The Lady Macbeth Effect: Washing Away Stress

Shakespeare’s famous Lady Macbeth put careful effort into washing blood off her hands after participating in a murder plot. Although perfecting her hygiene wasn’t enough to ease her guilty conscience, there is a general truth behind the efficacy of that behavior.

A study published last week in the NY Times found that people feel a strong urge to wash their hands after contemplating a despicable act. Those who were able to clean themselves after thinking about being guilty were less troubled by their thoughts than those who didn’t. And keep in mind, none of the people involved in the study were necessarily murderers; this was an exercise in the power of the mind!

Even for those of us who have nothing to be guilty about, symbolic cleansing can be extremely important- and can benefit our health. Throughout daily life, our bodies and brains are processing lots of thoughts, emotions, regrets, and stresses. Because of all that activity, energy in our bodies becomes blocked over time, which can lead to physical symptoms of disease. When the body and mind are able to let these experiences go, we can “reset” our bodies and maintain balance of emotions and energy.

Aside from hand-scrubbing, here are some ways to “wash” your body and mind clean of less than desirable experiences, emotions and events, and feel better. The following tips can help bring harmony back to our physical and emotional selves, and detox the body, smoothing out energy flow:

1. Sitting in a comfortable position, close your eyes and visualize sitting by stream of water flowing gently by. When thoughts come into your head, they are part of the stream, just flowing by you. Allow yourself to consider the thought and then let it go on its way down the stream, not getting caught or lingering too long in your mind.

2. Breath slowly and deeply. On the inhale, fill your lungs, chest, and belly completely with fresh clean air. On the exhale, release out all the air, along with the tension and built-up thoughts and stresses from the day. Oxygen will circulate throughout the lungs and entire body, opening clogged areas and releasing tension from your mind and muscles. Many times during the day we don’t realize how shallowly we have been breathing.

3. Firmly brush your limbs off, from the trunk of your body outwards. Start at the shoulders and brush out to fingertips, and past them, as if brushing a thick dust off each sleeve. Then, sitting with your legs straight out in front of you, start at the hips and brush all the way down to feet. Energetically, this releases negative or stagnated energy, and refreshes the natural balance of the body, enhancing circulation and washing impurities out of body and mind.

Lastly, at the end of a long day, consider this wisdom from Ralph Waldo Emerson:
“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”

So although hand washing alone may or may not wipe the slate clean, conscious breathing and positive energy will surely provide some relief for the body and mind.

Posted by Jessica Silver, L.Ac.
http://www.amazinghealing.com/jessica.php