Energetic Mindfulness

The physical world is supported by a complex web of energy lines. Each of these lines has their own vibration, their own feel, their own temperature. As we move about and interact with the world, we are also moving through and interacting with this subtle-physical level of existence composed of all these energy lines. In the physical world, we pick up dirt and grime which collects on our skin and clothing. In the same way we can pick up residue from the energetic world. Some of us are born highly sensitive where we’ve always intensely felt the energy of the world, and others develop this sensitivity as they practice meditation and spiritual disciplines. In either case, it’s helpful to learn how to deal with the energy we encounter in a mindful way.

Beginner Level – The Bubble and Shield

Through our own subtle body, we can influence the vibration of the energy around us. The range we are able to influence depends upon how much power we can access. It can become draining to attempt to control the energy of an entire room all day long. So instead, we focus on controlling only our own subtle body.

Step 1

Bring the subtle body close around you, no more than an arm’s length away on all sides. It has the shape of an egg, and surrounds you top and bottom and all the way around. The subtle body radiates from your navel center, about an inch below your belly button. The navel center acts like a control knob. Focus lightly on your navel center, and pull in your energy. Inhale and visualize this egg of energy pulled close like a cocoon.

This is the standard formation of how we carry our energy: tight to the body, no more than an arm’s length away. This makes the energy body thicker and stronger than when it is spread out over a room or a city block. It also limits the exposure we have to the energy lines of the world and other people.

Step 2

On the outermost edge of the egg, imagine a protective shield. This shield cuts away any lines attached to you, and provides a layer between your energy field and the world. Again, it is a simple visualization to encase your subtle body in this shield.

The shield acts like a barrier. Whatever energy you encounter hits the shield first, which gives you a moment to decide if you want to interact with that energy. If you do, you allow it in. If you don’t, the energy moves around you like water flowing around a rock.

While it takes energy to maintain this shield, it allows you to walk through environments you find abrasive with minimal impact. Essentially, you create your own mini-world where you are in charge of the temperature and vibration. Our mindfulness is limited to maintaining our own small space.

This egg and shield allows us to create a calm space in the frenetic energy of the world. In our egg, shielded from everything, we can find our center. From this calm, centered space, we can act and do whatever we need to do with clarity.

Intermediate – Grounding and Clearing Attachments

While we always begin with the egg and shield, that method keeps us separate from the world and reinforces the illusion of self and other. As we grow, we must learn to open the heart. In the intermediate stage, we drop the shield. We maintain our energy close and tight, which allows us to easily feel the energy fields we encounter. Our mindfulness changes from one of control to one of awareness of the deeper parts of our being.

Step 1

Drop the shield you’ve created and notice what you feel. As you move through the world, when the residue collects pay attention to what it feels like and what thoughts are triggered. Be aware of the energy clumps you’ve picked up and notice where they are hooked in your body. This is usually quite uncomfortable. Your ego may trick you into denial, and then the feeling of the energy blocks might be expressed through sudden onset frustration, depression, stress-eating, anxiety, or even a headache that comes and goes. Pay close attention whenever you are knocked off balance.

(Please note: the above symptoms may also have physical causes. If they persist, consult with your health care professional.)

Step 2

Instead of shutting down, allow yourself to ground the energy. Within the arch of each foot and at the base of your spine are chakras, or energy centers which act like doorways. Put your attention on each of these places and imagine a tube connected to each foot and the base of your spine. Visualize these tubes extending all the way down into the center of the earth. Connect with the ground. It can be helpful to actually touch the earth with your bare feet or hand, but it’s not necessary. Within the earth’s molten core is the ultimate recycling plant; it can take any type of energy and process it and turn it back into pure Light.

Beginning at the top of your head, move your attention through your body pushing any unwanted energy into the tubes at the base of your spine and bottom of your feet. Allow gravity to do the work, dropping the energy into the tubes where it falls away. Use the exhale of your breath to release all that is no longer necessary. Simply let this energy fall into the tubes where it will be taken away to be recycled by the earth. (You don’t need to follow it all the way down; directing it into the tubes is enough.)

When you’ve finished grounding, you may feel tired. It’s important to fill any vacuum that was created so you don’t pick up the same energy you just released.

Visualize the rays of the sun pouring in through the top of your head, filling you with golden light. Allow it to spill into your entire body, from the top of your head all the way to the tips of your fingers and toes. This light fills in any voids created when you released the energy down the tubes. Inhale this light, replenishing your entire body.

Cycle through this exhale-release grounding and inhale-replenish technique as often as needed throughout the day. With practice, you’ll learn how to do it very quickly.

Step 3

Over time, you will begin to notice patterns. The energies which get stuck in your body are indicative of the attachments you have. After you find a pattern, take time to contemplate what you discovered and allow yourself to look deeply at the beliefs surrounding that energy. Ask yourself in what ways am I pushing my will upon this situation? What would happen if I let go of how I think it should be and instead allowed myself to experience what is?

When we contemplate, it’s important not to try to explain why we feel the way we do. Instead contemplation is an opportunity to examine how the energy is moving through us and what is happening in the deeper layers of our being.

By placing our awareness on our attachments, they loosen their grip and eventually fall away.

Advanced – Completely Open Heart

As more and more attachments fall away, we find it easier to open our heart to all that is. We discover there is no separation, that there is no other. Grounding and replenishing allows us to feel the energy moving through us, but there is still a sense of separation. When we completely open our heart, we find there is no other … there is only Light.

Each day, we start at the beginning and keep our energy tucked in around our physical body. In advanced practice, the subtle body egg flips inside out from the heart. Instead being a protective layer, it becomes a welcoming field.

As we move through the world, we find we can easily extend this energy field outward to help others when necessary. Instead of trying to change the energy of the world and other people, we open to what is there and we find it is all Light. This extension of our subtle bodies welcomes all the different vibrations into us; there is no exertion of will to adjust the temperature to our liking. Instead there is pure fluidity and acceptance and peace.

Advanced practice develops naturally. When you are ready, you will find yourself automatically opening to the suffering of others, without judgement, without any agenda. You will simply open and be there. You will know there is no difference between you and the one who is suffering. You will see all of this as the expression of Light. Your very being exists as an invitation, welcoming all there is, as it is. From this place of total acceptance, spontaneous action arises and we do what needs to be done.

When we find a situation where we want to exert our will, to make it somehow better or change the vibration of the energy, we’ve discovered a subtle attachment. Look closely at it, explore it, and allow the heart to open even more. Again, this can be painful or intense as who we thought we were dissolves. As the resistance is released, the suffering ends.

In the practice of energetic mindfulness, we don’t remain at one level. Some days we will move quickly from beginner to intermediate to advanced practice. Other days we will remain at the beginner level, safe in our cocoon, playing with adjusting the temperature and vibration of our energy body. Most often we will bounce between the levels, using the opportunities life provides to shear away ever more subtle attachments that prop up the illusion of self and other.

Avoid the trap of thinking about these levels as hierarchical, as if one were better than another. Instead use them as a map to help you know what you need to do become as free as you can right now.

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To learn more about living as a highly sensitive person and energy body maintenance, explore these previous posts, or use the search box to find more.

Tools for Empaths

The Art of Inaccessibility

Psychic Sensitivity and Inaccessibility

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