Exercise 10.2
Energy Sensitivity - Intermediate
Purpose
This exercise carries on where Exercise 10.1 left off. The focus of that exercise was simply to get you to start noticing the energy of thoughts. While this might not seem to be of much value it is important for several including:
- We begin to exercise and further develop our sensitivity and clarity.
- Doing the exercise signals to our minds that we are focused on developing our awareness. This gives our minds a new directive and helps to reinforce it.
- It can help boost our confidence.
In this exercise we will take that a little further, though this also means one must work at attaining a higher state of clarity and a further reduction in the number of thoughts. This process takes time, hence continuing to do exercises like these is an essential component in developing energy sensitivity and improving clarity.
Duration
Minimum 30 minutes with 10 minutes for getting into a meditative state. I recommend at least 30 minutes with no maximum time as you can do this exercise for as long as you can maintain both a meditative state and your focus.
Prerequisites
As mentioned above, this exercise is a continuation of the previous exercise on energy sensitivity, hence I strongly recommend you read the related essay as well as read and do the previous exercise (and the prerequisites for it) a few times before doing this one. Further, if you have had some difficulty in that exercise you should continue to do it until you have had some success before trying this one.
You should also read the Awakening Our Gifts series as it will help you to understand more about how we develop and enhance our natural awareness.
Readings:
- Section 3: Energy Work
Note: The reference to Awakening Our Gifts Part 1, however, you should read the entire six part series. Follow the link at the end of each essay to continue to the next one.
Exercises:
Note: The exercise Improving Our Honesty is included primarily because it includes a section titled Detecting Our Rational Mind Editor (RME). This skill is very important in reading energy as it helps us to notice if our minds are getting in the way of our intuition or inner knowledge. This skill helps us to know if we are getting an accurate impression or if our mind is getting in the way. I strongly recommend that you have done the exercise and read the section on the RME as this will be referenced in the exercise.
Additional Readings:
Background
The focus of the introductory exercise was to raise the level of one's awareness of the energy of thoughts and the emotions they manifest. This not only exercises that aspect of us which is capable of being aware of such vibrations, it also helps to train the mind to get out of the way. Our minds cannot help us be aware of energy, they can only block and/or filter our conscious awareness of it. I cannot understate the importance of both of these if you goal is to improve your sensitivity to energy.
We cannot begin to awaken or develop our inherent gifts if we do not exercise them. In the introductory exercise we try to focus our attention in a way that involves our mind the least. The best way to perceive subtle vibrations is when the mind is quiet and our attention is focused. However, it is the mind that we quieten and not our awareness and the focus I am referring to is not the kind one uses to focus on solving a problem. It is more akin to listening to someone speak with the intent to hear them and understand rather than to reply.
The key to this exercise, even more so than the previous exercise 10.1, is in allowing our awareness to be unencumbered all the while remaining mindful. With practice one gradually alters their minds by peeling away interwoven layers of thoughts that are the norm. In this exercise we will continue along this path of training our minds to allow non-rational perceptions and working on our sensitivity.
Method
Get yourself into a meditative posture so that you are comfortable enough to not be distracted by the need to shift around to get more comfortable and where it is quiet and will not be disturbed. It also helps to meditate when you have time to set aside for it as our minds will often find ways to keep us busy which does not help our meditation.
Before you begin read the exercise through as there is a little preparation involved. Also this way you do not have to stop to read as this will obviously break your focus. It is critical to maintain your meditative posture throughout the exercise.
Step 1
Once you are in a meditative posture I ground, clear your energy and then center yourself so that you are in a balanced and very relaxed state of mind. This is what I do at the beginning of every meditation and by doing it regularly you will find that it takes very little time to do it.
Step 2
When you are fully in a meditative posture and are done grounding, clearing and centering continue to quiet your mind as much as you can. When you have done this place your focus on being and not doing, and not doing includes not thinking or thinking as little as possible. There is no way to explain to you how to quiet your mind though if you still have difficulty in doing so other than by using a mantra to help you narrow your attention down further.
The mantra does not have to be spoken it can also be a single word or thought, though one must be careful and choose as simple a thought as possible. The more complex the thought the more likely one will stir other thoughts. One can use a personal mantra during meditation to focus their minds on something they wish to manifest or a goal to be accomplished; however, in this case we are seeking to quiet the mind so pick something such as "still", "calm" or "relaxed" instead of a goal oriented on. You will know if it is helpful because you will find that you become "stiller" and the mind is less chatty. Pick one that works in this fashion. Over time the word or thought can change, you may even get to the point where you no longer need one.
Continue to silence your mind until you get to the point where you have very few thoughts and are simply being as much as you can. At this point you should no longer be aware of your physical self save perhaps your breathing. This can be a little disorienting as we are used to perceiving through our physicality and it gives the appearance that our consciousness is localized to our head even though it is not. We are capable of being aware through any part of our energy field. Regardless, at this point you should be finding it hard to localize yourself, it is almost as if you are floating in space. Allow yourself to simply be and stay in that "space" floating as best you can.
Step 3
We exist on a number of levels, which are merely different sub-planes of energy. We have the ability to focus our attention on any of them; however, the more our focus lies on the "lower" sub-planes, the harder it is to allow our higher awareness. Further, unless we are born with a greater measure of perception at the higher levels we must exercise these aspects to strengthen them. By withdrawing our attention from our physical aspects we allow our awareness to shifts up. How far it shifts and our degree of perception depends on what "measure" of these awareness' we had and/or have developed.
It is relatively easy to feel the energy a thought manifests if the thought is highly connected as such thoughts tend to trigger a fairly strong emotional reaction. It is one thing to notice the energy that arises from a strong thought or a group of related thoughts and quite another matter altogether to feel or perceive the energy of just the thought(s) itself. Doing this set of exercises helps develop our sensitivity
To that end what I want you to focus on is your being as the most prominent energy you perceive is your own. It is comprised of energies of various types but what we are trying to do is akin to hearing the chord of our spirit rather than a single note. Try to not think about, label or dissect it, just sense or feel it. Allow the perception to just be there and continue to do so for a while so that you become more accustomed to this state of awareness.
As you do this you may perceive a variety of things including visually. Do not try to label them, contemplate what they are or use thoughts if at all possible. We are seeking to get a feel for our own energy to become familiar with it for a number of reasons. Primary among these is it is important to simply come to know what we feel like beyond the clothing that is our mind, our ego.
Continue to just feel whatever energy it is that you are aware of until it is what you are most aware of. That energy will include ambient energies as well as energies radiated from others whether they are just passing by or from people who are thinking of you. That said, the majority of it is you.
Before you do the exercise pick two thoughts, ones that are not complex or abstract. You also want them to be familiar and of the kind that tends to manifest positive or higher energies in you though not ones that will manifest strong energies. A couple that you would categorize as nice or pleasant is sufficient. The reason is there tends to be more thoughts associated with any that bring out a strong reaction in us, though not always. For this exercise we want to work with something with fewer as it is less distracting. We also want to choose something fairly finite to limit the potential for the mind to wander. Thoughts such as mountain, patio, park, eagle, pond or airplane will do, again so long as they do not solicit too strong a reaction in you. Also, the two words should solicit different responses so they should not be related to each other.
After you have become comfortable just being for a period of time all your mind to bring one of the thoughts you picked to your attention. Try to not think the word so much as the "impression" of it. I cannot explain this to you in words, all you can do is try different ways of considering the thought in future runs through this exercise to learn how you do this.
As you allow the thought to be you should notice shifts, you may not be able to quantify or qualify them yet. At this point noticing it or trying to is the key as it was in the previous exercise. Allow this impression to continue for a period of time and feel the energies. Again, do not worry about labelling or categorizing them and let go of any thoughts about it that surface go, we will get to them in due time. After you have done this for a period of time let the thought go and allow yourself to return to just being. Remain in this "space" for a period of time.
Repeat this process one more time by bringing the same thought forward as this helps us to confirm what we perceived the first time. After a time with it let it go as you did earlier and just "be".
Step 4
In this step we are going again bring forward the same thought as in Step 3 except this time instead of just feeling the energy we are going to try to read or get impressions from the energy. Two things to note, first there is no guarantee that the energy being read is the energy of the thought. Second, when we try to do this we must be very careful and monitor our minds editing of what is perceived. There is no way to teach another how to sense the energy of a thought and those associated with it and explore it. The level of sensitivity and openness required is high so it will take practice to develop this aspect of your consciousness.
In this step the focus is tuning into the energy of the thought. Start by allowing the feel of the thought from Step 3 to return and nothing more. Be with the vibration of your thought like you would be with a favourite musical note. Don't analyze it or try to dissect it yet. I want you to be aware of any shifts in your energy when you try to read the thought. Use your awareness of your RME to do this.
Once you have that one thought you chose in your awareness, and it has your full attention or focus, though not in the way that one focuses to say solve a math problem, allow thoughts related to it to surface. If you "get thoughts" that are unrelated it is likely you are not focused enough and your mind is becoming more active consciously. In this case return your attention to just the "feel" of the thought itself and let go of all other concerns. Weed them out one by one if you have to.
If you are getting notions that are related then, figuratively, allow them to present themselves to you. You want to be the observer in this, not the participant as in this situation, the participant I am referring to is our mind or ego. If you notice your RME kicking in then refocus you attention on the energy of the thought and not the thought as we have discussed.
We are capable of "knowing without knowing". The energy will, in a manner of speaking, cloak itself in images or words and all you have to do is listen. Let them have your attention but not take it. You may have pure imaginings about the thought you chose, or memories may pop up, ones possibly forgotten about. It is likely that there will be a number of them. Do not choose one, just allow what you get to be by remaining as unconnected as you can.
Stay in this space for a while and let the impressions flow and when you feel you have been at it for long enough that you feel you have been able to allow without getting your ego involved return to your base state as you did in Step 3. Once again, clear your mind, let the thought go as completely as you can and allow yourself to just be.
Step 5
The first few times you do this you may find that the first three steps are enough. You will know based on your ability to maintain focus. If you can maintain your focus continue with this step otherwise go to Step 6.
This time I want you to bring out the other word you chose. Repeat the same process you did in Step 4, again paying particular attention to your RME. The reason is you may still have the thought from the previous step hanging around or perhaps other thoughts so be mindful of this. If they are still around you should reset and clear your mind of all thoughts and then after you have try again. There is no failing in this exercise for what we are after is practice and what we are practicing is our sensitivity and clarity, Our ability to recognize when our RME kicks in and gets in the way helps us realize when we are getting it our own way.
Remember, you are also developing your familiarity with being in an altered state of awareness. The more often you do this, the comfortable you will become making it easier to slip in and out of this state of awareness. Over the long term this can also enable you to do it when not in a deep meditative state.
As in Step 4 stay in this space for a while and let the impressions flow and when you feel you have been at it for long enough that you feel you have been able to allow without getting your ego involved return to your base state as you did in Step 3. Once again, clear your mind, let the thought go as completely as you can and allow yourself to just be.
Step 6
You are done the exercise but do not end your meditation quickly because it can have a negative effect on you energy and cause some distress. As stated in the essay on Relaxation and Meditation (1):
“Meditation raises your vibrancy rate. As a result, when you are ready to stop and return to normal awareness do so slowly. I start by using my rational mind a little more and reconnecting to my physical body first through perception then through little movements. Depending on how long the meditation is it can take up to ten minutes for me to get back to waking consciousness and be physically active. My focus is on a gradual and relaxed return to waking consciousness, I am mindful of not being in a hurry.”
Follow Up
The challenges with energy sensitivity are being able to get our minds out of the way to allow us to perceive energy in the first place, learning to clear our emotional body of energies that can affect our perception and then learning to trust and accept what we perceive. Each of these takes time to develop. Despite this the challenge, the way we developing our energy sensitivity is akin to how we develop our muscles for any physical activity, we exercise it. The big difference is in the ease of qualifying what we perceive.
We are used to using our eyes, ears and other senses to perceive the world around us. We can see a chair, touch and move it around, for example, which helps us to validate and trust our perception of it. Armed with that trust we do not worry that when we sit down the chair will vanish, move of its own accord or change into some other object. We also can tell one chair from another by the same mechanism. This is easily done with the "gross" matter of the physical plane but is far more difficult when we are dealing with subtle energies. It is somewhat like trying to tell one drop of water from another in a pond.
Even with sensitivity we still need to validate that what we are perceiving is what we "think" it is. How do I know that the energy I am working with is a particular thought and then verify the accuracy of my perception? It is not unlike being in a room illuminated by a number of lights and being able to determine which bulb the light we see is from. In terms of reading energy, we develop the skill or awareness to do so through experience.
Having a teacher or mentor who is sensitive to energy and can validate our perceptions helps (be mindful of who you trust with such a responsibility), as does working with someone else who is also trying to develop theirs. In either case some form of validation also helps, as in writing down the energies one is projecting or trying to manifest (I explained what I used to do in the classes I taught in the essay The Dew Is Thick On The Grass (referenced in the Prerequisites at the beginning of this exercise under Additional Readings).
We can also do this by being both more observant and mindful. For example, if we are mindful we may get an impression or a feeling about someone (perhaps about their emotional state). We should try to remember it and by observing them we may learn that what we thought was the case indeed was.
One important note to remember is that, even when we think we know what energy it is that we are perceiving, we can always be mistaken. Our own thoughts and emotions affect our perceptions, that is unless we can elevate our awareness above our mental level or body. Hence, we must always factor this in when we are perceiving energies.
Nonetheless, practice remains the key ingredient to developing our awareness. As you go forward try not judge yourself for lack of or mistaken perceptions. This is counter productive as it can hamper the development of trust in our sensitivity or even erodes the trust we may have built up already. Remember that developing our awareness is not a race or a contest. Do not be concern yourself with the notion that you may lack to ability to develop your awareness. It takes time to develop such sensitivity and our thoughts can continue to block our perception of subtle energies unlike our physical senses. By this I mean that while thoughts generally do not prevent us from seeing with our eyes we all know that what we notice is certainly affected by what we are thinking.
© 2013 Allan Beveridge
Last updated September 27, 2023
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