The Importance of Cleansing the Soul
Do You Have Soul Sludge?
I spend a lot of time talking about proper food choices and cleaning out the kitchen, but what happens when our bellies are filled with wholesome food, we sleep the recommended 7-9 hours and we include yoga asana (the physical practice) and exercise into our daily lives and we are still off?
What is slowing us down and burning us out? I like to call this soul sludge. This is the hard stuff to face and change. It is what sits stagnate at the bottom of our bellies and our hearts.
Cleaning out the kitchen cabinets is the easy part, cleaning out the junk in our personal trunk is the hard part. Are you ready mentally to face the world and people you have surrounded yourself with and tell them things need to change or it is over? Are you brave enough to do what is best for you and not just what is best for others?
Cleansing the soul doesn’t mean you need to become angry or mean, but rather it means you need to become real, real with yourself and others. When we take the time to self-reflect and determine what we need and where we need to be, we are being honest, brave and ultimately the healthiest we can be.
It is not just about what we eat, it is about what eats at us. Is it a job? Is it a relationship? Is it your friends on social media? What brings you down and what brings you up? When we fill our lives with the positive and start to eliminate the negative, we become stronger, healthier and much more productive. When we drop the dead weight, we have more to give to those who deserve it.
You are not being selfish, you are being the best you can be! When you start to make you the focus, you can love more and give more.
I challenge you to look deep within and be honest. The truth often hurts, but so does living an unfulfilled and unhealthy life. You deserve the best! The journey will be difficult, but the reward will be worth it.
About the Author
How to Hold a Smudging Ceremony
A smudging ceremony is the ritual of burning plant resins and herbs in a shell or a clay bowl while intentions and prayers are called forth. For centuries, Native Americanand Indigenous cultures have practiced smudging rituals to clear away negative energy, to invite in peace and harmony for individuals or environments. The smoke from the herbs and the plant resins are fanned using a feather or a hand and directed like a “cleansing smoke bath” surrounding the person or the space.
The purpose of this cleansing ritual is to clear away anxieties, sadness, impurities, dark thoughts or unwanted energies that may have attached themselves to a space or an individual.
Smudging is most often performed before or as part of a ceremony to clear the environment and the people from certain thoughts or feelings that will not serve the highest good in themselves. For this reason, it is important to set a clear intention while smudging.
As the smudging ceremony is practiced, the smoke rises and so do the prayers to mother earth, father sky, to the sun and the moon, to the plants, the animals and the water. The burning of the sacred plants- sage, cedar, sweetgrass and palo santo- to name a few, support the connection to the sacred realms between the earth and spirit. Through this connect to spirit the smoke bath lifts negative feelings and energy and creates an opening for prayers and intentions to be heard, therefore bringing positive intention into practice.
