9 Life-Changing Rituals For Your Mental Health

Your mental health and taking care of your mind is one of the most self loving things you can do. I’m sure you have felt days of high anxiety, sadness, worry, doubt, anger, frustration, and impatience. All these emotions are normal and part of being human. They become problematic however when they turn into negative loops in your mind. Leaving you feeling trapped inside of this negative spiral.

Your energy is as powerful as it is sensitive. While you have the capacity to feel such deep and negative emotions, you also have the capacity to feel such beautiful ones too like joy, compassion, love, excitement, and awe. Learning to shift and elevate your energy when in a low vibrational state will transform your life.

Below I will walk you through nine life-changing rituals that you can incorporate in your everyday life. These simple yet powerful practices will energetically shift your mind and release negative energy stored or blocked in your body. Let’s begin.

Shake the body

The act of shaking your body activates the parasympathetic nervous system. This is the network in your body that works to relax your body after periods of stress or danger. It also assists in processes like digestion when you are in a safe and relaxed state.

This act involves shaking your entire body powerfully. This can be done with or without music. The key is to shake off all the energy that feels negative, stagnant, or blocked. You may be a bit out of breath afterwards and that is normal and means you’re probably doing it right.

You may feel silly doing this at first, so you can do it privately when you’re in your home by yourself or in the bathroom. However you find time to do it, I promise you will feel better. The energy inside you will feel lifted. You will feel invigorated and renewed. So don’t be shy, blast some music and just shake that body.

Breathe deeply

Using your breath can be another powerful tool to help release energy. Tune into your body and spaces inside that feel restricted. Breathe deeply into those spaces, you can close your eyes if you would like, and then exhale.

Breath work is a practice that is often overlooked due to its simplicity in nature. It can feel so simple that it may feel useless or that you don’t have the time for it. The beautiful part about breathwork however is in its simplicity in nature. You can practice it literally anywhere and at any time.

Especially during times of intense stress and overwhelm, you can just close your eyes for a few minutes, wherever you are, and practice breathing deeply in, and slowly exhaling. Focusing on your exhale more than your inhale. Imagining as you slowly exhale that you are exhaling out all the energy that is feeling blocked or restricted. You only need a few minutes, but even just this small amount of time will help elevate your energy again.

Inner smile meditation

Begin this practice by closing your eyes and visualizing and feeling your inner organs smiling. You can also visualize a warm glowing light inside spreading throughout your whole body. Visualize this and allow yourself to feel the inner happiness and warmth spread.

Allow this sensation to blossom from the inside out. Allow yourself to deeply feel which organs need your most love and attention right now. Maybe it’s your heart, maybe it’s your stomach or intestine, or maybe its your mind. You can focus on all of them, or even just one that needs extra attention.

As you feel into this or these organs you will feel that loving energy spread through your whole body. Feel it spread to all the areas in your body that need it most. Feel the energy permeate and dissolve anything that has been making your mind worry, upset or sad.

Tune into the heart

Place your hands over your heart and tune in. What is it trying to tell you? Is there a color or sound or vibration that is speaking to you? It helps to close your eyes as you place your hands on your heart. That way you can be fully tuned in without being distracted by the world around you.

You may feel tears release when you do this. That may be from pain you had been holding in your heart you may not have realized was buried deep inside. That’s ok. Tears are deeply healing and a beautiful way to release that energy.

Allow yourself to see and feel what your heart is trying to tell you. What your heart needs. This can be a deeply healing exercise as your heart will also be your guiding post for what pains need to be released, and what your body needs to find balance again.

Walk it out

Walking can be such a therapeutic exercise, especially if you are walking in nature somewhere. Walking can help calm and center your thoughts before they spiral out of control. Try walking as a simple exercise before reacting or enabling a mental loop in your head.

Allow your walk to be a mental escape to tune into your body and your surroundings. Don’t succumb to overthinking, simply observe with curiosity. Allow yourself to be open to the sensations you feel and hear as you go along your walk.

Listen to birds chipping, or children laughing. Feel the wind and the sun kiss your skin. Let your surroundings be a resting place for your mental chatter. Even ten to fifteen minutes is enough to reset your mental state. Use this practice as often as you need, and feel more at ease when you return back home, and back to your body.

Sweep the body

This practice involves using your hands to sweep your body energetically. You can alternatively use a dry brush to sweep your body in long strokes and simultaneously give yourself a lymphatic massage.

Sweeping your body in an outwards motion will help release negative energy. Sweeping your body in an inwards motion will assist with setting intention. For example, if you are feeling negative energy, practice sweeping across your arms and down your torso and legs to help release it. Envision seeing that negative energy leaving your body as you do it.

If you are practicing setting intentions of how you want to feel, practice sweeping that positive energy into your body using the same motion, but going inwards. You can speak affirmations as you do it like:

I am safe

I am strong

I am resilient

I am powerful

I am capable

I am confident

I am beautiful

I am abundant

I am worthy

These positive intentions will help replace the negative energy that was there. Allow yourself to fully feel this positive energy move throughout your body. Let it marinate every cell and part of you. You are so worthy.

Ground yourself

The practice of grounding involves finding a piece of earth and placing your bare feet onto it. As you do this you can close your eyes and visualize yourself growing roots into the earth. Feel the negative energy in your body moving all the way from the top of your head down through your feet and into the Earth.

Feel Mother Earth swallowing up all that is holding you down and holding you back. Breathe and sync with the Earth’s heartbeat. Allow yourself to surrender and let go. Surrender to what is not yours to hold onto anymore. You are not meant to carry such a heavy burden.

Let this energy flow down and dissolve into the Earth below you. Then breathe in the energy that the Earth provides. Breathe in that grounding energy. Allow your body to receive.

Write to yourself

You can begin this practice by keeping a journal and emptying into anytime your thoughts get too overwhelming and jumbled. Anytime you need to find clarity again and release that energy, practice writing all those repeating and cycling thoughts down onto a page.

You can write about how you’re feeling, what you’re experiencing, what has been triggering you lately, and so on. Whatever has been consuming your thoughts, use those empty pages to pour yourself into and release any judgment for whatever comes up.

Allow this space to be a reflection towards your inner world. Give yourself the grace to seek understanding and patterns to what may be coming up for you. This is an incredibly healing practice that will bring clarity to your mind and help you feel lighter again.

Water

Water can be so healing and greatly shifts your energy. You can incorporate this practice into your life by jumping into a body of water, a cold shower or a spiritual ​​baños (ritual bath). As the water hits your skin, envision the negative energy running off your body down the drain. If you have taken a bath, envision the negative energy being pulled from your body as you soak in the tub and then drain down after you get out and empty the water.

You can also alternate between hot and cold water for an additional therapeutic effect, which will trigger your lymphatic circulation. This allows your body to detoxify and cleanse.

If you try a spiritual bath for the first time you will need herbs, flowers, epsom salt and some essential oils if you choose. This type of bath cleanses your spirit, not just your body. Pour all of these into your bath and light some candles and/or incense or burn some sage. If you want to create less mess afterwards try placing the flower petals and herbs into a mesh tea ball.

This type of bath can be especially healing if you are feeling disconnected, stressed or broken hearted. Use this time to meditate as you soak in the warm fragrant water. Envision all the things you are manifesting in your life and all the things you are grateful for. Allow the water to restore and heal your body.

Final Thoughts

Your mental health is just as if not more important than your physical health. Your energy is sensitive, but powerful. Incorporating these rituals into your life will help you return to a state of balance. Practicing these rituals throughout your day and week will also help calm your mind before it spirals into negative loops.

Each practice has its own healing benefits, but all assist in moving the negative energy through and out of your body. We are all made up of energy, so learning how to balance it is essential to your mental health and wellbeing. These rituals are self care. These rituals are self love.