Crystal Healing for Pandemic Fatigue
First off: what is pandemic fatigue?
“It’s a very real feeling of exhaustion stemming from the effects of the novel coronavirus on your life — from stay-at-home orders to the fear of getting ill to losing jobs…Wrestling with intense emotions day after day drains your energy, causing pandemic fatigue.
The hallmark sign of pandemic fatigue is a sense of inner weariness.” - uclahealth • July 7, 2020
If you’ve been feeling any of the following, or if it’s been more intense these past few months, it’s possible that you’re experiencing pandemic fatigue:
uncertainty
despair
chronic high-level stress
burnout
sore eyeballs
loneliness
exhaustion
depression
anxiety
sleeplessness
hopelessness
It is not an exaggeration to say that 2020 has been a life-altering, world-changing year.
While understandably there has been heavy emphasis on physical health and safety measures, there must also be heavy emphasis on the mental + emotional toll of the pandemic (including our economic and social responses to it), and the impact that is having on our overall mental health and emotional well-being.
“As the pandemic worsens, and disruptions to daily life worsen, mental health professionals need to be prepared for an increase in mental health and substance abuse problems.” - Research brief from the Parenting in Context Research Lab, U Michigan, March 31, 2020
The shutdowns taught us that the reality of our daily lives could dramatically change, and quickly. This paradigm shift intensified the focus on the climate change crisis, and also a badly needed wake-up call in terms of racism and the systemic racism entrenched in our societies.
The conversation became about education, awareness, expansion of consciousness, and mindfully co-creating a better world and future.
But here’s the thing my friends: it’s easy to give up and stop caring, or stop fighting, when you’re tired.
The stressors introduced, or heightened, by this pandemic have hit people hard, especially for those on the lower-end of the social and economic scale:
fears of getting sick, job/income loss, of not being able to pay bills
greater levels of overall uncertainty
increased responsibilities of caregiving, child care, and education, which has required extra multi-tasking to the point of overwhelm
loneliness and isolation, especially for the marginalized and elderly
disruption of regular routines including diet, exercise, and sleep
The concern is that all of this will push us collectively to a mental health breaking point - but it doesn’t have to, we can find healthy ways to respond that will help pull us, our families, and our communities through, better and stronger!
Response is a key word here: response belies a feeling of consideration, wisdom, and empowerment. It’s a choice, as opposed to reactions that are often triggered by our wounded or fearful selves.
Our reaction to any of the above stressors or symptoms of pandemic fatigue may be to isolate, self-medicate, binge, overeat, attack, go into denial, feel extra sensitive or vulnerable, or criticize.
Please don’t judge yourself if you have experienced any of these reactions recently - at least now you may have a greater understanding as to why, and I have outlined below some healthier coping practices you can put in place to support yourself.
Crystal Healing Practices for Pandemic Fatigue
I’m providing a bunch of different crystals, practices, and resource suggestions here, so scan through and choose what feels best and most appropriate to you.
If you don’t have the suggested crystals: stay focused on your intention, and then intuitively choose which crystal(s) from your collection is best for you. If you feel like you need help deepening that connection to your crystals, you may find the “The 7 Caves of Crystal Alchemy” is just what you need.
A listing of healthy responses, practices, and coping strategies for pandemic fatigue include the following:
Faith, prayer, meditation
Questioning negative thinking, finding positives
Channeling frustrated or pent up energy into exercise, crafts, artistic or creative hobbies
Tapping into the abundance frequency for hope, revitalizing energy, exploring new possibilities or opportunities
Self-care, rituals or practices that feel nurturing to the mind/body/soul
Spending time in nature, by greenery, under a tree, or near the water
Journaling, singing, playing music, drawing
Clearing and shielding your energy daily, and that of your space weekly
Receiving energy healing, either distance or in-person
Reaching out for help: calling someone you trust, a therapist, or a support hotline (including text support services)
Taking positive, empowered actions towards improving your situation, or helping your community
Faith
Crystals that help us feel more faith are those that have high frequencies, often resonate with our heart and/or crown chakras, and help to lift our spirits and mindsets up out of our fear-based selves, connecting us with higher levels of consciousness, guidance, healing, and perspective.
Suggested crystals:
selenite
moonstone
seraphinite
Choose one or more to hold as needed or in meditation, place them by the bedside or under your pillow at night. I don’t recommend wearing selenite or danburite as they can be very un-grounding (and you need to stay grounded, my darlings!).
Prayer
Hold a piece of clear quartz in between your hands (if they are in prayer position) to help amplify the energy + intention of your prayer work.
Meditation
As little as 5 minutes a day is all it takes for meditation to start helping you (you can add a minute a day if you’d like to slowly build up your practice).
A simple technique is to focus on your breathing, and gently guide your mind when it wanders back to your breathing. This helps to drop you down out of the chatter of your mind, and into your body and the present moment. From there, you can observe what your feeling, observe what is.
Hold any of the following crystals in your receptive and dominant hands. Choose based on the vibe you feel you most need in your meditation.
Suggested crystals:
Energy Clearing + Centering: Black Tourmaline + Selenite
Anxiety + Stress Relief: Amethyst + Smoky quartz
Questioning Negative Thinking
Gently question your thoughts when you find yourself caught up in negative thinking: Is this true? Could there be other possibilities? What other actions could I take, or other choices I could make instead? What’s something positive I can focus on or accept to believe?
Suggested crystals:
Holding one or more of these crystals in your receptive (non-dominant hand) can help support you in this practice. You can also wear 1 - 3 of these crystals daily if you feel you need added support:
Abundance + Nature Frequencies
Abundance, like joy, gratitude, love, and light, is a frequency. My experience of it is that it is expansive, sweet, and healing, and it leaves me feeling refreshed and hopeful. Here are a few crystals you can hold, wear, meditate with, or place in your space that resonate with the abundance frequency, and also help you to connect with that nature vibe if it’s not possible or safe for you to go outside right now.
Added tip: for crystals in your space, you can pair smaller crystals with pieces of clear quartz or a clear quartz cluster to help amplify their energy through the room.
Crystals from left to right: green aventurine, emerald, aquamarine, dravite (brown tourmaline), chiastolite, green kyanite.
DIY Crystal Healing Session for Nurturing Your Mind, Body & Soul
Here’s a simple crystal layout (placing stones on your body for healing purposes) that you can do for yourself at home. The benefits of therapeutic crystal placements on the chakras are numerous, but overall they help to intensify the delivery of healing energy to your system on every level: physical, emotional, mental, spiritual. Don’t worry too much about if you’ve placed them correctly, based on the chart below, trust what feels best to you. The most important thing to do is relax for 20 - 45 minutes once you have the crystals on you, so that you can deeply receive their energy.
Added tips: if they slide off, just place them back on. If they persist in sliding off, you can just leave them off. If any crystal feels uncomfortable or not right, remove it immediately. Small stones work best for the throat, 3rd eye, and crown. You can go bigger on the lower half of the body.
General crystal sizing rule for layouts: 1” (2.54cm) - 2” (5.08cm) in diameter.
Crystal Placement per Chakra (from top down):
Crown (7th chakra) - angelite
3rd Eye (6th chakra) - celestite
Throat (5th chakra) - chrysocolla
Heart (4th chakra) - pink kunzite, mangano calcite
Solar plexus (3rd chakra) - ocean jasper, honey calcite
Sacral (2nd chakra) - bloodstone, ruby
Root (1st chakra) - snowflake obsidian
Receptive hand: rose quartz
Dominant hand: black tourmaline
Receptive foot: hematite
Dominant foot: smoky quartz
Additional Resources for Help + Support:
Energy Clearing + Shielding articles for yourself, your aura, your space
Links to Hotlines, Crisis Support Centers, and Suicide Prevention lines: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suicide_crisis_lines
Listing of Certified Crystal Healers: many of my certified pros are now offering in-person (subject to local regulations) as well as distance healing sessions.
Sources:
Articles: Parenting in Context Research Brief, Pandemic Fatigue Marks a Mental Health Crisis, 7 Steps to Reduce Pandemic Fatigue
Header Image: Quartz watercolor illustration by Lana Elanor
Check out my crystal classes to broaden your practice or deepen your work with the stones in Istaria Crystallis™: Crystal Alchemy, Mediumship, and DNA Light Coding Program.
