An E-book on Energy Awareness, Self Healing and the Power of the Heart to Heal
Thomas Lee Jacobs

Copyright 2001- 2013 by
Thomas Lee Jacobs
Revised July 10, 2012
www.helpfulwaves.com

Author’s Note

Techniques discussed in this book do not in any way replace or supplement professional health care and/or medical advice or treatment. Always consult and seek treatment from a licensed, professional health care provider for all your health issues without exception. Please open your foot chakras using the Chakra Healing Method before performing any self healing method.

Dedication

I would like to acknowledge all my friends and teachers over the years that have helped me connect with my heart essence, especially my wife Kathy and daughter Jessica who have tolerated my mad scientist experiments and quiet times of contemplation. I would also like to acknowledge my sister Jana who has always been my friend during this lifelong adventure we are both traveling on. Adversity is also my teacher as it shows me the flaws in my view of the world and keeps me going back to the inner well of compassion. Thank you teachers of loving compassion. When talking about the power of unconditional love, compassion and wisdom it is difficult to separate their meanings from one’s religious and spiritual beliefs. My intent in writing this book is not to challenge one’s faith and spirituality but to open one to the possibility of having a more creative and rich experience within ones chosen religion or philosophical view of life through energy awareness.

Relationships are key to our well being. I sincerely believe that we have an obligation to make our relationships work and not jump ship at the first sign of extended heavy weather. With that said, being compassionate does not mean one has to languish forever in an unsupportive and dysfunctional relationship or feel obligated to enter unhealthy relationships. It really is okay to foster a healthy living environment. Sometimes we have little choice in the matter but it may be wise to limit those times into doable periods to help maintain balance.

This book is dedicated to all who are following the path of the compassionate and wise heart.

Foreword

When I was a young boy I often visited my step grandfather and maternal grandmother on their 80 acre ranch along the Bogachiel river near Forks, Washington. Granddad had long ago retired from the County as a road maintenance worker operating heavy equipment. Granny attended to the home. They both were born before the beginning to the 20th century and lived through the Great Depression as adults. My grandparents lived simply by growing vegetables, raising livestock, harvesting apples and other fruits, fishing and clamming along the ocean beaches, and fishing on the numerous rivers in the area, not to mention the river that ran though their lower acreage. Some things that I fondly remember are the earthy smell from the wood- burning heater, the creaking and slamming of the back porch door when people traveled in and out and the sound of the river in the distance.

The small house was always neat as a pin and there always seemed to be chores to do, though I did not do many. I was young and visited from Seattle during the summers with my older brother both out on school break and ready for adventure in this very wet climate of the Olympic Peninsula. There was no television reception in those days and the radio reception was not much better. Granddad normally tuned into the weather channel. Weather was a big deal though it always seemed to rain all the time. I guess there were just those long sought after intervals between showers that he was hoping for. I can still see him sitting in his leather high back recliner chair thumbing through the tide book looking for the best days for digging clams or netting smelt. There just seemed nothing he was not proficient at be it sharpening tools, cutting wood, hunting, fishing, raising livestock, or growing fruits and vegetables. Being a city boy of eight it seemed all the more amazing. I still cannot sharpen a pocketknife like he could. Perhaps I am better at telling one of his stories.

My grandparents normally had five or six head of cattle that they slaughtered for food or sold at various times. At least a third of their property was wooded and bordered Bogachiel State Park. Granddad needed to find employment off the ranch to make ends meet. Their living off the small ranch helped supplement the low pay that Granddad had received over the years from his day job. Out back in the covered porch numerous fishing poles, nets, and tackle were stored along with an overabundance of rain gear and rubber boots. Granddad had a barn where he stored the baled hay he cut from the fields in the summer. They canned a lot of their food and stored it in a a root cellar near the house. One really stepped back into time when visiting them.

Each day, Granddad would make the five- mile trip by car on the winding country road to town where he would pick up the mail and if needed additional provisions. They were close to the land as most farming people were in generations past. Everything seemed to be weighed on the scales of practicality and frugality, though I always was fed more than I could eat. Food was in the domain of my grandmother “Granny”. They both had wonderful stories to tell.

I will always remember being out in the fields moving though one barbed wire fence gate to another in order to make it down to the freedom of the river below. Each gate had to be closed behind one or the livestock would get out. Not a good thing to do. If there was not a gate, we had to stretch the barbed wire open and pass between the wires. I often tore my clothes in the process. Out along the river ones imagination was free to make play and enjoy the adventures that lie waiting to be discovered. Life was peaceful, fun and nurturing for me during those extended visits.

Granddad often would tell the story of how he was hit by lightning when a young boy on his family farm. For hours he lay unconscious until he finally came to and slowly walked back home. Granddad claimed that is how he received the gift of dowsing for water. He would use the fork of a young cut willow branch as his dowsing tool with each end of the fork cut at an angle where he placed his thumbs. When he walked over a possible site for a well the dowsing stick would whip straight down. He enjoyed showing off his dowsing ability at family reunions. He was also asked to help neighbors to find a suitable place to drill a well using his dowsing stick. The willow branch ends that he held often turned in his hands breaking the bark where he tightly gripped. Granddad was sensitive to the energy around him. Though he never said as much, I know today that he was a healer as well. I wonder if he knew this or if he did, would he have felt comfortable sharing this information with his loved ones and friends. Granddad felt energy move though his body and was able to interpret information about this energy via his dowsing rod. The dowsing tool itself only gave visual clues to that which was occurring in his body as he connected to the water source flowing many feet below him.

Dowsing is a word for being connected to an object of attention and being aware of that fact. It is simply pattern recognition of weak magnetic fields in nature and boils down to energy awareness and an interconnection to all things in this physical world of ours. My father often located buried metal culverts using two bent welding rods as dowsing rods. It was no big deal to him. My mother talked about how her mother, on the family farm in Spokane, used to ease the pain when the kids hurt themselves by first wetting her hands in water and then placing her hands on the area that was injured.

Pattern recognition of weak magnetic fields is really no big deal but is an important part of our natural energy awareness. Hands on healing is sharing the natural flow of our bio-magnetism that is enhanced with a loving heart. We all can innately dowse or sense energy with our body and we can all perform hands-on healing in person or at a distance. I will write more on this later in the book.

The good news is that we do not have to be hit by lightning in order to become more sensitive to the energy that surrounds us. Being sensitive to energy and having the ability to heal is also not something for the gifted and blessed few, though some people just seem to know their gifts ahead of time. Similar to being struck by lightning, something is often needed to help clear the dust from one’s eyes. Like the gates in my grandfather’s field, one must pass through them all in order to get to the free flowing river that is our inner pure nature.

The term dowsing used in this book is to be interpreted as pattern recognition of weak magnetic fields in nature and nothing else. My current research and work with tuning the molecular field of material and replicating weak magnetic fields in nature (www.helpfulwaves.com) is a direct result of cultivating my energy awareness and asking the question; what is the external force that underlies hands on healing and the subtle energy fields in nature that I can feel? In the upcoming chapters of this book, I will discuss insights and techniques that may help you understand your energy relationship to Earth and hopefully make your travel down life’s pathway a little more peaceful and joyful. At the very least it will make good food for thought and contemplation.

Thomas Lee Jacobs
Bellevue, Washington

Introduction

Perhaps one of the strongest motivations for an individual is to understand the world around him or her in order to navigate safely through life’s endeavors in a way that brings joy, happiness and peace of mind. The very act of growing up and reaching adulthood in one piece is a great accomplishment in itself. There is so much going on culturally, spiritually, physically, and psychologically. The list goes on and on. We are bombarded by expectations from those around us and by a society governed by political realities. We are so vulnerable and dependent on the help from loved ones, peer groups, educators, religious leaders, political leaders, and from our community. The sad fact is that we often do not get the help we need. We also learn primarily from external sources. This is a reality for young children. As we grow older we react to changes in our environment based upon our conditioned beliefs, values, and most importantly our emotional state of being.

For most of my life I judged myself through my perception of what I felt people were thinking, saying or acting out in regards to me. If people appeared open and welcoming then I felt okay with myself. If they seemed unhappy with me I felt down and perhaps angry. I had this driving need to make things peaceful and balanced. My perception of the world was heavily influenced by what I could control in my sphere of influence and my emotional needs. I often felt insecure and was very cautious to test the waters so to speak, to know the situation and all the facts so that I would not be caught off guard, surprised and made wrong. Teasing others or engaging in repartee was an avenue to establish a sense of security and gain information. When I engaged in negative gossip this helped deflect attention from myself and my issues. Sugar, caffeine, food, and alcohol were some of the methods I employed to feel momentary peace.

The problem is that none of these coping methods were very effective and eventually brought pain and suffering upon myself and others in varying degrees. I viewed the world through the reflections of others. Not uncommon for many of us but one heck of a way to establish a sense of self worth. Well being cannot be recognized and cultivated in this manner.

The good news is that behind ones thoughts and emotions is an unending fountain of wellness, joy and equanimity. This is our true self and not the emotional baggage, mental projections and memories we usually identify with. Prior to this new inner awareness, I was at times an emotional house of cards that could come tumbling down if the conditions were right. This misperception of the world manifested as a self esteem issue that I carried with me for many years. We all seem to be carrying with us unwanted emotional baggage that often interferes with our correctly handling day to day activities. I often didn’t have adequate emotional boundaries when it came to others and their issues. No doubt this was one of many reflections I was broadcasting. There is nothing linear with the human psyche and yes, I have had a full measure of joy and wonder as well.

We can spend a lot of time talking about our problems and the source of our pain. It is good to share in this manner for it helps one become more aware. It can also become a hindrance if we try to focus all of our issues on an outside source such as parents, friends, coworkers, government and the like. I could easily blame the Naval service for some of my problems. I can also credit the Navy for some of my skills and beneficial life lessons. It was my issues and perceptions that opened me to those experiences both positive and negative. This is not always the case. For example, if I were sexually molested or physically abused it is certainly not my doing but the deluded act of another. It is the long term emotional scars as a result of these traumatic experiences and the energy associated with them that we need to deal with right now in the present moment. How do we cope with stored emotional energy and not have it adversely affect our behavior towards our self and others?

An insight that I have worked with and put into action in my daily life is that all things are energy and energy dependent. Emotions have energy and carry outside oneself so to speak. Thoughts can trigger emotions and thus release energy. Memories can have an excess of stored energy associated with them that later can be unwittingly released upon an unsuspecting person. The power of our released emotions can really surprise us as well. Traumatic experiences can have an incredible amount of stored energy. This trapped energy can play havoc with our well being on an emotional, mental and physical level.

Yet not everything with energy awareness is high drama and sad experiences. It can be a very playful, insightful and joyful experience as well. That is the real purpose of this book to help one tap into his or her innate gifts that unfold while passing through the gates in the field of ones being. We then have the ability to experience peace, joy, and equanimity while the world swirls around in apparent chaos. It is also about tapping into our creative potential. Energy awareness is a way to glean more information that is readily available in order to help us safely navigate life’s path. It is not for the blessed or deserving few but a natural human ability we all innately possess. Energy awareness is in the now moment.

My first gate to an expanded awareness was participating in a group intensive that cleared out a lot of emotional baggage and introduced me to my pure essence of joy and wholeness. Later, my path of energy awareness really opened after receiving Reiki training. Specifically, it was the attunement that opened this gate. I no longer work with the system of Reiki as it became controversial with conflicting information and a marketing spin to the teachings. What Reiki really represents is something closer to our heart and that we already have. Descriptions for loving hands on healing are metaphors for that which we cannot fathom with our mind. All definitions start to break down at some point.

Energy can be accessed and worked with on an inner and outer level. They are in a dynamic relationship with each other. For example, performing pranic breathing exercises and Tai Chi are primarily working with outer subtle magnetic energy. Reciting sacred mantras and prayer are primarily inner techniques. Each method helps one move through the gates in the field of awareness to wholeness and oneness which is the true reality. Until then we perceive a world of duality and separation not realizing this truth. My view is that an individual performing hands on healing is really a person with his or her energy centers aligned and fully operational so to speak. We then work with weak electromagnetic energy in the outer world, Chi or Ki, as well as having a connection to our inner pure nature that is beyond all concepts and understanding. Yet our inner pure nature is as close as the beating of our heart. It can be directly experienced as loving, joyous oneness. We are all interrelated and interconnected to the source. This is true energy awareness.

The reader should be aware that subtle healing energy moves both outwards and inwards by degrees or refinement. On the most outer level, we are working with weak magnetic fields in nature and bio-magnetic fields for living things. The wisdom aspect to hands on healing is the heart connection and the awareness of our inner pure nature. Performing hands on healing without cultivating the compassionate and wise heart is not utilizing ones healing ability to the maximum potential. Without the heart connection, energy practice is just moving subtle energy without transforming it to its natural pristine state.

I want everyone to know that the information and techniques discussed in the following chapters are a result of my personal search for understanding through investigation, experience, insight and sharing. My hope is that it will help others as a guide to understanding their energy awareness and that it may ultimately point one on the path to an experience of love, joy and peace of mind. What is quite profound is that as I explored other spiritual paths for understanding, I eventually circled back to my roots in the Christian faith where culturally I feel most at home. All wisdom paths eventually lead back to the heart.

Laying an Energy Awareness Foundation

What is an energy awareness foundation? Simply stated, it is core beliefs of how energy operates in the natural world we live in. This information may not be new to many of you. In fact most of it can be readily found in Hindu, Buddhist, Christian and other spiritual texts. This is not a new pathway of discovery. Others have traveled before us and shared their experiences. So I will list below the primary insights that will be the makeup of our energy awareness foundation:

There is a basic underlying source to all forms of energy that has attributes of love, compassion and omniscient wisdom.

All things of our physical world change and are impermanent.

All things of our physical world have polarity and duality.

We are interconnected to all things in the physical world.

We interact with other energy systems in our environment through our chakra energy system.

Our heart essence is the key to wholeness and peace of mind.

No doubt years could be devoted to discussing and debating the above list of insights. For example, not everyone buys into the system of energy centers called chakras. For me they are real and very helpful in developing energy awareness. There are many items that could be added to this list and it is definitely not the last word on this subject. But for many it may be a good beginning and hopefully helpful in understanding how energy works. I feel that I must declare myself right here and now and say that compassionate love also called heart essence is my path and my frame of reference when talking about energy awareness. Hopefully you will understand why as you read on.

“There is a basic underlying source to all forms of energy that has attributes of love, compassion and omniscient wisdom.”

All spiritual paths form both the East and the West talk about love and compassion and wisdom as a very human quality that can be cultivated and expanded giving one a sense of oneness with all things. No one can give you this experience. Sexual attraction and performing sexual union with another is often misinterpreted for this experience, but it goes well beyond this physical act. Loving compassion is not grasping or holding on to an experience. It is not needy or controlling. It just is and it is the basis of all things. Love is the creative force itself.

Entering into this awareness is losing a sense of the small self and gladly merging with wholeness that is without end. In this state we realize that within ourselves is true power and unconditional love without limit. It is a now moment experience moment to moment. We cannot think and imagine what it is. If we are thinking about the experience of unconditional love then we are not in its flow but somewhere else. Yet, thinking about a loving moment that occurred in the past can open the door to our heart in the present. Love is energy and our source of wellness.

“All things of our physical world change and are impermanent.”

The historical Buddha and the Old Testament in the Bible talks about impermanence, change. It is one of the pillars to the Buddha’s famous discussion on the “Four Noble Truths”. This is a simple concept but very profound. Everything does change. Nothing stays the same. It is a beautiful insight into the nature of reality. Nothing goes on forever in the physical world. Energy is always changing form and is in dynamic movement. What you consider to be yourself is also changing. Your thoughts, feelings, memories, and most apparent, the physical body changes. Do you still feel the same way about a situation that happened even two months ago? I would bet not, but the energy attached to that memory may still be stored in your body.

Trying to hold on, chase after or run away from things is the source of our emotional turmoil and this translates into an energy effect. Another key aspect of impermanence is that all things of the physical world are dependent on other conditions as part of their makeup or that which defines them. This is the right way to view the phenomenal world by keeping this truth in mind. Why? From an energy awareness standpoint it helps soften ones hardened mental conditioning that clouds his or her perception of the natural world. It makes room for an expanded awareness in consciousness and reduces our attachment and grasping to our environment that is constantly changing moment to moment. Our attitudes and thoughts often hinder our entry into the flow of unconditional love.

For example, when contemplating a tree, one could become aware that this tree is a product of rain, soil, sunlight, molecules, and atoms, etc. Perhaps someone planted the tree and tended it as well. These are all dependent factors that caused that tree to be just as it is. If one continued to mindfully contemplate the tree, he or she could experience its essence which is unconditional love, omniscient wisdom and limitless space. It is an internal connection to the source of all things. One can actually access energy in this manner from objects in his or her environment. Being mindful of this truth throughout the day and looking beyond the outer form of things that are presenting themselves opens the door to peace and joy.

“All things of our physical world have polarity and duality.”

There seems to be no exception to this insight. Energy has positive and negative components. Most of us have learned about basic electricity in school. The electrical circuit has a positive and negative side and ground to earth. A magnet has north and south poles. The human body also has polarity. Our right side of our body is opposite in polarity in relation to our left side. This is important to understand. When talking about energy and polarity it is also important to know that there is a dynamic relationship between the positive and negative aspects that make up energy. They are not separate entities. A little of one always exists in the other. Perhaps a better way to describe this is that they both make up the whole that the form of energy is taking.

Duality takes form in all aspects of our life. We can observe this in our thoughts, emotions and speech. Some examples are words such as rich and poor, angry and loving thoughts, and happy and sad feelings. A powerful technique for self healing is consciously cultivating compassion for events/situations we encounter in our life that we are usually adverse to; “Transforming Problems into Happiness”. It is a method to mitigate one’s tendency to over identify with the chaos in the outer world and to reconnect to loving wholeness.

Balance and Harmony

Energy in our natural world seeks balance. Hot and cold temperatures seek balance. High and low pressures seek equilibrium. Water naturally runs downhill. This is the way things work in nature. The same applies to energy in all of its forms and systems/techniques such as Reiki that work with this energy. When we give hands-on healing to another energy naturally flows out and seeks equilibrium. It will go towards those areas of imbalance. Even so, we still need to work on areas of constriction and blockages that restrict the healing flow of energy in the body. We can gain profound insights from our natural world by being aware and mindful. This is one of the great aspects of meditation, contemplation and observation.

“We are interconnected to all things in the physical world.”

What is it that separates us from our loved ones and friends? What separates us from the rest of the world? The answer is nothing. Though you may have the illusion of a separate sense of I it is in many ways a misperception. One commonality to us all is Earth. We are all in this together. Being one is more than just a nice concept or word. It is a higher reality or truth. The pathway is through the heart. The only way to confirm this insight is to make the journey on your own and work with your heart essence. There is a part of you that already knows this. In Christian thought it is called “the inner Christ”. In Buddhist thought it is called the ” inner Buddha Nature”. We are mindful of this connection and cultivate it over time. Often, we become distracted and forget. That’s okay, we just have to remember that this connection is always available to us and will grow with our mindfulness. It is kind of like watering the garden of our true nature which is not dependent upon any specific religion. The connection is through our very human heart essence. Our true nature is perfect, indestructible, and always there for us.

When talking about connections to all things the term dowsing comes up. It is a simple process of pattern recognition of weak magnetic fields (awareness and discernment) and with intention working with this energy. Just like my grandfather and his y-shaped willow stick, we can use visual aids to see the movement of energy (bio-magnetism) through our body. There is a giving side and a receiving side to dowsing. Here is an old but true statement, “Energy flows where attention or intention goes.” If I send loving thoughts to my friend who is in the hospital and intend to make an energy connection to him that is exactly what will happen. This is a form of pattern recognition of action at a distance called distant healing. We do it naturally. When we say our prayers energy moves and a connection is made. Of course there is much more going on with prayer than our intention to connect but that is a personal relationship with compassion and our spiritual path we all must eventually cultivate for peace and true healing.

There is an interconnection between all aspects of our being. Our physical state affects our mental wellness. What we think is directly related to how we feel. Eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind, color, sound, taste, touch, thought; all of the sense doorways, are interconnected. Everything counts. Another way of saying this is that there is an energy connection and effect from the outer world and from our inner world. Energy from our environment can affect our emotions. Ones thoughts can create an emotional response supporting our wellness or creating disharmony. Our emotional energy (a form of subtle magnetism) also moves out into the world and has an effect on others. Knowing this, we can begin to take charge of our well being through mindfulness, compassion, wisdom and right action.

The mystery of action at a distance or distant healing/pattern recognition of weak fields

The idea that one can connect with others, places or items at a distance really is hard to get one’s head around. Even after all these years, I have not come up with a suitable explanation. My work with matching the weak magnetic field of molecular structures by hand makes sense as these fields do radiate out at a short distance and can move through material. However, what is the dynamic in play at greater distances? In quantum mechanics they talk about action at a distance called the EPR paradox theory. However, no information is supposed to be exchanged. There are also various field theories that may account for of this effect as well but consciousness, in my view, plays an important role.

Where my interpretation differs from the EPR Paradox is that information is accessible as a unique molecular magnetic field that the body recognizes. I have written numerous articles on matching molecular fields. You can find more information on this topic here and here.

The term dowsing which is another way of saying pattern recognition of weak magnetic fields and distant healing (action at a distance) are the same process but with different intentions. There is a connection and transfer of information in terms of weak magnetic fields as well as a interaction between these fields, yours and the person/object of your attention (what you are observing and connecting to with intention). Our consciousness plays a key role in distant healing. One who is sensitive to weak magnetic fields can feel the harmony or disharmony in the connection. The reason is that emotions and physical responses in the body are interpreted by our brain in terms of these weak fields. This is another way of saying that weak magnetic fields have a physiological effect on the body.

The speed in which one can connect at a distance seems to be quite fast but I would not say it is instantaneous. There seems to be an adjustment period of 30 seconds or so for one being able to interpret the weak field in terms of how it feels. My thought is that it is more like a magnetic field for the simple reason that one can sense a slow dissipation of the energy field after the connection is broken. Another mystery is how does consciousness come into play, perhaps a subconscious ability, where a connection to a person or place can be made even if you do not know exactly where they are located. Even more subtle, for example, is that one can connect to a person who is only known as a sister of someone who may only have a avatar name on the internet. Sounds unbelievable but I can assure you that is a true phenomenon.

“We interact with other energy systems in our environment through our chakra energy system.”

We are an energy system and we interact with other energy systems and energy fields in our environment. Our body is made up of energy centers called chakras. There are seven main chakras that process energy in the body. They are all interconnected and interrelated to one another. Each main chakra center operates at a different frequency and is associated with different bodily processes and functions. Understanding the chakras is very helpful in our foundation of energy awareness. We can directly work with our chakras for self- healing and distant healing. See Chakra Healing Method.

An interesting aspect of the concept of chakras is that there are so many different and often conflicting systems promulgated today. The key to energy awareness is checking things out for yourself and determine what works and what does not. I have personally discovered that many techniques and insights that seemed unworkable at the time came together, perhaps years later, when I was ready. Others simply did not work. Keeping things simple and trusting that the body knows how to heal itself is good advice.

” Our heart essence is the key to wholeness and peace of mind. ”

Our heart is the key to our wellness. It is an energy that we are most familiar with but often is least understood. We have misperceptions that love is outside of us or that our only source of love is from others. This is not true. Love is our true inner nature. It can be accessed through the heart center or heart chakra. Our heart connects us to a deep abiding peace and joy beyond conceptual understanding. It is something that must be experienced. We can transform our pain and suffering with our loving heart.

Wisdom and Compassion

Loving compassion can easily be misinterpreted as a martyr stereotype or a perception of weakness. Nothing could be further from the truth. True compassion arises from a place of power and a place of joy and wholeness. With compassion comes direct insight into right action which is called wisdom. There is a flow to compassion and wisdom. It is not a mental exercise or driven by ones chaotic emotions. As loving compassion is cultivated so does wisdom grow as well. In Buddhist thought it is called bodhicitta mind.

Our loving heart can sometimes get us into unpleasant situations if we forget our intellect. Not everyone is on the same playing field when it comes to a loving heart. Wisdom, which is beyond intellect, allows one to make the absolute best action for all concerned without effort in real time. In this state of awareness, one does not have to deliberate, ask for the opinion of others, etc. I bet many of us can remember situations in which our spontaneous loving actions worked out perfectly for all concerned. We get into this space one step at a time by practicing compassion for ourselves and others on a daily basis.

Obstacles to Energy Awareness

Fear

When I was young I was afraid of the dark. I never really did overcome this fear until later in life, much later. As I grew older this fear became less conscious but it was there. I laugh now as I recall how my older brother and I argued about closing the bedroom door at night. He definitely wanted the bedroom door closed and I just the opposite. Poor mom and dad had to listen to this nightly routine for a very long time.

It was all about feeling safe and protected. As I think back now, I can remember taking my afternoon naps which I did not want to take and memories of waking suddenly and looking up at the bedroom ceiling that just seemed to be dancing. I couldn’t move for the longest time. When I did run out to mom, all I could cry about was the cottage cheese. Great description for the ceiling flocking but it really was more than that. Lots of energy was moving through me along with having unpleasant vivid dreams. I felt helpless to that which appeared to be coming to me while I slept and seemed to paralyze me. Years later, even into adulthood, I still felt exposed and vulnerable without having a blanket or cover over me at night.

With these types of childhood experiences it was little wonder that talk of ghosts, devils, spirits and other similar phenomena were quite believable. It was easy to attach these types of beliefs to my unpleasant experiences. Fear of the unknown then became both a reality and an obstacle for me to overcome.Growing up as a Protestant in the Christian faith talk of hell, spirit possession, and the devil were part and parcel with the loving teachings of Jesus the Christ, just the opposite side. If one were not careful harmful minions of the devil would play havoc in one’s life.

Yet what really were those unpleasant and fearful experiences all about when I was young? I alluded to the fact that a lot of energy was moving through me then. The reason I know this is that it still occurs to this day. I am just used to it and accept it and let it pass. It was not always that way. A lot of positive experiences over the years helped me cope with my fear of the dark. However, let’s go back once again to my early years as a teenager of about 16 years of age. I always seemed to be having an ongoing battle with the energy while asleep, but now my heart started to pound at times and I had strange dreams of floating around sort of out of body. That really was frightening. My ears started to ring and even at school it was hard to concentrate. Luckily for me, things once again started to settle down. It was very interesting that at that time I was also contemplating becoming a minister. I later chose not to take that path.

Fear is a powerful emotion. It is both controlling and an inhibitor to new methods and ways of experiencing the world we live in. Some of our fears we bring with us from childhood as growing pains that have never been resolved or accepted for what they are or what we are. An example being my experiences of energy moving through my body and vivid dreaming that I still have today. I compounded my fear when I created a mental reason for my dilemma such as spirit possession, ghosts or whatever the fictional story I chose to believe to be the cause. This was deluded thinking on my part that caused me long term suffering. Here is an insight that is very true and dear to me. I am a holy temple that no one or imagined fantasy of human imagination can ever violate. I am one with my inner pure nature, my true heart essence.

Facing our Inner Pain

If we really let go and explore that which is inside what will occur? Are our pain, anger, self- loathing and remorse really too much to face? These are real barriers to experiencing our inner true nature which is love, compassion and wisdom. Most people probably feel that they will go crazy and hurt someone if their inner secrets are released. The sad thing is that if we do nothing this may actually become a reality. Perhaps we are hurting others right now. Most likely we are hurting ourselves in many ways. I will talk again about safe ways to deal with our emotional energy.

Traumatic Experiences

Our unresolved life experiences are stored in our body as trapped energy. The categories of our experiences are endless and heart breaking. Some seem unbearable. Growing up is a gauntlet that many of us would not choose to undergo again even if we could. Yet the memories still seem fresh and haunting. Though seldom physically abused like so many, I have my psychological wounds that for years prevented me from entering my heart essence and experiencing peace. I was driven and tormented at times by the winds of low self esteem and lack of confidence. We all have memories of things we would like to forget, hurtful actions that were inflicted upon us and suffering we caused others out of ignorance and delusion. Though we may later have remorse for our actions, at the time, these events often seem to be playing out almost like a script in a movie. Uncontrolled anger is one of the most powerful emotions and should, in most cases, be derailed through awareness and action before one is totally caught in its grasp. In the chapter discussing polarity of
emotions, insights will be offered on how to start dealing more proactively with this emotion.

Misinformation

Many of us have been told that there is no such thing as healing energy or that there are no more subtle forms of energy that operate outside of today’s current technology to detect and track. The truth is that we can work with and sense this energy. That is, our body can sense weak magnetic fields in nature and from bio-systems. This is our innate energy awareness. In Eastern thought subtle energy is referred to as Chi or Ki. They are subtle forms of magnetism. The problem for most people is that if they cannot see or feel this energy then it must not exist. Science is not helping either as tracking weak fields in nature is a vastly difficult undertaking.

Yet often one only needs the encouragement to acknowledge and feel what is already present. We avoid feeling things that seem out from the normal experiences of the culture we live in so that we are not viewed as being strange. We avoid the unpleasant possibility of being labeled and ostracized. The problem then becomes what is imagined and what is real. Where do we draw the line? Energy awareness often gets thrown in with controversial topics of magic, sorcery, divination etc. I already mentioned the religious taboos that can block our willingness to feel and experience energy. Having energy awareness has nothing to do with these stereotypes. It is our birthright to use for our benefit and the benefit of our loved ones and friends.

Discerning Energy Through the Five Senses

We receive impressions of subtle magnetic energy through our senses. Not surprising, but many people do not realize that these doorways into our consciousness are often underutilized. We tend to rely on one or two sense doorways and may not maximize our sense of hearing, for example, unless we have lost our vision.We need to be present and aware to develop our energy awareness. What may surprise many people is that a lot of feelings one has may actually be caused by an outside energy source. This is another way of saying that emotions have a very weak magnetic component that radiate outwards from the body.

We need to stay tuned into what is happening inside as well. Energy awareness is a refined awareness of what is. A hiker out in nature may pass through an area that just feels wonderful. He or she may feel happy or more at peace. Nine times out of ten it is a natural fountain of energy emitting from that area. Tune into yourself often. Be aware and enjoy the energy delights in our natural world.

The sense of sight can key one into an energy source by an unexpected sense of how beautiful everything looks. A dowsing tool is a visual aid for seeing energy movement indirectly. A direct method of seeing energy is via the human aura. This is also a natural ability we all have. Our hearing can tune one into energy by a buzzing or ringing sensation. Listening for the silent breaks in our noisy environment is a wonderful meditation to connect to healing energy.

Being aware of the illusion of motion is another way to access energy while one is out and about. We are so used to this aspect of visual perception that we often forget it is in action. An example of the illusion of motion is when you move your head to the left your viewing field appears to move to the right. A another common example is when riding in a car. You seem to be stationary and the road appears to be speeding by you in the opposite direction. Being aware of the illusion of motion can be used as a meditation technique that will increase the energy flow in the body.

Energy has a feel such as a prickly sensation on the skin or a sense of movement like something has brushed you lightly on the hand or face. No ghosts here, it is the feel of energy that is in circulation. Here is an exercise to get a sense of the touch of energy. Place the palms of your hands together and rub them briskly. Slowly move them apart and then back together again. This forms an energy ball. It is so subtle that one really needs to be patient and work with this method a while to get a feel for it. The bio- magnetic energy emitting from your palm chakras is the basis for hands on healing. Working with this simple procedure one can actually feel resistance between the palms of the hands as you slowly move them together. Careful! If you move your hands too fast, you will push right through the energy ball you have created. This is a fun exercise to do.

As with enhancing energy there is also energy that may not be beneficial. It is not bad or evil. The weak field energy simply may not be compatible with one’s energy system. You get impressions of this in just the opposite way as discussed above. For example, if one feels emotionally down or apprehensive while walking out in nature then it may be advisable to move on.

Where Science and the Mind can meet

Performing hands on healing and using conventional medical healing therapies do not have to be two separate fields of endeavor where one is considered fringe area activity and the other validated by scientific process. The bridge between the two is designer compound weak electromagnetic lower frequencies that can be used to replicate healing fields that the body responds to or tuning material to these frequencies. As tuned material, they can be worn on or near the body. This is a novel breakthrough process that I discuss in more detail on the main page of my web site, Helpfulwaves.com with associated pages and blog articles that you are welcome to explore.

Energy Signature

Years ago, while traveling through a State Park in Southern California, I stopped along the side of the road near a large grove of oak trees. As I got out of the car and walked around I had this feeling of love and serenity. Looking up at a nearby ridge, I just felt that there was something up there to see. Unfortunately, it was impossible to climb the steep hill to get to the top because of the dense undergrowth.

A year later, an elderly man offered to take me to an abandoned Native American campsite in that same park. To make a long story short, we hiked in one day to the camp. A large rock ledge had numerous holes where the people had ground acorns they harvested from the plentiful oak trees in the area. They used a stone called a Metate to do the grinding on the rock ledge. It took many years to grind such deep holes in the rock. The acorn flour was used as part of their food preparation.

It was a peaceful place to be and one could imagine how it had been in those days. I walked to the rocky edge of the camp site that overlooked the valley. To my surprise, down below was the road and the oak tree grove where I had parked a year earlier. There was a lot of love at that campsite left by those who no longer harvest the acorns to feed their loved ones. Yet the love energy remains to this day. Our energy permeates all things in our environment. Love is the most enduring. Similarly, energy can infuse that which we paint, or write or carry with us over time. Love is our creativity and source of Art. Working with healing energy can be very fun as well as playful and helpful.

In the healing energy Arts community it is common knowledge that items can be charged with subtle energy. One just has to look around at various web sites on the internet to see pictures that are said to radiate healing energy. In many cases the owner is making the intention and then connecting with the picture via distance healing and charging it up. Other sites just naturally reflect the creative love that was put into to it, similar to famous works of art. In a way, this loving energy field remains forever and connects with the viewer who is open. Though a highly controversial idea, our energy field signature may leave impressions in molecular structures not too dissimilar to how information is coded onto a magnetic strip on a credit card but in this case, the strip is the molecular structures forming the area in nature. There really is a significant transformation in our energy when in the flow of Love. The key is an open and compassionate heart.

Energy Symbols

If a large group of people are placing their awareness on a specific symbol or image, that image can store this energy as one large collector. Whatever is put in stays with the energy mix both intentionally and subconsciously. That is, if one has not be practicing meditation and chakra clearing on a regular basis, their energy will be a mix of unbalanced and balanced subtle energy. Our energy streams can become polluted (unbalanced) if we do not take the loving time out to clear and self heal. Working with energy symbols can open one up to receiving this unbalanced energy. In a way, the subtle energy connection I am referring to is no different than performing hands-on healing or distant healing for another and having the recipient perform self clearing and energy balancing techniques. This simple precaution helps clear and balance the energy stream. The most important aspect in working with energy symbols for self healing and sharing energy with others is to be in a state of loving compassion and knowing that we are the true symbol and it resides within our heart.

Emotions as Energy

Emotions are a form of magnetic energy. One who is sensitive to energy can detect strong emotions from others even if they see no outward visible signs. These emotions can be felt by a sensitive person or visually seen in the aura of the person in question. Seeing the aura is less common than feeling or sensing the emotional energy. The reason is that one normally sees auras best in reduced lighting with a contrast between the observer and the observed. Anger shows up as translucent red light and is easiest to see.

You can also literally feel the energy of strong emotions from another and misinterpret it as your own. This reminds me of myself. For most of my life, I really had problems discerning energy. That did not mean I did not sense it. I just thought everything I felt was a personal issue. For example, things really got strange when I would start having emotions of anger or intense unbalanced energy all of a sudden when in the vicinity of another. I really thought that I was going crazy because I did not have a reason to feel that way. If I had asked, I would have undoubtedly found out that this person was angry. He or she may not have been mad at me. Emotional energy carries on for a long while and then gets stored in the body. Sensing energy can forewarn you or even save your life.

We most often interpret our world through our emotions. Even the most mundane decision we make for ourselves is filtered through our emotions. A thought can trigger a memory of a related experience that corresponds to the action being contemplated and emotional energy is released. We talked before that memories can be a source of stored emotional energy in the body. The energy associated with this memory can be pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. One could say this is how desire and aversion play into our decisions. The released emotional energy helps us make our decisions.

For example, if I were to make a decision to pick up a hot pan off the stove without pot holders a memory would be triggered that closely matches the outcome of this decision. Energy would be released in the form of an emotion that would tip the scale one way or the other. This is a natural way things operate in our body. The down side to this natural process is that an inordinate amount of emotional energy can be stored depending upon the event experienced.

Trauma

Let’s talk more about trapped energy in our body that is a product of our traumatic experiences. Most people do not even realize what a heavy load they are carrying around with them. We become numb to the pain within and are wounded. Though full of heart- break and sadness there is also more anger than we would like to acknowledge. This is all energy, that if not released and dealt with or transformed with loving compassion, can cause havoc with the body and mind. Yet we are not given the simple tools to work with our stored unbalanced energy. It may remain trapped for years and manifest as physical and mental health issues.

Many people, as I once was, may be fearful of acknowledging and working with this energy. It just seems too hard to deal with, to go into the pain and the source of the pain again. We also put barriers around our heart as well. We don’t even realize that peace, joy and happiness- our birthright has been stolen away from us. When we cannot speak our personal truth or must withhold our anger, this emotional energy keeps piling up. We all have the ability to transform our strong emotions with our loving heart instead of internalizing this energy where it can cause harm. The key is being aware of this energy and having the courage to transform it through compassion for ourselves and others or releasing it in safe ways.

Natural Emotional Release

We need our emotions. That is what makes us human. The key is not to have our emotions control our behavior. This requires awareness, patience and restraint before acting on what our emotional energy is dictating to us to do. We also can perform daily practices that will help us release excess stored energy in a safe and effective way. There are many techniques to do so. The body has many natural release methods but our upbringing and societal expectations often will not condone these natural release mechanisms. Here are a few examples:

Crying

Laughing

Letting the body move as it will

Uttering unintelligible sounds

Yawning

Dreaming

Crying and laughing are both natural mechanisms for the body to release stored emotional energy. They are incredibly healing. Yet many people are detached from their feelings. The urge to laugh and cry naturally are so often overpowered by force of will that we become numb to what our bodies are asking us to do in order to stay balanced. Men are not supposed to show their feelings. Now days it is safe to say that both men and women are conditioned not to show their emotions.

Letting the body move as it will and making unintelligible sounds and frequent yawning are also ways the body naturally releases emotional energy. The good news is that many techniques to help one release stored emotional energy are available today. One can see their foundations are based upon what the body naturally wants to do. Here are a few examples:

Massage

Re-birthing (Guided breathing technique with
visualization)

Group intensive

Energy Therapy (hands on healing)

Tai Chi (body movements)

Years ago, my first experience with structured emotional release was with a group intensive where I spent over one week working with a small group of people with the purpose of breaking though ones emotional coping mechanisms to get to one’s pure essence. The training staff and participants followed a strict regimen that included safe emotional releases, role- playing, dancing, sharing and bonding. The outcome for me was an incredible breakthrough in awareness and sense of profound joy and liberation.

I was in a very enhanced state of awareness with peak emotions of joy for a couple of weeks. This emotional state did not last but it altered my concept of self and opened me to new possibilities on the spiritual path. It was a new beginning. Yet it was my responsibility to move forward with my life and not fall back into old destructive and dysfunctional behaviors. It was the first time in my life that I really felt the joy, love and power that is our inherent pure and beautiful nature. It changed my life.

Dreaming

Dreaming takes on a special category all of its own. As mentioned above, dreaming can be a healthy outlet for our psyche to work out and release emotions. It also can give us clues of unresolved issues that should be addressed. Some dreams are intuitive and serve as guides for well being and creativity. Just being aware of our dreaming patterns is beneficial. Though we can go to outside resources for dream interpretation, our dreams like our experiences are our own. If we take the time to work with our dreams, we will get the answers we need and clues to work on. Our answers and insights may not come for weeks or months but they will come.

Many people experience more vivid dreaming between the the autumnal Equinox and winter Solstice. Often these dreams are intuitive and give guidance. I can remember a very vivid dream I had years ago while living in Southern California around the time of the Winter solstice. In the dream I was literally flying to Seattle where I saw two Space Needle like structures. The Space needle is a tower with a restaurant and observation deck on the saucer top. One I recognized as being in Seattle. The other was in a city further north. A year later, I moved back to Seattle and in many ways started my life over. While visiting Vancouver, British Columbia which is north of Seattle, I was very surprised to see the second Space Needle in my dream. There has been a lot of energy awareness connections with Vancouver since then. Sometimes visiting powerful areas in nature can open one up to vivid dreaming and insight as well. My wife Kathy and I visited the Grand Canyon a while back. It truly is an incredibly sacred place. Upon our return to Seattle, I had a dream of inspiration and creativity. We have choices to follow our bliss or stay in the space where we are at. There is no right or wrong, just opportunities to move through doorways that present themselves.

Energy of our Inner Pure Nature

Interpreting our world through our emotions via thoughts and memories can give us a distorted view of reality and may cause suffering for oneself and others. Every sensory impression is conditioned by a past belief and memory. Our emotions and its associated energy often rule us. If one could flip this scenario around then emotions could exist as they are but we truly do not have to act on them or even have them control our view of the world. This is different than suppressing ones emotions. How is this possible? There is something behind our thoughts that is a power and wholeness beyond understanding. Being in the now moment is the key to experiencing reality as it is. Cultivating ones heart essence is the doorway.

By just observing our thoughts and emotions turns the table on how we view the world. Working with our heart essence and being in the now moment opens the last gate where we experience joy, love, and wisdom. We get there one moment at a time. It is like visiting an oasis for a while and then returning again and again for more peace. It is not a destination but a way of living. The profound beauty and mystery of this insight is that as we reach out to our inner pure nature it reaches out to us.

Being Aware in the Now Moment

Being in the now moment and aware of what is occurring both inside oneself and outside in the environment is key to developing energy awareness.
This is called discernment. Though obvious and simple, everything that we experience will be conveyed by our five senses and also tied into our
emotions. In other words, we receive sensory impressions that usually initiate unique emotional responses and behaviors that are usually based upon past experiences. Our emotional response and subsequent action may be totally out of context to what truly is occurring. Being aware of our habitual emotional patterns of behavior is the first step towards well being.

Being in the now moment is probably the hardest thing for most of us to do. The majority of time we are lost in thought and memories. To make things even worse we most likely are struggling or obsessing in an emotional way. If not thinking of a past event, we are fantasizing about the future and so back and forth we bounce like a yo-yo. Only occasionally are we tuning into what is occurring around us. Most of us really never were asked to do otherwise. One of my problems is that my mind plays tricks on me. It actually gives me an image of what I think I am seeing before I really see it. It’s like a matching game where with a few clues the whole image is selected. I guess in computer program technology they call this fuzzy logic. It plays havoc with me when I am proof reading a page of writing.

Perhaps you have had a similar kind of experience out in nature where an object you thought was a poisonous snake turned out to be a discarded shoe. Our mind loves to jump to conclusions before we really see the whole picture. We also may have two emotional responses, the first based on the erroneous perception and a second from the actual true perception. Maybe we never saw the truth and left with both a wrong view and associated emotional response. This energy stays with us unless we transform it through compassion or release it through awareness and technique.

A similar process occurs with people we encounter in our daily life. We make emotional judgments based on appearance, mannerisms and speech. You remind me of so and so. We often judge others based on past experiences. It is easier than just being aware and neutral to the situation. We usually make wrong decisions following this most common path. No wonder we have so many relationship problems. I know, I have done the same thing over and over, but I am making progress. Awareness is the key. Ask yourself constantly, is this really what is going on? Be patient and discerning and let the facts present themselves to you in a state of openness.

When we are in the now moment and discerning, a lot of energy awareness comes to us. It is not instantaneous. We have to be patient and tune in. We tune into our body first of all to see what is going on. Have I been obsessing about something and are my emotions swirling around? We then focus on our external environment for more energy awareness information or clues to experiences we are having internally. This internal/external dynamic and connection is the key to ones energy awareness. Knowing our body state means checking in frequently and not just when we are trying to figure out why we overreacted over a trivial incident and now feel sheepish.

Those Strange Thoughts

The human psyche is in many ways like a deep ocean. There are so many under currents and hidden recesses of thought and memory. We being one with all things have many connections with mind stuff as well. Here we talk about theories such as the collective unconsciousness, archetypes, deep wells of consciousness that some call the great mystery. In Asian thought, all things are mind. Mind in this case is not the human intellect but the source of all things in the physical world. It has attributes of unconditional love, compassion and omniscient wisdom without limit. All thoughts spring forth from mind. Mind is unfathomable. It is interesting to note that Mind is in the same location as the heart center in the human body. The head seems less important. Now that is kind of amusing.

Then we have our everyday consciousness. It often is a stream of never ending thoughts and memories with associated stored emotional energy. Our thoughts and memories can drive us crazy in many ways. They just keep on bubbling up. We hear songs in our mind that continuously play like the top ten radio hits. Most of us have had that experience, especially when we are agitated and off balance or have gone through some trauma. Most thoughts come in uninvited and seem almost outside of what we consider ourselves to be. Some are quite disturbing in nature.

Our thoughts may be violent or very risqué. They can be quite amusing or just the opposite. Often we struggle with these uninvited thoughts and they just seem to magnify. One can become fearful that he or she is being possessed or going crazy. If this goes on for years we may develop all kinds of deluded ideas about ourselves. Sometimes our thoughts can trigger stored emotional energy that is unleashed upon others in ways that even surprise us.

Don’t worry. Having uninvited thoughts is actually very normal. Our agitation only makes things worse. As I mentioned before our thoughts and emotions seem to rule us because we do not understand the truth of our inner pure nature and put into practice methods that can help us regain our inner peace. Once we really connect to our inner pure nature, our true essence, all of these misconceptions start to dissolve. We then begin the journey toward who we really are and that is Love. The key is not to identify or act upon one’s thoughts and just let them go their merry way. One should act through his or her innate compassion and wisdom. Thoughts are what they are. They come into our awareness and they leave. That is the way of them in our natural world.

Thoughts that Support Wellness

Thoughts have an energy effect both on our well being and the well being of others. The reason is that they evoke an emotional response which translates into energy. This energy moves throughout the body and out into the world. Taking charge of one’ thoughts is not suppressing those that do not appeal to us, but consciously cultivating thoughts that are loving, supporting and uplifting. We need to be aware of our habitual thought patterns. Finding things to be thankful for, counting your blessings, and consciously thinking about positive things shifts ones inner emotional climate. Simply wishing people well, even in times of stress, is helpful. Cultivating positive thoughts should not be confused with day dreaming. The key to this method is being aware and in the now moment.

Our Deep Dark Secrets

As we grow up and travel down life’s path we make mistakes. We intentionally or unintentionally harm others. There are unlimited rational an irrational
reasons for this. We each have our story. Some of us feel responsible for traumatic acts against us or are made to blame for acts not of our doing and we believe it! We also harm others. These are all our deep dark secrets that we hide from the view of our compassionate heart. Our deep dark secrets are killing us moment to moment. We can become numb to life and continue a destructive spiral down to the lowest of low ebbs. We often lash out in our pain at our loved ones and friends. Most often it may be a stranger who unwittingly gets the full dose by reminding us of our pain.

Most religions talk of forgiveness and redemption. Perhaps the first step is to really look at what we think we have done and seek our inner heart for forgiveness. All things can be forgiven, if we truly renounce what it is we have done and forever move forward on the path of love, compassion, and wisdom. It is the pathway through our heart. We may need to seek help from enlightened teachers. There are many programs available. The most famous is the twelve- step program. There are also professional counseling and group intensive options. They may help break the chain that binds one. From there it is all up to you. The good news is that you have the power within you. True forgiveness comes from within. It is forgiving oneself and moving forward with a loving heart. It is letting our wounds heal. Reviewing ones actions of the previous day and vowing to act with more compassion and wisdom and refrain from harming others or oneself is very beneficial. It promotes wellness and helps one make positive life enhancing changes.

Banishing our Sexuality

Our sexuality is most likely the most traumatized aspect of our lives. We have religious, societal, community and group norms surrounding this natural part of our being. The energy associated with sexual activity can be misunderstood. It is often equated with lust and violation. We learn to hate our body and our sexuality because of the perceived pain it has caused oneself or others. Relationships become polluted with ” Hollywood ” stereotypes of sexuality and of course there is prostitution and pornography that demeans our body and shuts us down.

What is this energy that is so often maligned? It is actually the most powerful and creative aspect of being. It is the power that fuels all the other energy centers (chakras) in the body. What can possibly be more creative than sexual union where a child is conceived? This is the energy that Art in all its forms springs from. We paint, write, dance and sing and achieve joyous rapture with this creative force. Sexual energy is just another stereotype. This beautiful and sacred force is more than a physical act. It is the energy that allows one to bloom into self realization. It cannot be separated from oneself.

Yet many people do seem to deny its existence and bury this awareness deep within themselves. It is there. Sooner or later we must deal with our sexuality. We can choose sexual energy as our source of Art or we can slowly become numb to the world and shut down. One does not have to perform the act of sexual union to allow this energy to flow through one. It naturally moves up the energy centers on its own. Even energy practitioners and recipients of hands on energy work have misconceptions when they experience this energy that has been unlocked and wants to become integrated into ones
being. They become uncomfortable when they feel it working, associating it with sexual union or lust. If one truly danced with this energy and let it flow as it should creative openings and great healing would occur. It is associated with the number one chakra.

Polarity of Emotions

Every emotion has its opposite that can be applied in any given situation to counteract the affect of the other. An example would be anger and compassion or sadness (depression) and joy. Though an easy concept to understand it takes diligence to put into practice. One needs to go slow and start off by just being aware of what is occurring in his or her inner and outer world, to pay attention to ones emotional climate. This also requires the practitioner to slow down and simplify. If we are being pulled in a thousand directions there is little opportunity for being present and mindful.

There is a process to applying a beneficial emotion that helps restore ones sense of well being. The first step is being willing to feel the discordant energy of the emotion without acting out what the energy seems to be dictating one to do. In this space we then bring into our awareness a memory of when we felt unconditional love. This opens the doorway to our heart in the present moment. In the example of anger, we begin to cultivate compassion for our self and all people in the world who are suffering. We allow Love to flow through our being freely. Along with the flow of Love comes Joy (bliss). One begins to counteract the emotion of sadness with a vivid happy memory and then cultivating that feeling through the heart connection.

There are no instant fixes. We must be willing to stumble and fall over and over again. Just like a young child who is learning to walk, be easy on yourself but don’t give up. Daily meditation and contemplation can help prepare one for stressful or tempting situations that unfold in his or her daily routine. A simple technique of being present but ever mindful of the transitory nature of our thoughts, feelings and the events in our life is very helpful. We can also better handle our emotions if we take a step back and not fully engage in the drama of the moment. It gives one time to make good choices and apply his or her inner wisdom in order to take the right course of action. We can also use our intellect and energy awareness to avoid life styles and situations that invite disharmony and suffering.

What we do not want to do is internalize our negative emotional energy. If we cannot transform this energy to harmony, then we need to release it. Unbalanced energy when stored in the body can manifest over time as mental and physical ailments. There are many safe ways to release this energy. The key is being aware of your internal emotional climate and being sensitive to what your body is telling you to do as well. We can make healing sounds such as A, OH, EEE, AH and OOH that helps release energy. The next step is letting the body move as it will to release trapped energy.

Road to Spokane

Here is a wonderful story of how one man dealt with his anger that was out of control and hurt others. He was very abused as a child and he called his story, “The Road to Spokane.” Spokane (Spo-can) for him was an emotional destination where his uncontrollable anger was completely unleashed. He always seemed to arrive there instantly. His anger seemed beyond any hope of being contained. However, with great resolve and deep penetrating awareness he started to look for road signs, internal clues, that alerted him that he was heading in that direction.

At first he always arrived at Spokane. As time went on, he started to become more aware that he was heading towards Spokane even if it was an instant before he arrived. Then the miracle happened and he was able to see detour signs, an awareness if he did not change his behavior right now he would arrive at Spokane. Now days he seldom goes to Spokane. He knows the internal signs. This miracle happened for him. It can happen for you as well. Look for your internal road signs that warn of uncontrollable anger ahead. The real Spokane is quite a lovely place, but this was his story about his anger.

The Power is Within

Much of this book is devoted to accessing peace and harmony from within. When you think about it, what else is there that one can have control over in one’s life except ones sense of being? An energy awareness belief discussed earlier is that all things change. Nothing stays the same. Everything we hold dearly to slips through our fingers eventually. For example, our preoccupation with staying young is such a hurtful delusion perpetuated by many societies. To find peace, one needs to let go of the notion that he or she has control over the outer world. Accepting ones mortality is seeing the world as it is. Can we make peace with oneself right now as the world swirls around in apparent chaos? Can we be content in the present moment whatever it brings? There are so many eloquent teachers these days that talk about the impermanence of things and how to find peace in the present moment through the heart of compassion. This is truly a key concept in starting down the road to energy awareness.

Entering our heart essence moment to moment opens one to an expanded awareness of our true inner nature, our true essence. This is where the power is. It is in our heart. Though we seldom touch this power on a consistent basis, many of us have had moments of peace and joy and a sense of being one with all there is. That was momentary freedom from our normal preoccupation with self. This expanded awareness can be cultivated and touched again and again in the now moment. This is the energy awareness path that I am referring to, touching and expanding the peace and joy and love within. Bring it forth and let it grow. Gently touch it with your awareness and be with it. This is meditation. This is liberation. As we shift our awareness to our inner pure nature it also reaches out to us. We become more of who we truly are.

As children we learned from outside events. Our consciousness was projected on to external objects that came within our environment and we identified with them. One then falls into a trap where reflections from others determines ones emotional climate. We have not been taught the truth of our inner power. Our sense of self can become inflated or deflated depending on outside influences such as heritage, wealth, societal concepts of beauty and intelligence, power based on fear, popularity and glory. The list goes on and on. Do any of these things bring lasting peace? A person connected to their true essence dances lightly on Earth.

We work with energy in the outer world but the mystery is within. The outer world with all of its forms is infused with this mystery as well. As I mentioned before, in Asian thought it is called mind and is the underlying source of all things in our natural world. Each person must determine what that means to him or her. Our spirituality is an inside thing. All concepts, icons, religious protocol, prayer, ritual are metaphors for something that is beyond speech, words, and thought. It is an inner experience. Being on top of the mountain may evoke an experience from within but it is your experience of your true inner nature. No one can give this experience to you as some form of spiritual gift.

Our Spiritual Gifts

What is a spiritual gift? They are part of our energy awareness that develops over time. Each person is unique in the way they progress. As we work more and more developing our energy awareness an expansion of consciousness occurs. Some examples are sensitivity to imbalances in energy when performing hands on healing, seeing the human aura, distant healing, measuring energy fields at a distance, becoming more intuitive, etc. These really are a capacity we all have. Our bodies naturally open up over time.

Perhaps gift is less accurate than saying a newly discovered awareness of what already is present. They are an aspect of our inner pure nature. We may use techniques and methods to help clear the dust from one’s eyes but we all have this inherent ability. In many ways spiritual gifts can be a distraction if we become stuck or enamored by them. Our true goal should be attending to our inner pure nature. Yet our new energy awareness can also give us encouragement that we are making progress on the path. Our gifts can be our Art for the benefit of others. Just like an athlete in a training program, the more one works with his or her gifts the more proficient one becomes. It really is that simple. For example, if one wanted to develop their hands on healing capability they would work in this endeavor on a consistent basis and not just once in a while.

Please do not discount your experiences because someone else said that they were meaningless or not true. Reading books and hearing other people’s stories may be helpful but this is all about your experience and your gifts and how they relate to you. This is your energy awareness we are discussing. The world is full of talking heads and experts. How easily we give up our experiences to fit into someone else mold. We must be discerning of others as well. If you feel a sense of deep abiding peace and joy in what you are doing you are on the right track. Joseph Campbell used a wonderful term he called “Following your bliss”. I highly recommend his videotaped conversations with Bill Moyers in the PBS series, “Power of Myth” available DVD.

If not Lightning then What?

Some lucky people are born with their energy centers fully activated and their energy awareness recognized early on in life. This does not mean that they did not suffer because of fear and misunderstanding. Few are fortunate to have had supportive parents or community in this regard. For many of us our energy awareness is not recognized and developed and it just lies dormant or underutilized. So how do we turn things on? The good news is that we do not have to get hit by lightning or have a near death experience (NDE). Though my Granddad had a good story to tell, we start off by being open to the possibility that we have the ability to develop our energy awareness. This means giving oneself permission to have an experience and not placing barriers such as fear of going crazy or being spiritually possessed in the way. It really may be as simple as saying I am worthy and have a right to experience my true inner nature. Intention is powerful and the catalyst to moving energy. Intention is everything when it comes to energy awareness.

In the Eastern spiritual tradition there is a form of initiation called a Shaktipat. What this means is that a person who already has this energy awareness and connection to his or her inner pure nature can help clear the dust from the eyes of another. Our inner pure nature reaches out into our every day consciousness via the Shaktipat. It is all about energy. This is not a spiritual gift but a spiritual opening or clearing and brings with it awareness of one’s pure inner nature. It is a beginning. Something mysterious and wonderful happens. Ones energy centers begin to clear and align. Energy blocks in the body lift and the creative energy moves up the chakras. This transformation happens over time.

A couple of years after my breakthrough with the group intensive I received Reiki training. Reiki is really all about a profound mystery called an attunement or initiation. It is similar if not the same as the Shaktipat that I described above. It is all about ones inner and outer energy connection and developing energy awareness. I am not advocating Reiki just sharing an experience.

As I think back to the first day of my Reiki training, I see so many changes in awareness that have happened since. I can still remember going to the teacher’s house years ago for my first attunement in Southern California. We sat out back on his deck while he read to me from his manual about what Reiki is. The words just floated by beyond my comprehension. I had no experience of Reiki and words without an associated experience are often misleading. When he finished reading, I was told to close my eyes and put my hands in a prayer position until such time as he crossed my hands over my chest as a signal that he was done.

It was a beautiful sunny day and the birds were out and a warm wind blew upon my face. I closed my eyes and tried to keep my mind still. Then I felt energy moving into my body, a kind of slow growing warmth kind of feeling like warm water surrounding one in a bath. The warmth of the Reiki attunement came from within. It was a beautiful experience. After he was done, I asked him if I really had Reiki because in many ways things seemed the same. He laughed and asked me to give him some hands on energy. That is how he gave me encouragement and feedback. In many ways it was all about trust. But trust soon gave way to an experience of energy awareness. It took time almost three months before this new awareness started to unfold. I practiced daily the simple techniques that were given to me. I was not having a Reiki experience. I was having a personal experience of my inner pure nature and associated energy awareness.

The attunement was for me a major leap in energy awareness. It revealed my inner power that was always there, the power of my heart. It also pointed me to other spiritual teachings that discussed unconditional love, compassion and wisdom. There are many ways to clear the dust from one’s eyes and to be aware of one’s inner pure nature. There are many paths up the mountain. Reiki is not the techniques and methods grouped with it. Reiki is the attunement or Shaktipat that opens one to the experience of his or her inner beauty. Techniques and methods are aids to help one connect to his or her inner pure nature. They are structures only. Consider them to be like bridges to help one get to the land of wholeness, to fully realize ones inner pure nature and experience peace, love and equanimity moment to moment. We can become distracted and stuck with our favorite meditation or technique as well. We can just stay on the bridge with its delights and distractions and not cross over.

Opening to the Flow of Love for Hands-on Healing

The power to perform hands-on healing resides in the heart. There are many ways that the dust can be cleared from our eyes so that we can discern and work with healing energy. Your gifts are with you right now ready to be discovered. One option is to receive a Shaktipat, also called an initiation, from a teacher of an energy Arts discipline. They are most often given from teacher to practitioner in a formal ceremony. The challenge for many is having to sort through all the misinformation and dogma that often is associated with this simple yet compassionate act of helping another recognize their inner pure nature. If we look closely at this process, there is a basic and simple foundation in helping one begin the energy awareness journey. The first key is being open to having this experience and not letting fear and doubt get in the way. The next key is intention. We really are the driving force to this experience. It is something we already possess. I know this sounds somewhat confusing, but this inner connection through the heart center has been talked about over and over again in the great spiritual doctrines from both the East and the West.

Our conditioned beliefs really do limit us in many ways. Childhood stories and the culture we live in often place filters or major blocks between that which is staring us right in the face. No one helped point out this possibility or gave us encouragement. We are already pre-wired so to speak to develop an enhanced energy awareness. What often is needed is an expansion and clearing of our innate energy circuits. I personally have heard many accounts where ones healing ability surfaced while assisting other people with hands on healing. One individual actually discovered her healing ability after receiving a hands-on energy treatment. In this person’s case, being in the healing energy field was like priming the pump so that it can draw water. The pump (her energy circuits) only needed to be in operation. This is the third key to this process and that is generating a healing field of energy (love and compassion) of sufficient strength. We can create healing fields in many ways. As mentioned above, seeking a teacher or participating in hands-on healing will be the catalyst. The power of our heart is the golden thread linking all spiritual paths. With the loving heart comes healing and well being.

We have an inner and outer relationship to energy and the vehicle for interpreting this energy is our senses, the five senses plus the sixth which in Buddhist thought is called ” Mind ” that resides at our heart center. Another word for this is our continuum of awareness that has no beginning or end. It is perfect without blemish. Mind from their perspective is the loving, powerful, mysterious and profound underlying source of all things; ” Limitless Luminous Emptiness ” beyond all words, concepts and thoughts. It is not out there, it is us or in other words our relative aspect of Mind which is awareness (awake).

Opening to the flow of love can make one feel vulnerable as his or her emotional defenses and mental shields start to clear. It can be scary to become open, child- like, and pure again like we once were. The trapped emotional energy from traumatic experiences of the past begins to move and release from the body. Healing takes time and releasing the trauma of the past is not pleasant but that is the path to wellness. This is where a true friend and teacher is important and can help support us during this process through encouragement and sharing personal stories. He or she can just simply be there for us as we gradually heal towards wholeness.

We already possess the power which we seek and it is centered upon our loving and powerful heart. We gradually uncover this awareness through meditation and energy techniques. This is a simple yet profound insight. So simple that we often trip over ourselves looking for that special magic wand to prevent us from suffering and to remain happy and content. I know, I trip over myself each day. Yet, I pick myself up and remind myself of this truth and then consciously re-enter the flow of love.

Meditation techniques are used to open one to the flow of love. You already have it. The practice is to recognize your awareness as to what it truly is and transform it right now into into its natural joyful state. Tibetan Buddhists call this method Dzogchen or residing in the ground light of ones being. When we recognize our natural perfect state, the experience is a feeling of peace, love, wholeness and restfulness. This is the true flow of love and the reason for our practice. The natural perfection of our awareness is so simple and natural that it is difficult to recognize for the beauty it truly is. When one is ready the teacher points it out to the student. From then on it is just a matter of cultivating it day to day without effort or struggle.

Energy techniques and meditation, if performed from the point of view described above, can become a method of pointing out to the student the intrinsic beauty and power of one’s awareness so that he or she can integrate this experience (awakening) and then reside there moment to moment naturally liberating thoughts as they arise by recognizing their true nature. If one practices meditation techniques or other energy techniques without having some preliminary understanding of what is going on we can become confused and suffer. Patterning all kinds of energy symbols and expending great effort in breathing techniques, visualizations, ritual etc. misses the loving point to all of this. We can get way out of balance doing this and if over done can even affect the flow of our energy centers. With that said, it is important to acknowledge the unique path of energy awareness each of us are on. May we all reach the point where our natural perfection can be recognized and integrated into our life.

Impermanence and Healing

Everything changes. We will all eventually die and pass away from the physical. That which made up our body will change to other forms and go back to Earth. Keeping the impermanence of our life in mind is healthy. It makes life a precious moment in the field of time. We can change our attitudes of life and use our precious time for attaining love, joy, and equanimity moment to moment. Most importantly, we can help others move toward this reality as well through our personal attitude and conduct. The concept of healing others can be a cause of suffering if we have the wrong view. Healing with the wrong view is having the misperception that we are doing the healing or have control over the healing outcome for another. Wanting to become a healer can just be another diversion from working on one’s personal issues. It can be another futile attempt to control ones world by trying to make it better via healing energy like some sort of magician. We can fall into the trap of mixing our desires and aversions into a distorted belief of how others should live their lives. This is an impossible task. What we really should cultivate in our heart is the desire for our loved ones and friends and all sentient beings to be happy and free from suffering, free from the desire to intentionally harm others.

There are no magic wands with healing. Though we would all like to remain healthy and young that is not the way of the world. All things change. If we are truly connected to our inner pure nature then we will also have the inner peace and tranquility to accept things the way they are and not suffer. The only person we can truly heal is our self. True healing goes beyond physical healing. Some health issues may always be with us. Our attitude about them and our life can be transformed through the compassionate heart.

We can share energy with others but they are doing the healing. We can bring in healing energy but it is our body that is doing the healing. All of us have this innate ability through the palms of the hands. We also all have the ability to send distant energy to others. Our intention is the key. Healing takes courage. We must overcome our fears and misperceptions. The good news is that we have the power to transform our pain and suffering right now. But first we have to have that heart experience to know the power of our true nature. Self-healing when connected to ones heart essence is also purification. The more we cultivate our heart connection the more of this profound energy moves through us. We begin to bloom again.

Performing Hands on Healing for Others

There is a significant difference in the energy dynamic between self healing and performing hands-on or distant healing for another. When first starting out with energy work, it is very helpful to go slowly and gradually build up your healing threshold over time before performing healing for loved ones and friends. Think of it as being similar to a training program for an athlete. One starts off running a couple blocks each day. Eventually, one can run in a marathon. When working with others there are at least three energy systems in play; yours, the recipient of the healing session and Earth. Energy in our natural world seeks balance. As you work with another there will be a compensation and balancing of energy. There is no way around it. So one practices techniques each day to build up endurance and to be clear as possible in order for the energy to move freely in the body and back into Earth. When possible, having the recipient of energy healing perform clearing exercises ahead of a session is very important. See the Chakra Healing Method.

True healing comes from a loving heart.

Distant Healing

Sharing healing energy with others is a natural and beautiful gift we all innately possess. When we connect with our heart essence and share our healing gift with others an environment supporting wellness occurs. Like all things in this world there are numerous ways that practitioners approach distant healing. I would like to suggest for those who are still coming to terms with distant healing is to keep it simple but not so simple as to assume that the distant healing connection continues after you have mindfully ended the healing session. Distant healing can be considered a mirror reflection of a regular hands-on healing session. When the session is ended so is the flow of the healing energy that has been applied. That is not to say that healing energy is not still flowing if our awareness still resides with our loved one or vice versa. ” Where awareness goes energy flows. ” However, over time our attention is often on to other things and the synergy of the energy dissipates. Another energy aspect that can continue for a much longer duration, even days is the stimulation and increased flow of the chakra energy centers. I am sure many of us have felt that experience after a group healing.

Though any healing offered in a state of compassion is beautiful, a distant healing session is in many ways no different than a hands on session where time devoted to a loved one or friend truly does make a difference and where distant healing groups can help spread the labor of love. We need to be there for our loved ones with our mindfulness.

Negative Energy

What is negative energy? Simply defined it is subtle energy that is not in balance. Negative energy is not some type of evil force. A better view of negative energy is energy that has been utilized by the body and is now ready for the trash compactor or garbage disposal. We all naturally process negative energy out of our body daily. It is not something to fear but something to be aware of. Negative energy could also be energy encountered in nature that is not compatible with ones energy system dynamics. It could also be viewed as energy that for various physical and emotional reasons is not being processed out of the body and thus becomes trapped and stagnant. We discussed earlier how emotional energy is stored in the body.

When we perform self healing techniques and other practices to release stored emotional energy it is in a way an energy clearing that allows adequate energy flow through the body. This trapped energy can take the form of constrictions or blockages that restrict energy flow. Releasing the emotional energy that has been stored for many years as a result of a traumatic experience can be unpleasant. One must go slowly and be gentle and compassionate with oneself. One deals with what one can when it is time.

Understanding Group Energy

Understanding the dynamics of group energy is important. Participating with a group can be an uplifting and powerful experience or it can be a chaotic, inharmonious and powerful experience. What is important to understand is that there is inherent power in groups. From an energy awareness standpoint group healing can be very profound, especially if all the members are connecting with their heart essence and cultivating uplifting thoughts and compassion for each other.

Group energy can also be very seductive and deceiving if the members have ulterior motives. The leader or teacher can misuse the power of the group energy. If one is not discerning and aware of the dynamics in play, the energy of the group can make one giddy and more vulnerable to persuasion. An example is participating in a energy system/modality workshop and misinterpreting the energy of the group as a reflection of some type of more powerful and profound healing system. One can become overloaded with the energy of a group. The experience doesn’t last. Days later one can be going through emotional turmoil as to why he or she cannot recreate that energy dynamic on their own using the tools given at the workshop. We can get stuck looking for an outside source for our wellness. Some people, in a way, become addicted to the energy of a group or guru. It just becomes another distraction from working on one’s personal issues and accessing the true power that is our inner pure nature. Refer to the book, ” After the Ecstasy, the Laundry ” by Jack Kornfield for beautiful and insightful stories about teachers, their challenges, and pitfalls on the spiritual path.

Developing a Sense of Well Being

Working with energy techniques and other similar modalities in themselves will not make you a happy person. Techniques and energy systems can also be barriers to awareness, especially if the practices are approached in a competitive and grasping way. One can also get stuck or dependent on an outside source as an imagined key to healing and spiritual attainment. Being aware of energy in the environment and our inner emotional climate is a major step. Letting go of self destructive attitudes and behaviors is the next hurdle. It takes courage to let go. Luckily there are methods for entering the flow of Love that can give one strength to make positive changes and help nurture a profound sense of well being.

Catching a Glimpse of Wholeness

The experience of our heart essence must be cultivated. We simply need to be mindful of it all the time. There are many techniques to help one connect. It is then a matter of revisiting that special place over and over again and letting wholeness expand into our life. This awareness strengthens our resolve to make positive changes in our conduct and helps to release the grasp of our addictions. Our inner pure nature will come to us when we are mindful.

Some Food for Thought

There is so much out there when one starts to move down the path of energy awareness. There are many more gates to check out. Some are dead ends and diversions. If what you are being told is simple then most likely it is closer to the truth. We already possess everything we need. We are perfect spiritual beings right now. No one can give you spiritual gifts or make you better than what you choose to be. Experiment and be inquisitive and trust your inner wisdom. The real journey is the path of discovering ones inner pure nature. That is where to look. May you attain absolute enlightenment in your lifetime in order to ease the pain and suffering of all sentient beings. The flow of Love is the flow of your true being.

May the Lord Bless you and watch over you

May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you

May the Lord lift up his face on to you and give you peace