by Andrew Pacholyk MS L.Ac ~
Peacefulmind.com
We often hear about detoxing our physical bodies. It is often a 2 -7 day process that we undertake to help the body to rid itself of toxins and impurities that tend to slow our natural cleansing processes down.
But, how often do we think about doing an emotional detox. Our emotions are a fine tuned, well-balanced set of processes, which are not only chemically induced, but mentally charged. If you are working with yourself or on a client/patient, the process is the same.
Remember, we create our emotional state. We chose to believe certain ideas or perceive particular actions that may or may not be true. We then take this information and process it in a way that can be very detrimental to our state of mind. Choosing to look at something from a different perspective can completely alter how we perceive an action or words.
 To fully appreciate this, one must learn to view the body as a vast energy field with positive and negative poles.
*Remember: “Energy follows thought”. The imagery of visualization is very powerful! As you or your client takes a deep breath, you may tell them to inhaling and exhaling through the center of their being. Our body is made up of energy centers which have been mapped and found to be associated with the major nerve ganglia in the body. Deep breathing helps to stimulate and waken these centers on all levels. Just the concentrated “act” of deep breathing can allow the body to release and let go. Focusing your energy on thoughts that are affirming, positive and nurturing are one of many ways to start focusing on the “now” or present moment.
 Here is a list of energetic techniques to help in our emotional detox:
 You may utilize the vibrational power of sound or music during your session. The body will enhance a positive, reconnecting flow of energy, which will allow your or your client to bring up, recognize and clear emotional blocks.
 Remember the power of scent can be used to enhance the experience. Use essential oil on the pulse points or diffuse it into the air. Burn soothing incense or one of the many sacred herbs such as cedar, sage, and lavender.
Use reiki energy, qigong or breath work to increase your healing session and helping yourself or the client to prepare themselves to step back into the real world with less tension, stress and apprehension.
Give a powerful prayer or affirmation, one that will empower your patient to move forward.
Acupuncture has shown to be very helpful for dealing with symptoms that pop up, as well as boosting the immune system, improving circulation, stimulating brain function by accessing the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis and boosting energy, coordination and muscle function.
Crystals work as a tool on many levels. Crystals are chosen for their metaphysical properties and how they can assist as an emotional trigger for support, meditation, massage and more.
Rhodonite and Watermelon Tourmaline, both stones are believed to work on the muscular skeletal system and therefore are beneficial for stress related issues that affect the muscles and bones.
Quartz is the master healer and next to Calcite, are two of the stones most closely related to our own body composition. The clearer the quartz, the better and calcite should be chosen for the color associated with the part of the body that is having the most difficult.
Eilat stone is a unique mixture of Chrysocolla, Malachite, Turquoise, Silver and Native Copper. This stone has the ability to create, store and conduct energy. It also can maintain this activity for many, many years. Eliat Stone also has an uncanny ability to absorb many types of pain.
Stones with magnetic properties have been found to help improve circulation by moving blood (and Qi) and can be very helpful with pain syndromes in general:
Hematite is one of the most mystical of all gemstones. This stone is cold to the touch even in the heat of summer and worn as a bracelet to cool the blood. Magnet Therapy can increase blood flow and circulation and that it can help speed up the healing process and alleviate pain. The Human body contains a magnetic charge that is essential for it to function.
Magnetic Hematite is also very good for magnetic therapy. Try a neck massage with a pair and feel what magnets can do for you. They can also be directly bandaged onto an affected area or onto acupressure points.
Massage Therapy not only treats those parts of you, which are a problem, but also affects the whole of your metabolism through normalizing your circulatory, muscular and nervous systems and their interdependent functioning. Massage is usually done with soothing massage oils or relaxing body lotions in order for the practitioner’s hands to “glide” over the body with smooth, relaxing strokes.
Technique: Massage for emotional stress can help clear lactic acid and improve circulation. With a massage tool, crystal wand or tumble stone (use one of the stones above) try gently massaging affected areas in small gentle clockwise circles.
Hot Stone Massage Therapy is recommended for emotional stress. It is an ancient Ayurvedic therapy with riverbed stones, which draw out stress, tension and impurities from the body.
Meridian Therapy: Traditional Chinese Medicine detoxifies the body system through the organs, primarily:
The Lungs and Large Intestine Meridian
In TCM, the lungs are an organ system that opens directly to the exterior. It’s function is to regulate and control the breath through inhalation and exhalation. Because of its opening through the nose, the lungs are easily susceptible to cold, heat, dryness, dampness, and most of all, heat and wind. This can effect the biggest organ of the body; the skin. The lung’s relationship with the large intestine is what we take in, we must use and let go of. The lung is closely related to the San Jiao channel.
San Jiao Meridian
The San Jiao is a traditional Chinese medical (TCM) concept of a functional organ that is not found outside of TCM). However, from the meaning of the original word, which is the texture beneath skin and between muscles, there has been some proposed theories stating that this conceptual organ corresponds to the lymphatic system. San Jiao has been translated as “triple heater,” triple warmer (or three warmers),” and “triple burner,” the latter of which is probably favored because of the involvement of the San Jiao in metabolism (burner meaning “metabolize”). Use red stones such as ruby, garnet, fire agate or jasper on the top of the arm, two finger breathes above the wrist and on the middle of the shoulder bladders at SJ 11.
Emotional Cleanse
Clear these meridians by creating a grid with crystals, herbs or salt. Your grid can be a meditation circle you create with other tools such as candles or incense. An easy way to do this is to use any one of these tools (or a combination of a few) and make a circle on the floor. Now lay in the circle to create a private and sacred space to relax in, do meditation in or just a place to feel safe. Focus on the energy around our heart and your mind or mind’s eye (Third Eye). An Aura balancing exercise can acts as a great cleanser. Image pure white energy glowing (growing) from your feet and then slowly moving up your body, inch by inch. Sense the light cleansing each section as you feel it rising upward past your hips, over your belly, across your heart, over your throat, above your eyes and finally over your head. Allow yourself time in this protective, white light as you allow your stressors to melt away.
Chakra balancing stimulates the seven main energy sources, which govern all the major organs and psychologically alters and clears the body’s energy in order to allow healing to take place. This means that the polarities of the crystal will change when subjected to pressure or heat (even body heat from the hands). This will radiate energy from the crystal due to this reversal of polarities. It provides the transfer, storage and transformation of energy. It offers a balanced energy field, an energy modification, which amplifies both energy and thought, clarity in thinking, and harmony and alignment with the Chakra energy areas.
Aura cleansing works with our outer energy layers. These layers are first affected before we may even know or physically feel symptoms. Lay crystals at the areas that influence the aura. Do a scan with a clear quartz point to sense any cold areas, change in temperatures or uneasy energy.
Color Therapy or Rainbow healing looks at the body as a light energy. Starting from the feet and working your way up the body, a map of the rainbow colors start with red, then move up to the below the navel using orange. The Solar plexus below the diaphragm corresponds to yellow, the heart center is green, the throat center is blue, while the third eye is indigo and lastly the top of the crown of the head is violet.
While meditating, you may choose to have you or your client visualize the corresponding color of each energy center (found in the Chakra or color therapy information) saturating and balancing each part of the body.
 Remember, no matter what your emotional connection is to your stress, it is important to see the bigger picture. It is how you choose to handle your stress that makes all the difference. You only have two choices: allow it to keep affecting you and bothering your mental state, OR you can take back your control and see it for what it is. The cause of stress is often a problem we can solve. It simply takes the courage to change the way we look at the issue at hand. If it is an issue that is out of your control, then accepting this is your first line of defense. Taking back your power is having the wisdom to understand the difference.
