Why trying to raise your vibration is not sustainable

Now, don’t get me wrong, you will need to raise your vibration if you to change your life; however, many of us have been going about this in a way that creates temporary change that doesn’t lead to the lasting transformation that we are seeking.

And it’s not our fault, right. We have been sold this idea that yoga, meditation, affirmations, spiritual baths, chakra and crystal healing and frequency music can magically raise our vibration and heal our innermost wounding so we can manifest whatever we want. And that’s kinda true; but mostly not.

As a certified yoga instructor who regularly taps into all of the practices that I just mentioned and someone who has been dragged through a spiritual awakening and multiple dark nights of the Soul over the last few years, I feel compelled to speak on this.

Albert Einstein said “Everything is energy and that’s all there is to it. Match the frequency of what you want and you can’t help but get that reality. It can be no other way. This is not philosophy, this is physics.”

I would add: match the frequency of what you do not want and you can’t help but get that reality as well. So don’t be out here trying to match other people’s energy to prove a point. Don’t do that.

The principle of Vibration states that nothing rests. Everything is in motion and everything vibrates at a particular frequency. There are an infinite number of frequencies and the frequency that you are resonating (or vibrating) with at any given moment is what you will attract.

The principle of vibration is the third of seven hermetic Spiritual principles. It became the darling after the concept of manifestation went mainstream around 2009 – right around the time that the documentary The Secret came out. It was repackaged and rebranded as the law of attraction. So the law of attraction and the principle of vibration are the same thing.

The first hermetic principle is the law of mentalism which states all is mind. Meaning that which we create in our reality begins with that which we give space to in our conscious mind. So, your vibration begins in the mind. Let’s nerd out for a minute, shall we?

The mind is split into two branches – the conscious and the subconscious. In an ideal environment, the conscious mind is the gatekeeper. It decides what gets in and what stays out. What gets in, gets filtered through the subconscious mind. This part of the mind is kind of a free for all. It lets everything in. It has no power of discernment. This is the center of our programming – where all of our beliefs (both limiting and expansive) get stored. Once something reaches the subconscious mind, it either conflicts with or validates our existing programming. From there, emotions and feelings are formed. Those emotions inform our behaviors and the feedback we receive from those behaviors create our patterns.

Our vibration is not what we should be focused on. It’s not the starting point if we are seeking to create lasting change in our lives. The starting point is the conscious mind – the seat of awareness.

The problem is that the society we live in is far from ideal and most of us are operating purely from our subconscious mind – where there is no filter, it’s just wide open. So our programming is running the show without us even realizing. What practices like yoga, meditation, sound therapy and other vibrational modalities do is they help us tap into the conscious mind – where we become the observer of our thoughts. In this space, we can decide what we allow in and what gets filtered out.. But what happens when the practice is over? What do we do with that awareness, especially when it challenges the subconscious beliefs that we are holding onto for dear life because they keep us safe and give us the illusion of control?

Michael Beckwith, in his interview with Oprah Winfrey eloquently said, “To get what we want, we have to become what we want.” You can temporarily manipulate energy to get things; but you won’t hold onto it until you become it. Where we often get stuck is in the becoming because that requires doing the work (or healing) to dismantle the subconscious beliefs that do not align with what we say we want.

So, do these practices offer up any real utility? Absolutely. I still meditate, do yoga, charge and do rituals with my crystals and I am all up in my Astro herbalism during the Moon Cycles – and I incorporate all of these modalities in the work that I do with my clients. However, there was a time when I felt like I NEEDED to do these things to be in vibrational alignment so I could attract what I want. It wasn’t until I started complimenting these practices with actually doing the inner work that my life began to radically transform.

These modalities opened up a channel that allowed me to receive an intelligence (or an awareness) about myself and whatever situation I was dealing with at the time. I then had to take that awareness, use it to understand what was standing between me and what I wanted and then do the work to bridge the gap. The work I’m referring to is the cultivation of an intimate connection with my shadow self – the part of me that lives within the subconscious. I notice that as I fall deeper in love with my shadow self, my vibration naturally rises. And when my vibration lowers because I am rejecting some part of my shadow self, it becomes much harder (if not impossible) to attract and keep what I want.

You know, we live in a society that encourages us to bypass our shadow (to ignore or suppress it) and live in this la-la the land of love and light. But there is no light without darkness. Nothing exists without its opposite.

Here’s the thing: old ways won’t open new doors. What got you where you are won’t get you where you want to be. Because what you want exists on another frequency, not on the one you are currently operating within. Practices that raise your vibration will shift the way you feel in that moment and for a time afterward – which can certainly drive you to take inspired, positive action and attract really great things into your life. However, raising your consciousness will hardcode positive, high vibration behavior into your nervous system and create new patterns of behaviors that will assist in that becoming that Michaeal Beckwith speaks about when he says “to attract what you want, you have to become what you want.” That’s not to say that you will never feel or experience contrast or situations that trigger you, it simply means that you will be consciously aware of what is driving it and instead of running back to the comfort of your old programming, you will embrace the contrast and make friends with it. (detangle its hair, give it a deep conditioning treatment, a well defined twist out).

If you’re still wondering, Larissa, how do I do this? How do I raise my consciousness so that I can create lasting change in my life? Here are four things to consider:

#1. Start thinking conscious vs. unconscious instead of high vibration vs. low vibration. 

Shifting your vibration is easy. You can eat something that is healthy and delicious, have a great workout, a walk in nature, an amazing orgasm that feels like an out of body experience, a self-care Sunday, a meditation that takes you to another dimension – all of these experiences (which I highly recommend) can and will raise your vibration – temporarily. But we’re about making permanent shifts, right? That means, we have to play the long game. Raising your consciousness is the ultimate long game. It’s also the most difficult, which is why it is the path less traveled, even though it is literally paved in gold.

#2. Stop trying to love and light your shadow self into oblivion.

Develop the courage to illuminate what’s hidden within so you can start making choices intentionally and living consciously, rather than being on autopilot and living by default. This is the true hero’s journey. And while it can be lonely, you don’t have to do it alone. When I first started my journey, I asked my Spirit team and the Universe to place people on my path who could help me become who I was created to be. Little did I know I was asking to be molly whopped all over this little 3D existence of mine. But I prayed and the Universe delivered. I had a spiritual mentor and coaches enter my life who held up a mirror for me, they asked me the questions that I was not willing to ask myself and challenged me to go places within myself that I would not have dared to go on my own. And to this day, they are still walking this path with me and are very much a part of my spiritual evolution. So, if what I’m saying right now speaks to you, I encourage you to commission your Spirit team and the Universe to bring the right people to guide and support you into your life.

#3. Be mindful of what you consume. 

This includes what can be consumed by all of the senses – what you eat, what you listen to, what you watch, how you move and treat your body. There is a part of the brain called the Reticular Activating System or RAS. The RAS is the part of the conscious mind that filters things out and heightens our awareness. It’s what gets activated when we set intentions or have a goal. Your brain needs an intention, some sort of focal point, so that it knows how it should operate throughout the day. You have to tell it what to do or it will be all over the place, doing the most. Without the conscious mind gatekeeping all of the information and stimuli that we are hit with everyday, the subconscious mind will be in complete control. And we don’t want that because that’s how we repeat patterns that keep us stuck.

I remember when I was in the throes of my first dark night of the soul, my spiritual mentor introduced me to Abraham HIcks’ Emotional Guidance Scale. I remember being absolutely distraught one night and she pulled out this scale that listed 22 emotional states, ranging from the highest in vibration to the lowest. And she asked me to point out where I was on the scale. At the time, I was like 16, 21 and 22 – deep in frustration, confusion, fear and guilt. She also asked me to identify my top 3 values that represent how I want to feel everyday of my life. My top three were (and still are) freedom, peace and authenticity. Next she asked me to connect with a time that I felt a sense of freedom, peace and authenticity and I did. The last thing she asked me was to envision my life six months out through the lens of freedom, peace and authenticity. And as I did this, I could feel myself becoming lighter, moving ever so slowly up the emotional scale. What she said to me next, changed my life. She said, from this moment on, every decision you make for yourself needs to align with those values – freedom, peace, authenticity. And it wasn’t that the concept of setting life goals was foreign to me. Up until that point, I had not considered structuring my life around how I wanted to feel, instead of what I wanted to achieve or have. That exercise that she took me through put my life on a completely different trajectory. My RAS was set and this was the foundation for a spiritual transformation that has been more powerful than I could have ever imagined. Messy, yes and so incredibly beautiful. If you’d like to learn more about Abraham Hicks’ work and their emotional guidance scale, I will put a link to it in the show notes. Now, onto #3.

#4. Stop Matching Energy.

I have been seeing people throw this phrase around like it’s some sort of badge of honor. If we want to talk about vibration, the “I match energy” mantra is quite possibly one of the lowest vibrations we can be in. When we say and do this, we are giving our power away. We are voluntarily abandoning ourselves to match the frequency of another person or situation. Instead of matching energy, be the energy you want to experience and hold that energy. Some people call this “setting energetic boundaries.” I call it staying connected to You. Again, it goes back to becoming what you want. Don’t talk about it, be about it. Remember, you will repel anything that is not a match for YOUR frequency and (for better or worse) you will attract what is.

I want to thank you for hanging out with me today. Please take what you need and leave the rest.

Be sure to give this video a like, subscribe to the channel and share this content with anyone you think it could be of service to. I’m sending you much love and big hugs and I look forward to connecting with you again very soon. Have a fabulous week.