This 10 best crystals for back to school list may help students relieve stress and return to school in comfort. While rocks and stones are not a cure-all, here are a few crystals for that may be helpful.
Stress Signs
Back-to-school can be stressful for everyone involved. For students, there are worries about the social pressures of fitting in, making friends, and getting good grades.
Some of the common signs of stress and anxiety in children and teens, as they return to the classroom, include physical ailments such as headaches and stomachaches. There are also a number of emotion-based challenges such as problems sleeping, changes in appetite, difficulty paying attention in class, irritability, anger, and bouts of unexplained crying.
Changes in Appetite
Some people want to eat more when they’re stressed and others feel just the opposite.
For those who tend to overeat to combat stress, an apophyllite pyramid on the desk or carried in a backpack or lunch box may help. If avoiding junk food is a challenge, an apatite stone can help to encourage healthy eating habits and is most effective when worn on or touching the skin.
Photo by VvoeVale
Improving Concentration
Paying attention in class can be a struggle for students. For those in a distance learning program, the availability of distractions in online learning can make staying focused even more difficult. While there are many different colors of agates, each with its own metaphysical properties, all agates help to increase mental function, concentration, and analytical abilities.
Ametrine can improve concentration and help you to think things through thus building problem-solving abilities. It is most effective when worn for prolonged periods on or near the solar plexus.
Like agate, there are many different colors of apatite. All of the apatite varieties help to reduce aloofness and increase motivation.
Yellow apatite brings the added benefit of overcoming the inability to concentrate and improving learning efficiency. The end result can be that students are better able to concentrate and more excited and motivated to learn.
A piece of iron pyrite can help to improve blood flow to the brain making it easier to stay alert and overcome fatigue. Sodalite is an excellent stone for the mind. In addition to helping to reduce confusion, it encourages a feeling of trust and companionship among members of a group making the group work both more fun and productive.
Photo by Pasja
Boosting the Immune System
For those who may be concerned about being in a group of people most of whom are strangers, an ametrine stone can provide support in several ways. It helps to strengthen the immune system and remove toxins from the body.
Iron pyrite boosts your immune system by helping to remove pollutants and infectious diseases. It is also reputed to alleviate asthma and benefit the lungs. This stone can be placed on a desk to energize the immediate area. It is also very effective when worn near the throat as jewelry or in a pouch.
Photo by Graciela Zerpa
Improving Sleep
Everything seems worse if you can’t get a good night’s sleep. Sodalite, muscovite, lapis lazuli, and hematite are four of the stones that can help to alleviate insomnia. Place a small stone under your pillow or a larger piece near your bed to improve sleep.
Green tourmaline also helps to promote a more restful sleep by improving patience and creating a sense of calm. Blue tourmaline can relieve congestion thus making it easier to get a good night’s sleep.
Reducing Stress and Anxiety
Holding onto worries is not good. A piece of cerussite may help people let go of the past.
Similarly, an apophyllite stone can have a calming effect and reduce stress by helping you release negative thought patterns.
Brown tourmaline helps a person feel more grounded as well as clears and protects both the aura and the etheric body. It fosters a feeling of community spirit helping students feel more comfortable and less anxious.
Providing Emotional Support
A blue lace agate in a pocket, backpack, or desk drawer can help a person feel more grounded and calm. It helps to keep emotions in balance. This stone’s ability to help people learn self-acceptance may be especially beneficial for those who feel insecure or uncertain in new environments.
Lapis lazuli stone can help to reduce the conflict that can arise when people are feeling out of sorts or irritable. It can also help alleviate depression and works best if worn between the sternum and the top of the head. Yellow apatite also works to reduce conflict by neutralizing stored-up anger.
Sodalite improves emotional balance and calms panic attacks. It helps to enhance self-esteem, self-acceptance, and self-confidence.
Selecting & Using the Stones
Pick up a stone, hold it, and see what you feel. Are you drawn to the stone? Does it speak to you? Many of the stones can be used alone or in conjunction with another.
If you feel drawn to more than one type of stone, try using them together. Let them support each other and you.
Alice, a junior high school student in South Dakota, finds the combination of amethyst and black tourmaline the perfect combination. “Amethyst for sure helps my anxiety a lot. I use black tourmaline for that too. I wear an amethyst pendant and the tourmaline is in my pocket or backpack.”
New Ways to Use Stones
Don’t hesitate to try new ways to use your stones. Alice uses a small quartz pendant for a zipper pull on her backpack.
Adam, a teacher in Portland in Oregon, used to let students borrow stones to use during class, something he can no longer do without cleaning and disinfecting the stones after each student. That became too difficult to manage so now he places stones around the room in strategic locations and rotates them as needed. “It doesn’t work as well as having the students hold the stones, but I still see a difference. If I know a student is really struggling or going through a particularly difficult time, I will sometimes quietly give them a stone they can keep.”
When asked how he knows which stone or stones will provide the most benefit, his answer was simple “I start with the intention of selecting the perfect stone. Then I go through the stones until I feel a pull toward one. That’s how I know it’s the one.”
It is important to remember there is no finite or definitive list of the metaphysical uses of rocks and crystals and nearly all of them can offer more than one type of support. It’s important to discover what works best for you.
Photo by Jan Haerer
Top 10 Stones for Back to School
In the case of distance or online learning, it’s possible to surround yourself with a multitude of stones. However, when you’re in a situation where you need to carry everything and can’t leave personal items behind, you may need to be more selective about what you bring. Choosing stones that can offer support in several needed areas can help lighten the load. The following is a list of 10 versatile stones and their properties.
1. Amethyst
A powerful stone with a high vibration that works to protect your energy. It acts like a natural tranquilizer helping to calm the mind, reducing anxiety and fears. It also helps you feel more focused and improves concentration.
2. Apophyllite
Known for helping to overcome anxiety, worries, and fears, apophyllite can help to reduce the craving for food. It has a calming effect, reduces stress, and releases negative thought patterns.
3. Ametrine
Helps to improve concentration and problem-solving by clearing stress and tension and calming the mind. It can enhance compatibility and acceptance of others. It can also help to remove toxins, improve the immune system and eliminate fatigue.
4. Black Tourmaline
Dispels negative energies and dissolves tension and stress.
It inspires a positive attitude and boosts the immune system. It is excellent for grounding, clearing the aura, breaking up negative energy, and balancing the chakra system. Encourages self-confidence, reduces fear, and invites compassion and tolerance. It can help release physical tension.
5. Blue Lace Agate
Excellent for grounding, and balancing the emotional, physical, and intellectual.
Soothes and calms a worried mind lowering emotional stress and stabilizing the aura. It helps boost self-confidence through self-acceptance. It can improve concentration, perception, and analytical abilities.
Helps to overcome anger and encourages you to start again. Aids the ability to neutralize infections and reduce inflammation.
6. Green Tourmaline
Encourages patience and a sense of belonging. Helps to quiet the mind and relieve insomnia and exhaustion.
Boosts the immune system and serves as a detoxifier. It is excellent for grounding, clearing the aura, breaking up negative energy, and balancing the chakra system. Encourages self-confidence, reduces fear, and invites compassion and tolerance. Helps release physical tension.
7. Lapis Lazuli
Harmonizes conflict, teaches the value of active listening, and helps to overcome depression. It benefits the respiratory and nervous systems, boosts the immune system, and alleviates insomnia. Wear at the throat, or anywhere between the sternum and the top of the head.
8. Sodalite
Encourages harmony, trust, and collaboration when working in groups. Calms the mind and helps to alleviate panic attacks. It can reduce mental confusion, and build self-esteem, self-acceptance, and trust in oneself. Helps boost the immune system.
9. Turquoise
It can help heal both the body and spirit and enhance the immune system. It aids in dispelling negative energy and protects against toxins in the environment. Helps to stabilize mood swings and bring inner calm. Can help alleviate exhaustion, depression, and panic attacks.
10. Yellow Apatite
Encourages healthy eating habits and helps to eliminate toxins from the body. It can increase motivation while overcoming emotional exhaustion. Helps to build energy reserves, and overcome a lack of concentration and inefficient learning. Releases frustration and neutralizes stored anger.
This story about the best crystals for back to school previously appeared in Rock & Gem magazine. Click here to subscribe. Story by Kris McElhinney.
Disclaimer: The metaphysical properties discussed in this story are not intended as a substitute for traditional medical treatment. If you have a health issue, please seek a licensed medical professional. The crystals and stones discussed are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any conditions.
