How to Strengthen Your Resilience in Chaotic Times

It’s no secret – we’re going through tumultuous times. While some may not be as affected by the chaos as others, there are those looking for a port in the storm and maybe even fighting against it. The energies swirling around us can be overwhelming and may leave us feeling exhausted, lost, fearful or even powerless. To deal with the chaos and overwhelming feelings, many of us may choose to opt out where we can while others try to combat the overwhelm with more information and facts, which often takes us back to overwhelm.

Some, however, choose to live in joy as an act of resistance. I love this stance because there have been so many times in history where oppressed people have made the choice to live in joy where they could, when they could, rather than let the oppressors win in every moment. To live in joy despite harrowing circumstances is not only an act of resistance, but also an act of power.

Retaining one’s power is a critical tool to successfully navigating challenging circumstances and crises. But what does this mean?

From the shaman’s point of view, everything in the cosmos and nature vibrates with an energy that is alive. This “living energy” is present in animate and inanimate objects because everything that is in our world comes from this living energy, a life force of creation. This living energy is therefore a source of power. This source of power is within each of us and, importantly, connects us to one another and all things in the world. In the Andean shamanism tradition, this world of living energy is referred to as kawsay pacha[1].

We are constantly interacting with the kawsay pacha, with its energies expressed in two forms: sami or hucha. Sami is refined, ordered, pure light energy while hucha is heavy, disordered, dense or confusing energies. Hucha is created by emotions such as fear, anger or jealousy. As we go about our daily lives, interacting with each other and our environment, we are in constant interchange with the energies of the kawsay pacha. This interchange is not only through our physical body, but also our energetic field and spirit body, which extends anywhere from 18 inches to 3 feet from our physical body.[2]

Our energetic field, or spirit body, “responds to thoughts, feelings, and [our] reactions to any situation by expanding, contracting, or changing color or density. Therefore, it is an instant measure of how [we] are feeling and thinking at any given moment. This energetic field likewise responds to the thoughts, feelings and reactions of others.”[3] What this means is that we are all connected and that the exchanges with one another and our environment are directly affecting our energy and our source of power.

So, if we are in a chaotic or disruptive environment, around negative people, or even ingesting negative sources of information (which is a form of energy), our power can be diminished. This loss of power can lead to negative emotions and responses that may affect us mentally, emotionally, and physically. In other words, we can become less resilient. We can be especially at risk for being affected by heavy or dense energies, or hucha, when we are going through historically tumultuous times, like what is happening across the globe right now.

It's not all bad news though! Even in the face of energies that can dampen our energy, leaving us feeling overwhelmed, exhausted and more, we can replenish our power. The living energy, or the source of power that runs through all things is a renewable resource. When it is diminished within us, we can replenish this life force energy by engaging in thoughts and actions that help us release heavy energy and bring in light and high vibration energy. And the more we turn to sources of energy that feed us, we strengthen our energy body so that we can maintain mental, physical, and emotional strength to get through tough times.

3 Tips to Strengthen Your Power and Build Resilience

1. Access Your Joy. We are all now probably very familiar with the phrase “Joy is Resistance.” But there really is magic in joyful moments because joy uplifts us. As anyone who has been in a spiral of negative emotions or has been confronted by people or outside forces expressing or attempting to instill negative emotions in others – they grow when we keep experiencing them, reflect them back to others, or even when we provide the desired reaction. The more we can be in joy, the less likely we will be affected by the negative goings on around us because it’s hard for negative emotions like fear, anger, and hate to coexist in the same moment as joy. In other words, when we fill ourselves with more positive energy such as joy, we diminish the effect of negative energy.

So, find what brings you joy and then intentionally bring that joy into your life - even if it’s only for a few moments a day. For me, taking in good comedy or listening to happy music ups my vibe almost instantly (I challenge anyone to listen to Bill Withers’ “Lovely Day” and not feel immediate happiness). And, of course, creation energy is life-force energy and when used to create something you love, it will also increase your joy and your power.

To help give you a little joyful inspiration, I’ve created a playlist on Spotify filled with songs that amp up my joy and happiness quotient and just generally bring the good vibes that you can access here:

Happy Happy Joy Joy

Playlist · Krystal Jordan · 33 items



open.spotify.com


2. Hum. Yep. The simple, anyone can do it “hum” will strengthen your resilience. Humming can help bring your body back into resonance if it’s out of balance. In The Humming Effect[4], Jonathan Goldman and Andi Goldman identify numerous therapeutic effects of humming such as its ability to:
• reduce our blood pressure and heart rate
• reduce stress and increase relaxation
• increase nitric oxide, which enhances our immune system and other body systems
• increase lymphatic circulation
• enhance sleep

And adding intent to your humming practice can enhance its healing benefits. Jonathan Goldman came up with the formula: Frequency + Intent = Healing. In doing research on sound healing, he came to the conclusion that “’[i]t is not only the frequency of the sound that creates the effect, it is also the intention of the person making and receiving the sound that causes the outcome.’”[5] Encode your intent at the “still point,” i.e., the moment between your in-breath and out-breath before starting your hum.[6]

Hum for about 5 minutes if you can and notice the sensations that you feel. You may even use your index fingers to close your ears as you hum so you can feel the hum more internally and perhaps deeply.

In yoga, the practice of Bhramari Pranayama, commonly known as “Bee’s Breath” uses a steady, low-pitched hum along with a mudra (a “seal” or “gesture” using the hand, face and body). We’ll explore the Bhramari Pranayama practice more in-depth in a future article.

3. Start an Energetic Clearing Practice – Just like how we need to watch what we put into our bodies to maintain good health, we need to be mindful of what we ingest from our environment. Notice what your senses are attuning to - what you listen to, watch, or read - and notice how these things make you feel. Then practice regularly releasing or clearing what depletes you so that you can make room for things that energize you or bring you into balance (like joy and humming!).

Embrace the Clearing Energy of Water. Water, among many other things, is a wonderful and easily accessible cleanser. An easy way to access its cleansing quality is in the shower. As you shower, allow whatever it is you need to release to come up and then visualize the unwanted energy going into the water and down the drain, leaving you cleansed. 

Release Meditation. Similar to a water cleansing exercise, we can use meditation to cleanse our thoughts and to release the energies of the day that weigh us down. There are many different meditations that could be helpful. Here’s a simple meditation that I have used and found especially useful:

1. Sit upright (I feel this helps with the imagery) and find a comfortable position.
2. Imagine a room inside of your head with a trap door that goes all the way down your spine to the earth and windows on either side.
3. Draw in all the heavy and dense energies of the day (g., difficult situations, negative circumstances and emotions) into the windows of the room. I like to visualize them coming in via the wind and swirling about the room.
4. As you are ready, see the unwanted energies go down the trap door, clearing your body and being released into the earth.
5. Keep going until you feel that all the heavy and dense energies have been released into the earth and your room (and your energy field) feels clear.
6. Visualize a skylight on the ceiling (top of your head) and see light pouring in, filling your physical and energetic body with light (sami energy). Imagine this light is filled with joy and protection or any other qualities that you feel uplift your spirit and give you strength.

Clear Your Environment. One obvious way to clear our environment and to bring peace of mind (which helps us with resilience!) is to clear our space. Even 15 minutes a day of decluttering or cleaning will help us feel lighter.

Another way to clear the energy in the space is through incense or diffusing essential oils. Sage and frankincense incense are excellent space clearers. An essential oil blend of frankincense, rosemary, tea tree, and a citrus oil like sweet orange in the diffuser both clears the air (literally) and can uplift the spirit.

And while these tips help “clear the air,” lighten your space and lift your mood, it is equally important to consider the types of environments we are in and people we are around. As stated, we are all connected and therefore affected by each other’s energies. So, reflect on who you spend your time with and ask yourself whether you feel uplifted by them or depleted. If depleted, consider trying to change the dynamic or to limit the amount of time you spend with them. Perhaps even imagine strengthening your energy field by seeing it as a strong field around your body – it can be made of light – that allows positive energies to come in but keeps heavy or dense energies out. It may help to visualize mirrors surrounding your energy field when you’re around a person with particularly heavy or dense energies so that these energies reflect away from you. Once you leave the environment, for extra measure, you may want to visualize any heavy or dense energies floating off you and dissolving into the light.

Hopefully these tips will help you strengthen your resilience. In future blog articles, I’ll provide additional techniques, such as Emotional Freedom Technique (Tapping), to help release what we don’t need and build resilience. And, even when we regularly engage in practices to uplift our spirits and build our resilience, we may find that we hit a block or plateau. In those cases, shamanic or energy healing practices such as those offered at Krystal Healing Arts like ceremonies to remove interfering energies, blockages or limiting beliefs or reiki can help complement your resilience practices.