5 WAYS TO RECLAIM YOUR POWER IN A TOXIC WORKPLACE

You’re not good enough! You didn’t do this the way I wanted! There’s only room on this team for one of us, and I’m not going anywhere!

These were the toxic messages that rang and rang in my head almost daily from a particularly abusive boss. And for the nine months I was in this job, which I believed was my “dream” position, my brain gestated and birthed a perception that prevented me from seeing, with kindness, the perfectly imperfect being I am.

Ten years ago, I thought I would never survive that destructive experience. I found myself waking up night after night at 3 a.m. with tears already in my eyes from the verbal and emotional abuse—and I was paralyzed by the thought of being stuck in this low vibrational workspace just so that I could pay my bills!

But hindsight is funny. If you told this first-generation Latina then that this situation was what she needed to become the most powerful and fulfilled version of herself, I would probably have told you off in the multiple languages I speak!

Since then, I have learned that if we can truly see every situation, good or bad, as an opportunity to grow, we are on our way to allowing ourselves to transform into the limitless beings that we are.

You might be asking “how the f*ck do I do that?,” -especially if you are in a place of deep hurt and pain and the path ahead is hard to see.

I discovered empowerment by harnessing the power in chakras, the energy centers that run through the core of our body. If you are ready to tap into the power of your own energy, here are five tips for transforming even the worst toxic workplace issues into an empowering, self-compassionate experience!

Solar-plexus ‘power’ pose

Your solar plexus is the chakra most associated with your sense of self and confidence. It is located directly under your heart. If you notice, people who feel disempowered usually cross their arms over this center as a way to protect their sense of vulnerability.

It is widely accepted that two minutes in any expansive power pose, which I like to call the solar plexus opener, allows you to tune into your empowered presence. By raising your empowerment, you are reclaiming your sense of self and self-kindness.

Use this pose before job interviews, meetings, after difficult confrontations, or any situation that leaves you feeling less than your awesome best.

Re-write the voice of your story

Literally. Write down what occurred to you at the moment of the toxic workplace abuse. Don’t miss any details. Then, enlist a compassionate, trusted friend who will allow you to read your story to them out loud. Not just once or twice, but for fifteen minutes! Set a timer.

Read your story over and over again until it loses its power over you. Now your throat chakra is clearing the negative energy of the situation. This will allow you to feel it, until you heal it.

Mental mantras

Creating new ways of thinking actually changes your brain.

Research in neuroplasticity shows the more you can think of a situation in different ways, the more your mind creates space for new perceptions and, eventually, your mind defaults to these new perceptions rather than to all the negativity you are experiencing.

This shift in perception can lead to breakthroughs in how to approach a stressful situation.

Keeping a mantra or anchoring message in your third eye chakra during difficult moments allows you to have a holy shift!

Raise your vibes

Did you know that a single negative thought lowers your vibrational frequency by 12 MHz, and that a positive thought raises it by only 10 MHz? This means you’ll need two positive thoughts to undo the energetic impact for each negative one.

Practicing gratitude daily is a quick fix.

Research shows that people who practice being grateful for three things a day, increase their levels of happiness by 9 percent in six months! Increasing happiness is a great support tool in the face of adversity.

Connect with your heart chakra by placing your hands over your heart when expressing gratitude. This action will connect you with your heart’s loving space and amplify what you are grateful for!

Get to the root of it all

The root chakra is the energy center related to money and career. This is probably the most important energy center to focus on when dealing with challenges and discomfort in a toxic workplace.

Our senses are a primary way to support our energy centers, so an easy start is wearing the color red to empower you and to match the color of this chakra!

If red isn’t your color, try putting headphones on and listening to root chakra music, or any music in the key of G. This frequency helps level you out and supports you in feeling safe in your work environment again.

You can also get physical and go for a walk, or ground your bare feet on the earth. This practice connects your “self” with the world at large, rather than the isolating cocoons our workplaces tend to foster.

If you are feeling really overwhelmed, then simply take some time to be compassionate with yourself. Remember we are, after all, perfectly imperfect.

Begin to use my chakra tips to open your heart and mind to seeing your toxic workplace challenges as an opportunity to learn and to grow. Soon you will be taking positive steps toward becoming more powerful than you could have ever imagined.

Pick a chakra and begin experiencing your own self-empowering transformation.

—Ilona Pamplona is a self-compassion coach who has helped dozens of women reconnect with their inner world, harness the magic of their emotions, and transform their most important relationship: the one they have with themselves.