sometimes you can get so caught up in your divine masculine that you forget to nurture the divine feminine, too, and you suffer.

You miss out on your intuition, on compassion, self-love, presence, and just simply being in silence.

Imagine the radical revolution in the world if more people moved from that divine feminine space. Imagine if more people were connected to their intuition, loved themselves deeply, lived compassionately, and allowed themselves to be present.

That can happen, and it starts with you—as within, so without.

Connecting to your divine feminine is always important, but especially this month. Your divine feminine energy reminds you that you are whole, that everything you desire is within you, and that you are worthy of love from yourself and from others.

Read through the list below to get some ways to connect to your divine shakti.

Pranayama

It all starts with your breath. Chandra Bhedana (Moon-Piercing Breath) is a version of alternate nostril breathing that connects you to lunar energy by inhaling only through your left nostril and exhaling through your right.

For this breath, find a comfortable seat. Bring your thumb and middle fingers to third eye center. Close your right nostril with your thumb to inhale through your left nostril, then close your left nostril with your right and pinky fingers to exhale through your right nostril.

Continue to breathe this way for at least twenty rounds of breath. Inhaling in through only your left nostril activates your lunar energy (which runs on the left side of your body) and exhaling only through your right nostril releases your solar energy (which runs on the right side of your body).

Yoga Poses

Divine feminine yoga is all about connecting with your intuition, creating, and being present. Allow yourself to get on your mat with no expectations, listen to your body, and get creative with a flow.

The poses below are some ideas to help you connect with lunar energy. Use them as a starting point for your own creativity!

Fetal position on your right side. The first yoga pose. Not only does this pose help you feel safe and cozy, but it also activates your lunar energy by having your left side only facing up.

Child’s pose, Balasana. Use this gentle pose to offer yourself some nourishment. Get still, get quiet, and be present.

Half moon pose, Ardha Chandrasana. Cultivate balance, a deep sense of confidence, and creativity completely grounded in your divine feminine in this pose.

Pigeon pose, Eka Pada Rajakapotasana. Breathe and allow yourself to feel everything you need to feel in this more intense hip-opener. Let any emotions that you need to release here release, and surrender them to your breath.

Crescent lunge, Anjaneyasana. Crescent lunge is part of Chandra Namaskar, moon salutations. Incorporate a mudra like one of the ones below to make it extra powerful.

Tarot Card Pull

Each of the questions below will give you insight into your relationship with your divine feminine. Get quiet, open your mind, and pull a card for any or all of these questions.

• How can I create more flow in my life today?

• How can I open my heart chakra?

• How can I open my third eye chakra?

• How can I connect with my divine feminine energy?

• What is holding me back from connecting with my divine feminine?

• What is my relationship with my divine feminine?

• What is my relationship with my divine masculine?

The archetypes from the major arcana that most represent the divine feminine energy are the High Priestess (deep intuitive understanding) and the Empress (deep connection with feminine energy manifesting as creativity, fertility, abundance, and sensuality).

Mantra Meditation

The Kundalini "Adi Shakti" mantra is said to tune you into the frequency of the energy of the divine feminine, eliminate fears and fulfill desires, get you in touch with your own power, and become Shakti, the feminine energy of the Universe.

Adi Shakti, Adi Shakti, Adi Shakti, Namo NamoSarab Shakti, Sarab Shakti, Sarab Shakti, Namo NamoPritham Bhagvati, Pritham Bhagvati, Pritham Bhagvati, Namo NamoKundalini Mata Shakti, Mata Shakti, Namo Namo

Chant this mantra as many times as you’d like, and then sit in silence for a few moments to allow yourself to feel the change in your vibration.

Crystals

Some of the best crystals for connecting with your divine feminine are:

• Labradorite, for intuition, self-discovery, and universal harmony

• Kunzite, to open your heart chakra and connect with the element of water to create more flow

• Rose quartz, to open your heart chakra and remind you of your capacity to both give and receive unconditional love

• Selenite, to access your inner goddess and connect with Shakti

• Peridot, to create abundance and flow by channeling Lakshmi’s manifesting power

• Moonstone, to connect with the energy of the moon and with your intuition

• Amazonite, to balance both the masculine and feminine energies within you

Mudra

Mudras, hand gestures or “seals,” can be a powerful way to shift your energy. Click here to learn more about how mudras work with the elements of the hands and the gunas to create different energies.

Yoni Mudra. Use yoni mudra to quiet your mind, connect to your divine feminine energy, and call on the energy of the goddesses.

Bring your palms together with your fingers pointing down. Open your palms up into an upside-down triangle with your thumbs as the base. Then turn your pinky, ring, and middle fingers in so that the backs of the fingers are touching and thumbs are pointing slightly upward.

Kali mudra. This mudra invokes the power of this fierce goddess of destruction and transformation. Kali mudra is a beautiful reminder that the divine feminine can be a fierce force for change.

Interlace your fingers in front of you, placing your left thumb over right. Lengthen your index fingers, press them together, and point them away from you.

Trimurti mudra. Use trimurti mudra to flow and connect with your inner healer.

Place both palms flat on your navel with fingers facing down, and bring them into a triangle pointing to your toes with tips of thumbs and index fingers touching.

Pay Attention to the Cycles of the Moon

Like the moon, you go through phases. Knowing the cycles of the moon and your own corresponding cycles helps deepen your connection to lunar energy and the divine feminine.

Scents & Herbs

Use the herbs and scents below in a variety of ways: to burn, drink, or soak in as herbs or to diffuse or roll on your skin as oils.

• Dried violet, to stimulate creativity

• Brahmi, to calm and cool your mind

• Hibiscus, to assist you in psychic growth and promote tranquility

• Lavender, to soothe, calm, and promote the energy of being

• Rose-hips, to promote healing, compassion, and self-love

• Juniper, to connect with your inner wisdom

Click here to get an herbal bath recipe to connect with your divine feminine.

I hope you find some tools within this blog that you can use regularly to connect to this energy. You certainly don’t have to do all of these to connect with the energy of the divine feminine. Do what feels good and calls out to you! I hope you feel more in tune with the divine feminine energy that’s already within you.

7 Self-Love Rituals for Valentine’s Day

It’s that time of year where everything is about love, but the most important thing you can remember about love is this: Love is not outside of you.

Love is within you. Love is your divine nature.

It’s easy to forget that, but it’s true. The rituals below will help you connect to the love already within you, and most importantly give it to yourself.

For all of these rituals, you might like to incorporate:

• Rose quartz, to open your heart chakra

• Clear quartz, to amplify the energy

• Myrrh incense, a healing scent associated with feminine energy, the moon, and the water element

Try just one of these rituals, or try them all throughout the month. Each of these rituals will be more powerful the more you do them, so find one you like and make it part of your routine this month.

Create Something

Nothing gets the energy of love flowing like creativity. Do a coloring meditation, make a vision board, cook a nourishing meal, write a poem, paint with watercolors, play an instrument, or create your own yoga flow.

Whatever you’d like to do, create a sacred space and tap into your creative energy.

Get this coloring page here

Here's also a fun idea for a self-love ritual where you can play with your creativity:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Cassie Uhl (@cassieuhl)

Tarot or Oracle Card Spread

Tarot and oracle cards are amazing magical tools for self-reflection and connecting with your intuition. Try this three-card spread with your favorite deck:

1. What is holding me back from loving myself right now?

2. What might I experience if I give myself the love I desire?

3. How can I deepen my love for myself?

Don't know how to get started? Check out this blog post for tarot, or this post for the ultimate tarot guide. If you feel called to try oracle cards check out this blog post.

Burning Ceremony

What holds you back from loving yourself more? What limiting beliefs do you hold onto that keep you small? What things about yourself do you struggle to love? What parts of yourself do you hide from yourself and from the world because deep down you believe in their unworthiness?

Get quiet, get your journal, and allow a stream-of-consciousness type of writing to flow until you feel like you’ve got it all out on the page.

Once you’ve poured your heart out, light a single white candle and hold your paper over the flame. Allow the negative energy, limiting beliefs, and your dislike for any part of yourself to burn up with the page.

Then, free-write to these questions: What do I love about myself? What is amazing about me? What am I grateful for? What parts of myself am I working on loving?

When you’re done, place this page on your altar and return to it anytime you feel those sticky, negative beliefs trying to creep back in.

Write a Self-Love Mantra

Writing your own self-love mantra is incredibly powerful because while there are many beautiful affirmations and mantras for self-love, you are unique and your journey with self-love is unique.

Write your own mantra that tells you exactly what you need to hear. Something kind, nonjudgmental, and compassionate that you might say to your sister or your best friend to let them know that you love them and they’re not alone.

Say it to yourself.

Write it on your mirror, on a piece of paper to tuck in your bag or place on your altar, or paint it in a picture (see ritual #1!), and return to it whenever you need it. Learn more about embracing the power of mantras here.

Heart Chakra Meditation

Inhale deeply into your heart chakra. Exhale out of your mouth, releasing all that doesn’t serve you. As you inhale, visualize a bud of green light glowing in your chest, blossoming bigger and brighter with each inhale as you strengthen this chakra. Allow the unconditional love to wash over you with your breath. If you'd like a guided meditation, you can click here for a meditation bundle done by me.

Herbal Bath for Self-Love

Turn bath into a ritual by using herbs, lighting candles, and playing whatever music or sounds help you relax and turn inward.

Try using rose-hips, lavender, elecampane, and balm of gilead to promote self-love. Rose-hips promote healing, compassion, and self-love. Lavender balances and calms while elecampane opens the heart chakra. Balm of gilead promotes love and helps you manifest your desires.

Simply fill a muslin bag with about a third of a cup of the herbs, loop the bundle onto the faucet, and let your tub fill with hot water as it runs through the bag. When it finishes filling, drop the bag into the water and let it infuse with the herbs for about 20 minutes.

For an extra dose of self-love, add a rose quartz crystal to your bath. For more herbal bath recipes, check out this blog post.

Create a Goddess Altar

Creating a goddess altar is a beautiful way to honor the divine feminine energy of the universe and the divine feminine energy within. Make this altar your own! Buy a statue of a Goddess who resonates with you, or just print out a photo online. If you’re not sure which Goddess you’d like to use, do some research! What Goddess energy would help you love yourself more? Some suggestions are:

• Greek Goddess Aphrodite for love, gratitude, and beauty

• Hindu Goddess Lakshmi for abundance and wealth

• East Asian Goddess Kuan Yin for mercy and compassion

• Hindu Goddess Kali for destruction, creation, and transformation

• Greek Goddess Artemis for independence, strength, and fearlessness

• Egyptian Goddess Isis for magic, healing, and protection

• Greek Goddess Athena for wisdom and courage

• Sumerian, Babylonian, and Phoenician goddess Inanna for sensuality and divine femininity in all its forms

Once you choose your goddess, add a white candle, incense, and maybe a cloth to your altar. Choose some objects that represent love to you and ask for help loving yourself. You can also put fresh flowers or a piece of fruit on your altar as an offering to the Goddess.

Goddesses are beautiful archetypes and energies to work with because they remind you that you, too, have this energy within you. You possess the abundance of Lakshmi, the compassion of Kuan Yin, the magic of Isis, and the transformative energy of Kali.

How to Balance your Solar Plexus Chakra

Do you feel worthy of love and comfortable setting boundaries? Do you feel a sense of peace and understanding in taking action on things you can control and allowing things you have no control over to happen?

When your solar plexus, or Manipura, chakra is open and balanced, you experience a strong sense of authentic power, and use that power to make a difference in the world. You fully understand your worth and have healthy self-esteem and self-confidence.

This chakra, located right above the navel, is also where the ego lives. It is the seat of fire in the body, overseeing your emotions, motivating you to achieve your goals, and governing your self-esteem and self-discipline.

But like any other chakra, this chakra can become unbalanced.

Signs that your solar plexus chakra is unbalanced:

1. You feel powerless or like a victim.

2. You often feel anxious and insecure.

3. You either feel the need to control and manipulate everything or you let others control you.

4. You experience frequent stomach or lower back pain.

5. You feel like you have to give your power away in order to keep the peace.

6. You have addictive tendencies and tend to form co-dependent relationships.

The good news is there are many simple ways to balance the solar plexus chakra. Use one tip or combine several, and find what works for you to get you back to a place of authentic power and control.

10 Ways to Open the Solar Plexus Chakra

Get Outside

The solar plexus chakra is associated with the color yellow and the element fire, so getting outside in the sun can be a big help. Try doing one of the tips below outside, like yoga or meditation, go rock climbing, go for a hike, or simply take a walk around the neighborhood.

Drink Tea

Ginger, chamomile, and mint all work well to open this chakra.

Yoga

Poses that light a fire in the belly— aka focus on the core— are perfect for balancing Manipura. Try Boat Pose, Warrior 2, or a series of Sun Salutations to light that Agni.

Pranayama

Speaking of fire, “breath of fire” or Agni Sara pranayama can help balance the solar plexus chakra. It is similar to kappalabhati breathing, but both inhales and exhales are forceful. The idea is to contract and release the core muscles.

Start in a standing position with the knees gently bent and the hands on the knees. As you inhale, press the stomach out. As you exhale, draw it in.

Affirmations & Mantras

Affirmations and mantras are all about becoming that which you wish to see. Try these mantras for balancing this chakra:

• The bija mantra Ram.

• I am worthy.

• I rule from a place of authentic control and power.

• I love and accept myself.

• I am open and free from the need to control everything.

• I use my power for the highest good.

• I release judgment of myself and others.

Scents

Citrusy oils like grapefruit, lemon, orange, and even peppermint are great for healing the solar plexus chakra because they aid digestion, a solar plexus issue. You can also try ginger, fennel, and ylang-ylang to clear negative energy and bring in positive energy.

Burn candles or incense with these scents, diffuse essential oils, or mix these oils with a carrier oil like sesame or coconut and massage them onto the body. It can be particularly powerful to rub them on the belly, the center of this chakra.

Crystals

There are many different crystals you can use to balance the solar plexus chakra. Yellow-hued stones tend to work best since yellow is the color of this chakra. Try citrine, yellow topaz, honey calcite, amber, yellow jasper, or tiger’s eye.

Incorporate them into your yoga practice, meditate with them, create a crystal grid on the ground or on the body over the navel area, or wear them.

To create a crystal grid, choose a few stones from the list above that resonate with you, plus clear quartz. Decide on your purpose for the grid, and write that intention down. It could be something like “I reclaim my personal power” or any of the affirmations and mantras above.

Then, cleanse your crystals (learn more about crystal cleansing here) and place them in a geometric pattern on the bare skin of your navel with the clear quartz in the center to amplify the energy of your grid.

Spend at least a few moments with the crystals on your skin, meditating on your intention.

Play with Color

Wearing yellow and eating yellow foods such as corn, bananas, yellow peppers, lemons, and sunflower seeds are easy ways to work on opening this chakra throughout the day.

Meditation

Try imagining a glowing golden ball of light, a burning flame, or a bright yellow flower opening over your navel to open Manipura. Try this guided chakra balancing meditation if you feel called to.

Switch It Up

Sometimes all it takes to balance the solar plexus chakra is a little change. Try switching up your routine, releasing anger by yelling as loudly as you can (in your home alone!), or attending a laughing circle.

These activities allow you to activate your personal power, release control, introduce a little joy, and create a positive flow of energy in the body.

Cord Cutting a Ritual for Letting Go

What are you holding onto right now that you’re afraid to let go of? Is it a career that you thought was your life’s calling, something hurtful someone said to you, a relationship gone south, or your lack of control over a situation?

If you haven’t already been faced with one of these “letting go” hurdles, it’s likely you will at some point. The need to let go comes in all shapes and sizes throughout life and might be some of the hardest tasks you’ll face.

Why is it important to let go?

Holding on can take up a lot of unnecessary headspaces, leaving you anywhere but in the present moment. When you’re afraid to let go, it’s usually your ego that’s in control, and no one wants that! Refusing to let go means you’re also refusing to trust that you’ll be taken care of and that the universe does have a plan for you.

This week I’m breaking out my favorite ways to help you let go of whatever it is that’s holding you back from your highest potential. These rituals can be done on separate days or all together as one big ritual, your choice! Let’s get started.

Step 1: Burn Baby, Burn

Time to get out your candles and cauldron. The first step is to recognize what it is that you’re trying to let go of and become willing to work on it. A burning ritual can help make this decision more concrete for you.

You’ll need:

• Black and white candle. The white candle is for protective loving light and black candle is to help absorb negative energy, but any candle will work if you don’t have these colors available. Click here to learn more about candle magick.

• Pen and paper

• Cauldron or other fireproof vessels

• Optional: Frankincense EO or incense. Frankincense will help you center yourself and let go. I like using Plant Guru’s Meditation blend.

The best moon phase to perform this ritual is during a waning moon. Set aside some quiet time, and center yourself with as many deep breaths as you need to feel calm and present.

To get started, light both of your candles and incense, if you’re using it. Write what you need to let go of on a piece of paper. Light the paper with the flame of each candle and place it in your fireproof vessel. Watch and breathe as your paper burns, allow any feelings you have to come to the surface. This is also a great time to call upon any angels, deities, or energy you’d like to invite in to help you through this process.

When you feel like this part of the ritual is complete, thank any spiritual energies that you invited in and blow out your candles. You can leave this setup and the ashes of your burned paper out as long as you’d like as a reminder.

Step 2: Cord-Cutting Ceremony

This is my personal favorite ritual for letting go. I discovered it from The Goddess Oracle by Amy Sophia Marashinsky and is the suggested ritual when you receive the Lilith Goddess card.

You’ll need:

• String. Must be strong enough to be worn for a long period of time.

• Scissors

• Candles, incense, EO (optional and can be the same as above)

This ceremony should also be performed during a waning moon. it blends well into the first ritual and I recommend performing them in tandem, though they do not have to be. If you do start this ceremony separately from the above one, be sure to set aside time to quiet your mind and center yourself.

To begin this ritual, start by deciding where your cord should be tied on your body. You’ll want to tie the string somewhere that connects with what you’re letting go of. If what you’re letting go of has something to do with work and you use your hands you might decide to tie it around your wrist, if you’re walking away from something you could tie it around your ankle, if it has something to do with your creative center you could tie it around your belly.

As you tie your cord on your body say out loud what the cord represents and what it is you’re trying to let go of. Wear this cord for the rest of the moon cycle, or longer if you feel it is necessary, as a reminder of your commitment to let go. When you feel that you are ready to let go and cut the cord, prepare a quiet space to do so. Thank yourself for your commitment and willingness to be more present and let go.

Step 3: Visualize & Verbalize

During this process, you may find that your desire to hold on becomes even stronger. It’s normal and is usually your ego screaming at you to stay in control! Here are some tools to use to keep your ego in check through this process.

Voice and movement are powerful tools to reinforce your commitment to let go. Here are my favorite supportive tools to use:

• Woodchopper yoga pose with a loud “HA” exhale

• Lion’s pose

• Allow time to shake it out, dance it out, and/or yell it out

• Wear a reminder of your commitment to let go.

• Create a vision board of what your life would look like if you did let go, and place it somewhere you’ll see it regularly.

• Create a mantra about what you’re letting go of. Write it down somewhere and place it where you’ll see it regularly.

• Journal. Write out all of your fears associated with what you’re letting go of. I find that if I write out my fears and look at them, many of them are pretty silly and things I don’t have any control over in the first place.

• Above all, be gentle with yourself!

Letting go can be hard but I hope my offerings give you the tools you need to move forward in your healing journey. Sending you strength and peace through your process of letting go!

Protection Rituals for Travel

Getting away on an adventure is one of life’s greatest pleasures, but as much as we love it, traveling can be anxiety-inducing too. Setting intentions with rituals, symbolism, and crystals can be a powerful way to ground yourself before travel and offer a layer of protection.

There are so many uncontrollable situations when it comes to traveling, especially if you’re visiting a new place. I’ve got a list of rituals to offer peace and protection during any summertime travels you may have coming up! Read on to learn 4 protective tools for traveling.

Invoke Green Tara

Tara is an adored Buddhist Goddess that is portrayed in many colors, 21 to be exact, each with their own qualities. Green Tara, one of the more well-known of the 21, is your go-to Goddess for protection. She will help shield you from negative energy and soothe your fears and anxiety.

Invoke Green Tara’s protective energy by inviting her into your meditation, carrying around a card or image of her, or repeating her mantra, “Om Tare Tuttare Ture Soha,” (Ah-um Tah-ray Too-tah-ray Too-ray So-hah).

Protective Crystal & Stones

There is a multitude of protective gemstones, but some are better for traveling. Here’s my list of favorite crystals to keep in my bag, on my rearview mirror, on my finger, or around my neck while traveling.

Tiger Eye

This stone has long been used as one of the most powerful stones for protection and warding off evil. My favorite part about this stone is that it can bring confidence and a sense of security when going through anxiety-provoking situations. Tiger eye is perfect for wearing to act as a protective shield during travel.

vYellow Jasper

This stone is specifically helpful for traveling, mentally and physically. It is protective like tiger eye, but it also connects with your solar plexus chakra. The solar plexus chakra often becomes drained during travel, and yellow jasper is ideal for keeping the energy of your solar plexus balanced and energized. Place yellow jasper on your solar plexus chakra (in between your belly button and heart center) to balance and restore your will and power center.

Smoky Quartz

This is your stone for grounding and protecting any valuables as you travel. Put a piece of smoky quartz in your suitcase or purse to help guard them. Between flying and projecting fears about the unknowns during travel it’s easy to throw your root chakra out of balance. If you’re feeling detached from Mother Earth place a couple of smoky quartz pieces in each hand pointing down and take several deep breaths to restore your root chakra.

Wear a Protective Hamsa Hand Amulet

If you prefer to keep your crystals in your luggage or purse wearing a Hamsa Hand is beautiful and powerful alternative. The Hamsa Hand is perfect for traveling because it is said to see all things and ward off evil for the wearer. Beyond protection, the Hamsa Hand is also good for bringing good fortune, blessings, and strength.

The Hamsa Hand has roots in many cultures so its meaning will vary from person to person. Some believe that each of the fingers represents an element, the combination of these elements is said to change the flow of energy within the body and offer healing.

Whatever your beliefs are about this symbol, they all come back to protection!

Protection Magic Charm Bag

Charm bags are one of the easiest magical tools and great for travel because they’re small, powerful, and easy to create. I travel often and like to tuck away a protective charm bag somewhere in my luggage. During my most recent trip back home, I drew a Hamsa Hand on my charm bag for an extra layer of protection and it made it look extra fun!

To create your magic charm bag, put any combination of the following ingredients into your choice of bag color. As you place the items in the charm bag imagine a white shielding light enveloping you and your luggage. This is a perfect time to invoke Green Tara too! Place your charm bag in a suitcase, on your rearview mirror, or in your purse as you travel.

• Bag color: black, blue, or yellow

• Stones: Any of the stones listed above!

• Earth: Pointed shell, black and white feather, pine, acorns, cinnamon

• Amulet or Symbol: Hamsa Hand, Eye of Horus

Now you have all the tools you need to travel with confidence that you’re protected mind, body and spirit. Wishing you a summer full of new and magical experiences!