How to Give Yourself a Spiritual Cleansing: Rituals, Meditation, & More

PDF download Download Article
Get your groove back with our 3 restorative soul cleansing methods
PDF download Download Article

Feeling off lately? Whether you’ve been having a hard time being positive or just feel like you need a reset to get the good vibes flowing, a spiritual cleansing is just the thing to get you back to feeling your best. In this article, we’ll walk you through a plethora of awesome cleansing methods, including taking a spiritual bath, performing a detoxifying ritual, and meditating or praying to relieve you of your burdens and worries. Read on for restoration!

Things You Should Know

  • Take a spiritual bath by running a hot tub with bath salts to cleanse your energy. While you relax, meditate on the good in your life, setting positive intentions for the future.
  • Perform a cleansing ritual, like lighting smudge , to cleanse yourself and your home. While you smudge, set an intention by stating something like “I am releasing all negativity.”
  • Meditate or pray to connect with your highest self or a higher power to rid yourself of negativity. Let yourself relax and chant a mantra like “My spirit is unburdened.”
Method 1
Method 1 of 3:

Taking a Spiritual Bath

PDF download Download Article
  1. Shower before you take your ritual bath, so you’re clean. You don’t want any dirt or other impurities in your ritual bath water, so it’s best to shower first. Use soap or body wash to wash your skin and prepare for your ritual bath. During this time, focus your thoughts on your intentions to cleanse your spirit. [1]
    • For instance, you could repeat a mantra in your head as you bathe. You might think, “I release negativity so my spirit will be lifted,” or “I’m washing away my worries and cares.”

    Tip: The best time to take a ritual bath is the Friday closest to a full moon. However, you can do it anytime and get a spiritual cleansing.

  2. Fill your tub with slightly hot water that doesn’t burn your skin. Before you get in, test your water with the back of your hand to make sure it’s not too hot. [2]
    • If it feels too hot, wait a few minutes for the water to cool down.
    • If your water is too cold for comfort, drain a little water out of the tub, then add more hot water to warm it up.
    Advertisement
  3. Salt is commonly used as a purifier, so it’s perfect to add to a ritual bath. You can use a bath salt blend that’s made for a spiritual bath or just plain salts. Pour your salt into the water, then use your hand to slosh the water to help it dissolve. Here are some options for salt: [3]

    Warning: Don’t use table salt because the anti-caking agents add unnecessary ingredients to your bath. Additionally, its minerals have been removed.

  4. Adding herbs or essential oils is a great idea if you're using plain salt. The aroma can help you cleanse your spirit. Additionally, some herbs have benefits, like calming chamomile and relaxing rose. You can use 1 oil or herb or create a blend. To use an oil, add 3-5 drops of essential oil directly to your bath. If you’re using herbs, sprinkle them over your bath water. [4]

    Tip: If you use crystals in your practice, consider adding quartz , rose quartz , black tourmaline , or amethyst to your bath to help with your cleansing.

  5. Get into your bath water and relax. Submerge as much of your body under the water as possible. Then, close your eyes and focus on your intention to cleanse your spirit. [5]
    • Focus on your breath to gently bring your awareness to your body and what you’re doing. This will help you reflect on your intention.
  6. Meditate on the energies you want to cleanse. Take slow deep breaths as you reflect on your intention. Think about why you feel like your spirit needs to be cleansed. Then, imagine your worries, negativity, or spiritual blocks dissolving into the water. [6]
    • If you like, pray or ask for spiritual support to help cleanse yourself.
  7. When you feel ready, get out of your spiritual bath to end the ritual. Instead of drying off with a towel, let the water naturally air dry so that it evaporates off of your skin. This helps complete the cleansing process. [7]
    • It’s okay to put on your robe, but don’t towel off first.
  8. Don’t take cleansing baths too often. If you feel like you need a regular cleansing, take a spiritual bath once a month or as often as once a week. Otherwise, you might deplete your spirit from over-cleansing. [8]
    • Try different cleansing schedules to find what works for you.
    9. Advertisement
Method 2
Method 2 of 3:

Doing a Cleansing Ritual

PDF download Download Article
  1. Pick a place where you can sit or lie down comfortably. It doesn’t have to be a big space—anywhere you're comfortable will work just fine. If there’s any clutter, try to remove it so it won’t distract you. [9]
    • If you’re having trouble finding a good spot, consider going outside for your ritual. This also allows you to connect with nature, which might help you boost your positive energy.
  2. Smudge yourself and your ritual space for cleansing. Light your smudging herbs in a heatproof bowl or abalone shell. Then, use a feather or your hand to spread the smoke over your body from your head down to your feet. Next, use your feather or hand to waft the smoke around the space. Try the following smudging herbs: [10]
    • Sage for purification
    • Cedar for positive energy
    • Sweetgrass for cleansing
    • Smudge stick for clarity and grounding. (You can use this alone or with an abalone shell to rest it in.)
  3. Place your supplies on the floor, a table, or a blanket. You can arrange them any way you like. One way is to put your candle to the south, your incense or smudge stick to the east, your salt to the north, and your bowl of water to the west. Light your incense or smudge stick, so the smoke fills the area. Any other supplies, like your empty bowl, will go in the center. Here are some supplies you may use: [11]
  4. Sit on the floor, on a pillow, or in a chair. Then, close your eyes and center yourself. Focus your thoughts on your intention to cleanse yourself of negative energies or blockages in your life. [12]
    • It helps to focus on your breath . For instance, you might count your breaths to clear your mind.
    • State your intention, such as, “I am releasing all negativity,” or “With this ritual, I will be cleansed of all negativity and blockages.”
  5. Use a lighter, match, or the end of your incense to light your candle. Then, reflect on your desire to get rid of negative energy or blockages. Leave your candle burning throughout your ritual. For best results, let it extinguish itself. [13]
    • A white candle is a great option because it represents positive energy. However, you can also use a black candle to represent the negative energy you’re removing.
  6. Use a pen and paper to write down the things you want to remove from your life. This can be something general, such as “negativity” or “heartache,” or more concrete, such as “fear of failure” or “envy of my friend.” [14]
    • You can also list your negative energies and blockages in your mind or out loud as another option.

    Variation: Instead of paper, try using a raw egg to purge your energies. Hold the egg up to your forehead and imagine your negative energy transferring to the egg. Then, smash the egg in your bowl to destroy it. [15]

  7. Hold your list or set it down next to the empty bowl. Then, close your eyes and imagine the things on your list evaporating or fading away. Then, picture a weight being lifted off of you. [16]
    • You might also state your intention to let these things go. You could say, “I’m letting go of my fear, envy, and negativity,” or “I banish all negativity from my life.”
  8. Open your eyes, then hold the corner of your piece of paper in the candle's flame. Immediately drop the paper into the empty heatproof bowl. Watch the paper burn down to ashes. As you do this, picture your negative energies and blockages floating away in the smoke. [17]
    • If your fire keeps burning, dowse it with the water you placed in your ritual area.
  9. Close your eyes again and focus on your breath to center you. Then, sit in meditation to complete the ritual. Finish your meditation when you feel ready to return to your normal activities. [18]
    • If possible, leave your candle to burn out. If you need to blow out the candle, do so when you feel ready to end your ritual.
    10. Advertisement
Method 3
Method 3 of 3:

Using Prayer or Meditation

PDF download Download Article
  1. Meditate for 30 minutes to release your worries. Meditation helps you center yourself and release stress, which is great for cleansing your spirit. For a simple meditation, sit in a comfortable position. Then, close your eyes and focus on your breath. Take slow, deep breaths as you relax. When your mind wanders, bring it back to your breath.
    • If you like, you can repeat a mantra to yourself as you meditate. You might say, “I am free of negativity,” or “I release my worry.”
    • You might enjoy lighting incense or candles as you meditate.
    • If you want a guided meditation, try a free app like Calm , Headspace , or Insight Timer . Alternatively, look online for a video meditation.
  2. Mantras help you set your intention and remind you of what positive goal you’re trying to achieve. Choose a mantra that reflects your intention to release negative energy from your spirit. Then, repeat that mantra when you’re feeling burdened. [19]
    • You might say, “My spirit is unburdened,” “May my spirit be clean,” or “With loving kindness, I release what holds me back.”
  3. Pray according to your personal convictions to help cleanse your spirit. Ask your god or goddess for guidance and to be unburdened by what’s bothering you. Then, thank them for their help in cleansing your spirit. [20]
    • You could say, “God, I pray to you today to take this burden from my spirit. I’ve been feeling very negative and blocked lately, and I need to let that go. Please help me find relief from my worries so that I can be free. Thank you for your blessings. Amen.”
    4. Advertisement

Join the Discussion...

How can you do a spiritual cleanse?
Elianne El-Amyouni
Spiritualist
To do a spiritual cleanse, you first want to have an idea of what you are personally trying to cleanse. Then, in almost every tradition throughout history, every spiritual and religious tradition has some form of fasting ritual to cleanse the spirit, whether that's for three days or seven days or 40 days, but how long you fast and what you fast from is generally up to you.

Personally, when I fast, it's three days of a juice fast—a fast from solids—to re-stabilize and realign my awareness with how genuinely lucky we are to have the most basic things, like solid food. Hunger is the most basic need. In the evolutionary sense, we were filling our stomachs before we were building homes, and if you can bring yourself back to that awareness, that's going to be a fantastic spiritual cleanse because it's going to shed a lot of all of the immediate things that your awareness is bothered with, like what your ex said, what your friend said, what happened yesterday, what you did or didn't do, whether or not you're cool, your toxic relationship, or whatever it is that you're trying to cleanse away.

A ritual is another way that you can think of spiritual cleanses, by setting an intention and really bringing your willpower to execute that intention. But I don't think that we are necessarily ever dirty in spirit or that we need cleansing, and actually, we don't allow our spiritual life to be alive. Many of us, if not most of us or all of us, are very sensitive, very tender souls who just want to connect and live good lives and love and be loved. And we do so much every day all of the time to avoid letting that part of ourselves exist and express itself. You cleanse spiritually when you let yourself choose love, when you would rather choose dismissal or avoidance, when you let yourself have compassion for someone who you disagree with or who you don't like, and so on and so forth. And the more that you practice and embody your compassionate, loving, and love-thirsting humanity, the more you cleanse, really.
Kelly Ferguson
Psychic Medium and Shamanic Healer
When I think of spiritual cleanses, I ask, how would you cleanse your energy as opposed to your spirit? To me, spirit is kind of our soul. Yes, you can meditate, you can pray, you can smudge. But one of the best things that you can do is start to be aware of yourself in the present moment, because if you don't know how you feel right now, you don't know if you need to shift something.

So the first part is paying attention to how you feel and noticing whether or not your energy needs to change. A question people can ask right away is, “Does this energy belong to me?” because what if you're picking up energy from someone else? You shouldn't even be holding it. I don't walk around trying to read everybody. Why? Most people's energy is pretty dense and heavy. I'm not interested. If I'm picking up someone's energy, I want to feel good. First, we have to pay attention to ourselves, make sure our energy is good, and monitor our energy and be ready to make some shifts when we notice energy is coming in that doesn't belong to us. Once we notice that there's energy in us that doesn't belong, we can shift that energy and cleanse it by meditating, by praying, by smudging.

You can also simply stand in your energy, surround yourself with a white light and say, “I call back any energy I have given away or left behind. Return to me now.” And then visually watch the energies come in, or feel the energies come in, or feel the mercury rising and the love filling your body right up. Don't make any space in your body for energies that don't match love. Call your power back. I think it’s really important that we take energetic authority. You're not some victim here. Claim your power. Call it back. Get yourself back on track. We don't pray for it. We don't beg for it. We command it.
See all 2 Replies and
Read Discussion

Community Q&A

Search
Add New Question
  • Question
    What incense should I use?
    Community Answer
    The kind of incense is up to you. Choose one that you think smells good and makes you feel relaxed when you smell it.
    Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
    Thank you for your feedback.
    If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow
    Yes No
    Not Helpful 6 Helpful 58
  • Question
    What would be a good way to keep my mind on God?
    Community Answer
    I would focus on prayer and being mindful of the blessings in your life that God has given you. These are things you can do at any point during the day to keep your mind on God.
    Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
    Thank you for your feedback.
    If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow
    Yes No
    Not Helpful 9 Helpful 80
  • Question
    Can eggs be used for spiritual protection, and if so, what are the specific instructions to perform such a ritual?
    Asghar Malik
    Community Answer
    For spiritual protection, you need not eggs, but a strong soul, which can lead you to freedom and peace.
    Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
    Thank you for your feedback.
    If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow
    Yes No
    Not Helpful 17 Helpful 111
See more answers
Ask a Question
200 characters left
Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.
Submit
      Advertisement

      Video

      Things You’ll Need

      Doing a Cleansing Ritual

      Taking a Spiritual Bath

      Tips

      • You have everything you need to cleanse yourself spiritually, so don’t feel pressured to pay someone for a spiritual cleansing.
        Thanks
        Helpful 23 Not Helpful 3
      • Remember to buy sage from an indigenous company. Burning sage is a sacred practice across many cultures, so it’s important to take part in this practice by expressing gratitude and intention.
        Thanks
        Helpful 14 Not Helpful 3
      • Approach spiritual cleansing with an open mind for better results.
        Thanks
        Helpful 11 Not Helpful 4
      Submit a Tip
      All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published
      Name
      Please provide your name and last initial
      Submit
      Thanks for submitting a tip for review!
      Advertisement

      You Might Also Like

      How to
      Spiritually Cleanse Your Home of Psychic Disturbances
      How to
      Perform a Home Exorcism
      How to
      Calculate Your Name Number in Numerology
      How to
      Find & Speak to Your Guardian Angel
      Writing a Palanca Letter: Instructions & Examples
      How to
      Become a Pastafarian
      What Does It Mean to Have Life Path Number 33?
      Life Path Compatibility: A Numerology Guide
      A Complete Guide to the Most Powerful Archangels
      Over 120 Inspirational Happy Sabbath Quotes
      How to
      Know if You've Met an Angel in Human Form
      How to
      Work with Archangel Michael
      Who were Eve and Lilith? The Myth of the Two “First Women”
      How to
      Do Numerology Yourself
      Advertisement

      References

      1. ↑ https://www.valleyoaks.org/health-hub/how-showers-help-with-mental-health/
      2. ↑ https://intermountainhealthcare.org/blogs/from-hot-to-cold-the-hidden-health-benefits-of-bathing
      3. ↑ https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/drugs-bath-salts.html
      4. ↑ https://health.clevelandclinic.org/essential-oils-101-do-they-work-how-do-you-use-them
      5. ↑ https://www.brgeneral.org/news-blog/2021/february/benefits-of-a-bath/
      6. ↑ https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/how-to-meditate
      7. ↑ https://www.sunsigns.org/how-to-make-spiritual-focus/
      8. ↑ https://health.clevelandclinic.org/reasons-to-take-a-bath
      9. ↑ https://www.peta.org/living/personal-care-fashion/meditation-relaxation/
      1. ↑ https://utopia.org/guide/what-is-smudging-how-to-sage-a-house-for-positive-energy/
      2. ↑ https://www.helpguide.org/mental-health/meditation
      3. ↑ https://health.ucdavis.edu/blog/cultivating-health/10-health-benefits-of-meditation-and-how-to-focus-on-mindfulness-and-compassion/2022/12
      4. ↑ https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/the-empaths-survival-guide/201704/9-strategies-to-cure-emotional-hangovers
      5. ↑ https://www.familycentre.org/news/post/10-common-negative-thinking-patterns-and-5-steps-for-change
      6. ↑ https://www.higherselfyoga.org/articles/5-meditation-techniques-to-stop-negative-thought-patterns
      7. ↑ https://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/07-08/ce-corner
      8. ↑ https://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/iee/publications/pdf/smudging_guidelines.pdf
      9. ↑ https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-lifestyle/mental-health-and-wellbeing/meditation-to-boost-health-and-wellbeing
      10. ↑ https://bulletin.hds.harvard.edu/mantra-chanting-heals-and-connects/
      11. ↑ https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/the-science-of-prayer-2.html

      About This Article

      Article Summary X

      If you want to cleanse your spirit, start by finding a private place where you can sit down comfortably. Next, place smudging herbs like sage and palo santo in a heatproof bowl, light them, and use a feather or your hand to spread the smoke over your entire body and space. Then, sit in a comfortable position and light a white candle. Think about the specific negative energies or blockages you want to remove and envision the negative energies dissolving. You can also make a list on paper and use the candle's flame to burn the list and release the energy from your life. As you do this, picture your negative energies and blockages floating away in the smoke. To learn about other cleansing techniques that you can try, read on!

      Did this summary help you?
      In other languages
      Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 794,519 times.

      Reader Success Stories

      • Phoebe Wilson

        Nov 20, 2018

        "After reading and praying, I inadvertently discovered this experience. My spirit is relaxed and I am now feeling ..." more
      More reader stories Hide reader stories
      Share your story
      If you buy through links on our site, we may earn a commission .

      Did this article help you?

      Advertisement