Demystifying Energetic Hygiene
By Lisa Solis DeLong, RN, Energy Practitioner
I am fascinated by the energy of our bodies. How does it work? Where does it come from at first breath? Where does it go at last breath? Questions like these have been the driving force behind first becoming a nurse and then an energy practitioner. As a mother-baby nurse experiencing hundreds of babies being born and the death of my own kid, I’ve seen first-hand that the energetic life force in us all begins and ends with breath.
Here’s a closer look at how first breath works in relationship to energy. Imagine that initial wail every parent yearns to hear as their newborn slips out of the dark wet world of the womb and enters the dry, bright, atmospheric pressure of earth. A complex gas exchange occurs in our lungs where regions mostly cleared of liquid, allow pulmonary gas exchange to commence. During the first phase, in a process called diffusion, oxygen moves from the alveoli (spongy lung tissue) to the blood through the capillaries (tiny blood vessels) lining the alveolar walls.
Once in the bloodstream, oxygen gets picked up by the hemoglobin in red blood cells. This oxygen transport system remains a mystery of theoretical work as applications to specific tissues, especially other than skeletal muscle and brain, are relatively scarce and rarely definitive. (Popel, 1989) We do know this; our lungs supply oxygen from the outside air to the cells via the blood and cardiovascular system to enable us to obtain energy. (Cedar, 2018)
What does the word hygiene mean when it is used in relationship to energy? Most people think of soap and water especially these days of hypervigilant hand washing. But how does one wash their energy? You can’t see it, taste it or touch it. This idea may seem strange, but it wasn’t that long ago when doctors and nurses saw no need to wash their hands or sterilize surgical equipment just because they couldn’t see the microorganisms causing the problems. This made them unsuspecting contributors to lethal infections.
Energetic hygiene is the clearest term available to describe what quantum physics teaches us. There is no difference between energy and matter. No one likes the idea of getting contaminated with someone else’s energetic gunk. All systems in an organism, from the atomic to the molecular level, are constantly in motion-creating resonance. This resonance is important to understanding how electromagnetism (radiation/light), the electromagnetic force that occurs between electrically charged particles, can have different effects on the body.
As with microorganisms, what if washing away energetic debris after an interaction with a difficult person could prevent contaminating others and allow us to work with greater ease, less burnout, and more peaceful relationships with ourselves and others? After all, we are multidimensional beings, body, mind and spirit, with various, complex energetic interactions continually taking place. If the phrase “energetic hygiene” still gives you the heebie-jeebies, is it because you are wondering, “What am I contributing energetically?”
Dr. Joe Dispenza, author of Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself: How to Lose Your Mind and Create a New One says, “The only way we can change our lives is to change our energy — to change the electromagnetic field we are constantly broadcasting. In other words, to change our state of being, we have to change how we think and how we feel.”
Emotions are energy in motion and all energy moves and vibrates. Lower emotions, like guilt and shame add energetic clutter, causing us to feel slow-moving energy. Fast-moving energy provides lighter, happier feelings like love and joy. Energetic hygiene is a process we can practice to become aware of our energy field. Just as we feel lighter when we brush our teeth, wash our cars or dust our homes, practicing energetic hygiene tends to leave us feeling bright and shiny too.
The other day I was in a group of new people and one of them came up to me and said, “I don’t know you, but you have good energy.” I beamed proudly as I recalled the morning meditation I’d done and the grounding exercise I just did in the parking lot. Before we get into how to clean your energy field, it’s helpful to look for the signs that your energy could use a bath.
Here are some common symptoms to look out for based on what I’ve experienced myself and through working with my clients: unexplained aches and pains, insomnia or sleep disruption, sore feet, shoulders and neck for unknown reason, feeling scattered, unbalanced, feelings of exhaustion and overwhelm.
If you are consistently experiencing the above symptoms, there are a few tools you can try: meditation, breath work, yoga, epsom salt baths (my personal favorite is to imagine all of the “slow-vibing” energy of the day or from other people going down the drain); sound baths, grounding by walking barefoot on the earth, cleaning, or decluttering your home, car, wallet or purse. When I’m really feeling stagnant, I like to clean my garage, something about moving heavy objects is very satisfying. I also really enjoy giving and receiving guided energy medicine sessions, heavy lifting of another kind.
If all of this still sounds too woo-woo for you, consider the research currently being done by Dr. Hemal Patel, Professor and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Patel is working with Dr. Joe Dispenza in response to the question, “Can meditators evolve their biology…as it relates to Covid…They surveyed 3,000 individuals representing 66 countries, and the results reveal some very unique characteristics about the meditation community.” Stay tuned!
Whatever form of energetic hygiene you choose, it is most important to enjoy it, start small, and focus on simple changes. Making a consistent shift with even one small change from the material shared here will bring higher frequency experiences to your energy field and life.
References
Popel AS. Theory of oxygen transport to tissue. Crit Rev Biomed Eng. 1989;17(3):257-321.
Cedar SH (2018) Every breath you take: the process of breathing explained. Nursing Times [online]; 114: 1, 47-50.
Excerpts from Ross, Christina L. “Energy Medicine: Current Status and Future Perspectives.” Global advances in health and medicine vol. 8 2164956119831221. 27 Feb. 2019, doi:10.1177/2164956119831221
