Spiritual Hygiene & Self-Care
There are many ways that we can practice self-care. It’s really what works for the individual. Sometimes it’s coming back to a yoga practice, others enjoy walks outside no matter what the weather, and others practice mindfulness. Others like to pray, chant, or meditate. Some like to do puzzles or play an instrument to feed themselves.
What does this have to do with a spiritual practice? Well, those who have spiritual practices in place benefit greatly by tuning into their own spiritual energy body. For people who are Highly Sensitive, paying attention to one’s spiritual hygiene is just as important as any other hygiene practice.
What I teach students who are looking to build a more solid spiritual hygiene practice, I gently point out that caring for the physcial body is where we need to start. Because our physical self isn’t completely separate from the spiritual self, what we put in our bodies also affects our spiritual body and state of being. These parts of us are all interrelated. If we consume substances that aren’t supportive to the electrical circuitry in our body, then we will feel depleted. This can create leaks in the energy body and can lead to spiritual vulnerabilities, and eventually, illness.
We must also incorporate a practice that supports our mental and emotional wellness. Just like food, we have to pay attention to what we take in and feed in this area as well. What energies are you allowing in our lives that don’t support you? Emotional and mental depletion also affects our spiritual selves, so we must be mindful of the types of relationships and energies we allow into our arena for our own self-care and balance. Boundaries are essential in any spiritual hygiene practice, which may surprise some. We need to be mindful of how forms of media can personally affect our emotional and mental wellness as well.
In terms of our spiritual health, we can practice self-care and better hygiene by paying attention to how we ground and center ourselves before and after any spiritual work. We can also shield, ward, or perform personal protection work when appropriate. Spiritual hygiene means paying attention to every aspect of ourselves. So, if someone were actively using recreational substances, whether the substances are drugs or alcohol (or both), odds are that the spiritual hygiene results won’t be too successful. If there is a leak in the ceiling, there would be a need to fix the source of the leak before one could tend to deeper spiritual issues in a home, right?
If you know how to perform a shamanic journey, one very useful tool is to journey and ask to meet one or more helping spirits who are willing to be your spiritual hygiene go-to’s. Being in right relationship with these particular helping spirits can clear our energetic system of intrusions as well as create new ways in which we can practice this kind of self-care on a deeper level of awareness. For instance, one may wear a personal talisman shown by the helping spirits in a journey. You might even ask the helping spirits to perform a blessing on the talisman you created. This is by far much more potent than wearing personal protection not given to you by the spirits and not blessed by them.
In our path to becoming balanced, sovereign beings, the practice of self-care is vital for all aspects in our lives. If your physical body is worn, the rest of your emotional, spiritual and mental systems will suffer. If your energy body is not being tended to, it becomes vulnerable to discordant energies, which can affect our emotional and physical health. Whatever the imbalance is in our lives, when we spend time feeding ourselves, we are rebalancing all these parts of ourselves. This is how we can keep our inner light fed. 💫
