You know how after a while your hairbrush (or your shower drain, your engine, your gutters…you get the idea) gets clogged up? It doesn’t matter if you clean it daily after every use, it still ends up with more hair than you thought possible. (Just me?) That’s what happens to the energy in your body, too. Even if you’re doing energy work regularly, your chakras, your aura, and even your physical space can become blocked and dirty after a while. You’ve gotta clear that shit out.
Now is the perfect time (hello, Virgo Season) to clear the gunk and funk that’s stuck—some of it from other lifetimes. And you can’t just use these tools and techniques once. Cleansing is important to do regularly. We like to follow the cycle of the moon, but any regular cadence that works for you is just fine. In cleansing both your energetic and physical space, we promise you’ll feel lighter and brighter.
There are many ways to energetically clear yourself and your space, but we’re going to share the favorites we return to again and again.
White Sage & Palo Santo – Used for centuries by Indigenous tribes to cleanse and purify before ceremony (among other things), these two have become extremely popular in recent years. If you go this route, be respectful. This plant medicine is used for more than just looking cool on Instagram, so please only use Sage and Palo Santo from sustainable sources. Over-harvesting (in both legal and illegal ways) is making the supply of White Sage vulnerable, and ideally you are gifted it vs. purchasing it yourself to maintain the good vibes.
It’s more than just lighting a piece on fire (which, by the way, use matches and not a lighter, according to Bianca Millar of the Wendake reserve in Québec, as the butane kills part of the medicine). Your intention is the most important part of this energetic clearing method. Imagine white light shooting from the Sage or Palo Santo once lit, its brightness reaching all the dark cracks and crevices of your soul. I like to circle smoke around my entire body, speaking aloud what I want to release. It’s also great for clearing the energy in a room. Before moving into a new space, I always Sage it (sometimes multiple times) in gratitude for this new beginning, but to also get rid of any old juju or energy from the previous owners. This smell is also really calming to me.
Selenite – This crystal is another tool that can be used to clear both your energetic body and physical space Holding a piece while imagining each chakra cleansed in white light is like a reset after a long day. It will release any unwanted energy back to source. Because Selenite is self-charging, you don’t have to cleanse it like you do other crystals. It cleanses itself, which is part of what makes it so powerful to work with. Station a piece by your front door to clear any bad vibes before entering your home, or put it on a windowsill in some of your most-used spaces. The natural light amplifies the calming, purifying properties, and also just looks pretty.
It’s important not to forget to cleanse the physical body, as well. Of course you can do a juice cleanse or something like that, but I’m talking about more than just your digestive system. Some of the most ancient healing modalities can show us the best way to nourish the temples that are our bodies.
These next three practices are all grounded in ancient wisdom from the East. The first, Gua Sha, is a 4,000 Traditional Chinese Medicine technique used to heal various conditions. While it definitely smooths fine lines and wrinkles, plumping skin, I’ve found a Gua Sha ritual can be like a form of meditation in its calmness. Certain strokes on the neck are used for lymphatic drainage, and I swear I can feel any anxiety leave my body when stroking the Third Eye. The stone I use is from Wilding Beauty, and they have all kinds of tutorials and information to show you how best to use their Empress Stone.
The next two come from Ayurveda, or the science of life. A 5,000 year old practice from India, Ayurveda is a system of holistic wellness protocols that treat the energy of the body based on the five main elements—earth, air, fire, water, ether.
Dry Brushing – You brush your hair, so why wouldn’t you brush your skin? Dry brushing exfoliates the dead skin on your body, while also increasing blood flow. This increased skin cell turnover buffs away any dullness, making skin radiant. It is also reported to help drain our lymphatic system, flushing toxins from the body. I always have the intention to dry brush more regularly than I do. I’m not sure how effective it is in lymphatic drainage or getting rid of cellulite (as it famously claims), but I like keeping my skin exfoliated and it’s noticeably softer after dry brushing. Just be warned you might itch afterward. I dry brush before showering and then lotion immediately afterward.
Tongue Scraping – This is exactly what it sounds like. You literally scrape your tongue first thing in the morning to rid your mouth of the toxins that have accumulated while sleeping. I’ve been tongue scraping for a couple of years now, and I swear I can tell the difference on the days that I don’t. Not only do things taste better, but I also think it has helped to keep my mouth cleaner overall. Some mornings after a hard sleep, the white film I scrape off is not cute. And I read somewhere that if you drink water first thing (like I do) that you’re essentially just sending those toxins back into your body. Yuck.
Are there other cleansing rituals we missed that you like to practice? Share them with us in the comments!
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