Guest Blog by Quincey Miller, Reiki + Wellness Guide

“How can I bring more light-hearted play into spirituality and healing?”

This is the question at the forefront of my mind as the world gets stranger and current events feel heavier by the day. There is so much good medicine in joy, laughter + PLAY!

In all realness, we have a lot of serious healing to do as a collective that we can’t just breeze by and ignore. It can feel terribly hopeless + heavy, and it’s affecting our health. Some of us are feeling things we’ve never felt before and dealing with stressors we never imagined were possible, and we’re coping with anxiety more than we ever have before (which is why we have acupuncture + Reiki ;)

But why play? In case you need scientific backing for why play is ESSENTIAL! Here ya go…

Play lifts stress from us. It refreshes us and recharges us. It restores our optimism. It changes our perspective, stimulating creativity. It renews our ability to accomplish the work of the world.

[Play] may in fact be the highest expression of our humanity, both imitating and advancing the evolutionary process. Play appears to allow our brains to exercise their very flexibility, to maintain and even perhaps renew the neural connections that embody our human potential to adapt, to meet any possible set of environmental conditions.

-Psychology Today

That’s EXACTLY what the doctor is ordering. So where do we begin? Below I created some ways to transmute the heavy energy into LIGHT! Start small. Play with one or all of them. Create your own practice around them. Play with what works for YOU!

1. GROUND + LISTEN. Give yourself time and space to just BE. Connect with your presence. Connect with your breath and check in with yourself throughout the day. Set little reminders if you like. All that’s essential in this exercise is to just take notice. What are you feeling? What’s coming up for you? Allow yourself to really feel everything. Be gentle with yourself and ask for support if you need to. You are not alone and do not have to do this alone. 

2. PURGE + CLEANSE. Use a journaling practice to purge + cleanse! Writing is so therapeutic and often uncovers the hidden crevices of the soul. Before writing, light a candle, check-in with yourself by taking a few slow, deep breaths, and set an intention. What do you wish to come out of the writing? An answer to a question? To get clear? To let go of your worries? It can be anything you wish and can change daily. Set your intention and start writing! If you don’t know what to write at first, write anything, even if it’s “I don’t know what to write” and let the magic of pen to paper take over. Surrender to what wants to come through and let it all go. 

3. SHIFT THE ENERGY. Shake things up. Try new things. Move your bodies, dance, run, do yoga, go for a walk in nature, cleanse your space with sage (there are BEAUTIFUL bundles in the apothecary), take epsom salt baths, diffuse some essential oils (my fave combos for cleansing: Pinõn Pine + Lime, Peppermint + Rosemary, Basil + Cedarwood), book your healing sessions!

4. GET CURIOUS + CREATE. However you connect spiritually (your intuition, Spirit Guides, God, Universe, Higher Self), ask your guidance…”Where can I invite more play?” Make it easy on yourself. Ask yourself randomly throughout the day, post the question on sticky notes, or set aside time to reflect + journal. Connect with the moment. In this moment, can you find where those little joy bubbles lie? The ones that tickle the belly + soul? Explore + invite them into your day!
   
   

Sending you all virtual hugs and wrapping you all in healing light.

Please let me know what’s working for you. What’s coming up? How are you going to PLAY?