We’re all navigating challenges set forth on our personal path as a result to the coronavirus pandemic. Whether those issues are health related, economically related, interpersonally related, or otherwise, it’s abundantly clear that COVID-19 has touched all of us in one way or another. And while it would be ridiculous during this precarious time to try and apply the old adage of everything happening for a reason, we can use shamanic healing practices to use this time of distress as an opportunity for growth.

In his book Spirit Hacking, spiritual guide and healer Shaman Durek notes that humankind has shifted so far out of alignment—in terms of our structures and systems and how we treat each other and the planet—that we needed a jolt of sorts to wake us up and restore harmony. He refers to this as “the blackout.” “We cannot continue to operate in the same way that we have been operating,” Durek says. “We are at a point in our existence where spirit is asking us to pay attention—not from a place of punishment, and not from a place of trying to hurt us, but from a place to give us space to re-identify our reason of being and to look at all the resources we’ve been given and how we treated them.”

And while the pandemic may well eventually lead to a new, more harmonized normal, that potential reality is very much future tense and uncertain. To help you see the light now that may emerge later and to get through the time in the interim, below Durek shares six shamanic healing practices you can implement.

6 shamanic healing practices to use now, according to a shaman

1. Connect with your ancestors

When you don’t know what to do or how to deal, Durek suggests turning to your ancestors for guidance. To do this, create an altar in your home with candles and things that represent your ancestors. Then sit at the altar and connect with them.

“Put your finger to your right temple, look at your finger and ask for one of your ancestors to come through,” Durek says. “Ask them to send you the image of their face when they arrive in your mind or a sensation in your body. When they come through, connect and ask them for any wisdom that they can give you to move through this time.”

2. Make a fun box

To keep you (and whomever you may be sharing space with right now) entertained during this time, Durek recommends writing down different activities on pieces of paper (learn a new language, wiggle your body, dance, etc.) and putting them all in a box. Every day, you can pick out an activity from the box.

3. Heal the past

If there are people in your life with whom you have unfinished business, take this time to make things right. Reach out to people you haven’t spoken to in a while, or whom you may have hurt in the past. “Tell them you’re sorry for everything you’ve ever done to them,” he says. “Bring that to a beautiful place. Even if they don’t respond, you are clearing the energy.”

4. Receive healing from the Earth

To do this ritual, lay down on the ground, set a timer for 10 minutes, and recite the following phrase out loud, with your eyes open: “I want you to bring in the highest amount of healing from the Earth into your body and release anything you’re holding onto.”

Durek says it’s normal to feel the energy flowing through your body, and you may experience swallowing, yawning, or coughing as your body detoxes and cleanses.

5. Invoke the elements

When your energy is feeling a bit stagnant, get up and tap into the energy of the elements to get things flowing again. Stomp your feet to invoke the Earth. Move your hips to invoke water. Do dramatic movements to invoke fire, and sway your hands above your head to invoke air. “Once you do all four of them, say ‘activate the four energies into my body and strengthen my immune system, strengthen my body, and ground me deep into the Earth,'” Durek says.

6. Do a shamanic sun ritual

If you’re feeling anxious or worried, Durek says the most helpful of shamanic healing practices for you is a sun ritual. “This is a great ritual to take all your fears and your worries and give it to the sun before it goes away,” Durek says. “Before sunset, go outside, face the sun, and say, ‘I give you all of my fears and worries. Let the sun dispel it into the fire.’ Then say, ‘Upon rising of the next day, give me strength that I’ve never experienced before.'”