Anxiety Tool Spotlight: Crystals and Gemstones

 

 

This time I am shining the spotlight a little outside of my box,  onto the world of gemstones and crystals.

I say outside of my box,  because I am a practical woman who believes in practical things and I have always thought of crystals and gemstones and all of their energies as being a tiny bit  “out there”  and not really my cup of tea.

But I have a pretty great Twitter feed and follow a lot of people who seem to believe very strongly in the power of crystals and stones for anxiety and bringing balance to their lives,  and being the questioner that I am,  that made me want to know more.

I started paying closer attention to the crystal related tweets I was seeing.   At first of course,  my attention was caught by the beautiful pictures….crystals and stones really are quite lovely….but when I moved past the images and tweets and actually clicked some of the links and read the related posts,  I found what I read to be quite interesting.    And because I love being a teacher as well as a student of all things anxiety related,  I decided to make crystals and stones my next Tool Topic.

The words crystal and gem stones/stones are often used interchangeably,  so for the remainder of this post crystal shall refer to both.

Crystals form naturally,  deep in the earth.

They are “mined and shined” and then formed into various shapes and used in jewelry or on their own as transmitters of the energy they are said to retain from their time forming within the earth.

Crystals are said to transmit different energies and serve different purposes depending on their type.   There are stones said to promote healing energies for myriad issues and illnesses from Gout  to Diabetes  to Bi-Polar Disorder  to general feelings of happiness.

During my research I learned that the use of crystals as a therapeutic tool and/or an energy/spiritual enhancer date back thousands of years.  For example,  the Egyptians were often buried with crystals because it was believed that they would help them have a peaceful transition into their next world.  The Egyptians also used essential oils,  which I strongly believe in,   so I am starting to think the Egyptians were a rather mentally healthy society – aside from the fact that their royalty married their own siblings. 

In modern times,  crystals are still used by a great many people who believe strongly that positive,  healing energies flow from them and that they can bring balance into our world.

Crystals can be carried on your person – in your pocket for example,  and they can also be put into jewelry settings.

The website that I discovered on my Twitter feed,  Serafinafae.com,  has some beautiful examples of crystal jewelry hand-made by its owner,  Sandra Cooze,  who very kindly agreed to be my Tool Topic Expert for this piece.

The Worry Games has no affiliation with Sandra or Serafinafae.com,  and I thank her so much for sharing the following information with  me:

I always like to compare crystals to tuning forks.   When a body is in perfect harmony without any pain or health issues,  it vibrates in a specific way.   A crystal vibrates on the same frequency.   If a person has pain or any type of health issue,  the vibration of the body changes.   A crystal can help to tune the body back to its healthy vibration.

A crystal can be worn as jewelry,  in your pant pockets, or placed near your body at night.   All that is important is that it is within your Aura,  which is the energy field that surrounds your entire body.   Laying a crystal on your nightstand wont do much in terms of healing.   It has to be as close to your body as possible.

Every person experiences the healing energy of crystals in a different way.  Some feel a strong vibration or heat coming from the crystals (that’s how I feel it),  others notice a slight tingle,  and again others don’t notice anything (at least at first).  But even though you may not notice anything at first, this does not mean that the crystals don’t work.  It just means that you are still in the process of opening up to them.

In relation to anxiety, here is what Sandra had to say about crystals and stones: 

When it comes to anxiety,  we have to look at the chakra system.  Anxiety happens when our root chakra is either blocked or out of balance. The root chakra is our connection to the earth,  our anchor.   If this chakra is blocked or out of balance we feel edgy,  nervous,  or anxious.   Our mind goes in circles…we become afraid of our own shadow etc.   We basically feel as if we lost the ground under our feet.

Crystals are a wonderful tool for this.   When we experience an anxiety attack,   the first course of action should be to ground ourselves.   By grounding,  we are unblocking the root chakra and restoring balance within our body, and there are specific grounding crystals for this. 

Grounding crystals that help remove excess energy include:
Tiger Eye,  Black Tourmaline,  Fluorite,  Black Onyx,  Lepidolite

Then I would suggest crystals that have an uplifting energy,  crystals that have the tendency to make someone happy:
Citrine, Sunstone, and  Amber (it is a resin, not a crystal, but very powerful)

Then there are also crystals which can help with anxiety itself.
Sapphire, Peridot, Pink Kunzite, Amazonite

To open all the chakras there is one crystal I would highly recommend:

Kyanite.  This crystal works with all the chakras simultaneously.”

Sandra Cooze,
Serafinafae.com

As for me……my heart definitely believes in the theories behind crystals.

My head isn’t quite sure what it thinks yet.

I am an interesting sort I think because I am a very strong  “feeler”.    An empath is what Sandra Cooze says I am,  after I spoke with her for a while and described myself a bit.    An empath is one who picks up on other people’s feelings very easily,  as well as the general vibes in the atmosphere around him or her.  I have psychic dreams quite often and I just “know” things that other people don’t know,  so I believe 100% without question that there are energies and wavelengths out there of some kind that we don’t yet know about and have not been officially “identified” yet.

However,  when it comes to most things in life,  I go with facts….not feelings.   I want to see data and statistics and charts.  I love to analyze things to pieces….as most of us with anxiety do.   I am not one to trust in “feelings” when it comes to treatments and new ideas and things of that sort.  I am a pretty big skeptic and its hard to convince me otherwise.   So I set about looking for some scientific data about crystals that I could sink my teeth into.

I did find some great info,  including this post from Power Thoughts Meditation Club,   but nothing that could concretely prove that crystals serve any real benefit.

However,  I read enough to make me believe that I can’t completely rule it out either.

Maybe the “not knowing for sure” is part of the allure of crystals.    Some people like to put their faith in the mystical and mysterious side of the world and listen to their hearts over their heads,  and I have to say a small part of me envies people who are able to do let go of their “need for certainty” and be able to do that.

On the flip side,  there seem to be just as many naysayers who claim crystals’  healing powers are all bunk.   But I have to wonder –  if the benefit that people with anxiety receive from crystals really is only placebo,   is that so bad?   Our imaginations are a huge part of why we have anxiety disorders in the first place.   Is it so wrong if we now use our imaginations to help get us out of our anxiety?

Maybe the placebo effect is nature’s way of helping us help ourselves?

Regardless of whether you are a believer in the powers of crystals and their healing energies,  it is hard to deny their beauty and to not appreciate the fact that they came from our Earth.  

And it is also hard not to appreciate the talents of crystal jewelry makers like Sandra who turn these stones into such lovely creations.

Sandra has very kindly allowed me to try a sample of one of her lovely bracelets and I am very interested to see if I notice any effect from it.   After I receive it and wear it for a few weeks, I will post an update to this post and let you all know how it goes.

Thanks again to Sandra for her wonderful information and allowing me to use her images.   If you have any experiences with crystals that you would like me to share, please let me know in the comments,  and if you know of any products or ideas I could shine the Anxiety Tool Spotlight on,  let me know that as well!

Thanks and have a great day.

Update 9-1-16:   

I received the empath bracelet and its gorgeous,  and the quality is amazing….very well made.

I have been wearing it for about 6 weeks now,  and I can’t say for sure if I have noticed a difference in my emotions or not.   My level of stress and upheaval in my life has been off the charts this month due to trying to move and my twins starting kindergarten –  so its hard to say where I would be on the emotional scale without having been wearing the bracelet.  I will say though, that I have really been handling the stress well.  I haven’t had any moments of feeling overwhelmed and my emotions about my kids going back to school have been a lot more “controlled” than I had anticipated,…..so who knows?      Maybe I am simply growing as a person…..or maybe there is something to these crystals.

I did feel a little zap from the bracelet one afternoon,  and that was kind of an exciting little moment that I emailed Sandra about.  I’ve never had that happen from a piece of jewelry before!   But whether it has any healing properties or not,  this empath bracelet is definitely one of my favorite pieces of jewelry just for its quality and beauty.

 

 

 

 

Photo Credit:  Top 3 Photos Courtesy of Pixabay

Photo Credit:  All Jewelry Photos Courtesy of Serafinafae.com

•