In a current statistic, anxiety is affects 1 in 13 people globally. That’s over 7% of the world’s total population. Many have taken to medication, therapy, and an even newer route, healing crystals.
But before we get into the healing crystals, you might be wondering if what you’re experiencing is actually anxiety and not something else.
[toc]Anxiety Overview
Symptoms of anxiety
Anxiety can come in many different forms. Sometimes, all the symptoms happen inside, without visible effects. However, most of the time, people with an anxiety disorder exhibit a few of the following symptoms:
- Shaking
- Sweating
- Feeling dizzy
- Out of breath
- Feeling weak
- Nauseous
- Increased heart rate
- Nervousness
Often times, a person with an anxiety disorder will feel multiple symptoms at once. These symptoms attack both the mind and body. Anxiety can cause even deeper problems like paranoia, insomnia, gastrointestinal problems, and depression.
Kinds of anxiety disorders
There are many different kind of anxiety disorders, but the one most heard of is generalized anxiety disorder. Generalized anxiety means it does not come from a particular source or have any specifications.
Many anxiety disorders come from a source and have specific limitations or intolerances. Here’s a list of a few different types of anxiety.
The feelings of anxiety and panic when in a social situation in which the person feels embarrassed, uncomfortable, or self-conscious.
The feelings of anxiety and panic when a person doesn’t partake in going places or being in situations they don’t feel comfortable with. Many agoraphobics do not leave their home in fear of the outside world.
The feelings of anxiety and irritation when things are not exactly how they think they should be. People who have OCD perform repetitive behaviors.
Feelings of anxiety and terror developed after the a emotional or physical traumaric event. People get PTSD from many different situations, though most people equate it with military.
Different kinds of phobias that cause anxiety in someone when involved with that object or situation. Arachnophobia is the fear of spiders and one of the most common specific phobias. There are people that have a fear of planes, driving, and other similar situations.
Traditional methods to treat anxiety
Currently, doctors are prescribing medications for the treatment of anxiety disorders. The only problem is, the side of effects can be very difficult and make you sick when getting on them, similar to antidepressants.
There are different types of anxiety medications and not all of them work the same way with different people. Some anxiety medications are highly addictive and are abused.
Rather than gamble with your state of mind, how about a different, more unconventional method?
Best Healing Crystals to Use for Anxiety
You might be wondering what kind of crystals you might use for anxiety. There’s a variety of different ones you can use.
1. Blue Lace Agate
This stone is a type of quartz that has some light blue and white waves casting softly around the stone. Just looking at the crystal can impart calmness, like a sea at bay.
Blue lace agate does not really protect, but allows for calm energy, uplifting spirits, and the relief of stress.
Are you someone who is plagued by anxiety on a daily basis? It may be helpful to wear the soothing blue agate in the form of a bracelet or pendant. This will help minimize the anxious feelings you are always feeling.
If you experience anxiety in specific situations or when provoked, it’s not necessarily needed to wear on your person at all times.
To use Blue lace agate, you should hold it in your hands and take three deep breaths. Each time you exhale, you’re expelling all of the anxious energy and the things that bring on your feelings of dread and release them into the world.
Also read: Best Crystals for Protection
2. Amethyst
Amethyst is one of the most popular crystals used in healing crystals. This purple crystal helps take care of unwanted or unpleasant thoughts that keep you fixated and paranoid at night.
This crystal allows us to take hold of our intuition and practice peace when in stressful situations. To use an amethyst for healing, it is best to put it over your third-eye, for just over 10 minutes.
By using the amethyst to connect to your third-eye, the stone will help clear this chakra, allowing your intuition to be clear and take root again.
Don’t know where your third-eye is? What’s chakra? We explained below but you could take this “elevator” to get there in a blink.
You may also like: Purple Gemstones List: Ornaments for Your Elegance
3. Fluorite
Fluorite is a crystal less heard about, but is very important when it comes to healing anxiety and mind stressors.
This crystal is an absorbing stone. It sucks in all the negative energy and stress, while releasing feelings of peace and positivity in its place.
Fluorite does not need to be physically placed on any of the chakras, but it is recommended to carry around to promote the energies of peace and positivity, similar to a talisman.
4. Lepidolite
This is another unfamiliar crystal that you probably haven’t heard of.
Anxiety is associated with overthinking, worrying, and over-assessing situations before they happen.
Most of this kind of overthinking tends to keep you up at night, going on to disrupt sleep and even project nightmares in the mind. This stone allows for the soothing of the mind as it goes from the physical plane to the dream plane.
People believe lepidolite is one of the best crystals for anxiety because it contains natural lithium, which is used in a lot of prescription anxiety medications.
You should connect with lepidolite before going to bed to remind yourself to calm the chaos of the mind and embrace peaceful thoughts and elevated positivity in both your current world and your dream world.
5. Angelite
Angelite is a crystal that connects with spirits and spirituality. This is the stone that helps remind us that we are not alone in our stress and pain.
It also helps you tap into the strength that comes from those who once had a positive influence on your life and imparts that to you daily. Your guardian angels come from angelite.
To use this crystal, you should take ahold of it when feeling stressed, or finding yourself in a stressful situation. This crystal is a great crystal to use when you are starting to feel a panic or anxiety attack coming on.
6. Black Tourmaline
Black tourmaline is the number one crystal used to promote protection and security. One might not think to use such a crystal for the treatment of anxiety.
The stone does not necessarily protect you from the onset of anxiety, but allows a healthy boundary to be set between you and the biggest anxiety of all, others.
Placing black tourmaline outside of your home, such as on a front porch, creates an energetic boundary between your world, and anyone that might bring unwanted energies to your doorstep.
Related: Popular and Rare Black Gemstones
7. Smoky Quartz
Smoky quartz is a great crystal for anxiety. This stone dispels depression, fear, stress, and anxiety. It cleans the toxicity out of your life, encourages you, and discourages suicidal thoughts. It is considered one of the best crystals for mental health.
You might be interested to know that there is a fine jewelry company called LeVian, that makes smoky quartz jewelry accompanied by LeVian’s specialty, chocolate diamonds. You can check out this LeVian smoky quartz (referred to as chocolate quartz) piece here.
Related:
Chocolate Diamonds: Why So Controversial?
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This stone is also good for fending off nightmares and bringing good dreams to reality. It also has a lot of physical properties too.
They are good for treating headaches and migraines, muscle spasms, and the entire lower half of the body.
8. Howlite
Howlite is a calming stone, which can be very useful to one with anxiety. It alleviates insomnia and overactive thoughts.
The stone can also create patience where there is none and soothe anger, stress, and pain, both emotional and physical.
Howlite helps you visualize your goals and ambition. It also promotes your receptiveness to learning and strengthens memory.
Physically, it benefits teeth and bones. It’s pretty much the “milk” of the crystals.
How Do Healing Crystals Work?
Healing crystals are thought to have energetic vibrations radiating through the stone, just as we have the same vibrations in our bodies.
When our bodies connect to the crystal, we are opening up a free flow of energy transferred from the stone to our bodies. This also why you feel a vibration sensation when placed on the skin.
Because a crystal comes from the heart of the earth, it is said to possess all natural properties. It absorbs these vibrations from the soil, nutrients, plants.
All of the good inhabits a crystal. The act of being healed by a crystal comes from the belief that the crystal will actually heal you. Faith, essentially.
But it’s not religion. Einstein talked about how everything in life had vibrations similar to sound waves. Each vibration bounces off of each other, sending energies into the world. If your thoughts match the positive vibrations, you will see that positivity materialized.
Crystals serve as a conduit between the frequencies of energy from both our bodies and the earth. It is believed that being healed by a crystal in your mind, it would then also heal the physical body.
How to Use a Healing Crystal
Before the we get into how you actually use a crystal to relieve anxiety, it’s important to understand how they connect to different areas of the body. There are 7 main energy sources in the body referred to as chakras.
These power centers are thought of as open, free flowing channels in which positive energies can thrive. Many people speak of unblocking their chakras, which is essentially clearing their minds of all negativity.
The word “chakra” actually means wheel in Sanskrit, which is a perfect representation of the way the energy flows through the power centers.
The seven main chakras
1. Root Chakra
The root chakra is at the base of the spine, or your tailbone to be more exact. It represents our entire footing. When this chakra is opened, we are able to be more stable and grounded. We can rely on our own instincts and trust ourselves to any task at hand. If the root chakra is blocked, we are left feeling shaken, and unconfident.
2. Sacral Chakra
This chakra represents how we understand emotions from both within ourselves and in others. It is located a couple inches below the bellybutton. When this chakra is open, the sexual and creative energy within us is released.
3. Solar Plexus Chakra
This the chakra that makes us feel confident and strong. We feel as if we control our own destiny and are sure of our decisions. This one is located around the stomach area. When this chakra is blocked, we feel self-conscious, anxious, unsure of the world around us.
4. Heart Chakra
Just as the heart is the center of the entire circulation of blood in the body, it is also the place where the upper chakras and lower chakras meet and connect. As you could probably guess, this is the chakra that holds our ability to love and be loved in return. When this chakra is blocked, things such as bitterness and resentment creep into our lives.
5. Throat Chakra
The throat is the place where our personality and specific ways of communicating what is in our hearts comes into play. It allows us to embrace our uniqueness and individuality. When this chakra is blocked, we feel meek, unsatisfied, and question our own truths.
6. Third Eye Chakra
This is the chakra that most people are familiar with. The third eye is located on the forehead between the eyes. This is the eye that allows us to see the world for what it is. It is where our awareness about ourselves and those around us activates. When this chakra is blocked, we often feel unsafe, cautious, and unsure.
7. Crown Chakra
The last chakra is at the head of the body, and represents a “crown” of energy. This open chakra allows the mind the highest conscious of spirituality connection. It is the most difficult chakra to fully open and embrace. When this chakra is blocked, we feel hopeless, depressed, and lost.
How chakras affect anxiety
Each of the seven chakras affect seven nerve points in the body. The nervous system and endocrine system are connected to these nerve points.
These chakras also represent the seven colors in the rainbow, also known as ROYGBIV (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet).
You might be surprised to find that anxiety does not just lie in the mind chakras, but in every chakra.
In the root chakra, lies adrenal medulla. This gland is where the flight or fight response originates. An example of this within an anxiety disorder is the initial onset of a panic attack, looking for a way out.
Related: Best Crystals for Root Chakra
To energize this space, you should align yourself with the color red. Eating red foods, putting red foliage in your house, and even wearing red and help energy flow freely around you.
Feelings of loneliness, addictive behaviors, and dependence come from the sacral chakra. This chakra is related to the color orange. The sacral chakra is supposed to make all our emotions balance and well-conceived.
The solar plexus holds our power. Here is where we feel fear and gut intuition. This chakra is associated with the color yellow. When it’s imbalanced, anxiety attacks can be present, eating disorders, fear and loss of control.
The heart chakra is our center, where we are capable of feeling love and connection toward ourselves and others. But when it comes to anxiety and the imbalance of this chakra, you feel discontent, disconnected, and depressed. This chakra represents the color green.
The throat chakra is associated with the color blue, and it holds where we feel security, confidence, and fluidity of communication. When it’s unbalanced, we feel anxious and unsure. The fear of the unknown starts to feel paralyzing. The color yellow is associated with this chakra.
With the third-eye chakra, our intuition is unclear and we mistrust everything around us. This is also where difficulty sleeping, such as insomnia come into effect. Insomnia is one of the biggest symptoms of anxiety disorders. Indigo is the color associated with the third-eye.
And lastly, the crown chakra. Conveniently located at the top of the head, this chakra affects our pituitary gland and our entire nervous system. It is responsible for when we are feeling distraught, hopeless, and fearing of the future. This last chakra is associated with the color violet.
Ways to Use Healing Crystals
There are different ways to use healing crystals. You know that you can connect with a crystal simply be either wearing it on your person, or carrying in a purse or a pocket.
You can also use it to place directly on your body, associating each crystal with its respective chakra. Creating a map of crystals placed on your body is a great way to start the day.
Meditation has always been a focal point of enlightenment. Meditating with crystals is another method of tapping into the crystal’s energy.
Placing your crystals in the bath feeds the energy into the cleansing waters, encouraging further cleansing of the mind and body. However, keep in mind that not all crystals can be submerged.
You can use crystals as home décor, spreading them out in displays around your entire house, or a specific room. You can promote relaxation and piece by placing crystals of that nature in the bathroom. This will create the relaxed energy vibes needed when one is showering or bathing.
Where to Buy Healing Crystals
Now that you know a bit more about the crystal healing phenomena, you’re probably eager to go out and purchase some of the crystals from above. If you’re feeling really anxious, you might even purchase all of them.
Here’s a few of some great websites to purchase healing crystals:
Crystal Age– individual crystals, rough, raw, polished and tumbled (Price level: $$)
Amazon– this package comes with many of the crystals on our list and is a perfect set for beginners with stress and anxiety (Price level: $)
Exquisite Crystals– individually priced crystals, rough, raw, polished, and tumbled (Price level: $$)
Ilovelotus Etsy Shop– beautiful crystals at really good prices. (Price level: $)
Cleansing Your Crystals
Before using your crystals each time, you must cleanse them. This is particularly important once you’ve received your crystals in the mail or at a store to make sure the energies are completely cleared.
There are different ways to cleanse crystals and stones. Water is the most common way to cleanse. Your water should be from a natural source, such as the ocean, lake, river, etc. Filtered water is the most used, though many people put salt in it. Salt has electric properties that help filter the energy to the stone.
You can either rinse the crystal, or leave it immersed in the salt water in a glass. If you set it in the sunlight, it allows the energy in your crystal to charge.
Placing a crystal in the light of the moon is another way to charge. Some people even bury the crystal into the soil on the night of a full moon. The magnetism of the moon mixed with the soil of the earth allows for a natural and pure way to charge.
Many people cleanse their crystals by smudging it with sage, sweet grass, or incense. Crystals can also be healed by other crystals, such as citrine. Also known as the November birthstone, citrine is self-cleansing and can also clean other crystals of negative energies or remnants. You would just place the citrine over the other crystal.
Some crystals you order online can say “pre-cleansed”, but you should cleanse them personally, just to be safe. You wouldn’t want the chance of bad energy being transferred into you. You don’t need any more anxiety!
Also read:
Top 5 Best Ultrasonic Jewelry Cleaners
History of Healing Crystals
The first historical use of healing crystals was recorded in ancient Sumerian cultures. They used crystals in magic formulas, or spells, for lack of a better term. Crystals were also used by the Egyptians for their health and safety. Other gemstones were also used for their cosmetics.
But the Greeks are where most of our knowledge about crystals comes from. The word “crystal” actually means “ice” in Greek. This is because clear quartz was once thought to be ice. They thought it had frozen so hard that it would forever remain solid.
Crystals were used in amulets and talisman. Certain crystals, such as amethyst, had specific properties they warded against. The word “amethyst” actually comes from a phrase meaning “not drunken” and was used to prevent hangovers.
Gemstones and crystals have been woven throughout the earliest known cilivizations and in almost every religion. No matter which way you cut it, gemstones and crystals have been the world’s life force.
Healing crystals in the Renaissance
During the Renaissance period in Europe, there were many doctors using gemstones with their herbal remedies for certain ailments.
Different gems had different properties and outcomes when worn. Some people even believed that gemstones were evil, holding demons inside. This is why it is recommended to cleanse any crystals before using them for healing.
Later in the century, a man named Thomas Nichols put out word stating that crystals did not have the healing properties they once claimed and there was no way it could work.
People started to agree, and crystals were dropped from the medical world.
Healing crystals in the New Age
When the ‘80s hit, the New Age movement started to elevate people’s thinking of natural resources as opposed to modern medicine. People were becoming educated through books released in both the 80s and 90s, claiming the validity of crystal healing.
Currently, crystal healing is more mainstream and people of different religions and backgrounds are all turning to crystal healing.
The World of Healing Crystals
So now you know the best crystals for anxiety and how to utilize them within each of the 7 chakras throughout the body. You know that crystal healing is not magic or witchcraft, but is rooted in science of vibrations and energies.
These crystals when combined with your determination and willingness to surrender your anxiety to the positive energies of the crystals in this list, you will start to see a change in your being. Always remember to cleanse crystals between uses using one of the methods mentioned in our article today.
While these are just a portion of the healing crystals available, we’ve only just touched the surface of crystal healing. There are many other crystals and stones that help a variety of other mental, physical, and spiritual ailments.
If you’ve enjoyed learning how to cope with anxiety in a natural way, I encourage you to explore more into the world of healing crystals. You may unlock a part of insight you’ve never known.
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