Energy Healing: Encountering Negative Energy

Q: I’m very interested in Energy Healing.  I’ve been working on trying to open my heart so I feel more connected to doing this.  The other day I interacted with a person who I felt negative energy from.  It wasn’t anything specific, just a feeling I got that made all of my defenses go up.  What can I do about this? How do I come from my heart when I feel negative energy I should protect myself from?

A: What a deeply provoking question.  This gets into a concern that many people studying Energy Healing have.  I’ll do my best to address some important aspects of this.

First, it is ok for our defenses to go up.  We have them for a reason – to help keep us safe.  The key is to notice that they are going up and not ignore them.  Then we ground ourselves to find our heart, which may be something to work on over time.  It’s not bad or a failure to not be able to find our heart in this case – it can be very difficult and that’s ok.  Just be curious about how someone like the Dalai Lama is able to do it.  If he can, well then… we can learn too if we have the desire to do so.

There are 2 scenarios that come to mind here, and they are directly dependent on how much experience and training we have, plus our personal views on life and spirituality.

In the 1^st scenario, we may be somewhat inexperienced and new to Energy Healing.  We may feel our heart is not fully open yet, or we feel fear that seems too strong to “get over”.

In this case, I recommend learning and practicing an Energy Protection Meditation.  There are many methods available in different schools of thought.  Since my training is in Medical QiGong – based in Taoist Philosophy and Oriental medicine – I prefer a specific and very old Shamanistic Meditation called “Ren Wu Zang” (Man 5 Animals).  Here’s a link to a really nice article an Acupuncturist wrote with directions for the meditation:  http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/mpacms/at/article.php?id=32831

When learning and practicing Energy Protection Meditations it can be very helpful to involve space clearing techniques like burning sage, sweetgrass, or moxa.  Other options are spritzing Rose Hydrosol, diffusing essential oils from protective trees like Cedar, Birch, Fir, or Pine, and even wearing a protective essential oil or attar blend – choose from oils known for their sacred or spiritual connection like Frankincense, Champaca, Blue Lotus, or Kamala Attar.

When you have practiced the meditation on a daily basis until it becomes somewhat easy to “call up” on the spur of the moment, use it whenever you feel the need to energetically protect yourself.  As long as you have a dedicated practice of self-cultivation going on, the stronger you become inside, the less you will need this meditation.

In the 2^nd scenario, there has to be the understanding that ultimately no one has the “power” to harm our Spirit. Someone or something may have the power to create fear – doubt – confusion within us, but then it is our own emotions that harm us and we only think it is them.

Can you send the negative person thoughts of unconditional love, that they may find their own heart and experience peace?  They are only an aspect of you in the realm of Oneness.  Or think about them briefly and then repeat something like the Ho'Oponopono mantra to the Universe for a while.  No need to spend any of your energy and effort on them beyond this.

A Note on Receiving Energy Healing:

If you ever feel that someone can read your energy or try to "heal" you and it is happening without your consent or full trust, remember that true healing comes from a place of love.  If what they are doing is not coming from this place, they are only doing something to themselves and not to you.  What I mean is that, someone may pick up and be able to empathically feel your energy, but if they don't know what to do with it, it's only their experience – positive or negative.

 Anything they try to tell you or manipulate you with is purely their own ego.  Anything they try to heal is only an expression of their own ego.  The only way it can affect you at all is if you allow it to through fear/doubt/confusion.  And in that case, it is your own fear causing any effect, not really the "power" of the other person.

A true healer will set up the circumstances for healing to happen and then allow and encourage it to come from within YOU, not force it or do anything to you.  The healer’s energy and support may be a catalyst for you, but ultimately healing comes from inside of YOU.  The circumstances happen in the energy of love, and part of life is being here to create this for ourselves and others.

~Cynthia McMullen is a Certified Medical QiGong Therapist who studied this Energy Healing art with Tao Shih Pei Wo Lun in Anchorage, Alaska, author Jerry Alan Johnson in Pacific Grove, California, and numerous Taoist priests from China.