8 high-vibrational ways to live

And the low-vibrational habits keeping you stuck

2023 to now has been quite a journey for me.

Readers of The Green Witch will know that my fifth book, Underwing: A Story of Motherhood, Loss and Wild Intuition, is coming out in March. It tells my personal story of losing my little girl, Sky, the near-insanity of my grief, and how this deeply shook my hard-wired Pagan beliefs.

Through it all, I’ve gone through intense periods of sadness that seemed like they would never end.

But then - as time went on - came the moments of realisation: I needed to start taking care of myself again. I needed to change the way I was living. I needed to heal.

I noticed that some of the “bad habits” I had got myself into while navigating grief and exhaustion were actually doing me further harm and keeping me in patterns that lowered my mood and energy levels even more. I felt like I was vibrating at a low frequency - a dull hum held in my veins.

And that’s just it. Everything is energy, and it matters where you put yours.

If you are currently struggling with grief, depression, anxiety, burnout or stagnation, I want to share some advice on raising your vibration that got me through this very hard time.

No, these practices didn’t change how much I missed my little girl, but they helped me to begin looking after myself again, and create gentleness, joy and peace amidst the chaos.*

* Note of acknowledgement: The practices below are not intended to minimise the experience of anyone coping with depression, low mood, anxiety or grief. Nor are they to criticise the survival instincts that kick in to "just get through the day.” They are meant to be a helpful guide to supporting healing in both a magickal and practical way - to elevate small moments of your day, growing - over time - into larger, more sustainable moments of contentment.

High vibration vs. low vibration

We often forget that we are not just physical beings, but energetic ones too.

Every single thing in our daily lives - the food we eat, the conversations we have, the way we talk about ourselves - carries a unique energetic imprint. When we give ourselves a silent high-five after ticking something off our to-do list, or mutter “FFS” to ourselves when we drop something - it all leaves an energetic trace. The energy we surround ourselves with either uplifts and expands us (high vibration) or contracts and diminishes us (low vibration).

When we vibrate at a low frequency (that “FFS” energy"), we’re more likely to experience feelings of fear, anger, jealousy or apathy. These are natural human states, but when they become habitual, they can keep us trapped in cycles that prevent us from healing or thriving. We then attract other low-vibrational people; those who moan about an issue before thinking of a way to solve it, or who are quick to judge someone with a spiteful comment (we all know the sort). And the cycle perpetuates.

Low-vibrational activities might include being glued to our phones scrolling through the coverage of a traumatic event in the news, listening to music with hateful lyrics, or not going outside all day.

High-vibrational states, on the other hand, align us with joy, creativity, abundance and love. They don’t mean life is perfect - but they do train us to better ride the waves, trust the process, and find beauty in the everyday.

Some examples of these activities could be switching off the tech and crafting at the kitchen table, planting seeds or planning a garden, or going on a walk without headphones so you can hear the birdsong.

But we have to actively choose these moments and create them in our lives - even though times can often be difficult.

On the down low

At my lowest point in 2023-24, I was:

• doomscrolling until 11 pm every night

• being on my phone first thing in the morning

• following TikTok “blind-item” accounts (this one surprised me as much as anyone else, as celebrity gossip is the polar opposite of me)

• consuming a lot of fear-based, doom and gloom news

• not listening to my body’s needs

• comparing myself to other witches and writers

• eating terrible junk/convenience food

• talking to myself negatively

These were all low-vibrational activities that got me through the day - distracting me in my hardest moments - but kept me in a place of fear and judgment for a considerably long time, as well as just feeling physically awful!

The positive switches I made weren’t overnight, but (and I’m not going to lie here) the biggest changes I saw to my mood and physical health were when I deleted social media apps from my phone. That really is a biggie.

Below are the most important, high-vibrational changes I made to get myself to the best and most joyful place I could be in.

My 8 high-vibrational habits

Which ones will you be practising?

1. Putting your hands in the earth

Or your feet - the effect is the same. Barefoot walking on your garden path or a piece of nearby grass is as close as we can get to the Earth’s vibration without actually being absorbed into a bed of moss.

The Earth itself is the highest vibrational force available to us - steady, grounding, and endlessly renewing. Its energy naturally neutralises the static, heavy energy we pick up in daily life. So by putting your hands on the Earth at the start of your day, you are pressing an energetic reset button, drawing out any stress and pulling positive energy into your body.

I talk more about this practice in my book, The Witch’s Survival Guide.

Photo by Masha S on Unsplash

2. Starting the day with lemon water

Instead of caning the caffeine (as I did for many, maaaany years) first thing in the morning, I began each day with hot water and lemon. Although acidic in nature, when lemon hits your system, it actually acts as a cleanse, supporting your liver and digestive system, alkalising your body and giving a natural vitamin C boost. This had the added benefit of meaning I could take my vitamins with breakfast, rather than the caffeine flushing them out of my system ASAP. Winner.

It’s a simple switch, but it does mean that I’m not going into my days with my cortisol levels already high and my adrenals filling me with fear.

If lemon water isn’t for you, you could also try warm water with cucumber or mint. Or a herbal tea - I recommend ginger as a good way to kickstart your gut sans caffeine.

Photo by Kris Sevinc on Unsplash

3. Listening to music without lyrics

Now. This is a controversial one. I spent all of my teens, 20s and early 30s blasting heavy rock music and averaging 2-3 live gigs a month. But that all changed in 2024. I found myself unable to listen to any music at all, outside of Classic FM, without feeling the lyrics drag me down. Where are all the happy songs??

I learned from my friend Elyse G. Rogers, that modern music is written in standard tuning (440 Hz). Her own music is performed at a 432 Hz frequency, which is at a much higher vibration; an energy that listeners take on board when they hear it.

To reflect this, I began listening to Solfeggio Frequencies and instrumental pieces rather than music with lyrics that were all about lost love and feeling inadequate. It has been absolutely life-changing. Sure, I miss a good rock out in Manchester’s Soup Kitchen, but I can’t believe the difference this type of music has made to my mental health.

4. Eating home-cooked meals

I’m incredibly lucky in that I work from my home office, so I make all my meals from scratch. However, I’m aware that this is a luxury not all of us have. I first noticed the difference during the pandemic, when I swapped my daily meal deal for food I was making myself. When I switched back, after the return to the office, meal deals tasted AWFUL. The quality of the food we ingest really alters our energy levels, so it’s important to consider carefully what we are putting into our bodies as best we can.

Photo by Monika Grabkowska on Unsplash

High-vibrational food includes: fruit, veg, whole grains, legumes, fresh herbs, nuts and seeds.

Low-vibrational food includes: ultra-processed snacks like chocolate, crisps, fast food, and refined sugar-heavy treats.

You can also add further high-vibrational energy to your food by blessing it. Next time you’re plating up a stir fry, say over the food, “May this meal nourish my body, mind and spirit with love and light.”

5. Self-healing

Back in August, I wrote a post called “Making Magick in the Quiet”. Energetic self-healing was my top recommendation for staying in tune with your magickal practice. It is also an excellent way to live more mindfully and in tune with your personal energies.

It’s so important to keep our energy flow in check to maintain a constant sense of balance. I often call healing energy into my body by visualising a white light entering the crown of my head and cascading through my body. Here is what I recommended in my previous post:

Place a hand on your heart and one on your belly, then begin taking long, slow breaths - in through the nose, out through the mouth. Visualise a light from the sky beaming down and landing in the very top of your head. With each breath, see this white light flowing into all areas of your body, from your shoulders down to each toe. See this energy finding any area of stiffness or pain in your body and transmuting them with bright light. When you feel ready, exhale and visualise yourself breathing out grey smoke (the stagnation you wish to release), with this travelling away from the body.

This is something I incorporate into my personal Reiki practice, but there are plenty of other ways to keep your energy in check. Crystals, sound bowls, and energy-clearing baths are all great ways of cleansing negativity from your energy field.

If you would like some help with your energetic healing, I offer evening Distance Reiki sessions - you can find these on my website here.

6. Walking in nature

I don’t know where I’d be without this one. My favourite moments of the day are when I’m outside with my face in a hedgerow. This isn’t just about getting your recommended number of steps per day; it’s about noticing what’s around you and connecting with the Earth (much like walking barefoot in point one).

I tend to do the same 3-4 walking loops throughout my week and make a big point of noticing and documenting the seasonal shifts (Laura Derbyshire has been trying to get me to start a nature journal for months!). It reconnects me with the wilder elements of life after a day at my desk, and reminds me that cycles of growth, death and renewal are always turning away in the background. There’s nothing we can do to stop nature “naturing”.

7. Dressing intentionally

It is very, verrry easy to whack on the same yoga pants you’ve been wearing for three days straight and tell yourself that you’re dressed for the day.

But clothing carries energy too. Natural fibres like cotton, wool and linen tend to feel lighter and more breathable - they allow energy to flow - while synthetic fabrics can sometimes feel dense or heavy. Colours, too, can influence our mood and vibration: red for confidence, green for balance, blue for calm. Enough with the beige and greys.

When you choose what to wear with intention, you are setting the energetic tone for your day. Dressing in a way that honours the energy you want to attract helps align us with that high vibration.

(My world began to change when I stopped wearing tracksuit bottoms, I swear.)

8. No phone before 8 am

Or after 9 pm.

Oh, I couldn’t WAIT to start this one.

Social media is possibly my biggest vice - I love a little scroll before bed. My feeds are mainly cats, feminism and spiritual health - but that isn’t the issue. It’s the screen itself and the pattern of accessing content.

Screens emit blue light that interferes with sleep cycles, but beyond that, the constant input of other people’s voices means we lose touch with our own. Creating a buffer before and after sleep means we can wake up and wind down with our own energy first, not someone else’s.

I haven’t tried it yet, but someone suggested creating a “phone bed” where your phone lives during the day (much like a landline would), so you’re not tempted to carry it around the house with you.

Other high-vibe honourable mentions:

• meditation (of course)

• journaling/bullet-journaling to start or end the day

• happiness rituals like the ones in my book, The Witch’s Survival Guide

• self-massage (nice thing to do right after a shower)

• rubbing your doors down with a cleansing or abundance-bringing door wash

• baking a little cake for someone just for the act of giving

These positive habits definitely aren’t made overnight, but I can’t stress enough how much these incremental changes have changed my life for the better. Sure, there are days when I wake up feeling particularly “griefy” and reach out for my phone. I’m particularly conscious of this as we approach Sky’s birthday on 6th December. But what matters is consistency, not perfection - returning again and again to the practices that bring you back to yourself.

Let me know your own high-vibrational activities in the comments!

Sending love,

Jennifer x