Energy Hygiene (part I)
Hello to my return journeyers. A warm welcome to my semi-constant journeyers. And, a very special welcome to my new journeyers.
I am so glad you’re here.
If you have found your way here for the first time or you are returning to The Shaman’s Path – I am curious to know what about today’s title has piqued your interest.
The topic of energy hygiene and practices associated with energy hygiene, sometimes called cleansing or clearing, is vast. Before diving further into this exploration, I feel it is important to acknowledge that the practices that I am sharing here are for your personal use as they relate to maintaining harmony and balance within your own energy field (sometimes called the auric field). While practices exist that are directed towards shifting the energy of other beings, we are here to explore energy hygiene from the lens of the Self. Connecting with our own energy – or becoming attuned – must precede any attempts to adjust or shift the energy of others. A beloved soul passed along wisdom that he had learned from another healer when he said, “You can only [teach/heal/share] from as clear as you are.”
Most of us have already developed ways that we practice energy hygiene, which can include managing proximity, sensory exposure, grounding, and so on. And you were thinking I would be talking about crystals and smudge…didn’t you? Well, there’s a place for that too. But energy hygiene doesn’t have to be fancy and doesn’t necessarily require special tools or power objects. Some of you who have been drawn to this blog will have found your way here because you already have existing rituals or practices and are beginning to deepen or refine those practices. Some of you are just starting out. Welcome.
Energy hygiene practices are essential for our overall well-being. Let’s say you head out to dinner with a good friend. Rather than serving your nourishing meal on a plate that has been freshly sanitized, the server brings your meal to you on a used plate from the table next to you. Yuck. The idea of ingesting our delicious meal from a less-than-clean plate just doesn’t sit well. But, many of us will ingest all sorts of energies served up in less than clean containers throughout the day. We shower after we workout, wash our hands after we change the oil, or in a post-covid world, we wash our hands after we touch almost anything – for our well-being, we need to get better at washing our own energy field.
Before we can practice energy hygiene or develop an energy hygiene practice, we need to accept that we humans are relational beings that are impacted by our environment/Nature (or lack thereof) and the beings within our sphere. Shamanism is animistic, which means that everything, including animate and inanimate objects, has a soul or life force.
As it relates to energy hygiene, all things are composed of energy, and this energy influences you and me. If you’re like me, you have had the experience of meeting for coffee with someone and leaving feeling depleted, overwhelmed or, worse, as though you have somehow absorbed their emotions and thoughts into your being. Ah. The feeling of an energy intrusion. I have a lot to say on energy intrusions, so bear with me, dear journeyer, as I head off on a bit of a tangent.
An energy intrusion is a phrase that describes the undesirable or unwanted transference of energy from one being to another or from one space to another. Certainly, for some, this conjures up all sorts of images of malevolent possessions like we see in horror movies. While certainly, some energy intrusions can be negatively influencing or even trending toward malevolent and come with big energy, other intrusions are more subtle.
Say you spend time listening to a friend or loved one debrief a situation in their life that is rife with big feelings. You’ve done a phenomenal job listening to their story with your compassionate spiritual ears and holding space for their feelings. You head back to your mundane life and head home. The roads are busy, people are peopling, someone changes lanes a little too close, and suddenly, you’re laying on the horn and uttering a curse word or two. A few moments later, you feel somewhat better but also a little startled at your own response. It isn’t like you to descend into road rage.
All those big feelings that you held for your friend earlier in the day needed to be released. This is a classic example of an energy intrusion.
The reality is that most of us manage energy intrusions like this every day. The scary part is that not all of us can release these intrusions.
Energy intrusions aren’t limited to emotions either. Sometimes, we can take on the thoughts of those we spend time with. The constant barrage of messages that we receive becomes the voice inside our own heads. We are beings of story. The stories others tell about us, from the time we are little, become the stories we tell about ourselves. The words we say and don’t say have a big impact… but I digress.
If you’ve made it this far – you might be coming to realize that you, too, have some energy intrusions that need sorting out.
My dear journeyer, not all hope is lost. Energy hygiene / energy cleansing practices can help you immensely with many forms of energy intrusions. And they aren’t just for people who sense energy, are empathic, or are into that kind of thing.
Energy intrusions happen in the grocery store line. If you’ve ever been to Costco, you will know what I am talking about.
Energy intrusions occur between partners. When one partner is going through it, they can knowingly or unknowingly offload or dump what they are carrying onto their partner. And if you’re the other partner, you can knowingly or unknowingly accept it. I’ve been here a lot in both positions.
Energy cannot be destroyed, only transferred or transformed. This is a fundamental understanding that can aid you as you begin to or deepen your energy hygiene practice. Energy hygiene begins with awakening to the knowing of the interconnectedness of all things and the acceptance that the seen and unseen realities are one.
Perhaps this blog series will remind you of practices that can serve you or will stir something inside you to explore this path for yourself.
Energy hygiene, as it pertains to the Self, begins with practicing awake awareness. Awake awareness is the state of being completely present. Some may liken it to being in a state of flow. This state of being, also understood by some as “consciousness,” occurs when we are fully alive in the moment and engrossed in the here and now. There are so many ways to begin or further develop your energy hygiene practice through practicing awake awareness. These are some of my favourites:
Yoga
The practice of yoga, and in my personal experience, Yin Yoga specifically, supports the individual in practicing awake awareness. The intentional, slow, long-held postures that are practiced mainly on the floor are accessible to diverse bodies and begin with targeting physical sensation in the tissues of the body within a specific target area. As time passes, the interplay between the dense physical aspects of the body and the subtle energy pathways unfolds to bring the practitioner into a state of awake awareness, oneness, and connection with all that is.
This can also be the case for different yoga or body movement practices. What I have found to be true is that body movement practices bring the individual home inside their own energy sphere. This is essential before beginning any (other) energy hygiene work. We cannot cleanse, clear, shift, or protect our energy sphere if we aren’t home.
Breathing / Breathwork
Breathwork is another way to center into the seat of your Self. For many, but of course not all, breathwork techniques have the capacity to down-regulate the nervous system from a state of stress into a state of ease, flow, and presence.
If you’re someone who is saying, “I am really not into breathwork,” I get it. Neither was I. I still struggle to breathe easefully and deeply. Remember, you don’t need to change yourself to make the practice work. Instead, change the practice. If structured breathing practices are tricky, then start with just noticing that you are breathing. That’s it. No changing required. Just observation, presence and voila, awake awareness.
Meditation
Too often, meditation is presented as the practice of achieving stillness of mind. This is a wide disservice to so many (a tangent I will save for another day), as there are so many opportunities to practice the essence of meditation. Meditation is being present with what is right now, in this time, place, and space. Meditation can be done anywhere, with or without special objects, tools or props. It is the practice of being with all aspects of Self – Mind, Body, and Soul — as one. I personally enjoy walking meditations — in Sanskrit, the term is “Vipassana,” and it means to see things as they really are.
I also enjoy guided meditations. For the journeyer with a wandering or overthinking mind, a guided meditation can bring you into the presence right now.
Sacred space
As I have journeyed deeper into Shamanism, I have settled into the practice of opening sacred space. Sacred space for you may exist in a specific geographical location, such as a temple or church. Sacred space may be a place in Nature in which you feel deeply connected to the vastness of all existence. In my practice, sacred space is sometimes an altar or portable altar that holds some of my sacred power objects collected or gifted to me. In my healing room, sacred space is both the physical four corners of the room and the intentions, prayers, wishes, and blessings that I have requested. One of the teachers, Betsy Bergstrom, whom I have studied under, shares a prayer for inviting sacred space before healing work, and I have interwoven this into my own practice:
“Circle of protection, gather round,
Positive influence in the space surround
Illumed relationship within abounds,
It’s always a blessing, it always works.”
This is certainly not an exhaustive list of methods of practicing awake awareness as a component of energy hygiene, but certainly, many of the practices listed above are great places to start.
In part II of this three-part blog series, I will cover more about energy intrusion and the importance of connecting with an energy hygiene practice that feels aligned with your Self.
As always, thank you for your kind attention.
Until we meet again in this time, this place, this space, happy journeying.
-Heather
