Recently, my friend Mystic Medusa said to me, “You are beginning a magical journey. Take some time with this next eclipse to think how you could better nurture yourself/your soul. You need to replenish your Qi for the next big push.”

I took her seriously, & have since kicked up my levels of self-care & radical self LOVE! I’ve been indulging in regular meditation, more green tea & water consumption, reflexology, hypnosis & taking relaxing baths. Yes, clearly, when Mystic Medusa says “Jump!”, I ask, “How high?!”

In case you, like me, are feeling a little unravelled, here are a few of the things I’ve found that are extremely restorative & calming…

1. Deepak Chopra’s free meditation course
I learned about Deepak’s free 21-day meditation course through Yaz, who is, by all accounts, a pretty wonderful gal. It sounded great, but I was worried that I was too late to start. Thankfully, my fears were unfounded; when you sign up, you’re simply directed to a page with a list of MP3s, which you can work through at your own pace.

I started with Day 1 on Saturday night, while sitting cross-legged (& sideways!) in a lavender Epsom salt bath. Every day, Deepak gives you a new thought to focus on while you meditate. He also supplies you with a mantra that you can slowly repeat to yourself over & over if you find yourself getting distracted.

The length of the meditation isn’t too long — it’s just long enough to feel like you have sunken into that place of deep peace — & I think they will probably increase in length as I work my way through the series. Who can know?!

Either way, I highly recommend giving it a shot. Commit yourself to 3 weeks of daily meditation & see if it makes a difference to your happiness!

2. Epsom salt baths
The idea of going & taking an Epsom salt bath is an oldie but a goodie. A huge number of us have diets that are lacking in magnesium & sulfates, & Epsom salt is extremely high in those two things. Thankfully, we’re able to easily absorb them through our skin!

When you step up your levels of magnesium, it helps to flush toxins & heavy metals, improves heart & circulatory health & regulates electrolytes (which improves nerve function). Magnesium also raises your levels of serotonin, which reduces stress & makes you feel happy, improves sleep & concentration & improves sleep, as well as relieving muscle pain & inflammation.

Sulfates are important, too: they help improve the absorption of nutrients, help to form better proteins in the body, & prevent & ease migraine headaches.

So basically, an Epsom salt bath will soften the skin, soothe aches, reduce swelling, exfoliate the skin, draw toxins from the body, sedate the nervous system, relax the muscles & provide relief from joint soreness. If that doesn’t make you want to run a bath right now, I don’t know what will!

Some witches take Epsom salt baths to cleanse the aura, & others say Epsom salt baths can reduce the appearance of wrinkles. I don’t know about that, but hey, it can’t hurt!

3. Hypnosis
“You are getting sleepy…” No, no, not like that!

On Friday, I took an hour & a half out of my schedule to pay a visit to Deborah Flanagan. Her Yelp reviews are incredible, & at first I bookmarked her page because she works as a reflexologist. When it came time to book the appointment, however, I decided to mix it up, dedicating half of the session to reflexology, & the other half to hypnosis!

I’d never tried hypnosis before & I was so pleasantly surprised. Deborah is this wonderful woman with a spellbinding voice, & I knew I was with a like-minded person when she told me that she teaches almost all of her clients EFT!

An hour & a half later, I sat up on her table & looked in the mirror. I was literally GLOWING. I floated out of her office, feeling completely blissed out.

My session with Deborah was one of the most rejuvenating & satisfying energy-work experiences I’ve ever had. If you’ve ever been interested in trying hypnosis, I strongly encourage you to do it!

4. EFT
I’ve been practicing EFT since 2006, when my then-boyfriend basically talked me into giving it a try. It literally transformed my life, & through using it regularly, was able to transform from a sad, angry girl with an eating disorder into the very happy woman I am today!

EFT has an incredible ability to remove emotional blockages from the body, freeing you from sadness, tension, fear, anger or any other negative feelings you might be experiencing… & once those emotions disappear from your body, you’ll be amazed at how much more of the real you shows up.

It’s mind-bogglingly easy to do. In fact, I made a video about how to use it in 2007! (Geez, probably time for an update!)

Trust me when I say: I know it sounds ridiculous. Tapping on your face with your fingers while you say things that feel uncomfortable doesn’t seem like something that would achieve much, other than making you feel silly. But it REALLY WORKS. (One day I should share the email I got from a girl who used EFT to not only achieve her first orgasm, but become multi-orgasmic! Go girl!)

Anyway. Give it a shot, & let me know if you’d like me to write more about it!

5. Smile!
Just click the link. Go on! I’ll wait…

Yes, one of the best ways to deal with feeling bad is simply to SMILE. Our physiology informs our psychology, so if you’re having the worst day ever, smiling — even if you don’t mean it! — will actually transform your mood. The same goes for standing or sitting up straighter, dropping your shoulders & doing some deep breathing. Our brain is easily tricked by our body, so take advantage of it!

As simple as this sounds, it actually works, & as annoying as it is to have creepy dude on the street tell you to “SMILE!”, maybe he’s onto something?!

Peace out!