August 9th, 2021
Guest writer for Wake Up World
In my next book Sacred Medicine, I divided up the healing tools shared in the book (which will be published by Sounds True in Spring 2022!) into two categories- energy transfusions meant to fill you with life force when you’re depleted, and trauma healing tools meant to plug the leaks or unblock where life force gets stagnant because of unhealed trauma. For those who are severely depleted, trauma healing may be premature. It’s better to fill your tank before you dive deep into potentially triggering territory.
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One thing we talk about in our Healing With The Muse community is how to self-assess how resourced you are. On a scale of zero to ten, with zero being “I’m absolutely depleted with a completely empty tank” and ten being “Give me anything you got, I’m fully tanked up and resilient!”- where are you right now?
Once we have the self awareness to recognize when the tank is getting low, what helps fill your tank? How can you be proactive about making sure your tank of life force doesn’t go dry?
We crowd sourced this question from our Healing With The Muse community and wanted to share what helps them transfuse life force, since this year has been a big drain on most people’s stores of life force.
Dance and Movement Practices
-5 Rhythms
-Open Floor (www.openfloordance.org)—great teachers and music moving from your inner thread and total self-expression
-Tai Chi
-Walking along the beach
-Qi gong
-Paddle boarding
-Hiking, walking
-Cycling through the woods
-Dance in nature
-Ecstatic dance
-Dance from the inner muse
Water
-Evening hot tub
-Shower
-Being by the ocean
-Sitting by the river
-Aromatherapy bath
Animals
-Being with horses
-Petting my cat
-Wandering around the local farm to play with the goats
-Spooning my dog
-Hugging animals
-Listening to the birds outside
Breath/Singing
-Deep breathing
-Yoga-Mantras
-Chanting/kirtan
-Singing-Neurodynamic breathwork
-Holotropic breathwork
Art
-Intentional Creativity
-Writing in my journal
-Making art with my kids
-Painting
-Throwing pottery
Plants
-Trees (Certain ones have names)
-Gardening
-Chopping veggies from my garden
-Watering my houseplants
Music
-Drumming circles
-Listening deeply to classical music
-Sound bath
-Playing crystal bowls
-Playing my guitar
Co-Regulation With Others
-Cuddle puddles-Making love
-Laughing with friends
-Group meditation & prayer
-Talking with a friend-Massage
-Hands on healing from an energy healer
-Attending my 12 Step meetings-Group rituals
Service
-Volunteering at the local food bank reminds me to be grateful
-Being a Big Brother to my Little Brother
-Mentoring my nephew as a budding auto mechanic
-Visiting housebound elders now that I’m vaccinated and so are they
-Getting outside my own worries by helping other people
Other
-Lying in my hammock
-Watching a fire
-Cooking
-Holding crystals
-Sipping chicken stock
-Self-hypnosis
-Getting lost in a good book, reading
-Drinking water…slowly!
Transfusing Vs. Treating
While these activities and practices can be very healing and help you fill your tank with life force, they’re not the same as treating the traumas that can deplete you in the first place. Just as getting a blood transfusion is the right medicine if you get anemic, transfusing yourself with life force infusing activities can be life-saving. But it would be medical malpractice to just keep giving someone blood without a full work up to figure out why they’re bleeding or why the bone marrow stopped making new blood.
Consider these activities “trauma-supportive,” which is not necessarily the same as trauma treatment. Still- treating trauma can be depleting in itself, so it’s good to marry energy transfusing activities with trauma healing treatments. Just keep checking in with yourself. How resourced am I now? And now? And now?
What supports you? What helps you fill your tank when your stores of life force get low?
Want to learn more tips like this? Join Healing With The Muse and get transfused while also learning trauma healing tools and finding support in a loving community.
Originally published at lissarankin.com and reproduced here with permission.
Recommended articles by Lissa Rankin:
- How To Honor Your Desires Without Grasping, Denying or Bypassing
- Pleasure as a Spiritual Path
- The Unmistakable Link Between Unhealed Trauma and Physical Illness
- Satisfying Our Emotional Needs Without Being Codependent
- Relationships on the Spiritual Path
- How to Make Your Body Ripe for Miracles
- Are You “Spiritual But Not Religious?”
- 10 Fun Ways to Reduce Your Cortisol Levels
- 6 Stories To Make You Believe In The Power Of The Mind To Heal You
- 7 Tips For Finding Your Tribe
About the author:
Lissa Rankin, MD is a mind-body medicine physician on a grass roots mission to heal healthcare, while empowering you to heal yourself. She is the founder of the Whole Health Medicine Institute training program for physicians and healthcare providers, and the New York Times bestselling author of the books Mind Over Medicine: Scientific Proof That You Can Heal Yourself (2013), The Fear Cure (2014), and The Anatomy of a Calling (2015).
Lissa blogs at LissaRankin.com and created the online community HealHealthCareNow.com. She is also the author of several other books, a speaker, a professional artist, an amateur ski bum, and an avid hiker. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area.
Connect with Lissa on Facebook and Twitter, or visit LissaRankin.com.
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