For those of you old enough to remember, there was a circa-70s TV commercial for dish-washing liquid. It showed a woman soaking her fingers for a manicure.
The aesthetician extolled the virtues of a certain dishwashing liquid while her client soaked — it is a commercial — as her client wondered if the product would dry her hands.
“You’re soaking in it!” exclaimed the aesthetician, much to the surprise of the client, “Relax.” Meaning, it won’t dry your hands; it will soften, smoothe and protect them.
What does this have to do with our energy body? I was reminded of this phrase “You’re soaking in it” recently when noticing I had become a bit stuck in some depressing calamitous news of the day. I was literally soaking in it. And it was having an effect. And it was decidedly not relaxing.
If you are feeling drained, anxious, afraid, sad, lonely or you-name-it from the overwhelm of information in a seemingly-out-of-control world, remember you can choose and are choosing at every moment what to let in to your being. If you don’t believe this, I invite you to suspend your disbelief for a moment and try the exercise below.
So keep an eye on what is offered to you and how you wish to respond.
Here are some suggestions for shifting your energy in this context (If you can do this exercise outside, all the better):
1) Actively stop what you are doing right away, whether it is reading, listening, talking, mentally reviewing, planning. Permit yourself to choose, at least for this moment, that you don’t have to listen to the news, finish the article, continue with your conversation (though you may want to make a quick and graceful exit).
2) Bring your attention to your breath, the inhale and the exhale. You don’t have to do anything else, Just breathe. Take a few conscious breaths, with gratitude for your amazing body that it keeps the breath flowing even when you aren’t paying attention to it. (This may be enough, or may be all you have time for.) Notice how you are feeling now.
3) If you want a little more practice…..Feel the breath flow all the way down to your toes and flow all the way to the top of your head. Notice this flow for a few moments. If there are places in your body where you can’t feel the breath, simply notice and accept this. (For me, the area of my solar plexus is often a little congested or blocked.)
4) Then let your breath go through your feet deeper into the earth, and then bring that earth energy back up through the crown of your head into the cosmos, the sun, a star or in whatever beautiful safe and enlightened place you decide to land. Then allow the flow to come down from the cosmos through your crown, and so on. Watch this flow in whatever way works for you — perhaps visually, by feeling it, by sensing it, by imagining it.
5) Take a moment for gratitude for yourself, for taking time to care for yourself. Then carry on with your day. Maybe you go back to the news, maybe not. Give yourself permission to choose what is healthiest for you in this moment.
If you have any comments on how this exercise works for you, I would love to hear them.
You Are Love.
Shine on,
Elizabeth
