How you can use crystals for self-care

Moon mentor and meditation teacher Kirsty Gallagher shines a light on the immense self-care benefits of working with crystals

CREDIT: This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared on Happiful

Here, Kirsty shares practical tips on how to work with crystals, as well as the importance of rituals and setting intentions.

Understanding crystals

Crystals are like little gifts from Mother Earth. Like living by lunar cycles, or following the flow of nature, crystals come to help us in our evolution as humans.

Everything in the world is made up of energy, including our thoughts and emotions. As humans, we tend to be in a state of flux; we pick up on others’ energy and we give our energy away, but a crystal will hold a stable energetic vibration.

So, for example, if we have anxious thoughts, and our mind is racing, then it’s believed that working with a crystal like sodalite could help. Sodalite will carry an energetic resonance with that issue so, when we hold it and breathe with it, it helps to realign us.

 Crystals help to bring us back into awareness and balance.

Choosing your crystals

I believe that crystals choose us but, if you’re just starting out, I would suggest that you think carefully about what you want the crystal for, and pick a piece based upon that – as with the example of sodalite for anxiety. Eventually, when you get used to trusting your intuition, you’ll be led to the right crystal for you. It might be that you’re called to a particular colour, or that a crystal feels more aligned or warm to you.

Crystals – like humans – work best when they have a purpose and a job to do. It always helps to have an intention when you choose yours. After a while, you’ll start to get drawn to certain crystals, as if they are telling you what you need and where you are going off course. The more time you spend with your crystals, the more they support you.

Working with your crystals

Working with crystals in your meditation practices can be very powerful; it allows for them to impart their wisdom when we go into those quieter states. If you are meditating with crystals, it’s about trusting that if you’re working with them for support, answers or advice, and that the energy will come through in the moment that you need it.

You can also very simply hold your crystal, consciously once a day, perhaps before you leave the house in the morning. Connect with the energy of the crystal, and ask it to keep you calm and centred throughout the day.

Carrying a crystal around with you, or wearing a crystal, is also a brilliant way to connect with them. They’re like little touchstones for those moments when you start to feel yourself worrying or spiralling; it’s almost like holding hands with a friend.

Crystals and self-care

If you take just two minutes, or 10 long slow deep breaths, in the time you’re connecting with your crystal, you’re taking care of yourself; you’re giving yourself what you need. You are checking where you’re out of alignment, and you’re consciously working with the energy of the crystals to bring yourself back into that energetic state.

I believe we have so many routines in life but very few rituals any more, because we rush from one task and routine to another – the moments to pause and connect get lost. If we can take the work we do with crystals as an act of self-care, in that moment nothing else matters but you.

It might be that you’re using the crystal for heartbreak, to gain more confidence, to quiet your mind, or manifest something new into your life, but for that time you’re working with your crystal, you’re giving yourself permission to focus on what you need. This, in itself, becomes a radical act of self-care which will, hopefully, then move into more areas of your existence as you begin to reconnect, and realise where you’re being pulled out of balance and alignment.

 That one act of self-care then ripples out into so many aspects of your life.