Basic Energy Hygiene: 3 Simple Practices

A gift to you and your animals

The EARTH Element asks us to CENTER,  GROUND, and SHIELD.

These are simple practices, taking at most a few minutes, but as my Taoist teacher said, the simplest practices are often the most profound.

The energy of our own fields, which we carry around us as we move through the world, ripples out to affect everything around us. The good thing is, it is one of the few things we actually can influence and change, and learn how to manage.

In these days when so many are spun off, into the realms of high anxiety and overwhelm, spending a few minutes a day doing these practices, you will soon notice a difference in how the external world responds to you. Your friends, family, and especially your animals will begin thanking you for it.

These exercises will give you a firm foundation from which to meet the world, and help you discern your truth from all the information we are being bombarded with on a daily basis. 

PRELIMINARY:

Sit or stand, eyes closed or slightly open, spine straight up and down, bridging between the earth under your feet and the heavens above your head.

Connect to your breath by taking 3 big inhales and exhales, from your nostrils, into your lungs and all the way down filling your abdomen, exhaling any tension from your body. 

1. CENTERING: 

Focus on your solar plexus, right below your ribcage.

As you breathe in, pull in any threads, or cords of your own energy that are connected to any other people, situations, conversations, or memories, in the past, present, or future. 

As you breathe out, release any threads or cords of any energies that do not belong to you, that are not a part of your individual energy field, any worries, or concerns, or flashes in your mind regarding anything or anyone outside of your field. Let them go with love, giving them back to whoever they belong to.

Continue to reel in and give back with each in-breath and out-breath until a sense of peace and calm sweeps over you.

2. GROUNDING:

Continue to follow your breath, in and out. 

Follow your breath down, filling your chest, filling your abdomen, then imagine growing ROOTS like a tree, reaching down, through the floor into the ground below, through the soil, past the roots of the trees, through the layers of rock, all the way to the center of the earth. 

On the IN breath, feel the earth's energy drawing back up through those roots, up through your body, filling you with energy. 

On the OUT breath, release all that is no longer needed down through your roots to be composted by the earth.

Feel your roots growing into the earth, holding you to the Earth, like the arms of the Mother, holding and stabilizing you, giving you a solid foundation. 

3. SHIELDING:

Shielding is intentionally setting your energetic boundaries. These boundaries can change, becoming more or less porous, and taking up more or less space depending upon the circumstances you find yourself.

The 5 Elements are excellent to call upon for creating your shield. 

WOOD: envision being surrounded by the trunks, branches of trees, or the leaves and flowers of your favorite herb, i.e. a bed of roses that your entire body sinks into, a patch of stinging nettles, the sturdy trunk of a giant oak impassable by axe or flame.

FIRE: visualize the flames of a fire encircling you, or a bed of coals. You can also see yourself sitting within a single candle flame.

EARTH: Sit in the center of a range of mountains, or combine fire and earth with molten lava flowing around you

METAL: this can involve both air, i.e. a cloud of sage smoke, a tornado swirling around you, or actual metal, as in a metallic fence, metallic spears or arrows pointing outward, or a metallic suit of armor. If you want something more permeable, think of a chainlink fence that only allows in what is beneficial.

WATER: Water can be in the form of a waterfall over your head continually flushing your energy field, a gentle rainstorm, a thunderstorm including lightning bolts, a river, or the great expanse of the ocean. 

You can experiment with all the elements and see how they affect your interactions with the outer world and your individual earth walk. 

Some circumstances may call for blocking everything out, and some may call for a more porous shield that filters things out but allows energy in to increase abundance, for instance.

4. DEDICATING THE PRACTICE:

It is always good to dedicate your practice, sending it out into the world with good intentions. I usually say “ for the benefit of all sentient beings” just to cover all the bases.

To empower this practice even more, you can give offerings of incense, flowers, or water to any Divine being you call on in devotion, or even to your Higher Self.

Sitting in quiet meditation for 10 - 15 minutes afterwards is also helpful, before heading back out into the world.

I hope you find this helpful in navigating the choppy waters we are living in.

Please comment or leave any questions you may have below.

Do not be surprised if your animals join you, resting quietly by your feet or by your side.