It’s taken me over 60 years to appreciate I have an energy body. Every living being on this earth has an energy body better known as an aura. Every insect, bird, mammal, reptile, you name it has an energy field that surrounds the physical body. No exceptions.
The human energy field is no different than a bug’s energy field. Energy is energy. Us humans are more complex. Our conscious minds affect our energy. Our memories, traumas and life experiences are held in our physical cells and in our energy bodies. It’s called psychic debris.
It doesn’t surprise me by taking a salt bath I feel lighter. Salt is an energy cleanser. Our energy bodies gather psychic debris from life. We have the ability to help ourselves. We choose to exercise our physical bodies. We are aware of stressful situations and attempt to avoid them. But we were never taught to honor our energy bodies.
Energy healing such as Reiki, acupuncture, sound healing, light therapy, massage, reflexology and tapping are some examples of energy healing modalities. There’s more.
We choose to practice self-care with our physical bodies because we have awareness of our physical bodies. It’s time to practice self-care with our auras.
Any intentional action designed for self-care is helpful. Donna Eden has a free video designed to cleanse the aura called the Celtic Weave. Salt baths using Epsom salts or Himalayan Sea salt is a common way of clearing the auric field. Smudging or burning using white sage or other cleansing herbs are effective and have been used by indigenous peoples for thousands of years and there are sprays available to do the same. I’m told walking in a gentle steady rain visualizing a clean auric field is another way. Taking a salt shower and letting the water flow over and down the drain helps too.
The intention we place on any auric cleansing is effective, all within our own control. It’s a great way to help yourself when feeling exhausted and burned out, all in the name of honoring the energy body. (another link to auric cleansing)
Pay attention to your reaction to self-care. Do you welcome it or push back? Do you feel your worth the trouble? Do you find something else to occupy your time instead of time for you?
No need to beat yourself up about it. These are clues because in each pushback, in each diversion, there’s a core belief hiding inside working against you. Uncovering core beliefs that aren’t supportive of your wellbeing is a HUGE step in helping with self-care. Be honest with yourself. Be gentle and kind.
Because the truth is, EVERYONE deserves self-care, even for five minutes a day. You are worth the effort. You are important enough to take the time to honor your physical body, your energy body and your heart. You deserve to feel love first and foremost from yourself.
If I care for me, then I can care for you.
If I care for me, then I can teach you how to better care for yourself.
If you care for you, then you can teach others how to treat you.
If you care for you, then you give others permission to care for themselves.
If others care for themselves, then they start to care for each other
If others care for each other, then they start to care for the planet.
If we all care for ourselves, each other and our planet, then we create the kind of change that builds a positive future for our children.
It all starts with self-care.
Participants’ Reflections:
Self-care is EMPOWERING.
Thank you so much for giving us a message that I often push back on. In college, we have required courses and electives. To get it all done, we have to do both. The electives are like self-care—we get to choose. There’s self-care versus necessary care. I’m good at going to the doctors and dentist, and yet, when it comes to seeing the chiropractor, I don’t go that often since it’s not absolutely necessary. But I feel better. It’s hard when there’s all these things that have to get done. I seem to find everything else to do instead of self-care. Thank you for the reminder that it’s okay to just sit in a bath of saltwater, and it’s okay to just sit outside and watch the birds. I’ve always been driven to do things, but I want to sit in the passenger seat for a while. Thank you very much.
Thank you. That was a great reminder. I’ve been doing too much lately and I’m exhausted and in pain. With the opening up after the pandemic and getting out more connecting with people, it’s very draining after not doing these things for over a year. I forget that. Thanks for the reminder.
Thank you. Thank you everybody. Good reminder for me today. I make to-do lists of self-care activities, like meditate and take a walk, but I want to do more energy self-care. Before I go out in public, I want to do energy self-protection work. The idea of being in the passenger seat—instead I heard be in the driver’s seat, because I’m feeling like I’m being swept away by the rapids and I don’t like it. I want to be in the driver’s seat so that I can slow down and I can take care of myself and not get tossed around so much. The synchronicity of your reminder about the Celtic Weave, it’s what I was trying to remember, because it all gets swept away in the rapids.
It’s interesting how our personal filters guide us to hear one thing when something else was said.
When the idea of rapids came up as a metaphor, I envision me simply turning sideways in the rapids so that I’m not the obstacle facing it. That’s a comforting metaphor for me. It reminds me of the blog post on turning with the flow
I am excited hearing about energy work. I read a lot about it and try to practice it. It’s my happy place. Thank you for that. We have rip currents in the ocean, and when one is stuck in a rip current, you go with it instead of against it. That’s the metaphor for me. I live near the Association of Research and Enlightenment which is the Edgar Cayce foundation. I go to workshops and lectures there, hearing people who have been transformational for me. I started Qi Gong at the start of the pandemic, and I feel different now, and am able to bring the energy of the Universe into my abdomen. It’s really worked for me.
Thank you for the reminder. It’s a profound reminder that energy is a part of all of us. I take that for granted. That’s the first time I’ve heard that all animals have energy. We don’t really learn about energy anywhere one personally pursues it. Culturally, if we could build it into our educational experiences, and normalize it as something that exists, how much luckier we would be. I experienced an energy exchange when the previous participant just spoke. Her excited energy filled me up. When I go to movies, I feel that way too. There is energy and how neat it is that we experience it together.
Thank you so much. I had this tearful joyful aha when you went through the sequence around taking care of ourselves all the way to taking care of the planet. It’s all love, at every single level. It took my breath away. The fact that we show up for meditation is self-care to a high degree. I also do Qi Gong. It seems to clear out the old energy and invite in the new. When I don’t do it, I notice the difference. In this space, in this patchwork quilt of zoom screens, we each are greeting each other’s energy bodies.
Great topic. I take care of a 93-year-old woman who is very independent. She has occasional backpain from sitting too much. Since it was raining, I took her to an Italian bakery, which is something Europeans do more than we do. She noticed that their promo slogan is ‘spoil yourself.’ She was surprised by that. I told her it’s perfectly okay for us to spoil ourselves.
Thank you. I feel the energy of nature all the time. I saw a small white moth with a little bit of gold in my house and I got it out of the house. I could feel the energy of it, like it was a little angel moth. And like the poof of the pollen from the branch, I still feel that angel moth. I am terrible at self-care other than coming here. So it’s a reminder. Self-care is not about ripping our souls a part with critical judgment. I’m on the edge of going in that direction today, tearing myself up emotionally for not doing a good job.
We are our own best advocates.
I’m a better person when I practice self-care. I’m not able to be patient, kind, caring, and strong when I’m putting myself last and my own needs aren’t being met. I don’t have a chance to reset and get my thoughts together. We are all connected, and to be able to be kind and a good person to others, self-care is critical.
In order for us to be caregivers, we’re much better at it when we take care of ourselves. Let’s face it, other people can feel when we are not there for ourselves.
I like the HALT metaphor. When I’m hungry, angry, lonely, or tired, I have to stop and take care of myself. I try to abide by that with awareness. I also run my meridians every single day to enhance my energy field and my physical body. They all work together.
Thank you all for joining us today. Thank you for listening and sharing and being present. If you relax your vision in front of a tree you can see its aura. It’s a magnificent experience to see energy and discover we are all energy. We deserve to be treated with kindness and respect. That kindness and respect begins within, honoring ourselves with kindness and respect. I wish each of you kind gentleness as you go about your day.