Hire a trainer. Walk 10,000 steps. Eat vegan. Eat keto. Practice yoga. When it comes to the health of our bodies, many folks are on top of it, using good food, exercise and regular checkups in their prevention and maintenance plans. All of these are good action steps to prevent physical ailments, but what would a plan for good mental health include?

Mental health needs our daily attention just as our bodies need daily care. We have no problem thinking about daily routines, e.g. brushing our teeth, staying hydrated, eating well and taking supplements and vitamins. As well, we can create preventative routines and practices for our mental health, including:

1. Regaining energy derived from sleep. Sleep has a vibration unto itself called waves and those waves create a drain of fluid down our spine. Every night that needs to occur in order to remain in good health physically and mentally. The energetic vibrations from sleep are a powerful healer and should be protected as the most important factor in all disease prevention.

1. Detaching (the art of letting go). Keeping at a distance the energy that saps us and often creates a spin of worry. Reduce your stressors by detaching from people, events, worry and even cultural mandates such as body image, climbing the ladder of success, pushing ourselves beyond normal limits and comparison with others. These are heavy energies that weigh you down emotionally and create both physical and emotional diseases.

1. Being in the energy of love. It’s the highest of vibrations and the core vibration of all energy therapies. Love yourself and let that vibration fill you with healing energy.

1. Spending time with the good energy of friends, family and community. Preventing isolation and loneliness are essential to good mental health.

1. Enjoying art, music and nature as they provide healing vibrations for our minds. Colors vibrate, notes of music vibrate our chakras (spinning energy centers) and the energy of Mother Earth is deeply healing. Walk barefoot, sing, and gaze at the colors of flowers—all are high vibrations.

Using energy therapy for mental health, as it is both preventative and therapeutic, ties the routine together. Thoughts are energy. Emotions are energy. Because energy therapy is a vibration, it will go where it needs to go. It’s a fact of physics that if a vibration is too low (depression) or too high (anxiety), a modulated vibration will create balance when added to the body by the practitioner’s hands. This is called entrainment.

If thoughts and emotions are in a panic, introducing energy therapy will calm and support as it aids in bringing the emotions into balance. Breathing becomes easier. Sleep often returns. If the emotions are heavy, as in depression, the vibration of energy therapy helps to gently nudge the emotions into balance, creating space and even perspective.

We all know that perspective can change how we think about a situation. Over time, energy therapy can help in the letting go process. That fight with Aunt Marge just doesn’t seem so important. The limiting belief that we are not enough can shift and confidence has the opportunity to emerge. The throat opens and we can find ourselves speaking up in situations that once frightened us.

For instance, after a reiki session in the hospital for a leukemia patient, a new perspective opened for him. The overwhelming heaviness of the disease shifted to a more manageable event in his life. His big ah-ha moment was the subtle shift into hope of living life well in spite of the circumstances. Even though the pain was still there, his perspective about it changed. Energy therapy helps lighten the load of the pain and the emotional toll of worry.

Consider energy therapy in your mental health care routine for prevention, healing and maintenance.

Christina Gregory is a Master Reiki practitioner at the Bhakti Wellness Center, in Edina. For more information, call 612-839-5255 or visit BhaktiClinic.com.