Crystal Happy Hour 1/19 : Spiritual Rest and Recovery

Last week, Grace talked all about artistic rest and recharging in the Winter, which you can catch up on here if you didn’t get a chance to read it. Today I (Anna) want to focus on Spiritual Rest and Recovery, signs you may need this type of rest, and what practices will help you come back into balance with this.

Spiritual Burnout can be easy to trigger into, especially if you are exploring and getting deeper into the metaphysical world, have a spiritual awakening, or you are doing shadow work. The constant expansion beyond yourself (or deep into your past) can create physical and mental exhaustion. It may lead you to start ignoring the practical things you need to do like taking care of your body’s needs, being active in your personal relationships, or even keeping up on chores around the house. If you continue to ignore it, it may lead to feeling even more lost, having emotional outbursts, or even feeling like your intuition was “cut off” or closed.

So how can you help with recharging and resting spiritually? My first recommendation is to start by pausing anything you are actively pushing yourself with, and reflect to see how your body is feeling with it. Is it too much? Do you need to come up to take a breath and refocus on the present moment? This doesn’t mean you are stopping anything completely, simply taking a beat and seeing what else your body needs for support when you want to continue.

Next comes the recharge:

• I would always recommend starting with grounding. Whether this comes from taking a walk outside, drinking water, eating some dark chocolate or root vegetables, working with root chakra crystals or practicing mindfulness. That is going to make the biggest difference in how you feel, and it;s a good practice to maintain while you are doing intense spiritual work.

• Check back into your physical world and see what upkeep needs to be done. This could be physical self care and maintenance, cleaning your spaces, reconnecting to the people in your life, or any other thing that may have been neglected in that time of intense self focus.

• Clear your energy field. Whether you prefer to use herbs, incense, a spray, sound, or crystals, clearing your energy is crucial to helping you relax and be able to rest. This applies to your own body and to the spaces you spend the most time in.

• If you have been doing a lot of work with connecting outside of your body (working with deities, angles, guides, spellwork, etc.) take up some center internal practices. Journaling, meditation, daily breathwork can all help with bringing your focus to what is happening in your life and how you may be feeling. It can also help catch those feelings of burnout before they get too intense.

Give yourself time, space, and understanding for things to begin to go back to an equilibrium. Things will begin to flow again, and creating these grounding and energetic habits will help support you as you move forward.