7 Ways to unstick your energy, without Reiki

Lets face it. Not every day is easy. If you’re reading this now, you may be asking yourself some hard questions like, Where is the joy? The excitement? The movement? If day in and day out it’s always the same, your energy may be stuck. A lot of people seek Reiki during these times because the purpose of Reiki is to move and balance energy.  Reiki works not only in your body, but in your mind, spirit and life in general.   I highly encourage using Reiki daily to help move and balance energy, however there are some quick ways to get you feeling good now without the use of Reiki at all and I thought I’d share a few that I’ve done personally.   So, if you are feeling stuck in the same old grind and you’re ready to get out of it, then try one (or all) of these 7 Non Reiki ways to shift your energy, get it moving and start feeling that spark of the divine in your life again.

 Stretch and breathe, jump, run, skip, hop, dance, wrestle with your kids, shoot some baskets with some friends, join a company softball team, go for walk or do some yoga. It doesn’t have to be hard, or long, but as Nike would say, just do it. I’m not a huge fan of sweating in all honesty, and running makes me feel like I’m dying due to lack of oxygen, but the Anxiety and Depression Center of America’s most recent research shows that only 5 minutes a day of aerobic exercise can alleviate stress and help to eliminate depression. My movement jam is yoga, and I have committed to doing a minimum 6 sun salutations each morning to unstick my energy and get my day off to a good start. This practice alone has done wonders for my attitude. Getting started with a movement ritual can seem daunting but start out small and watch it grow along with your your desire for more, but don’t over commit yourself in the beginning. If its too hard you’ll never get started, or end up quitting quickly due to the added pressure of one more thing you think you HAVE to do. Final tip, make sure its something that feels good to you, make it something FUN so you’ll want to do it again tomorrow.

I’m not sure this should count as its own number but I’m going to put it here anyway because while it could be an extension of trying something new it could also be renewing the joy of something you already do. For instance, I’ve been doing yoga for over 15 years. I love it, it makes me feel good, but I’m really on again and off again with my practice. It’s OK, life is cyclical, no need to get down about it, but last year I started to feel useless, lifeless and worn down. I decided I needed to renew my practice, to dig deeper and so instead of signing up for a new yoga studio and trying to push myself to get to class on the regular, I signed up for a 200hr yoga teacher training intensive. I had to shake my life up a bit to do it too. I had to find child care for my daughter, get my husband to commit to being Mr. Mom and be willing to be in class 9 hours a day, six days a week for 3 weeks. Man, it was AWESOME. I was surrounded by people who shared my passions and was asked to dig into the depths of my psyche that I was NOT expecting to have to do. I practiced yoga several hours a day and meditated even more. I studied the body and how it works and not only the body, but my body. It was so enlightening. Maybe yoga is not your thing, but whatever your thing is, immersing yourself in it completely for a longer than average bit of time can really renew your passion!

This one is a lot like taking a new route home, only it’s just talking to a new person. What good will talking to someone new do? A lot. Share a smile, compliment a stranger, ask some questions and the next thing you know you are on a journey to somewhere you have never been. People are so full of stories and life experiences. Maybe they’ve traveled somewhere you’ve never been, and you can live vicariously by listening to their story. Maybe they tell you about all their woes and you exit the conversation feeling awed by the strength of another, or grateful for what your life looks like in comparison. Maybe you get a new perspective and you are inclined toward action, toward helping them or others like them. Maybe they are doing amazing things and you are inspired to step into your true self and do amazing things too. Who knows what you might find, but if nothing else, you will find connection and according to a Harvard University study that began in 1938 the most powerful finding was that good relationships keep us happier and healthier. There is a direct correlation that if you are more socially connected to family, friends, and a community, you will live longer and be happier than someone who is less well connected.

These are seven things I’ve done, in addition to Reiki, to help get my energy flowing and bring the joy back into my days, but I’m willing to bet you’ve tried a thing or two yourself. Let me know if you try any of these ideas and how they made you feel or tell me about other things you’ve done to get unstuck. I’d love to hear about them, as I’m sure would the rest of the folks reading this story. Leave some comments and talk to a stranger. We can all learn together.