It helps to understand the basics of how the practice of releasing pain works. I have listed some basic guidelines upon which you can build, below.
- Releasing emotional and mental pain is connected to releasing any toxic situation in the body — you can link your physical cleansing to your energetic cleansing.
- Behaviors that support a healthy body will also support a healthy emotional body, mental body, and spiritual body. This includes healthy eating, exercise, as well as good hygiene practices.
- Generally, following the laws of gravity, energy flows down. You can imagine pain flowing out of your hands and your feet, into the earth. Also, you can sense the areas in your body where it may get stuck — often the shoulder and hip areas are where lots of energy gets stuck. You can specifically work on those areas. Certain things can support your ongoing good health and help release pain — this might include massage, acupuncture, chiropractic, or any number of holistic therapies.
- You will always need to be aware of releasing pain. These practices are not meant to be for temporary relief, they are meant for you to create a lifelong awareness of your well-being, and a willingness to care for yourself more and more each day!
- Don’t add to the toxins you are already absorbing, it makes it harder for your body to process them. Look at what toiletry products and cleaning agents you are using and (as well as many other things in and around your house) determine if they are healthy for your living and working environment.
- Diligence is wonderful. Obsessing is not healthy. So, make sure that you don’t make cleansing an obsession!
- Coughing and sneezing can be a natural way of our body releasing emotions. Often, we make an effort to suppress coughing or sneezing. Stop suppressing and allow your body to release through coughing and sneezing unhindered, and with fullness and relaxation.
Find The Practices That Help You Release Pain
Below are various practices that have been effective for me and others in releasing pain. Test these practices. Give them at least a week, where you are practicing every day. See if there is a better time or situation or place that makes the practice more effective. Once you find a practice that works for you, you can use it anytime. I also suggest that you continue to experiment with all of the practices. You will not always be at a gym or have water available. So, you will need to have a variety of practices that work for you, that you can call upon in any situation.
Additionally, a large part of the success of these practices relies on your powerful intention. So, while you are doing any practice, focus diligently on the fact that you want to release pain. Repeat some type of mental command to release any negative energy or pain out of your body. Remember to be as specific as possible. You can say that you want to release negative energy out of your body, your psyche, or your energetic body and your mind — or what feels most effective and accurate for you.
After doing these practices below, you can even create your own practices! You can also have a look at the tool kit I compiled for more practices as well as a relaxation medication.
1. The Magic of Water (and Salt)
Water is a cleanser in many ways and can be a powerful healer. If you add a powerful intention to release and remove any negative energy from your system to your daily shower or bath, it can be a simple and quick solution. In the world of healing, we like to make each moment count and get as much out of each activity and experience as possible!
Drinking plenty of water can help your entire body create a release of toxins, waste, and negative energy! I rarely hear from people that they are drinking enough water. There are plenty of websites with guidelines for the quantity of water you should drink. Check those and work up to the right amount. If it does not seem like enough, drink more! Again, while you are drinking the water, set the intention to release negativity, and receive overall healing.
Next would be taking a bath or even a foot bath. Here, I will add that in many cultures and belief systems, salt is considered an energy cleanser and is even sometimes used as protection. I advise that you use some type of salt in your bath or footbath. It can be Epsom salt, dead sea salt, or other bath salts. You can also add essential oils and other healing ingredients to your bath. I suggest making the bath as hot as you can tolerate, and stay in it as long as it is warm (usually about 20 minutes). Use this time for release, relaxation, and meditation. Again, set the intention and ask that any negative energies that you are carrying be absorbed by the water and the salts and transformed into light and love.
Lastly, the ocean is an incredible place to receive healing. When I was in my 20’s, I worked in mortgage banking. My job was super stressful, and I was married with two children, the breadwinner for my family, and suffered from intense depression. There were times that I felt I just could not go on under these circumstances. Instinctively, one night I packed up my family and told them I needed to go to the beach. It was a 2-hour drive. However, in just minutes of being there, I felt lighter, more uplifted, and felt strong enough to go on. This drive to the beach at night became a family ritual during those years. The ocean has negative ions that are supposed to de-stress us and create calmness. What I experienced was feeling that the ocean, the fresh air, and the earth all together powerfully absorbed darkness and negativity out of my psyche, my body, and my mind. I was immensely thankful that I found this relief!
Any body of water will be helpful. You can swim in a lake or river or a swimming pool. You can spend time in a hot tub or a bathtub. You can use whatever you have available to you. Remember to intend the water to remove and absorb negative energy from you.
2. The Miracle of Nature
I read an article that talked about a therapy in Japan called a forest bath. That is a perfect way to describe a walk in the forest! When I go into my local forest, I feel myself being immersed in an entire experience that is nurturing me and healing me. I like to go for my hikes early in the morning when fewer people are around. My favorite forests include the ones with the mighty Redwood trees!
If you live near a beautiful outdoor nature area, then make a practice of walking or even just sitting in pure nature. Try to find a place where you won’t hear the traffic and city noise. As much as possible, you want to be alone during this time. If you don’t feel safe alone, then ask someone to go with you that would be willing to allow you to be quiet. In other words, no talking. Build your inner intention of releasing negativity and be open to absorbing the healing energy of nature.
One of the things I do while in nature is if I am having some kind of a challenge, I will mentally go over it again and again. I will allow myself to repeat the problem with clarity and intensity. If there is someone I need to have a difficult talk with, then I will repeat that talk over and over in my mind. Nearly every time, by the end of my walk, I always have the perfect workable solution, as well as feel much more powerful and uplifted!
If you don’t have access to any truly quiet nature area, then try a modified version. Don’t feel stuck! You can just sit in your backyard, or on your patio or porch. Simply do some imagining and amplify your intention!
3. Breathing Technique
You can find a lot of information all over the internet, as well as in your yoga class, on the healing benefits of breathing techniques. There are many techniques and you can surely benefit by trying all of them!
Today, however, I am going to tell you about just one. I originally learned part of this technique when I did some rebirthing sessions. I had many very unexplainable and healing experiences in those sessions as a result of the breathing technique. Years later, when I quit smoking, this breathing happened to me spontaneously almost every single night. I thought that perhaps I was not breathing and this unique spontaneous breathing was helping me regain a proper oxygen intake. I soon learned that while the oxygen level was part of the benefit, the deeper benefit was the cleaning out of the lungs and restoring naturally healthy breathing. I learned to continue this breathing practice on my own, to help my body release toxins and restore balance.
The exercise is as follows:
- Take deep, fast intentional breaths in through your nose, focusing intensely on taking the breath in through your belly.
- Make no effort on your exhale. Let your body exhale, just don’t push the breath out.
- Do this for up to 10 minutes. If you can only do it for one minute, that is a good start.
- At the end of your breathing, take some deep breaths, and this time, really push the breath out from the depths of your lungs.
- Exhale, and then push, push, push more exhales out until you cannot do it anymore and you have to take a deep breath in.
- Do this a few times at the end of the practice.
4. Soulful Music/Purposeful Listening
Most people have had experiences with music that have been deeply emotionally moving. Most people agree that music can be healing and mood-altering. What I propose is that some music can touch your very soul and create an opening for a very powerful release of pain.
I suggest that you listen to all kinds of music with the focused desire of creating a tool of healing for yourself. Listen to old music, new music, top 40s, world music, new age music, suggestions from friends, and anything and everything you can find. In this process, you are looking for that one song or one piece of music that you feel can reach deep inside of you and create a deep release of pain from your soul.
When you find this music, you will only listen to it as a type of meditation. Keep this piece of music for your personal healing moments only. You will listen to it with purpose, with focus, and with surrender. Feel the music creating a pathway for releasing pain out of your body and psyche and moving it into the earth to be transformed into light.
You can listen with your eyes closed, in silence and in expectancy. You can listen to the song as many times in a row as it feels productive.
Remember, you are not trying to engage your emotions or get an emotional reaction from yourself. You are trying to experience a stirring deep inside of your being like you have never felt before.
5. Creativity
Every now and then, a person crosses my path, asking for help and they actually have tried all of the above. Or, we work through all of the above practices and none of them seem to work for them. Never fear! There is something for everyone, always! I am super creative and super success-oriented! I never quit and I always find something that works for each person!
When all else has failed, I have tried wild creativity! With one person, I asked her to finger paint for 20 minutes a day! Voila! This was the practice that allowed her to release the emotional pain she was carrying. She continued to do this until she developed her own creative practices and style, to which she continues to this day!
With another person, I suggested she learn to make origami. She got started and for 30 minutes every day and created origami shapes and animals. The first few days did not yield results. But as she got better at the origami and more into it, the emotional pain began to slowly release and move out of her system.
I have found that this creative practice should be more physical than mental. For example, it could be painting vs. writing. You can try many things and see what works for you. Make sure that you give the creative project a chance to be a tool of healing, meaning that you try it for at least a month. Also, it must be something that you enjoy!
6. Stretching and Yoga
Our joints are wonderful areas that release energy, yet also areas where energy gets stuck.
Opening up all of our joints with simple and safe stretching or yoga can be a powerful tool in regaining your strength and releasing pain. Even 10 minutes of slow and intentional stretching or yoga, done each night, will afford you monumental relief!
Create a series of stretching postures that you will hold for at least 30 seconds each. Make sure you can feel a stretch, without feeling pain. As you stretch a certain area, say your shoulders, ask to release negativity through opening your shoulders, and focus on the negative energy to move into the earth and transform into positivity.
7. Foam Rollers and Rolling Tools
Since much of our energy flows down our bodies, when we process too much energy, we can have blocks in our joints or legs. This can result in things like restless leg syndrome.
Using a foam roller on your legs will break up the toxins and negative energy, and allow them to flow and ultimately leave your body. This is a powerful tool that can help in all areas of your life! When I began using a foam roller, I felt relief in my legs and I was able to sleep way better. I would also have a clearer and more sharply focused mind the next day!
I suggest buying a professional foam roller because the other ones just don’t work. If you cannot afford a foam roller, you can use a rolling pin from your kitchen. If you don’t have a rolling pin, then use the heel of your hand and put solid pressure on your thighs. Move your hand with the pressure on the top of your thighs down to your knee. Continue this movement at various angles.
If this is too painful, start with just massaging your knees and around your knees, front and back. Remember, you can begin anywhere and it will take you somewhere!
Note: If you are using a laptop on your lap, consider stopping this practice. It is not just the heat, but also the pressure that stops the normal flow of energy down our legs. Try a TV tray.
8. Cardio/Aerobic Workout
Get moving and start sweating! Don’t worry if you are totally out of shape. Just start with short walks. Walk every single day until you can build up your stamina. If you begin a daily exercise practice and stick with it, you will soon be reaping the undeniable benefits!
There are a variety of cardio machines at the gym, including rolling stairs, elliptical machines, stationary bikes, step machines, rowing machines, etc. Any of those would be great! You can also walk, walk uphill, or run. If you cannot leave your house, you can do anything from marching in place to jumping jacks. Or you can get a punching bag. You can also hike, swim, or bike. Or find some exercise videos on YouTube or take exercise classes.
The two important ideas are: getting your heart rate up and sweating, and how much time you devote to this practice each day. I would suggest doing no less than 30 minutes a day. The most effective would be dedicating an hour a day to your cardio workout.
I have worked with hundreds of people over the years and have created, suggested, and monitored practices. I have been diligent at individualizing the practices to fit the person to ensure the most optimal degree of effectiveness. One person I worked with was simply not getting any relief from his intense anxiety from doing any of the practices. He was also seeking medical help. Finally, after trying numerous ideas, I asked him to try running up and downstairs with 20lbs in a backpack, for one hour every single day. This was exactly what worked for him! His mind would respond positively by quieting and giving him peace. This shows that every person can try things in different ways and at different levels, to find the right combination of practices that will create results for them. Remember to safely test your limits!
Exercise should be a lifelong practice. The benefits for your body, mind, emotions, and your life are widespread and accumulative.
9. Long Distance Driving
This may seem random and without obvious merit for releasing pain. However, in some of the most critically painful times of my life, driving far distances saved my life.
Let’s go over the components that make driving long distances work for processing pain. First, you need to be driving alone. It requires a certain focus that may not happen if you are focusing on someone else, even if you are both being quiet. Second, the driving should be as straight as possible, with either no stops or very limited stops — such as on an open straight highway. Curvy roads take focus away from putting it towards our healing. Third, try to go at a time with limited traffic. Rush hour and stop and go traffic would be too stressful.
The amount of time that would be most productive can vary from person to person. I generally suggest at least one hour of driving, longer if you have time. During your drive, you can focus on allowing your pain to be absorbed by the movement and the road. Allow any angst, any emotion to be fully felt as you are driving. Allow yourself to cry, laugh, scream, etc. Bring your attention entirely to yourself and the moment that you are in. Put your intention on healing your very soul!
10. Love
Out of everything I have listed or could ever list, love is the most powerful healing modality. But it takes practice, effort, and time to move out of anxiety, worry, and concern about daily affairs, to simply focus on building love. Again, you can always begin exactly where you are!
You can visualize a beam of light shining out of your heart all day long. You can focus the beam forward, or you can focus it on people as you meet them or see them. You can also focus this beam towards a bigger, “global” love that grows all over the world and our galaxy.
You can also imagine love beaming out of your eyes everywhere you look. You can smile at everyone and think the words, “I love you.” You can do this all day long. You can also simply say, “I love you,” silently, in your mind, before you say anything to anyone.
You can focus on loving yourself, your family, your friends, your pets, nature, or the Divine! Love-focused anywhere is love-focused everywhere! Building a “love consciousness” creates the most powerful “boundary” you would ever need!
Practice a life of open-heartedness — knowing and trusting that your heart, as your connection to the Divine, has the power to cleanse and heal every single aspect of your being!
