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Inner Child Healing Exercises
When you have a hurt, wounded younger self, using inner child healing exercises can transform your life in the absolute best way.
You can’t ignore the trauma, neglect, or abuse from your childhood.
But by using the 13 transformative exercises featured below, you can be on the road to living a life free from the pain of your childhood.
✨ Speaking of healing your inner child, have you downloaded your free inner child healing workbook yet? 👇
13 Healing Exercises for Wounded Inner Child
1. THERAPY
I am a hugeeee advocate of therapy, especially for people like us who have lived through years of trauma.
Because therapy is a powerful step in unraveling and dismantling any blockages stopping you from healing your inner child.
Without healing, it’s incredibly difficult to connect, honor, and love yourself fully.
Finding a therapist you connect with can make all the difference in helping you heal from the childhood trauma, neglect, and abuse you’ve carried for decades.
I recommend Online Therapy
I always recommend Online Therapy to my readers at Okay Now Breathe, because it is a complete therapy toolkit.
(Meaning, you’ll get worksheets, journal prompts, and informational hands-on tools on top of therapy!)
What’s included in one monthly price ⤵️
⭐ Live video, voice, or text chat session with your therapist
⭐ 8 easy-to-follow sections, including 25 worksheets
⭐ Activity plan, journal, and tests
⭐ Yoga and meditation videos
What I love about Online Therapy is that you don’t even have to leave the comfort of your home.
👉 And because you’re reading this post right now, you can get 20% off your first month with my exclusive link.
2. POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS
If you’ve been reading Okay Now Breathe for any time now, ya know how much I loooveee positive affirmations.
Reparenting yourself takes massive effort, but speaking inner child affirmations daily can help speed up the healing process.
Whether you have a mother wound or father wound (or both), I’m sure you’ve experienced a lot of invalidation throughout your life.
Using inner child affirmations is a self-nurturing and healing way to change your life.
Speak these inner child affirmations ⤵️
⭐ I release all pain I’ve been carrying for years.
⭐ I communicate with my inner child daily.
⭐ Today, I hold my inner child’s hand with tenderness and love.
More inner child affirmations:
3. MEDITATION
If you’re a newbie at meditating, you’re probably totally overwhelmed by the concept of meditation.
And while there is definitely a learning curve to meditating, it’s a super beneficial exercise for healing your inner child!
Meditation benefits ⤵️
⭐ Less anxiety and depression
⭐ Less stress and feelings of overwhelm
⭐ Learning to be mindful and stay in the moment longer
⭐ Increased feelings of happiness
⭐ Promoted positive mental health
⭐ Improved sleep
⭐ Reduced anger
⭐ Feelings of clarity and calm
Meditating is like a muscle: The more you practice it, the better and more effective it will be.
I recommend this meditation ⤵️
This unguided inner child healing meditation (created by my husband and me) is designed to help you release old childhood wounds, internal struggles, mental blockages, and self-doubt.
Listen while you meditate, journal, walk, and heal your inner child’s soul.
👉 Subscribe to Peaceful Awakening Meditations for more life-changing inner child meditations.
I also recommend these meditations:
Record and keep track of your meditation sessions, duration, mindfulness, energy, thoughts, and tools in this Meditation Tracker Printable Pack! 🧘
YOU’LL RECEIVE 👇
✨ Daily Meditation Diary
✨ Weekly Meditation Log
✨ Monthly Lotus Meditation Tracker
✨ Monthly Graph Meditation Tracker
✨ Yearly Meditation Tracker
👉 Use code MEDITATE to get 10% off your meditation trackers!
4. CHAKRA WORK
Chakra work (especially the first five chakras) has been absolutely pivotal in my inner child healing journey.
Chakras are a network of seven major energy centers arranged vertically along the core of your body.
These spinning wheels of energy correspond to major organs, bundles of nerves, and other areas of our body that affect us emotionally and physically.
You can align your chakras with things like yoga, meditation, and affirmations.
Affirmations to help balance chakras ⤵️
⭐ Solar Plexus Chakra Affirmations
5. TAROT READING
Discovering tarot (and oracle cards!) changed my life — in every way possible.
I randomly stumbled across a pick a card tarot reading on YouTube (from Stargirl the Practical Witch) that was in my recommendations.
I was skeptical when I clicked on it, but wow… everything was spot on, and my life changed at that exact moment.
And now I use tarot as a form of shadow work to get to the gritty parts of my childhood that still need to be explored.
Using tarot to heal your inner child ⤵️
There are multiple ways you can use tarot cards for shadow work.
⭐ Tarot spread
⭐ Pick a card and journal about it
⭐ Pick a card and meditate on it
No matter what method you choose, I always recommend spending some time reflecting on what you uncovered and learned.
My favorite shadow work decks:
- 18 Deliciously Dark Shadow Work Tarot Decks (for Inner Healing)
- 18 Stunning Oracle Decks for Deep Inner Shadow Work
- 23 Inner Child Oracle Cards (for Deep Shadow Work)
- 23 Tarot Decks (for Intense Inner Child Work)
6. CRYSTAL HEALING
Soon after discovering tarot, I discovered the healing benefits of crystals.
To be completely honest…I used to think crystal healing was a crock of s-h-i-t.
But then I held my first crystal (an orange calcite), and man oh man, did I become a believer.
Neglect, abuse, and trauma change us as people, and stones and crystals can help us heal and connect with who we truly are.
Favorite crystals for your inner child ⤵️
More inner child healing crystals:
7. JOURNALING
Journaling and writing every thought trapped inside is an invaluable exercise for healing your inner child.
I even created my Inner Child Healing Journal, because I know how massively powerful journaling can be.
Inner Child Healing Journal is designed to help you ⤵️
⭐ Locate the pivotal events in your life that shaped you into who you are today
⭐ Identify the impact your parents, siblings, and childhood friends have had on you
⭐ Learn to validate your childhood trauma and experiences
⭐ Release hidden emotional pain blocking you from healing
GRAB INNER CHILD HEALING JOURNAL
8. WRITE A LETTER
Segueing off of journaling, writing a letter to your younger self is a fantastic exercise to connect with your inner child.
Prompts for your letter ⤵️
⭐ If nothing was off limits, what would you say to your parents?
⭐ What does your younger self need to hear in this moment?
⭐ Write a letter to your current self from the point of view of your younger self.
You can find more prompts like this in the Inner Child Healing Journal.
9. READ QUOTES
Reading quotes about embracing, loving, and healing your inner child can make a tremendous impact on your life.
They remind you just how important it is to take daily steps to nurture, honor, respect, and love that little kid that’s inside all of us.
When you feel like you’re broken, reading quotes about difficult childhoods can bring you renewed hope and emotional strength ― because you know you’re not alone.
Favorite inner child quotes ⤵️
⭐ “Caring for your inner child has a powerful and surprisingly quick result: Do it and the child heals.” ― Martha Beck
⭐ “She held herself until the sobs of the child inside subsided entirely. I love you, she told herself. It will all be okay.” ― H. Raven Rose (Shadow Selves)
⭐ “When you feel a child inside of you springing to life, that’s how you know you’re where you should be.” ― C. JoyBell C.
More inner child healing quotes:
10. READ SELF-HELP BOOKS
I’m a sucker for audiobooks, especially self-help books.
In my little ole humble opinion, I find hearing someone else speak to me helps me validate my experiences soooo much more.
And want to know the most validating book I’ve ever read? 🤔
Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents by Lindsay C. Gibson
While listening on Scribd (which is the platform I use to read all my books), I had to pause it so many times to say, “Wow. I can relate to this so much.”
Yeah, that book is that good!
👉 You can listen to Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents (or whatever books ya fancy!) free for 60 days with my referral link.
11. READ CHILDHOOD FAVORITES
I gotta be honest…I was not a big reader growing up.
Most of the time, I wasn’t a reader at all.
(The closest I got to reading was looking for where Waldo was…)
But I did enjoy The Shadow Children series by Margaret Peterson Haddix a lot as a kid.
I recently listened to the whole series on audiobook and deeply connected with my younger self.
Can you remember what your favorite books were as a kid?
Try rereading them and recognize how much it warms your inner child’s soul.
Remember, you can use Scribd free for 60 days to read digital copies of books or listen to them on audiobook.
12. WATCH MOVIES FROM CHILDHOOD
I don’t know about you, but Disney movies (and Disney music) are my jam.
I grew up watching Disney movies, and I have a true soft spot in my heart for them.
Nostalgic Disney recommendations ⤵️
🎬 Oliver and Company
🎬 Emperor’s New Groove
🎬 Mulan
And while I love the Disney classics, I love how much more diverse and inclusive the newer ones are becoming (like Coco and Moana).
Whether you watch the classics or gravitate towards the modern ones, watching Disney movies is a fantastic exercise for connecting with your inner child.
Related post on Disney movies:
13. PLAY WITH TOYS
Do you remember what your favorite toy was as a kid?
Besides Barbies, playing with Play-Doh was hands down one of my favorite weekend activities as a kid.
It was always so exciting taking the Sunday newspaper after my dad read it and spreading it out over the table.
I would play with Play-Doh for hours playing, creating, and connecting with my soul.
Connect with your favorite games ⤵️
If you used to love playing hide and seek, try to find people who will play hide and seek with you.
If you can find your favorite video game or board game (I’m looking at you Candy Land), spend hours playing it again.
Some of the best exercises for healing your inner child are the ones that allow you to play and have fun.
More fun ways to connect with your younger self:
Helping Your Inner Child with Healing Exercises
As you read, there are several exercises for healing your younger self.
There are fun ones (like playing your childhood favorite games) as well as ones that will really get to the gritty parts of healing (like therapy).
Which one are you going to participate in first?
💾 Bookmark this page for when you need a reminder on how to reconnect with your younger self.
More inner child healing posts:
- 17 Magical Crystals for Healing Childhood Trauma (and Emotional Pain)
- 101 Healing Inner Child Affirmations (to Reparent Yourself)
- 70 Healing Inner Child Quotes (to Help Overcome Childhood Trauma)
- 40 Child Abuse Songs (When You Had a Bad Childhood)
- 13 Nostalgic Activities to Reconnect with Your Inner Child
- 107 Toxic Parents Quotes (When Mother and Father Are Abusive AF)
- 22 Powerful Inner Child Healing Meditations (Guided and Unguided)
- 23 Heartbreaking Movies About Childhood Trauma (That are Therapeutic)
- 17 Must-Have Healing Gifts for Your Inner Child
- 11 Ways to Heal Childhood Trauma Spiritually (and Awaken Your Inner Child)
- 23 Inner Child Oracle Cards (for Deep Shadow Work)
- 23 Tarot Decks (for Intense Inner Child Work)
Did you know there’s online therapy?
Online Therapy is a complete online therapy toolbox.
Your therapy toolbox includes:
-
- Live video, voice, or text chat session with your therapist
- 8 easy-to-follow sections, including 25 worksheets
- Activity plan, journal, and tests
- Yoga and meditation videos
What I love about Online Therapy is that there are several life-changing options and therapists available, and you don’t even have to leave the comfort of your home.
This means you never need to worry before getting help.
👉 Get 20% off your first month with my exclusive link.
