According to Harvard Health Publishing, “Medical benefits of crying have been known as far back as the Classical era. Thinkers and physicians of ancient Greece and Rome posited that tears work like a purgative, draining off and purifying us. Today’s psychological thought largely concurs, emphasizing the role of crying as a mechanism that allows us to release stress and emotional pain.”
Indeed, a good cry is a washing of the soul, spirit and even your tear ducts! Regardless of gender, bawling your eyes out allows you to let out all the pent up stuff that is draining your energy. Therapeutic crying is truly allowing your emotions the freedom it needs to cleanse your soul. This does not mean that you are weak, or that you are having a mental breakdown. Crying is a small part of what makes us human.
When or Where should you cry?
There is no wrong or right time and place to cry. Most people generally prefer to cry in private, quietly at home in their beds late at night, alone on a park bench or gazing out the window seat of an airplane. Some people cry watching others experience joy, or when they themselves experience loss, or moments of extreme joy. A good tear-jerker movie is another way people allow those salty tears to escape the corner of their eyes and roll down their cheeks.
Crying is therapeutic, and it allows you to really feel, to acknowledge what you are experiencing, opening a window to your humanness. There are ways to intentionally have a good therapeutic cry if you have been feeling a little low, or overwhelmed, or maybe just a little lonesome.
How to utilize Therapeutic Crying for soul cleansing
Here is how, get comfortable in a private space either in your home or someplace where you really do feel safe and comfortable. You can either sit or lie down comfortably. Ensure that your comfort level is met, either by the softness of your bed, pillows, or things that are familiar and loved. Quietly take deep breaths, inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth.
A huge part of therapeutic crying is giving yourself permission to feel whatever you think that you need at the moment. This is a good time to remind yourself that not every cry is because you are sad, but in the event that sadness is what you feel then just allow yourself to feel that cleansing of the soul. Maybe it is a memory of grief, loss, or disappointment, allow yourself to feel that. You may find that slowly or sometimes all at once the tears begin to flow, breathe through your tears.
Therapeutic Crying is about letting it all out
Just cry, try not to stress about how you look while crying or how you sound, this is you washing your spirit, this is you honoring your soul. Having a good cry is a way of expressing loss or love, or acknowledging fear or disappointment, whatever the emotion, a good cry really does help to cleanse the soul.
Sometimes laughter and tears happen all together, that’s normal. Hug yourself if you need to, remind yourself that you love you no matter what – and at this moment you are allowing yourself to feel that love. Try intentional crying and let us know whether it was therapeutic for you.
Until we see you next time at Healing Waters Spa, be well.