Feeling Energy

Welcome to the wonderful world of subtle energy! Sensing subtle energy involves a combination of physical feeling and imagination. First, let's look at our 5 most familiar senses - touch, taste, smell, hearing, and vision. These are ways to sense with your physical body. You also have a spiritual body. This body has it's own set of senses. These spiritual senses correspond with the physical ones. So, you have a sense of spiritual touch, taste, smell, hearing and vision.

The Hands. Energy moves very well through the hands, so first let's learn to sense energy with the hands. First, notice how wonderfully sensitive your hands are. The palm of your hands are covered in nerve endings. Slide your fingernails very lightly against your palm - notice the sensation. You may feel a tingling feeling throughout your hand. Notice the rest of your body - you may also feel the sensation all the way up your arm.

Hand Position 1. Next, place your hands palms together, in a prayer-like position, at the heart, pressing into your sternum. Focus your attention at that place, beneath the heart. Notice how alive you are. Notice your eyes. Notice your breath, swelling in and out. This feeling of aliveness is your subtle energy. Picture it, if it helps, as white or golden light.

The Breath. Once you have a strong sense of this swelling energy within, breathe in, focusing on the heart, and when you breathe out, picture the energy moving from your heart, down your arms and into your hands, still in the prayer position. By visualizing this, you are telling the energy to move. Notice how this feels. You may feel a slight intensity, warmth, or tingling in your hands.

Hand Position 2. Breathe a few times, and then allow your hands to move very slightly apart -perhaps a quarter-inch. Continue sending the energy down your arms and into your hands. Now, each time you breathe out, notice what it feels like between your palms. Try moving one hand, very slightly, up and down. See if you can feel the energy moving with it. Wait, breathe, and observe.

Hand Position 3. Energy moves with particular intensity through the fingers, so now tilt one hand palm facing down, so that your fingers face the other palm (see image 3). Move your hand up and down slowly, combing your palm with the energy streaming from your fingertips. Then place your hands in the prayer position again.

Sensing The Aura

The aura is a sphere of energy emanating from the physical body. Everyone has an aura. In this exercise we'll learn to sense it's boundary lines.

It's best to have a partner with this exercise - a person, or a pet (one that is sleeping or will hold still).

• Stand several feet away from your parnter.
• Place your hands palms together, and feel the energy coming into them.
• Imagine your partner is standing inside a large bubble. This bubble represents the boundary-line of the aura. Walk toward your partner with your hands in front of you, as if you were going to reach out and touch the bubble.
• At the point you reach the aura, you will feel you have stepped into your partner's "personal space." You may feel a pressure in the hands. Or, you may simply feel a slight psychological resistance toward moving any further.
• Pull back a bit, then step forward again until you feel the resistance once more.

You can experiment, and see what else you pick up. Run you palms along the outside of the aura, and see if you can sense any increase or decrease in pressure or temperature. Don't try to fix anything right away, just see if you notice anything.

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If, when doing these exercises you didn't experience a whole lot, don't dispair. You are surrounded by sources of stimulus both within yourself and your environment already. Sometimes it takes a few tries to recognize what it exactly that you feel. And, if you felt "nothing," well, ask yourself: are you sure? I believe anyone can learn this, if they want to. Trust yourself! Energy is part of who you are.

See also: "Energetic Protection and Cleansing," and "The Basics of Energy Healing."