How we can replenish when our cups are empty...

How do you refill your cup when you have drained every last drop of motivation, participation and energy? What do you do when the energy vampires have sucked the last bit of energy from your aura and left behind a dried husk of a person? How do you come back from this?

Taking time out to replenish our energy is not a luxury but an essential part of our self-care practice. Just as we get tired from physical exertion, we can also become fatigued when we drain our energy through doing things that are not in alignment with our highest good or when we let people (energy vampires) hook into our aura and take our energy. If you stack this on top of physical exertion, mental fatigue and emotional upheaval, you are quickly going to manifest a physical ailment like anxiety, depression or burnout, and for many of us, this type of pressure is an everyday occurrence.

When your "body" (mind, body, emotion and spirit) is put under this pressure constantly, you can soon develop things like adrenal fatigue, chronic fatigue, digestive problems, headaches and mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. All of these ailments are so common in our society today that many people think this is the "norm". But it's not! We were not designed to be under this much pressure constantly. Feeling sub-par or unwell is not normal. It's our physical body telling us that our "body" (mind, body, emotion and spirit) is at breaking point. Eventually if we don't heed the signs and symptoms then it will ultimately lead to death (sorry to be a Debbie downer).

Allopathic (conventional) medicine only treats our symptoms and not the cause, so whilst your symptoms may be relieved for a short while, you can guarantee that your "body" is looking for other ways to give you a sign that you need to make changes in your life. It is of vital importance that you heed these signs as soon as you notice them so that you can work on a solution that will bring your body back into balance.

Now I just want to take a detour here and say that I am not anti-allopathic medicine. I truly believe that both allopathic medicine and alternative therapies and medicine are meant to be used together. I would most probably not be here today if I hadn't treated my endometriosis with allopathic medicine. I had tried so many alternative therapies but nothing gave me a sustained level of health and it was getting to the stage where I felt there was no point in being here if my life was controlled by my endometriosis. Thanks to allopathic medicine I got my life back for the first time since my teens. For that I am forever grateful. Okay back to the post...

So when our physical body gives a sign or symptom that all is not well, it is up to us to replenish and fill our cup. We can do this in a number of ways:

• Breathwork - One of the easiest ways to calm our nervous system and switch on our parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) is by doing some breathwork. In fact, this is the only way that we can exert any control over our nervous system. Our PNS is responsible for telling our body that we are safe and can relax. It slows our heart rate and breathing, sends blood back to our digestive system so we can digest our food properly and restores our libido (because your body isn't thinking of procreating when it thinks our life is under threat). It also repairs any tissue damage. When we are stressed and under pressure we are not able to think clearly about what could be causing symptoms that may be present in our physical body, so we need to get back to a relaxed state of mind so that we can focus inward to discover the cause. The breath work exercise that I always go to when I need to calm my mind and body is Box Breathing. This is where you breathe in for the count of four, hold your breath for the count of four, exhale for the count of four and then hold your breath for another count of four; then continue like this for five to ten minutes or until you feel your body relax and/or your mind quieten. From here we can introduce other processes that can help us get to the cause of our issue.

• Sleep - Our PNS that I spoke about in the above point does its best work when we are asleep. Sleep is a vital part of our self-care practice and the quality of our sleep will really affect our body's ability to heal and process. I know you don't want to hear this but one of the best things you can do is stop using your devices at least a half an hour before going to bed. Turn off the TV as well. Develop a night-time routine that signals to your body that it is now time to wind down and get ready for sleep. I can suggest drinking a tea that will help you sleep, having a warm shower (not hot), doing some gentle stretching, listening to some soft music or using a sleep app to help you drift into a place that prepares you for sleep. I find that going to bed by 10pm gives me the most restorative sleep. I also suggest that your room is as dark as it can get, the temperature is on the cooler side and if you wear pjs that they are comfortable and loose fitting. You would be surprised at how beneficial a good night's sleep can be when wanting to process emotions and such. Even your dreams could give you some clues as to why your body is displaying certain symptoms.

• Meditation - When we need to go within to see what is causing symptoms in our physical body, one of the easiest ways to do this is to meditate. If you find it hard to meditate then even just sitting quietly, taking some deep breaths and then making your way around your body to see where you feel pain, pressure or temperature changes and then sitting with it and asking why has this pain/pressure/temperature change shown up in this part of the body. Then just sit with it for a few breaths and see what comes up for you. You may hear some words or see something or someone, or experience a feeling. Don't dismiss anything. You can write it down before you move onto the next part of your body so you can process it later.

• Journaling - As most of you know, I am a very big fan of journaling. Writing your thoughts and feelings down and getting them out of your head can be very cathartic. Even just doing a ten minute session of automatic writing where you just write everything that comes into your head for ten minutes can be beneficial. Journaling with the help of a counsellor can be very therapeutic.

• Counselling - If you don't feel confident enough to process the issues that are causing your symptoms then you may benefit from a few sessions with a counsellor. A counsellor can provide you with the tools and resources that can give you the skills to process your issue now and in the future. They can also help you see things from a different perspective and help keep you on track if that's what you feel you need.

• Energy Healing - If you are really quite perplexed as to why you are displaying certain symptoms then a session or two with an Energy Practitioner can provide you with information about what is happening in your subtle bodies (aura/energy bodies). Whilst an Energy Practitioner is just a conduit for Source energy coming through to help you clear away negative and blocked energy, they can also be very good at helping you get to the core of the issues that are producing physical symptoms.

• Lastly, withdraw. There is no shame in taking time for yourself. I know this can be hard if you have little ones or lots of demands on your time but even just five minutes alone to pull yourself together can help you keep it together until you have time for a longer period of withdrawal. What you do in that time is up to you. The only caveat I put on it, is that you should do exactly what you want to do, not what you think you should be doing. So, if you want to drink your tea in silence, do that. If you want to go for a walk in nature, do that. If you want to sob uncontrollably, do that. Do whatever you need to do to release the pressure build up. Being clear-headed lets you access that part of you that has all the answers.

There are other things you can do that I won't go into here because they are, quite frankly, commonsense; get some exercise, eat nourishing food, and ask for help or support.

Taking time to recharge and clear energy blocks is essential for optimal health. Make it part of your everyday, just like brushing your teeth or combing your hair. Your "body" will thank you for it.

Until next time...

Photo Credit: Giulia Bertelli - Unsplash

Photo Credit: Toa Heftiba - Unsplash