By Deidre Norman

We have all had those days (sometimes even weeks, months or years!) where we feel tired, a little irritable, a bit depressed, anxious or just not feeling our best energetically. It can be easy to get stuck living in these states in our modern, busy lives if we don't slow down, pause and find a way to shift our energy.

As Dr. Joe Dispenza says, our prolonged emotional states become our moods, then our prolonged moods become our temperament and our prolonged temperaments become our personality traits. So how do we shift our states?

In my experience, the fastest way to shift these states is through changing your energy. Here are 10 of my favorite ways to shift my energy and raise my vibration when I am having one of those days:

1. BREATHWORK. Breathing consciously for even just 1 minute can change your energy! It can raise your vibration by freeing up stagnant energy as it replenishes and nourishes your body. Conscious breathing also calms the nervous system and can bring us out of our crazy minds into a calm state. Try this quick and easy Box Breathing Practice to shift your energy:

2. MEDITATION. Meditation can shift us from a low vibration to a higher vibrational state within just a few minutes. Using mantra in meditation is a beautiful way to start to quiet the mind and move into a higher vibrational frequency. One of my favorite mantras for this is Aham Prema. Aham Prema means I am LOVE. The vibrational frequency of LOVE is one of the highest vibrational frequencies. SEE CHART + Check out my blog post here for a short meditation practice using this Mantra.

3. Get out in NATURE. Being in nature and connecting with the Earth is a great way to get grounded and feel connected to something greater than ourselves. If the weather is nice, taking off your shoes and feeling the Earth beneath you, a practice sometimes referred to as "grounding" or "earthing," is a really quick way to raise your vibration.

4. MOVE the body. Just moving the body, can release stuck energy and raise your vibration. Here are some of my favorite ways to shift my energy through movement. a. A physical yoga class. b. Go on a walk, jog, run or hike. c. Shake! Put on your favorite song and shake your entire body. d. Dance. Take a dance class or put on your favorite song and dance with no inhibitions.

5. Drink WATER. So many of us are walking around dehydrated on a regular basis and don't even realize it. When we are dehydrated, our vibration lowers, as we are made up of primarily water. Just one of the many benefits of drinking water is that it carries nutrients and oxygen to our cells; and just this one benefit can actually shift the way we feel physically and, in turn, help us raise our vibration as we feel better in our bodies.

6. Balance your CHAKRAS. Why balance the chakras? Working with ~ and learning to master ~ the energy of the 7 chakras along the spine allows us to transcend imbalances, raise our energy, heal ourselves of old patterns that are no longer serving us (these patterns can be lodged in the body, mind or a habitual behavior) and express the highest potentiality of each chakra and the self. You can check out my blog post HERE for a meditation practice to balance your energy centers.

7. JOY. It's been proven that our words (spoken and unspoken) thoughts and feelings produce energy, or in other words, a vibration. Higher vibrations are typically associated with positive feelings and emotions, such as happiness, joy, excitement and peace.

Many of you have heard about the experiment where someone took two plants and said nice words to one and negative words to another. What happened? The plant that was spoken to with kind words thrived while the other plant that was fed with negative words was stunted. This ALSO happens in our bodies and our energetic fields. So do your best to watch your words, thoughts and feels and shift them when you notice that you are dwelling in a more negative space. See charts below. Practice: Take out your journal, and write down any negative thoughts or feelings that come up. Acknowledge them, feel them so they don't get stuck, and then let the energy pass through you. Next, write down the question: “What brings me joy?” and see what comes up.

8. MUSIC or SOUND HEALING.

a. Listening to your favorite song or music that uplifts you. There is music out there that will actually boost your serotonin and leave you in a higher vibrational frequency. Here is a cool blog that explains how this works: “Guide to using music to raise your vibration.”

b. Sound healing is a wonderful way to give you more energy, clear your mind, reduce stress and, in turn, raise your vibration. There are so many great sound healing videos you can find on YouTube. I am also a huge fan of Sound Meditation Presents.

9. Activate the BRAIN. Learn to play a new chord on your guitar, learning a new asana (yoga posture), learn to play a musical instrument, learn to juggle. Challenging our brain can take us out of the anxious state and move us into a more focused state. This helps to clear the monkey mind and bring us into the present moment. When we are living in the present moment, we raise our vibration.

10. READ or LISTEN to something UPLIFTING. Listening to or reading something uplifting every day naturally brings us into a more positive state of mind. There are so many amazing books and podcasts out there today! I love starting my day reading sacred texts, like the Bhagavad Gita, or listening to uplifting podcasts.

A book I love to read and reread is “Change your thoughts, change your life.” By Wayne Dyer.

Here are some inspiring podcasts I LOVE:

Sattva Himalayan Wisdom with Anand Mehrotra

GOOP Sounds True: Insights at the Edge

Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris