Monday, August 4, 2014

The Importance of Spiritual Maintenance

 
Image courtesy of tiverylucky/FreeDigitalPhotos.net
 
The other night, I was on the phone with some friends and the topic of spiritual maintenance came up and how many tarot readers haven’t even heard of it or aren’t aware of how important it is to have such a practice in the first place.  This was very surprising to me because it is such a basic thing to do when you engage in any kind of energy work so I assumed that all readers knew about it.  Well, we all know what “assume” stands for, right?  I thought I would take the opportunity to explain why it is important and provide suggestions on what you can do to stay spiritually healthy. 
 
We all know that in order to have a vehicle that operates properly we have to perform regular maintenance on it.  For example, we have to change the oil to keep the engine running properly.  If you neglect to do this, the oil gets very thick, making it difficult for the internal parts of the engine to work properly and eventually the engine will seize and you’ll need to replace it.  The same thing happens when you let the engine run out of oil.  We also need to make sure that we rotate the tires and get alignments.  When we don’t do this, the tires will wear unevenly, leaving one area of the tire(s) to get worn away until the cords are showing.  When this happens, there is a danger of the tire blowing out which is very sudden and depending on how fast you are going can be difficult to get control over therefore leading to the possibility of an accident.  These are only a couple of examples but I’m sure that you get the picture.
 
Spiritual maintenance is just as important as vehicle maintenance.  In order to keep our physical and spiritual bodies sound and in good working order, we need to perform regular maintenance.  When doing any kind of energy work (tarot included) our bodies can collect the negativity not only from the work itself, but even from just going out to public places such as grocery stores or restaurants.   If we do not perform our spiritual maintenance, we can become physically ill and emotionally unbalanced.  It is not uncommon to get the flu, colds, back aches, stomach aches, depression, anxiousness, or irritability, just to name a few.
 
So what can we do?? I’m glad that you asked!!
 
Meditation
 
The easiest, and possibly the most overlooked, part of maintenance is meditation.  The benefits are so vast that they are beneficial for life, not just energy work.  When done on a regular basis, it helps strengthen the rest of the maintenance program.   Some of the benefits are:
 
*Reduces pain
*Strengthens the immune system
*Increases blood flow
*Balances emotions
*Reduces stress
*Increases energy
*Strengthens energy work
*Assists with Grounding and centering
*Strengthens psychic protection
*Assists in keeping the chakras aligned
 
There are many ways of meditating and each one resonates differently with each person.  I invite you to look up and try different ways of meditating and find one that works for you.
 
 
Centering
 
I’m sure that you’ve had those days where it seems that your mind is running everywhere and it can’t focus on any one thing.  Centering is simply bringing in all of your scattered energy into one point of yourself and focusing.  This should be done before and after any energy work.  One way to do this is by imagining each thought that is focused elsewhere as a tendril that is reaching out of your body and bring it to rest at the spiritual center in your body.
 
 
Grounding
 
Being grounded to the Earth prevents your body from being depleted of energy when doing any kind of energy work.  You can ground by using a grounding visualization or by eating protein or foods that contain fiber.  The visualization that I use is imagining roots coming out of my feet and connecting with the center of the earth.
 
If you are feeling lightheaded, clumsy or having difficulty concentrating and energy work, you definitely need to ground and center but doing them on a regular basis will help keep those kinds of reactions at bay.
 
 
Chakra Work
 
Chakra meditations are a great way to balance and align our energy centers.  If our chakras are misaligned or mucky, our energies are thrown off, therefore, throwing off our work and our lives.  However, cleaning and aligning our chakras is only a temporary fix.  The imbalance of our chakras is a direct manifestation of the imbalance in our lives.  If we want our chakras to be in balance, we must work on the issues that are causing the imbalance in the first place.  For example, if our root chakra is unbalanced we may feel as though we do not belong anywhere and are still looking for our tribe.  The other side of the coin is that our chakras being out of balance affects our lives.  It is a viscious cycle that must be worked on from boths sides in order to obtain and keep balance.
 
There are many online resources that have guided meditations of you are unsure how to do them.
 
 
This is bare bones list of what should be done on a very regular basis in order to stay physically and psychically healthy and there are many different ways to do them.  I invite you to do your own research and develop your own practice that will be beneficial for you and your business.
 
Bright Blessings!! 
Machelle