PREFACE 

I decided to revisit each of my blog posts many years after I originally posted them to update and revise as needed. I’m finding two things, I wish I had an editor and I want to soften the tone of the information I’m sharing. To be honest, the last thing I want to sound is preachy or righteous because I am forever learning the depths of my soul. I think when I first wrote the posts, I was excited to share a practice that worked for me so it may have come across that way. I want to revise a few things so it’s more about sharing my personal experience and what I’ve learned on my journey.

I’m a firm believer in experiencing all aspects of self, even the darkness, and the darkest part of self. I’m learning that experiencing this darkness, which I like to refer to as the ebb in the soul’s current, does take strength and lots of compassion as you care for your soul wounds. The soul healing practices are skills and practices I’ve developed during my journey that helped in navigating through the darkness, and assisted in shifting from ebb to flow with rest and integration in between. 

The practices are psychospiritual in nature, and are a mix of my personal experience and prior professional mental health background (as a licensed clinical social worker). All of my practices involve connecting with the elevated mind and sacred heart through awareness, imagination, visualization, and meditation. These soul healing practices continue to evolve and change just as my soul is growing and expanding.

There is of course no guarantee that the practices will work for you, but if you do try any of them, I encourage you to experiment with the practice to make it your own. I’ve learned there is not just one way, and that the Divine works in infinite ways, it’s up to us to interpret and integrate divine healing and magic in our own sacred way. Listen to your inner wisdom and change or refine the soul healing practice as needed so it completely resonates with your soul. Also, all of my practices need to be at your pace, so again listen to your inner knowing and honor it.

My sacred journey is not less or more significant than anyone else’s, my only motivation for sharing is to inspire self-transformation and to offer support for your unique and sacred journey. Please forgive any editorial mistakes for this is as good as it gets without an editor ;). This is what I’ve learned along the way.

SOUL HEALING PRACTICE BACKGROUND

Many of us, myself included, have mastered manifesting negative experiences with the darkness that typically follows. From my years of internal work (soul healing and expansion), I believe all experiences are valid, both positive and negative. We certainly live in a polarized world, it is our reality, and that same polarization exists within us. I’ve come to embrace both my shadow and light aspects, and actually now have gratitude for the shadow experiences that have provided me numerous opportunities for soul growth and expansion. This acceptance and love of self, and the gained compassion for my soul’s experience has been a long and arduous journey for me, but well worth the time and effort. With all that said, sometimes we may stay in the shadow realm a little longer than needed where it can cause chronic suffering and disempowerment. 

Once I did a little research on the nature of the brain, I began to understand the reason we may default to a negative mindset. It’s been in our nature since the beginning of our existence. I found most negativity is rooted in fear and/or feeling unsafe or disempowered. Our primitive brains have been hardwired to a bias of negativity from a need for survival. However, for the most part we do not have the same dangers in our environment as our earliest ancestors, but we still need the function of the primitive brain to keep us safe from real, legitimate threats to our health and well-being. Ideally, when the threat passes our brains with our help should signal a return to homeostasis, to a balanced mind and body. For a more in-depth analysis of the nature of the mind and brain see my post, “The Energy of the Thought Loop – You are the Creator” (3 Dec 2016).  

Sometimes we get stuck in a cycle of negativity, suffering, or disempowerment which in my opinion is initiated by the primitive mind’s default setting, however, it is a misguided attempt to protect us from perceived emotional harm or to make us feel safe and accepted. When this happens, it’s a signal we need to engage our higher mind to override the default setting. Our higher mind functions from a sense of altitude, self-awareness, reflection, and introspection. Access to our higher mind can begin by taking inventory of the type of thoughts and beliefs that are influencing how we perceive our internal and external experiences. Once we have this knowledge, we have a choice to shift the mental experience to a more balanced and harmonious way of perceiving.

Our perception is key in manifesting our external experiences. I firmly believe we are energetic beings influencing an energetic world and vice versa. When we elevate our minds and hearts, we influence our external realities and tend to attract more peace, abundance, and harmony. 

I have absolutely found this to be true the majority of the time, however, there are times when our internal state is harmonious, but our external reality still may not reflect our interior and continues to remain out of our control. Please don’t blame yourself for not achieving a perfect reflection of your internal versus external realities. Just know since you are in a state of internal harmony, you’ve gained the clarity needed to make a decision about the external reality. You may have the realization that you’ve outgrown it and need to move on from it. Or you have the clarity to set firmer boundaries either energetically or physically so your external world becomes more aligned with you. Or you have the ability to respond to setbacks, mistakes, or disappointments with more ease and grace. To learn more about boundary setting visit my three posts, “Cutting the Cords to Suffering” (19 July 2016), “What is Codependency” (30 Sep 2016), and “Regret, Guilt, Shame: The Burdensome Trio“ (21 August 2017).     

SOUL HEALING PRACTICE

The purpose of this soul healing practice is to provide a way to shift your perspective and to realign your mind with your sacred heart in order to create more clarity and harmony in your life. The first step is to take inventory of the type of thoughts you have per day to determine if this practice is needed or will be helpful.

Begin by writing down all your thoughts throughout the day. If you notice any feelings or body sensations that accompany the thoughts, then write those down too. Try your best to treat this as an objective experiment where you are merely an observer of your mind, heart, and body, and documenting the findings. The idea is to document your observations without too much attachment to the thoughts, feelings, and body sensations, or the desire to analyze your experience in the moment. 

The analysis of your data comes at the end of the day, but I recommend doing so several hours before bedtime so that you don’t inadvertently disrupt your bedtime routine and hygiene. Before proceeding with the analysis I also recommend calming your nervous system and clearing your mind. If you read any of my other posts, then you know I like to start with a four-count breath practice, where I count to four as I inhale expanding the lower belly (1, 2, 3, 4) and then count four backwards while I slowly exhale (4, 3, 2, 1). I repeat this until I feel more calm and relaxed. I then follow with intentional breathing: as I slowly inhale I say to myself I am and on the exhale I say calm, continuing the practice on the inhale saying I am and on the exhale saying safe, breathing in I am and breathing out empowered, breathing in I am and breathing out love, breathing in I am and breathing out light, and finally breathing in I am and breathing out free. You can end this practice with the following statement or intention: I trust myself, I believe in myself. Remember with this practice to also bring the breath down to your lower belly and not just to your chest. The breath not only gives life to the intention, but also helps to anchor it into your soul’s vibration. If you like this technique, I also suggest experimenting with the intentions so it totally resonates with you and gives you a sense of calm, a feeling of being centered and nurtured, and empowered. 

The next step is to review your list of thoughts, feelings, and body sensations and count how many positive thoughts you have compared to negative thoughts. This is just a way to build more awareness of the type of thoughts that dwell in your mind. Next write down how your day unfolded by reflecting upon your experiences throughout the day. As you review the list of thoughts, you may find if the number of negative thoughts (disempowering, limiting, self-defeating) outnumber positive thoughts (empowering, elevating, neutral), then your day may have unfolded with more negative experiences.

If the review or analysis is triggering or causing any distress, then I recommend repeating the breathing practices as described above. Grounding practices are also effective in calming the nervous system and regulating emotions. I like to do a grounding practice where I focus on one of my five senses. For example, I may tune into a pleasant background noise, feel the weight of my body while standing or sitting, focus on an inspiring or pleasing site, notice a pleasant smell, or tune into the taste of something enjoyable. Note, you want to focus on or tune into a sense that is pleasant or delightful and not unpleasant or pungent because the goal is to calm the nervous system and not to activate it. I suggest experimenting with your five senses and what makes you feel more calm and centered in the present moment. I have also recently been incorporating more sound healing with singing bowls and tuning forks in which I have experienced phenomenal effects, there are plenty of options available on YouTube. These are only suggestions so please incorporate any other practice that has the same effects.  

Upon building more self-awareness and reflection, the next step is to strengthen your introspection by redirecting your focus from a disempowered or limited way of perceiving to a more elevated and empowered way of perceiving. It’s like bringing the mind’s pendulum back to a position of balance. Start by returning to your list and choose a negative thought, and then flip the thought to a more positive or empowering thought. You will also add the element of breath to bring life and power to the new thought, and as already stated the incorporation of breath is a way to anchor it into your soul’s vibration.

A little footnote to this part of the practice, I’ve learned first a door needs to be opened in order for the new thought to actually enter the mind and eventually reside, especially if your mind tends to default to habitual invasive, negative thinking. For me, repeating the four-count breath and/or intentional breathing as described above are ways to open the door. Again, the calm breathing technique relaxes your nervous system and cues your mind and body that the new thought is from love and peace, and not from fear. It is counterproductive to practice with a sense of anxiety, anger, or force because it gives the negativity more power and makes you feel even more disempowered. You may have different ways to open the door so please incorporate what works for you.

Let’s say you identify a negative, self-defeating, or disempowering thought such as: I never get what I want. You then flip the thought to something like: I get what I want with balance and harmony (or with ease and grace). The goal of the new thought is to feel more elevated and empowered so choose statements and words to provide this result, which will be unique and sacred to you. 

Next try the new thought with breath. As you take a deep belly breath in say, I get what I want, and upon the exhale release the second part of the thought by saying, with balance and harmony (or with ease and grace). Remember to take the breath down to your lower belly and not just to your chest, as you inhale deeply and exhale slowly. Repeat the practice several times. The idea is as you breathe in and out the new thought, you release or surrender it to your sacred divine self, source creator energy, or to whatever resonates with you and your beliefs. This practice of release and surrender begins to shift the internal energetic state to one of more peace and harmony, and eventually translates to the overall soul‘s experience.

Another tip with this practice, as you release the thought on the exhale, is to expect the best without attachment to how it will unfold. Often, and believe me I know this well, we want to control the outcome rather than allowing it to unfold naturally with ease. Especially, if we feel vulnerable or feel lost in uncertainty. Our mind may say we don’t want to be made the fool so we anxiously try to control the situation, doubt the best can even come true, or force an outcome, at which and often times, we become the fool we fear. Not realizing by continually expecting the worst we can energetically manifest the worst.

A key element of this practice is to believe in the thought upon releasing it with breath, even if believing it to be true only lasts a short time. A way to help in believing a thought to be true, is to visualize what it would feel like if it were true now, allowing yourself to dwell in this energy as you continue to take slow and steady breaths. I also found repetition is another way to begin to believe it to be true because it floods the mind with the new elevated and empowered thought. Besides repeating the thought internally or saying it out loud, you can also try repetitively writing the thought in a journal, posting the thought in areas you would see often as a consistent reminder, or you may find even better ways to embed the thought into your soul. The more you practice the new thought with breath, the more opportunity you have for believing it to be true.   

Hopefully as you repeat the practice, you will notice any disbelief in the new thought begins to loosen and eventually falls away, and you do believe it to be true. Once this happens or even prior, notice how your day changes due to the shift in your perspective. You may find you respond to your environment with more ease and grace rather than react with disharmony and discord. You may experience a change in feelings from the usual mundane irritation, anger, and/or sadness to feeling more content, happy, satisfied, and at peace. Even if the change is just a little less negativity, it’s a victory in my book. Eventually with practice, you will literally retrain your brain in a new way of thinking and functioning.

If you experience a lot of difficulty with the practice and/or notice no change, then that’s okay too, try it another day. You may have to further  challenge the default thinking to uncover any disempowering core beliefs before implementing this practice. Refer to my post, “The Art of Empowering Your Mind” (15 March 2016), to learn how to challenge the validity of self-defeating and limiting thoughts, and then to identify more empowering thoughts. The soul healing practice in “The Art of Empowering Your Mind” will also be effective if just flipping the negative thought is not quite working for you, where you may need to identify an empowering thought that is a gradual opposing thought which then can be used in this soul healing practice. 

If you are still finding difficulty, remember habitual and conditioned thinking can be quite difficult to interrupt, so be patient and kind with yourself as you are healing your mind and heart. Some soul wounds take longer than others to heal. Try not to throw up your hands and give up out of frustration and apathy, but if you do throw up hands for a short period of time, it’s totally understandable just come back to it when ready. All of my practices need to be at your pace, so listen to yourself. I’ll say it again, even if you notice a little less negativity throughout the day, you are manifesting more positivity in your life, thus bringing your mind’s pendulum back to balance.

As a side note, of course you may default to old ways of thinking from time to time, but you now have a new tool to shift your perspective to include more awareness of self-defeating, limiting, and disempowering thoughts/beliefs. As your perspective shifts, the time and energy dwelling in negativity, disempowerment, and suffering lessens. 

SOUL HEALING PRACTICE CLOSING

I like to close each soul healing practice with another visualization, especially if the practice doesn’t include an energetic shield/boundary. If the practice does include a protective sphere of light, then adjust this closing visualization to complement the practice. The closing visualization may also be a stand alone practice. The intent is to further cleanse any residual blocks or burdens, calm the soul, restore optimal functioning, and realign the soul as above, so below.  

Visualize a disk of purifying, white light that is above you and is large enough to fit both your body and energetic field. The purpose of the disk is to scan your entire body and energetic field while it simultaneously moves any residual mental, emotional, physical, and energetic blocks or burdens. The burdensome energy will be moved out and drained like an energetic faucet as it is transmuted and transcended into the void. For me, I visualize the energy changes into golden particles and then disappears into the void as symbolic of transmutation and transcendence. The void is the sacred whole which includes your soul’s oneness or harmony. 

Continue the visualization and imagine the purifying disk of light descending down towards you and begins to scan your upper energetic field. Once it reaches the crown of your head it extends outward to capture your entire energetic field as it moves down your body, starting with your head, to your shoulders, down each arm, and out each hand. Visualize any blocks or burdens draining out of your hands (like a faucet). You can imagine the energy as darker energy flowing out, transmuting into golden particles (or any image that resonates with you) and then disappearing into the void. Once you feel it is complete or see the energy begin to trickle stop the flow from your hands. Bring your attention back to your chest and continue the scan down your chest, to your abdomen and pelvic area, down each leg, and out each foot. Again visualize any blocks or burdens draining out from your feet, transmuting and transcending as it disappears. Once you feel it is complete or see the energy begin to trickle then stop the flow. Now take a moment to visualize your entire body and energetic field are now cleansed and cleaned.

Next say to yourself, CALM, and visualize and feel every cell of your body and particle of your energetic field is calming like a pristine, quiet mountain lake with no movement. Just calm and quiet. Take a few deep belly breaths to savor this feeling of calmness. Next, say to yourself, HEAL, followed by optimal health and functioning, and golden light are restored, visualize every cell of your body and particle of your energetic field is now filled with sparkling golden light as you are glowing and vibrating with this golden energy. Visualize the golden energy extends outward to form a sphere of light that now surrounds you. The sphere of light may change colors, any color of your choosing. Again, take a few deep belly breaths to savor this energy of renewal, strength, and empowerment. 

Lastly, visualize a column of golden threads above you descending down through you and exiting out your feet, continuing down into the earth to be deeply anchored into the earth’s core so you feel secured, stable, and grounded (you can add imagery of golden roots or similar extending from your feet to be anchored into the earth’s core). Next see a violet light doing the same, and finally a pure white light doing the same. The intent of the columns are to align you above and below, so you feel both grounded and elevated. You may close the visualization by saying to yourself three intentions, for example I say: I am powerful, I am magical, I am healing, and as I say each intention I visualize myself growing taller, stronger, and feeling more empowered.

As a last note and most likely suggested in the description of the soul healing practice, do experiment with, change, refine the practice as needed so it truly resonates with your soul, becomes your personal practice, and evolves and changes with you. By making the practice your own, you are listening to your inner guidance, are connecting with your sacred divine self, and aligning with your unique wisdom and soul’s vibration.

MY EXPERIENCE WITH THE SOUL HEALING PRACTICE

I woke up feeling tired and unrested. The negativity quickly settled in like a dense fog as I maneuvered through my morning routine. I noticed thoughts like, when will things go my way? I felt angry during my run and gave dirty looks to drivers passing me above the speed limit. Knowing my current state of mind was quickly escalating into a spiral of disempowerment, I decided to listen to a meditation about manifestation after my run. I listened to the guidance with some resistance, and thought, what’s the point, but then quickly followed the thought with, screw it might as well try something different. I decided to conduct an experiment for the day by flipping self-defeating thoughts to more empowering thoughts.

The first thought that surfaced was, I was vulnerable and reached out for love only to have no response, to be ghosted, once again and always, which led to a familiar self-defeating core belief, I’m unworthy of love. I noticed the effects of these thoughts on my body such as heavy pressure near my heart, a sinking feeling in my gut, shoulders rounded forward, and head down. I also noticed feelings such as anger, sadness, and loneliness that were along for the ride.

I flipped the disempowering thought to, I took a risk and shared love. I opened the door for the new thought by doing the four-count breath and then continued with intentional breathing. Once I felt more present and centered, I was ready to practice the new thought with breath. Upon a deep belly breath in, I said in my mind, I took a risk, and on a slow and steady exhale said, and shared love. I noticed my head literally lifted and my shoulders rolled back causing my heart space to expand and open, and my sacral area felt as though it was widening. The more I practiced and repeated the new thought with breath, I felt aligned, lighter, and complete. It felt as though the divine including my sacred divine self was offering me the love I perceived was missing in my life. 

I did feel a temptation to worry or doubt the outcome of the elevated thought, rather than expecting the best. I then set a little internal boundary and vowed to myself to trust the process so the elevated energy may continue to cultivate and grow in my soul’s experience. If my conviction wavered throughout the day, then I just started over with the four-count breath, followed by intentional breathing, and then finally the empowered thought with breath, as well as the techniques of believing it to be true.

I took the practice one step further by flipping the negative core belief, I’m unworthy of love. Immediately, when I flipped the thought to, I am worthy of love, I did feel excitement and joy, but with a tinge of heaviness and disbelief. I practiced the thought, breathing in, I am worthy, and exhaling, of love. I kept vigilant of how my mind and body responded to the practice. When I was aware of a familiar sinking feeling of negativity wanting to pull me back into suffering, I once again opened the door for the new thought with the four-count breath, intentional breathing, and then tried the practice again. I repeated the practice throughout the day in order to anchor it into my soul and to begin believing it to be true.

The results of the experiment were as follows: 1) I felt my chest expand with each breath as it  caressed and nurtured my heart and lungs; 2) my posture improved as I felt aligned with my sacred divine self prompting increased confidence and empowerment; 3) I felt strong and supported with peaks of joy; 4) I wrote this blog with a sense of purpose from a space of joy, service, and love; 5) I felt armed with a mind shield against habitual invasive thoughts; 6) I remained in the present moment with a clearer mind and heart, rather than being lost in worry or doubt; and 7) I noticed strangers were authentically kinder to me and I genuinely offered the same in return.

My day unfolded with more ease, clarity, and purpose. I responded from an internal space of more peace, and felt liberated from the cyclical energy of suffering and disempowerment. I do know, it is not just a one-day experiment and will need to be implemented often in order to interrupt and overcome my tendency to over-think, worry, and cling to habitual negative thinking. However, I felt empowered this day and for me that’s a start for a new chapter in my soul’s experience. 

As a quick footnote, If I felt any resistance that was causing an impasse with the practice, I would then try challenging the validity of the negative thoughts as illustrated in my post, “The Art of Empowering Your Mind” (15 March 2016), or if the thought is triggering a soul wound where my inner child needs attention, then I would try the soul healing practice described in my post, “The Woes of Perfection” (15 Aug 2016). The soul healing practices provided in my other posts may be beneficial as well pending the circumstance the negative thought is connected.

POEM

RELEASE

Let go of the outcome,
is the thought flashing in my mind.
Immediately, I challenge with “How?”

Unmoved by my attempt to sabotage the message,
the answers come from a higher source —
Be still
My sweet
With all your breath
Flowing in and through you
 Swirling with ease and love
Open my love 
And sway
Gently
Lovely 
With grace and gratitude
Exhale
Release!

— Stacy L. Pintor ©

Thank you for visiting my blog, I truly hope some or all of the soul healing practices do help you along your sacred journey and provide you some relief and ease.

Visit my website if you want to learn more about me and to check out my poetry, especially if you liked the poem above which is included in my first poetry collection, Into the Darkness, Become the Light.  

https://www.baresoulworks.com

Thanks again for visiting and for your support. Stacy 💚 

PLEASE BE ADVISED

The soul healing practices provided in this blog are meant as a tool to aid in healing, for improving mental and emotional health, and for inspiring self-transformation. The practices are not meant to be a form of psychotherapy or social work practice requiring a contractual, professional relationship. If you need consistent therapeutic care and/or crisis intervention due to being at risk of harming yourself or others, then seek professional and/or emergency services immediately.

The purpose of this blog is to share with you how I integrate my personal experience, spiritual growth and expansion, and past professional mental health experience in the form of soul healing practices. By sharing my experience, it is my hope it will provide a practical example of how to interrupt and lessen the cyclical energy of suffering and to elevate your soul.   

These practices work best when you are ready to heal and expand. It is okay if you are not quite ready. Please be gentle and patient with yourself, seek outside help both professionally and personally as needed. You will heal and expand when you are ready. Sending you so much love, warmth, and compassion. Stacy 💚

© Stacy L. Pintor 2016. All Rights Reserved.

Revised and updated in 2025 by Stacy L. Pintor ©.

(No part of this blog may be reproduced without written permission from the author)