A guided beauty ritual for releasing the tension
Taking time for ourselves during quarantine and social isolation
COVID-19 is not easy to navigate right now
I live in the United States, and the Center for Disease Control here has urged the country’s citizens to isolate themselves in self-quarantine or to practice social distancing when we have no choice but to step out into the public. This, along with hand washing, keeping personal items sanitary, and avoiding touching the face have been really the only unanimous guidelines to follow during this pandemic. And yes, it is a pandemic.
Not only is the premise of social distancing and altogether isolation pretty daunting (except for us introverts, amirite?), but watching our current capitalistic system breakdown, our government show their true allegiance, and companies decide the fate of their employees also incredibly scary to witness.
But even in these dark times, it’s important to practice regular and meaningful self-care. I break down an easy beauty ritual you can do to help you relax and release some tension in these trying times.
Beauty Witch Podcast
Episode 8: A guided beauty ritual for releasing the tension by taking time for ourselves during quarantine and social isolation
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WATCH HERE→
Beauty Witch Podcast
Episode 8: A guided beauty ritual for releasing the tension by taking time for ourselves during quarantine and social isolation
LISTEN HERE→
WATCH HERE→
SUBSCRIBE→
This is everything you need to follow the beauty ritual.
This is a guided beauty ritual, meaning that you can use this episode to walk you through everything you need to do to complete the ritual. Feel free to tweak this ritual as according to your personal practice and what makes you most comfortable. But know that everything you need will be included and explained in this episode.
The supplies you need:
I purposely crafted this beauty ritual to use the bare minimum, since obtaining resources isn’t really the easiest thing to do right now. The setting for this beauty ritual is best in your bathroom, but at your altar, in your bedroom, or anywhere else that is safe to do so is good too.
- a candle: or flame source. You can do this ritual outside by a bonfire, but I suggest a small candle to do this ritual inside since you’ll probably be naked 😜
- exfoliating product of choice: when in doubt use a rougher washcloth, or you can use any body scrub of your choosing.
- body oil or lotion: use your favorite product. It should make you feel safe, glorious, or loved.
- a water source & dry towel: this is more practical, to help you rinse off the exfoliant and then dry yourself before putting on your lotion.
- a journal: I think it’s important to always include a journaling practice during your ritual work.
Setting up the sacred space
To begin this beauty ritual, you need to set up your sacred space. Find where you’re going to do the work, indoors or out, and set out your supplies. Don’t forget to cleanse, bless, or secure the sacred space in regards to your practice. Now would be when you’d call the four corners or cast a circle.
Grounding the body
Your ritual space should be set: candles lit, energy cleansed, supplies gathered, and circle cast. We will begin by grounding our body and connecting to the energy of the earth.
Sit or stand with your body touching the floor or ground. Use a senses-focused meditation to ground yourself. Begin by breathing in deeply, having the breath fill your belly on inhales (through the nose), and cast hot fire breath on the exhales (through the mouth). Count to four for the inhale, and then four again for the exhale.
Once you get into a rhythm with your breathing, begin to focus on four senses (we’re not gonna focus on taste). What does the air smell like as you breathe it in? If you have a flame source lit, what does the smoke or scent smell like? Focus on the scent for a few breaths, then move on to sight, What do you see around you? What does your sacred space look like?
Now move on to sound. What do you hear? What outside sounds? Are you playing any music? What does the wind or still air sound like? Are your dogs nonstop barking at the mailman? Finally, move on to touch. What does the floor or earth feel like under your feet or legs? What do your arms and hands feel like next to your sides or in your lap?
Finding the tension
Before we get into the super energetic part of the ritual, we’re going to do some more of the mundane work. Use your grounded energy to travel within yourself and find all the tension you’re feeling.
This ritual isn’t meant to make your fears just disappear. What this ritual does do, is help you confront your sources of tension so you know they exist (instead of feeling just ominously anxious or tense), and helping you either gain the clarity to problem solve or to just explore the discomfort.
So, begin to confront your tension. Use your journal to explore your deeper thoughts. But on a separate piece of paper, write down all the things that you cant stop worrying about as a list. We’ll eventually rip this page out so make sure it isn’t written on the back of anything you want to keep.
Whatever your worries are, write them down. Try not to dwell on each individual thing. Just allow yourself to write it down and then move on. If you find that this is making you too anxious, fall back into the senses-focused grounding exercise.
Also, it’s okay to go at your own pace. If you only want to list three worries, and leave the rest, then do it. Or if you want to release all of them in one go, go ahead. Push yourself, but don’t spiral. 🙂
Building the energy
Alright, you’ve grounded your energy, you’ve written down all your worries, now it’s time for the energetic part of the ritual!
We’re going to begin by building an energy cone. This is so we can release our tension out and through the cone. If you’re unaware of what an energy cone is, it’s this:
A cone of energy that begins wide at the root chakra of the person, and spirals up around them into a point above the person’s crown chakra. Imagine an inverted tornado of energy surrounding the person casting it.
Everyone has their own process for building a cone of energy, and different rituals call for different kinds of energy building. I personally love building energy through sound. I usually clap, use finger cymbals, sing or chant. Other people use dance and physical movement to build energy. Or you can use a combo of both sound and dance, the elements (like the fire), visualization, or anyway that feels most natural to you. If you know how to build an energy cone, now is the time to learn!
How to cast a cone of energy
If you’ve never cast a cone of energy, I’ll share my preferred method for you to try.
Begin by strengthening that grounded connection you made earlier in the beauty ritual. If it helps, feel an energetic root sprout out of your root chakra and into the ground. Begin clapping at this point. If your eyes were closed, open them, and envision a circle around you, about the size of a hoola hoop. That is the base of your cone.
Once you’re aware of where the circle is, begin by stomping, clapping, or chanting, swirling the energy around the circle.
Start slow, and then feel your energy build as you go faster or louder. Do what comes most natural for you here. If that means starting low, almost in a squat, and then eventually reaching full height, arms raised, do so. And you can use the warmth of the candle to fuel you as you go around.
Yell, chant, scream, sing, and dance. You should feel the energy within you rise.
This is basically all I do, and I prefer using sound because it’s very literally creating energy. Scientifically, sound is the literal movement of air molecules, pushed into waves. More low-key ways of creating cones of energy with sound (especially if you don’t want to alarm your neighbors or parents) is by playing instruments, singing songs you like, or clapping and stomping without vocal sounds.
This practice should feel very much like creating a whirlpool in a backyard swimming pool. You’ll know when it’s time to float and let it take you around.
Release the tension
Alright now is the time to RELEASE 👏 THAT 👏 SHIT! 👏
Okay! So now is the time for the actual beauty ritual. Looking at your list of worries, I want you to think about all the tension you’ve built up. Grab your exfoliant and begin to GENTLY exfoliate your skin. Start from the bottom, working your way up. Imagine all that tension being shed off of you, like a snake’s skin, and then floating up and away out of your cone of energy and into the universe. As you do so, repeat “Insert-tension-worry-here, I release you.” The universe has got it now, baby!
Between each individual releasing, take some time to do some deep breathing, and imagine tension being release from different parts of your body, like your neck, back, face, or butt! Feel the tension being release out of you, draining or flowing down and out of you, and then back up and out through the cone’s top.
Repeat until you’ve exfoliated your entire body. Remember, exfoliation is a GENTLE skin care practice. Do not “scrub” your body. This part of the ritual should feel nurturing, like you’re scrubbing away dirt and debris to revel your beautiful, true self.
Clean and rinse off any additional product and prepare to moisturize!
Closing the cone
Like a whirlpool in a backyard pool, the cone of energy will slowly dissipate and stop spiraling. You’ll find that if you’re casting a cone of energy with a group of people, that the high priestess or person in charge will command a release of the cone. That’s because a cone of energy needs to be constantly worked to keep going, like the whirlpool.
But since this is just a release ritual, it’s okay to sort of let the cone dissipate naturally. You can imagine it almost like a parachute or kite, once let go, flowing off and out into the sky. Or you can imagine it winding back down into the earth, burning a circle into the grass.
As the cone is dissipating, this is the best time to use your favorite lotion or oil on your body. Imagine the lotion or oil as healing ointment, skin food, or an anointing oil. It’s always important to moisturize after exfoliating anyway. Imagine the lotion or oil sinking into your skin, giving you a nice golden glow of energy and light. It is like a coat or armor, allowing you space and time to have a conversation with those things that have been bringing you tension.
Bring your mind to a meditative, grounded state once the cone feels completely released. Explore what it is that has been making you tense as you explore your body. Accept that those things exist, and they most likely cause tension for a reason. Either use this time of quiet to find solutions to your problems or to just sit in the discomfort.
During this time, it’s okay to feel your emotions authentically. You are safe to feel immense fear, to cry, to be angry, or even numb. Know that it is not your job to necessarily fix all the problems you need to right now (unless that feels right).
Once you’re moisturized and feel “done” with exploring what has been holding tension within you, the ritual is over. Ensure you consciously end the cone and ritual, even if that is just by saying “I release the energy cone and all the tension I’ve been feeling” out loud. As well, you can press your forehead and palms into the earth to release any excess energy within your person.
The very last thing you should do is rip out that page of worries and bury it, burn it, or spiritually dispose of it in another way. You don’t want to accidentally manifest them again or make them stronger by having written them down.
Post-ritual
Like I said before, this ritual doesn’t remove the reality of whatever has been worrying you. But it does release tension, paralysis, and other emotions that have been keeping you stuck. This ritual is good to do when you are feeling just generally anxious or tense without any sense of what is causing that tension. Or if you need to just release too many worries so you can tackle them practically later. This is a great “cry it out” ritual.
The very best thing to do after this ritual is to journal or use your tarot cards to help you “discuss” what has been causing you tension further. Sometimes it’s making lists or problem solving. Other times it’s just navigating general discomforting and finding the lessons within it.
Sometimes this ritual opens up the flood gates, letting us realize that the reason we have tension is because we haven’t properly dealt with other, heavier emotions like grief, anger, disappointment or fear. It’s important to continue to push forward through the release ritual to process the emotions that have come from it.
Lastly, physical acts of release like more showers and exfoliating, cleaning your space, sweeping, etc. can help, especially if there are just no practical things you can do to “solve the problem”.
Be compassionate with yourself.
Journal prompt: Where am I finding tension or worry? Can I do problem-solving to stop the tension? How can I sit with my discomfort and find the lesson in it? What other emotions is this release ritual bringing up for me?
