Psychic Hygiene

Michael Teachings Workshop – April 1, 2023

Psychic Hygiene: Understanding & Nurturing Wellness beyond the obvious

MEntity: 

Hello to each of you. We are here, now. We will begin.

All of you are presented with the idea from birth that the body must receive some sort of care, bathing, cleaning, maintenance, etc. It is also clear over time that if this care is not available or is neglected, the body can become ill, infected, or even die, but this lack of care can also become a form of distance between yourself and others, and between yourself and yourself.

What we will share today are other forms of care that one can choose to implement as a means to bathe the various bodies beyond the Physical.

However, we will include methods of care for the Physical Body today, as well, because a simple shower of water can cleanse the body, but there are subtle layers of the Physical Body that can be addressed through other methods of cleaning.

As we share these various methods for implementing Psychic Hygiene, we suggest that each of you consider which of these you feel the most resistance toward, and/or feel the most desire to implement. Some methods may trigger anger, others may trigger discomfort and uncertainty, and others may trigger tears.

We will refer to these methods as "Baths" or "Showers" because the symbolic sensation, 

The methods suggested below do not have to be practiced daily, nor do all of these need to be practiced together. Your subtle bodies are quite resilient and it is actually fairly rare that anything "sticks" to them in a way that accumulates rapidly, unless immersed in a specific setting, or subject to a chronic circumstance.

We will also add that the more you and your body have regular contact with Wind, Water, Ground/Earth and variations of Temperature, the more likely your baseline of care for the body is stabilized. When one is missing any of these for any extended period of time, a baseline instability of the body can be set and all other bodies will be affected.

This is not to say that one who lives outdoors is healthier than someone who lives in an urban setting, but those in an urban setting may have to make more conscious effort to keep these elements a part of the life.

INTELLECTUAL BODIES

EMOTIONAL BODIES

PHYSICAL BODIES

SPIRITUAL BODIES

For purposes of this workshop, we will simplify these Bodies to help with quick accessibility. There is no need for complicated delineation of these bodies for this workshop.

Intellectual Bodies refer to your PERSPECTIVE, your ATTITUDE, and how you SEE (particularly, how you see yourself.)

Emotional Bodies refer to your RELATIONSHIPS, your MODE, and how you experience TIME (in particularly, what you take with you from time and bring forward in time).

Physical Bodies refer to your FUEL/ENERGY, your GOAL, and how you experience Beauty (particularly in terms of your comfort in your own skin as a space of art and beauty).

Spiritual Bodies refer to the synthesis of all of the above, your HARMONY/RESONANCE with existence, your CENTERING, and your overall care for yourself (particularly in terms of wholeness vs fragmented).

INTELLECTUAL SHOWERS

Every so often, each of you need to take a TRUST BATH, or Trust Shower.

This is an active acknowledgement of yourself as a trusted friend, a trusted ally, a trusted love. You MUST bathe yourself in Trust sometimes as a means to bring to your awareness just how much you have survived, how you have made hard choices, or navigated difficult challenges. You do this because you trust you. And it is important to bathe in that trust.

All of you do this in passing, sometimes, but what we speak of in terms of these "showers" is a conscious bathing of yourself in the full awareness of that particular bath.

You trust you. If you are alive, you trust you. If you exist, you trust you. 

Trust is based in experience and when you acknowledge trust in yourself, you are collapsing an eternity of experience as a Personality in one lifetime and as a Soul across countless lives into a moment.

We are not speaking of a silly reminder that you can trust yourself. We are speaking of a full shower of trust, a bathing in the moment of the validity of this trust.

Another variation on the Trust bath is the CONFIDENCE BATH, or Confidence Shower.

The Trust Bath helps you with your broader navigation of the life, but the Confidence Bath helps you with your next day or next moment.

A Confidence Bath is a conscious reminder that you are there for you and with you, no matter what. You are on your side. It is not about trying to directly boost self-esteem. When you consciously bathe yourself in the truth of your alliance with yourself, your self-esteem in naturally boosted.

The Trust and Confidence Baths help to restore your Attitude, bring it back into the Positive Pole, and to return your perspective to your own, not that of other perspectives that may have diminished or denied your own perspective.

EMOTIONAL SHOWERS

Every so often, each of you need to take a NOSTALGIA BATH, or Nostalgia Shower.

This is an active acknowledgement of the good in your life. However painful, difficult, wounded, alone, sad, etc. one may be, there IS good. At the very least, there is you. YOU are the good in your life. Allow yourself to remember the good, the little things, the validity of pleasures big and small.

This is not about gratitude or appreciation. It is about your relationship with time and what you neglect to bring with you and choose to bring with you.

Taking time to actively choose to bring the good with you helps you to carry good within you in ways that help to soften any emptiness you feel. When someone feels "empty," it is usually because they ignore, reject, or do not feel they can carry the good from their life because it does not matter unless there is no bad.

For Essence, the "good" and "bad" are not as significant, but to your local bodies, they can be the difference between life and death.

Bathe yourself in the good of your life. It is there.

In addition to this method, you may also consider a TIME BATH, or a Time Shower. Nostalgia Showers help you to bring forward that which has been good in your life, but a Time Bath helps you to plant good in your future.

A Time Shower is a conscious moment or block of time where you actively stop dreading the future.

You allow yourself to open to the future, to consider the possibilities on the other side of challenges or the possibilities alongside challenges.

Dreading the future and rejecting the good in your life can dramatically diminish your MODE and begin to take a toll on your internal and external relationships.

You are the epicenter of time. What you bring with you and how you consciously carry forward in time matters. 

You do not move through Time. Time moves through you. You are the filter that sifts through time and collects debris and pain and wonder and awe and good and bad.

You must consider bathing in Nostalgia and Time to help keep those filters clear and fresh.

PHYSICAL SHOWERS

Every so often, each of you needs a KINDNESS SHOWER, or a Kindness Bath. This is an active participation in anchoring kindness in your life.

Kindness is never far because you are never far. However cruel existence can be, you do not have to add to it.

Take time to be kind to yourself, to someone else, or to simply see through eyes of kindness.

A Kindness Shower can help reset your GOAL and move you back into a higher state of motivation that does not feel lost or pointless.

A Kindness Shower cleanses you of the bullshit of life that tells you that life is ONLY cruel or painful or pointless. Life can be all of these things and often these things can be unbearable and require far more than a kindness shower to address the effects. However, for most of our students on an average day, life is never only cruel, painful, or pointless.

In addition to this method, you may also consider an AFFECTION SHOWER, or an Affection Bath.

This is a moment or block of time of active affection for your body. We are speaking in literal terms here that are actually physical. This means touching yourself in the most loving and gentlest ways. It means crossing your arms and hugging yourself. It means taking your gentle and kind hand and caressing your arm in a way that is intentionally comforting and caring.

We can say that most of our students are lacking in this more than any other "shower."

Affection is terribly neglected by our students.

Most of you do not touch yourselves with love and affection. You do not touch each other with affection or love, or when you do, it is brief and courteous. We are not speaking in sexual terms or in terms of violating boundaries. We are speaking of relationships where affection would be naturally accessible, and it is not.

Those relationships may be with others, but it is ALWAYS with you. 

You always have the capacity to touch with love and affection.

If you are distracted by desires for others to touch you with love and affection, you can help shift your distraction into being an invitation by simply being there for yourself.

When you neglect this affection for yourself and only wait for it from others, you accumulate a great deal of resentment toward yourself and this can turn into disgust for yourself, and constant distancing from others.

SPIRITUAL SHOWERS

The following methods are the most familiar to you because they are the showers and baths that most are taught in spiritual circles. These methods bathe you in VIBRATION/ENERGY. These would be ENERGY or VIBRATION SHOWERS that help to unify and balance your CENTERS, or all of the other Bodies.

MUSIC SHOWERS, MEDITATION SHOWERS, BREATHING SHOWERS, VISUALIZATION SHOWERS, SOUND BATHS, etc. 

We need not elaborated upon these as they are quite common suggestions for how to bring balance and wholeness.

WORKSHOP FEEDBACK: We ask of each of you first, which of these showers do you feel you NEED the most?

Meg: I like the idea of not dreading the future.

Karoliina: I think Affection.

Karl: Trust/Confidence for me, that was like immediately useful to consider. Been lacking in both of those lately.

Bogi: Trust/Confidence, Affection

JanetE: Affection

Juni: Time

Jeroen: The time showers brought in a lot of tears. Remembering the good things, the little things that are good in life is something I need to focus on more as there are a lot of good things in my life. The other one would be the affection showers. I had a lot of tears with that one too. I realized I was caressing my arm when you wrote about that.

Meg: I don't have a great relationship to Nostalgia, however (seems in neg pole, Sentiment?).  But the Time aspect is interesting.

DianeHB: I think I am a good place right now with all of these, but more intentional practice would still help. I think the one I would need to practice most is a Time Bath.

Maureen: Spiritual Showers

Karoliina: Also Spiritual, yes.

MEntity: MEG - Nostalgia is a form of Emotional Intelligence that allows one to remember and carry the good up and out of time. Sentimentality is an attachment to the past and an attachment to objects that symbolize the past. Nostalgia is about the emotional experience being allowed a right to exist.

Meg: Hm, thanks.

MEntity: 

Sentimentality is often about a desire to return to the past, while Nostalgia is a form of integrating the past.

We know these terms are often interchangeable in common usage, but we differentiate them here.

Meg: Makes sense.

MEntity: 

Consider this: Many have fallen in love with the art of J.K. Rowling, or Michael Jackson, or Woody Allen, etc. Sentimentality is when one ignores the reality of the violations or offenses of the artist in favor of the attachment to the art. Those in Sentimentality will continue to consume or celebrate the art of the artist because they are attached to it as a symbol for when they felt good. Nostalgia is when one acknowledges the reality of a violation, offense, or challenging time in life but can still make room for the good feelings that came from enjoying the art and carry that good feeling forward as one's own, not as something that is dependent upon attachment.

WORKSHOP FEEDBACK: Which of these methods of hygiene do you feel you practice the most often and/or the most naturally/easily?

Juni: Affection, Kindness, Nostalgia

Karoliina: Nostalgia, Time, Kindness

DianeHB: Trust

JanetE: Nostalgia, Time, Confidence

Karl: If Spiritual baths include conscious breathing and sound baths, then I'm going to go with those as the ones that come most easily.

Bogi: I think I need an upgrade in all of the areas as in doing with more conscious efforts. Still, Nostalgia/ Time are coming easily for me although sometimes my Nostalgia slides into Sentimentality.

Maureen: None stands out as "more". I find that I practice all of them readily and with ease. It's integrating (Spiritual Showers) all of them that I need to spend more time with.  

Jeroen: Trust, kindness, and spiritual

MEntity: WORKSHOP FEEDBACK: The methods that you feel you need the most may suggest the bodies that you neglect the most, and the methods you feel come the most easily and naturally can reveal the bodies you care for the most.

Meg: 

Still on the last Q : The way I read it above -- CONFIDENCE I guess. I'll survive whatever's thrown at me, I'm always pretty sure, or at least go down in glory. (AFFECTION -- WTH? lol, Warrior probs or no?  I like the boundary-violation ex above btw) I was taught the Spiritual stuff since a young age and view it with irony as much as sincerity.

Seriously, I'm actually doing a lot of this as a background process all the time, and I'm enjoying Kindness creep. I also bathe, in water, frequently to de-cord, etc.

MEntity: The cliches of the Spiritual Showers can leave many of our older soul students either neglecting these or seeing them as almost comical stereotypes, but there are legitimate benefits in proper implementation of any of these Energy Showers.

Karoliina: I had a funny reaction to TRUST. I felt like "I got this" but at the same time I thought I don't need that kind of praise of how much hardships I've endured etc. because I really haven't and my life has been embarrassingly smooth and easy. I find myself thinking along these lines very often, and I really don't know why. I don't know if it's "true" or not.

MEntity: 

KAROLIINA - this is insightful because in a Young Soul paradigm there is a contradictory mix of shame and constant pursuit for a life free of hardship.

This contradiction is caused by the concept of Punishment and Reward. One must EARN the life that is free of hardship and if it is not earned, it is to be shamed.

Karoliina: Very interesting that contradiction.

MEntity: 

One need not earn a life free of hardship as a reward and for those born into hardship, it is not a punishment. Those are outdated concepts, or rather, concepts that no longer serve the older soul.

Trust is not dependent upon how much one faces hardship.

Whether in blissful times or in times of hardship, one is either trusting the self or distrusting the self.

Karoliina: Thank you, Michael.

MEntity: 

The trust in oneself to get through hardship is no different from the trust in oneself to choose a new paint color for the newborn's bedroom. There IS a difference in the contexts, but the trust is about being your own ally, friend, and love. 

One context of trust does not diminish the other.

Karoliina: Resilience is a word that comes to mind.

Juni: I'm not actually certain where one would go to find a good set of guidelines for the spiritual showers?

DianeHB: Meditation has really helped me in return to center over the last couple of years, even though I'm not a consistent meditator. 

Karl: So if Spiritual hygiene, which includes all of the bodies, is the one that comes most naturally to me, but I feel my Intellectual hygiene needs work, does that mean that Spiritual baths still coordinate all the bodies and centers, but my Intellectual body is still not as "clean" as it could be? Or was my assessment wrong? Sorry if this is clumsily worded, I'm not sure how to phrase my question.

Jeroen: Sitting on the Earth/ground outside for a while, listening to resonant soundscapes, and tears have been helpful to me to return my body to center.

Meg: I get the idea of Affection through models of good parenting.

I am doing practices now that I think can plug into this.  Community is missing mass in this system, or no?

MEntity: JUNI - there are many fellow students who can help guide you. 

Juni: Thank you, Ms

MEntity: 

KARL - when Spiritual Hygiene is the focus, it can often mean that one is trying to "hold it together." The emphasis on this hygiene is an emphasis on helping the stronger bodies to carry the body that is struggling.

Noting which body is struggling can be helpful because now you can implement a specific method of hygiene to add to its strength.

Juni: The time shower feels a bit impossible to me-I am sharing an illness with literally millions and there isn't a person on the planet who can tell me what to expect. I try not to dwell on it, but it's hard to avoid dread from time to time.

MEntity: MEG - we are unclear about what you mean by "community is missing mass in this system"

Meg: Well, that is sort of a play on words for the spiritual-not-religious among us I suppose.  But here, "missing mass in the universe" is intended as a simile for the potential significance of Others to maintaining this hygiene/health.  In another metaphor, bath practices seem rather like going to the spa all on your own...  Not a bathhouse?

MEntity: 

We understand.

The surprise here is that you never shower or bathe alone.

If we understood you correctly, it is still a mass event. Every bath or shower you take, even in the most literal daily sense, contributes to the collective well-being of the network of Intellectual, Emotional, Physical, and Spiritual Bodies of humanity.

Even as you are implementing these practices in private, like a spa, it is moot.

Your comment prompts us to suggest adding one bonus element to your practices:

In addition to actively gifting yourselves these methods of care, it can be quite meaningful to state: I join the masses in Trust in each other, or I join the masses in Confidence for our future, or I join the masses in carrying forward the good we have experienced, etc.

FINAL COMMENTS:

None of these practices are magic.

They are interactive practices of care for yourselves.

They are, in effect, no different from your baths and showers in water.

TO ALL OF YOU: Troy will create your "space" in your community for further discussions on this subject. We suggest that you take time to explore these suggestions and implement them as you feel inclined. Bring your experiences to the conversation in your community space. If we are requested, we will comment.

We will conclude here for today. Good day to each of you. It is okay to shower yourselves and the world in these practices to help recover, heal, or maintain the well-being of the world. You are your world, and the world is yours. Goodbye, for now.