 One of the most mysterious aspects of medicine is how to actually heal the spirit of a person, or the psyche. You know, all the stuff that has been stored in the unconscious or the subconscious, and then allowing that to come up and see the light of day to be processed. Very very messy process, very tricky, and there have been many traditions throughout history that have attempted to do just that. Now, I've taken some time to begin doing some of these practices in my own life, but for many, many, many people, these practices are an integral part of their healing journey. So I want to share 10 practices that you can use to heal the spirit or the emotions, the psyche, and the subconscious or unconscious. Hey, it's Alex Hine, author of the book Master of the Day. Now I've included down there below the first link is for a free PDF. It's five daily rituals that can possibly help you add 10 years to your life with traditional Chinese medicine. So check it out right there down there below. So the first one, very, very interesting is the induction of healing dreams. So really, really fascinating, Asclepios was the Greek God of medicine and of healing. Now throughout time, people had this practice of going to these Asclepian healing temples, and they would sometimes consume substances or herbs, and then they would sleep there, and they would pray for a healing dream. Absolutely incredible because we don't think about that being necessarily real or true. But going through my own health stuff, I had done a very similar exercise where every night before bed, I would seed my subconscious and say, please give me a healing dream. And then I would become meticulous about documenting my dreams and then deconstructing them in daily life. The second thing is somatic body work or Hakomi. So even though I have not done Hakomi therapy, I've done tons of kinds of somatic body work, but one of my most interesting experiences has been working on patients and just doing a little bit of light massage work specifically in the neck. And I've probably had half a dozen patients just spontaneously start crying. And it's interesting, there's a whole vasovagal theory and all kinds of stuff coming out specifically about the neck and where trauma and tension and things like that become stored. And the first time it happened to me, I thought it was weird that the patient just started crying, but since then it's happened for many, many, many patients only when I've worked on their neck. Now, there's something interesting about how emotions and trauma and memory, somatic memory as it's called, is stored in the body. So working through the body and not through the mind is often a very effective, sometimes more effective approach to dealing with emotions. The third thing is therapy or hypnotherapy. Now I found that for therapy and hypnotherapy, they work well for certain things. But in general, if there are some deep emotional stuff going on or there's some subconscious, whether it's suppressed or repressed material, obviously talking about it can bring some of that up to the conscious aspects of our being. But also the interesting thing is with hypnotherapy, sometimes you can bypass some of the conscious resistance and really get deep into the emotional stuff for people that maybe are doing therapy, but they're hyper logical and hyper rational and they are experts at avoiding emotions. The fourth way to access the subconscious is psychedelics. So I'm not saying you should or should not do them depends on where you live, what country in the world, what state and what laws there are. Pay attention to those. But there was an interesting episode on, I think it's called Goop Lab with Gwyneth Paltrow, few members of her staff went down to Jamaica to do a psilocybin healing ritual and a therapeutic setting with therapists and advisors and people watching them. And the lead woman said something interesting. She said that in Jamaica, they only use that mushroom for people who have prolonged illness and they're trying to pray for healing and maybe even a healing dream like the Asclepian temples. But then she said, for foreigners coming here, they're often well, but they feel a sense of disconnection and they feel like there's no greater purpose to their being. But maybe that is their illness and illness of the spirit. I thought that was incredibly wise. But for many people, psychedelics are being used in end of life care for terminal patients and for people, for example, anxiety associated with a pork cancer prognosis. The fifth is Chinese formulas and acupuncture. I once had a woman say to me when I was suggesting that maybe therapy or a counselor was a good option. She said, I found that three months of acupuncture have been more effective for my actual trauma and PTSD than years of therapy. Now, that really was not on my radar, but I thought it was very interesting because, again, trying to access the subconscious through the body, it's the reason why for so many people, traumatic memories and in general, trauma is experienced usually through the body through somatic symptoms. So it's deeply ironic that in our culture, we treated it just as something biochemical or just as something psychological. The sixth is affirmations, intentions or prayer. Now, I found that sometimes if there's something you're trying to work through, the very act of writing statements over and over, whether the statement is reflecting how you feel, I feel so betrayed, I feel so betrayed, or the intention is actually, I'm going to do my best where I am right now. I'm going to do my best where I am right now. These kind of things seem trite and a little bit cutesy and new agey, but I found that they can actually give a person a significant amount of peace, especially if done in the morning or done before bed, if the person's having insomnia, but the act of using affirmations, not as a way of lying to oneself, but acknowledging how you feel and then intending or willing to live life a little bit differently, I found can actually have a profound impact. So prayer and all of these practices have a strong effect on the psyche of the person, on the physiology of the person, regardless of whether or not they're real. The seventh thing is cranial sacral or massage. So this is back in the category of somatic practices to heal the spirit. And I had an interesting experience after going through a prolonged breakup that was the worst of my life, the worst time. I got cranial sacral from this woman and she was massaging lightly in my neck. He was like, I don't remember what she said she was doing, but she said whether it was the cricoid or something else, she was massaging here and she said, you know, this has a direct connection to the pericardium. And ironically, she had been doing that for 10 minutes and I had a spontaneous memory come up with the girl that I was heartbroken over. And before this woman told me that there was a link in Chinese medicine, pericardium is kind of related to heartbreak or the heart and connection and things like that. So I hadn't thought about this girl for months. I'd been trying to actively not think about her for months. But as she was massaging this, she said, sometimes working on this can open up the pericardium as an anatomical link or physiological link. I had the spontaneous memory for the first time in months. And then she told me after there was this link. So there's some very, very interesting effects of somatic practices that are still so unknown. I mean, the whole channels of Chinese medicine have a physical component and maybe a non physical component. But the very fact that that what she did was even a real thing is absolutely interesting to me. The eighth is EMDR and tapping. Now EMDR has been used for PTSD, veterans coming back from war, but can be used for many, many other things. And I've had plenty of people I know report that by using EMDR or tapping practices, like you may have seen, they're doing tapping like this, by using these practices, they've been able to find a sense of calm or relief from anxiety. The ninth is Vipassana. So Vipassana meditation, they do these retreats where you go and for at least three days, but up to 10 or more days, you're in complete silence, meditating all day. And it's interesting to think that this could heal your psyche because for so many people, it's probably traumatic. But the very act of when you're in silence all day, it's like the monk's life where you remove every distraction. No TV, you can't even really be eating that much. You're probably not eating what you like. No stimulation, no talking, nothing. That's when, when the water settles, you can see farther. And a lot of the stuff starts coming up from the subconscious and it can be dealt with that way. So it's probably not a popular option for a lot of people. But then again, most of these are probably not very popular because this kind of work is usually not that fun, but it is transformative. So the Pasana is another option. Now, the 10th that I've seen help people is shamanic practices. Now, whether or not you believe in shamans, shamanic practices doesn't really matter to me. The point is that the actual ritual, the set and setting of the shaman doing a healing ritual with all the smudging, the drumming, the music, the chanting, all of these things are designed to have a therapeutic effect and they have for tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of years. So these very acts, regardless of whether or not you consume any substance by itself can be healing for many people. And that ritual by itself can be healing alone, whether it is in a shamanic context or another context. So these are 10 ways that I think are very useful to heal the spirit, the psyche, the emotions in a world where most of us probably only think that therapy is that option. And even that is highly stigmatized and avoided by so many different people. So you can either start doing these practices or begin seeking out professionals that are skilled in these to help you with that aspect of your healing. I hope that helps. Before you go again down below, I've actually updated that the five rituals that can help you add 10 years to your life. And I've included this story of a 256 year old Chinese man. Now, it's interesting. I don't think he really lived that long, but it's four pieces of advice are truly fascinating. You can check it out down there below to free download. And then before you go, come check out this related video here.