All posts by : Deborah King

Anyone on the path toward enlightenment already knows that meditation is an essential part of the process. In addition to being necessary for expanding your consciousness, meditation has a whole host of benefits from calming stress to lowering your blood pressure to clearing your chakras to improving your energy healing abilities, and many, many more. But what if you can’t do it? What happens when meditation seems to stop working, or when it feels like a chore rather than a blessing? How can you jumpstart or retrieve your meditation motivation?

Let me first and foremost assure you that you can meditate! If you are reading this, you are capable. Like any skill, it takes practice and determination, and a little guidance from an experienced instructor like me. As a spiritual teacher and energy healer, I’ve been training my students in meditation techniques for decades as part of my energy medicine workshops and healing courses.

Everyone goes through periods when maintaining their meditation practice isn’t as joyful or fulfilling, and you may have problems that many share. But meditation is crucial to your health and happiness, so I’ve put together a list of some of the most common meditation pitfalls and how to counteract each bump in the road in the hope that meditation will become an indispensable part of your life.

Pitfall #1: Time.

In this frantic, life-at-the-touch-of-a-smart-phone-button culture, it can be hard to find the time to slow down and meditate. In fact, it’s darn near impossible. That’s why you must make time.

You do not have to set aside hours upon hours for meditation like yogis or monks—they don’t have day jobs. Just twenty minutes at a time, preferably twice a day, is all it takes to reap the rewards of meditation.

Solution #1: Schedule meditation until it becomes routine.

Add meditation to your calendar like it’s any other important event because it is! It takes about three weeks to turn an activity into a habit, so for three weeks, block off the time and set a meditation reminder on your phone. Sit on the same cushion or chair for each meditation and create a safe space free from distractions that, upon entering, sends signals to your brain that it’s meditation time.

The best time to meditate is when you first wake up in the morning. Before you check your email or read the news, before you’ve even had your cup of coffee, take a few minutes to ground yourself to the earth, reset your body, mind, and energy field for the day ahead. If you find that you drift back to sleep when meditating this early, try a mid-morning meditation break instead. Your second meditation of the day should be before dinner, but after work. Let this meditation be your transition between the hectic rushing around of errands, projects, phone calls, and whatever else your day throws at you, and the slower pace of evening.

Making time for meditation will eventually become habitual. How often do you forget to brush your teeth before bed? I’d wager not often, because you know it’s good for you and it’s ingrained in your nighttime routine. The goal is to make meditation as automatic as polishing those pearly whites.

Pitfall #2: Doubt.

This particularly devious pitfall can strike at any level at any time; even the best are not immune to this niggling little pest. Doubt conjures up thoughts like, Nothing is happening. Is this working? Am I meditating right? This is silly. What is supposed to be happening? Shouldn’t I be feeling something? I must be doing this wrong, and on and on and on. Doubt creates a cycle of self-sabotage in your mind and convinces you that meditation is the problem, not the solution, which is of course, absurd.

Solution #2: Be gentle with yourself.

Learning to meditate is not a race—there is no prize for getting to the finish line the fastest. In fact, there is no finish line. Meditation is a long-form art, a lifelong pursuit that can take some warming up to, but there’s no need to rush. Don’t beat yourself up if it feels like nothing is happening. Trust me, energy healing and emotional processing are taking place. Simply do the work: show up each day and sit, breathing, and do your best. Allow yourself the time to notice the benefits. Meditation will get easier the more you do it, so don’t let your doubts keep you from a practice that will change your life if you stick with it.

Pitfall #3: Physical discomfort.

Maybe once you’re sitting, you realize that your neck hurts from the computer or your back from driving so much. Maybe you just have trouble sitting still, your muscles tense and jittery, bouncing up and down or twitching. Whatever the source, it is not uncommon to feel some physical discomfort when you first start meditating. If you experience severe pain, you should see a professional to help determine if there are conditions that need to be addressed, but plain old restlessness or mild discomfort will resolve in time.

Solution #3: Focus on your mantra.

If you have a mantra to focus on, it will take you away from your body in just a few minutes. If you don’t you’ll want to get one from me – I’ll give you one calibrated to your energy field. https://deborahking.b.smartzsites.com/meditate After a while, sitting will become more comfortable, and your body will begin to associate relaxation with meditation.

Pitfall #4: Emotional discomfort.

Meditation connects you to the deeper levels of your psyche and can release emotions that have been previously kept under wraps. This is one of the reasons meditation is so complementary to energy healing, but when you hit one of those periods when feelings are flying to the surface every time you begin your practice, it can keep you from wanting to close your eyes and meditate.

Solution #4: Focus on your mantra.

During meditation, your job is to simply be. So instead of focusing on those emotional currents churning inside you, turn your attention toward your mantra. Be sure to journal about those feelings later, and be thankful for the opportunity to process your emotions. As you know, releasing old negative feelings is important for keeping your chakras and energy field clear, and meditation facilitates that healing process.

Pitfall #5: Giving up.

Your meditation can’t get better if you stop doing it! Just like you wouldn’t start an exercise routine and expect immediate results, you must give meditation time to effect change in your life. If you give up, you will miss out on all the amazing benefits of meditation.

Solution #5: Don’t give up!

I understand how frustrating it is to come up against seemingly insurmountable obstacles while trying to maintain your meditation practice, but don’t give up! Meditation is the most rewarding personal practice you can do. No other single activity can do so much to increase your all-around well-being as meditation. Keep at it and I promise, you’ll thank the universe you persevered.

To learn more meditation tools of the trade, please check out my meditation workshops and energy healing courses!

Are you cruising in the fast lane of the spiritual highway? Would you like to be?

If you’re type A like I am, then you are always looking for better, faster, more efficient ways to accomplish your goals, even when seeking the light. Everyone must travel their own road to expanded consciousness and connection to Source, but you can merge into the far left lane at any time and speed up a little, as long as you’re safe.

Safe is the key word here—you never want to force yourself into any type of energetic advancement because it won’t stick and it could actually be harmful. But, if you’re cautious and determined, you can jumpstart your spiritual progress with a few essential activities that will improve your life in every way.

1. Practice Meditation.

Meditation is the firmest foundation on which to build your spiritual temple. Done properly, meditation has so many benefits it almost seems like magic. It lowers stress, improves sleep, relaxes tense muscles, reduces blood pressure, improves focus and concentration, boosts immunity, and calms the mind and body. Meditation has also been shown to be incredibly effective in treating emotional imbalances, anxiety, and depression. And those are just some the mental, emotional, and physical advantages of a healthy meditation practice.

When you learn to meditate with an experienced spiritual teacher, the benefits jump to new heights. Meditation can help expand your consciousness and bring you to more advanced levels of awareness, help you better connect to the universal field, and prepares you for initiations—the process of, with the help of a facilitator, your energy field moving up to a higher vibration. Meditation can also activate spiritual gifts and talents that have lain dormant, including clairvoyance, heightened intuition, telepathy, astral travel, even the gift of healing!

I can tell you with certainty that without meditation, I would not have made it to where I am today. Meditation grounds and centers you, connects you to Spirit and quiets the external thoughts so you can explore your deepest self. Twenty minutes, twice a day, and you will feel the transformation meditation has on all aspects of your being, I promise.

2. Practice Energy Healing.

Attending healing courses and workshops is by far the fastest way to reach higher levels of consciousness and speed up your spiritual progress. It seems that each workshop I do vibrates at an even higher level than the last and the collective energy of the group can lift you off your feet. This energy makes healing courses and workshops fertile ground for removing vectors and cords, clearing chakras, and initiations.

Whether you participate in an online or in-person healing course, they can help you pinpoint which of your chakras is not functioning optimally and guide you to make the necessary adjustments to correct your energy flow. This is why energy healing workshops can fast-track your spiritual development—a master healer and spiritual teacher like me can remove negativity in one day that would take you much longer to process on your own.

Now, of course, after you go home from an energy healing session, you still must do the work to maintain the clarity in your chakras and your personal field, but an energy healer can kickstart that process for you.

The other great thing about energy medicine is that when you are training to become an energy healer, you cannot help but get healed yourself. You must be in alignment with you higher self, your guides, the earth, and Spirit in order to effect any real healing, so you must constantly be checking on your own field and keeping up habits that will keep your energy field clear and charged. Journaling to express your true emotions, grounding yourself to Mother Nature by spending time outside, and of course, meditation, should all be part of your spiritual repertoire. Just like brushing your teeth, cleansing your energy field should be a part of your daily routine.

3. Practice Meditation and Energy Healing Together.

Utilize both practices concurrently to get the most out of each. Meditation and energy healing act as supports for each other, like tree branches that grow together, twisted and wrapped around each other so that if you removed one, the other would weaken. Together, those branches are stronger, tougher, more stable, and so will be your spiritual roots if you practice both meditation and energy healing on a regular basis.

Energy healing removes the negativity from your field so that the transformative energy brought to you in meditation has a place to settle. Meditation shores up your base so that you can be initiated to higher levels, and energy healing clears away the emotional underbrush so you can grow enough to be ready for those higher levels. The two practices are linked in a symbiotic relationship, each helping the other be a better version of itself and making the sum greater than its parts.

If you meditate and participate in energy healing, you will be making huge spiritual leaps and bounds on your personal path to light. Before you know it, you’ll be cruising down the spiritual highway in a convertible, singing your favorite song and swaying in the wind, knowing you are doing good work.

If you would like to learn more about boosting your spiritual evolution through meditation and energy healing, you’ll want to check out my Hay House LifeForce Energy Healing Online Certification Course, which teaches you how to heal yourself and others, and certifies you in the exciting field of energy medicine!

How many times have you been aching and feverish in bed, or coughing and shivering with a cold, and wished that you could avoid getting sick ever again? Probably every time—I sure do! Being sick is harmful in so many ways. Even minor illness like flus and colds wreak havoc on your body and your energy field, and the negative side effects of sluggishness, soreness, and slowed mental capacities last for days after you start feeling better.

Your Body and Energy Field Are Inextricably Linked

If you’re taking my Hay House LifeForce Energy Healing Online Course or otherwise know about energy medicine, you know that your body was created from your human energy field. In fact, your personal energy field existed before your body and held the template for your physical body which then manifested when you were born. This means your energy field and your body are inextricably linked, so when your body is affected by an illness or injury, it’s reflected in your chakras and your personal energy field. Repairing any weaknesses or imbalances in your energy field will support the corresponding issues in the body. This is the foundation of energy healing.

When Something Feels “Off”

Unlike traditional western medicine, energy healers like me can sense illness well in advance of when it appears in your body. You can probably sense it, too. When you feel “off,” but medical doctors can’t find a cause, it’s often because the problem in your field hasn’t yet physically manifested. If left untreated, a distorted chakra or other disruption of your energy flow will eventually show up as sickness of varying degrees, depending on the severity of the energy block.

If you think about it, what this means is that illness is essentially psychosomatic—a bodily reaction produced by the mind. Now, I don’t mean to say that your pain or ailment is imaginary or “all in your head.” It is much more complicated than that.

Consciousness Creates Sickness

Your consciousness interacts with your body through your energy field, so your thoughts, feelings, attitudes, and everything that makes up your current self affects both your body and your energy field since both are connected to that consciousness.

Your thoughts and feelings directly impact your energy field, which we have already established directly impacts your body. Then it follows that since your consciousness affects your body, all illness is self-inflicted, though not intentionally of course. I see it all the time as a spiritual teacher, negative thoughts and feelings really can and do make you sick if you do not process and deal with them.

Avoid Sickness by Keeping Your Field Clear

With this powerful insight, you now know that to avoid feeling physically sick, you need to maintain the health of your energy field. Generally, attending healing courses, journaling to express your true emotions, and daily meditation can go a long way in keeping your chakras clear and charged. But to delve even deeper into the state of your energy field, you’ll want to understand the levels of the field, and the specific characteristics and influences of each.

There are seven main levels of your energy field, listed below. These levels interpenetrate each other and your body and extend beyond your physical form. Each level reaches out a few inches past the previous one and is a step higher in vibration—like a higher octave.

Reach New Levels of Understanding

Each level feels and looks a certain way when it is healthy, and when it is over- or under-charged. It does take practice to learn to sense the state of these energy levels, but with some training from an energy healer, you’ll eventually be able to perceive the health of all seven levels of your own and others’ energy fields!

The seven levels of the field are explained in detail in my Hay House LifeForce Energy Healing Online Course, including how each level should appear and feel when it is operating optimally and when it has been weakened, which areas of your life are impacted by each level, and, most importantly, how energy medicine can improve the health of all seven levels, but here is a brief overview.

The Seven Levels of the Field

1. Etheric body. This level is the closest to your body, just a few inches beyond your skin. This level is associated with pain and pleasure, and is the easiest to self-assess. This level is all about the physical: your senses and your body experiencing life.

2. Emotional body. This level is a mirror for your feelings about yourself. When you don’t love yourself enough, this level can look dirty like smog. If you do have a lot of self-blame, or self-shame, energy healing can help lift your self-esteem and clear up this level of your field.

3. Mental body. This level governs learning and focus, and tends to be relatively strong in modern cultures. We tend to be intellectually motivated, often so much that we forget or ignore our emotions and “gut” reactions.

4. Astral level. This is the level that is associated with your relationship to everything in the universe, everything outside yourself. If this level is weak, you may avoid intimacy and have difficulty with relationships.
5. Etheric template. This level is so important—it holds the blueprint for your physical form and is the level that connects to divine will. If you feel as if you are disconnected from many aspects of your life, this level may need some work.
6. Celestial body. This is the level associated with divine love, and, when healthy, looks like gorgeous streams of rainbow-colored light. Meditation is especially effective for charging this level, and without a strong sixth level, it will be difficult for you to have the spiritual experiences you’re seeking.
7. Causal body. Think of this level like a golden egg around your body—a protective coating that keeps your energy field safe and contained.

If you would like to learn more about the seven levels of your energy field and how healthy they—and you—are, check out my Hay House LifeForce Online Energy Healing Online Course, which will teach you how to heal yourself and others, and certifies you in the exciting field of energy medicine!

In my three decades of experience as a master energy healer and spiritual teacher, I have found that most people have several chakras that are blocked or dysfunctional in some way. Unless you have done a tremendous amount of personal work and emotional processing, it is likely that one or more of your chakras is not functioning properly, which can create a wide array of health problems from headaches to cancer.

Just like you’d want to know your genetic risk factors for illness, you probably want to know where the “trouble areas” in your energy field are too. So how can you find out which of your chakras needs a little (or a lot) of repair work? And even more importantly, how can you heal those parts of yourself that need mending?

An Energy Buffet

First, let’s quickly review what a chakra is. Chakras are energy centers that are powered by your emotions; they funnel energy in and out between your personal field and the unified field beyond. This unified field surrounds and interpenetrates everything in the universe, and when your chakras are clear and balanced they draw energy from that universal field to replenish and nourish your personal field. When your chakras are spinning the wrong way or not at all, you do not receive the revitalizing energy you need.

Think of it this way—your energy field needs to be fed, and the universal field serves a twenty-four hour, unlimited buffet of food. But if your chakras are off-kilter and blocking new energy from being absorbed, your energy field suffers from malnourishment, and consequently, your mind and body suffer as well.

Chakras as Energy Barometers

The seven bodily chakras are aligned along your spinal cord from your root chakra at the base of your spine to the crown chakra at the top of your head. You also have higher chakras above your head that connect you to your higher self and the Divine, but in order to reach that point, you must first clear and balance the seven main chakras. This is one of the most important steps in making spiritual progress, as these chakras directly impact your physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing.

Chakras are like a barometer for your energy field—the activity in your chakras reflects the activity in your energy field, which then manifests in your body. Therefore, monitoring the movement in your chakras and catching any disturbances can avoid illness before it has a chance to manifest in the body. Energy healing has the amazing ability to remove a blockage in your field before it causes any physical symptoms!

Beyond the barometer function of measuring your field and forecasting sickness, chakras actually influence all aspects of your health. When dysfunction in your chakras is not treated, it eventually appears as illness or injury. The reverse is also true: repairs to the chakras and personal energy field will lead to corresponding repairs in the body. This is how energy medicine works. You can see why it’s so essential to frequently check on the health of your energy field by testing the flow in your chakras!

3 Ways to Test Your Chakras

1. Self-check with my free chakra chart.

You can do a self-evaluation and make a reasonable guesstimate about which chakra is most likely imbalanced by checking your feelings and physical symptoms against my chakra chart. For example, if you problems with blood pressure or asthma, and feel like love is difficult for you, chances are there is some dysfunction in your fourth or heart chakra. My free chakra chart is a great place to get started.

2. Test your chakras with a pendulum.

This can be an effective method for determining the status of each chakra and it’s done with a partner. Have your partner hold the pendulum over each one of your chakras. Pendulums amplify whatever movement is occurring in the chakra itself, so if the movement is lopsided or spinning in the wrong direction, that chakra may need some work. If there is no movement, that chakra may be really blocked, or your partner may be holding the pendulum in the wrong place! Practice makes perfect with this technique, and my Hay House LifeForce Energy Healing Online Course devotes an entire week to teaching you how to test chakras with pendulums so you can become adept at this incredibly useful skill. And if you don’t have the right kind of pendulum for checking chakras, you may want to check this one out. https://deborahking.b.smartzsites.com/blog/2012/06/11/using-a-pendulum-to-check-chakras/

3. Attend energy healing courses or workshops.

This is a great way to really jump start your chakras. At my workshops, we do a lot of personal and group work that effectively clears everybody’s chakras in the room – it’s very powerful!

The main thing to remember is no matter how bad off your chakras are, they can be fixed! Energy healing provides a variety of ways to begin correcting the distortions in your chakras. From self study with my free chart to testing your chakras with a pendulum to workshops, energy healing offers many ways to get clear and stay clear, chakra-wise.

If you would like to learn more about the importance of chakras, energy medicine, and how to discover the “trouble spots” in your energy field, check out my Hay House LifeForce Energy Healing Online Course, a twelve week program designed to teach you how to heal yourself and heal others, plus certifies you to be an official energy healer!

Relationships Are Energy Exchanges

Take a moment to briefly think about every relationship you’ve ever had, or at least as many as you can remember: your parents, your siblings, your aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors, boyfriends and girlfriends, best friends, enemies, competitors, bosses, coworkers, lovers, spouses, children, pets. I’m sure it’s a lot of people!

Now consider the fact that each relationship is an interaction of energy, a push-pull between you and the other person that is often uneven. Usually the imbalance is minor—you give a little more with some people, your kids for example, and take a little more with others, like perhaps your mother. And sometimes you do both within the same relationship at different times, like with your best friend or spouse. That’s natural.

But what happens to that energy you spent in those moments of give-and take interaction, particularly those painful moments when you gave away, by choice or by force, too much of your energy and personal power?

Lost Energy Can Be Reclaimed

That energy—your energy—gets trapped in the time and place it was expended and becomes disconnected from your personal field. Essentially, you lose it. The good news is, it can be reclaimed! There is a shamanic process I use in my energy healing courses that seems simple, but packs a powerful punch, and can be done in about ten minutes per relationship.

In shamanic traditions, there are said to be thin, web-like structures that are impelled outward from the human energy field by emotions and latch on to someone else’s energy field. Through these webs, in every relationship you can leave some of your energy with the other person and some of their energy can get stuck with you. Good or bad, the more emotional the relationship, the more connecting webs of energy between the people, the more potential for personal energy lost.

Sever Those Draining Energetic Bonds

This means that all emotional relationships have the possibility of being draining to your energy field, and therefore your chakras, and the rest of you, will also be drained. This is part of why break-ups and betrayals are so difficult and exhausting—emotionally charged situations literally steal your energy. Due to the energetic and emotional ties, you are also still attached to that person until you sever those energy-sucking bonds.

This is where energy healing can really help. The shamanic technique I teach in my Hay House LifeForce Energy Healing Online Course release the draining emotions associated with that person, return to you your energy from them, and remove any of their negative energy from your field. You will be amazed by the boost in energy and increase in emotional and mental clarity you will experience after you complete this incredible shamanic technique I learned from Carlos Castaneda.

Castaneda’s Shamanic Technique

Now, I know there is a lot of speculation out there as to whether or not Castaneda really studied with the Yaqui shaman Don Juan Matus out in the desert, or if Don Juan even existed at all. I’m sure Castaneda created these characters for the purpose of teaching ancient techniques he stumbled on doing his research in some dusty library. So, whether the tales are true or not doesn’t really matter for our purposes. What I am certain of through my experience as an energy healer and spiritual teacher, is that the practices he teaches do indeed work, and that’s why I want to share them with you.

Don Juan taught Castaneda and his other students how to directly perceive energy, just as energy healing and healing courses and workshops can help you perceive energy. In fact, Castaneda essentially took a lengthy healing course with Don Juan and came out transformed. His ten books exploring psychological and mystical arenas and questioning perception and reality were international bestsellers and heavily influenced popular and spiritual cultures.

Castaneda encourages freeing yourself from limited perceptions and beliefs, and making “the sorcerer’s crossing,” which is a leap forward in spiritual perceptions to expanded consciousness. I encourage the same, as it is the release of those limiting perceptions and opening the gates to higher states that allows for energy healing and spiritual advancement.

Clear Your Memories and Your Chakras

But of all his teachings, it’s the shamanic technique I teach in my Hay House LifeForce Energy Healing Online Course that is the most rewarding. This process has you clear out past memories and the emotions linked to those memories. Any emotional attachments you have to past hurts or wrongs can be released, and the energy you spent during that painful period can be reclaimed and returned to your energy field.

Think back to that list of relationships you made earlier and imagine all the energy you’d get back if you applied this technique to all of them! You can perform this process for anyone in your life, or everyone, as Castaneda was told to do, but even if you only apply the technique to a few core people who have significantly impacted you, the resulting positive effects will be noticeable.

In addition to enhanced clarity, greater energy, and feeling more grounded, if you learn this shamanic technique and reclaim all that lost energy, you will feel younger. This technique helps you fight aging since it is the loss of energy that ages you. This is also great news for anyone who has an illness, as it can also help speed the healing process.

Ideally, you should have a spiritual routine of meditation, journaling, clearing your chakras, and connecting with mother Earth, plus this incredible and effective technique should be added to your regime. You will recapture your personal energy, the vital foundation for your being, and dissolve any and all negative energy drains to the person you focus on during the process. You may need to complete the ten to fifteen minute process a few times for intense or long-term relationships, but eventually you will be completely free of all ties that drain to that person, the past events, and the feelings associated with those events. Can you imagine how much lighter you’ll feel? Trust me, this is a technique you need to learn.

If you would like to find out more about this amazing and life-changing shamanic technique, check out my Hay House LifeForce Energy Healing Online Course, a twelve week program that will teach you all about energy healing and how to heal yourself and others, plus certifies you in the exciting field of energy medicine!

What if I told you there is a way to heal yourself of all types of distress without pills or hospital stays or side effects or surgeries? A painless procedure that has virtually zero recovery time? You’d probably say, “Sign me up!”

Whether your issues are mental, physical, emotional, or spiritual, energy medicine can address the root causes of the illness and heal you completely without touching a scalpel to your skin or even taking any invasive medical tests! As an energy healer and spiritual teacher, I’ve seen energy healing work its magic on tens of thousands of people who walk away from sessions with me healed and restored, with renewed energy and a lightness to their body. From a broken leg to a broken heart, energy healing can help you recover from your condition, and better yet, teach you how to heal yourself.

What Exactly Is Energy Medicine?

Interest in energy medicine is on the rise. Decades ago when I started studying and practicing energy healing, people thought it was pretty “out there” stuff. But over the years, energy medicine has become more and more common, and has gained more respect from the general public. These days, many people know someone who was healed by an energy healer, or have at least heard of this thing called energy medicine. But what is it exactly?

Energy exists all around us, on multiple levels or fields, and interpenetrates every living and non-living thing on this planet and beyond. Humans have their own personal energy fields that mirror what is happening in the body, which means that making changes in your personal energy field can make changes in your physical body. Likewise, changes in your body can affect your energy field. This is how energy medicine works: by tapping into the unified field of all energy, an energy healer manipulates your energy field to heal both your energy and, consequently, your body.

It Just Might Save Your Life

One of the ways you can test the health of your energy field is through the chakras. Your chakras are focal points of energy in your body that reflect the movement of energy in your field. An energy healer can sense where there are blockages or distortions in your chakras, and therefore your energy flow, and then clear the negative energy away so your chakra can function freely as it’s supposed to. This energy exchange that keeps you nourished is vital to all aspects of your health. This is why it’s important to keep your body and energy field free and clear of negative energy. Meditation, journaling, and staying grounded in nature are all good ways to begin the practice of clearing your chakras and allowing energy medicine to begin its healing process.

Whether you are seeking healing for yourself or a loved one, read these three reasons to give energy medicine a try. It just might save your life.

1. Energy medicine heals your whole being.

Your mind, body, spirit, and emotions are like threads weaved together into the tapestry of you. If you pull at one string, the whole structure unravels. If you only treat the physical symptoms of a condition or illness, you’ve left the rest of the person out of the equation. Emotional and spiritual pain can cause physical distress. Like the closed heart chakra contributing to high cholesterol, I’ve seen time and time again the very real effects that feelings can have on the body.

Each aspect of your being affects the other aspects, and traditional western medicine has a one-track mind: physical body issues only. It fails to treat the emotional, spiritual, or mental components of illness, which means it fails to treat the totality of the sick person. Western medicine is good at saving lives when the situation is acute, but energy medicine can prevent a condition from getting that far in the first place.

2. Energy medicine can prevent physical symptoms from developing.

One of the main advantages of energy medicine is its amazing ability to detect illnesses or conditions that are brewing in your energy field long before any symptoms appear in the body. Distortions in your chakras can be revealed through taking healing courses or working with an energy healer, and when they are caught early enough, you may not develop any physical ailments related to that distortion at all. Imagine having your sickness healed before you really even felt sick!

Most medical practitioners would agree that prevention is always the best medicine. Meditation, journaling, and healing courses are all tools to keep you on track, but if your health does become threatened, wouldn’t you want to know about it as soon as possible? Energy medicine allows for the soonest possible detection.

3. Zero negative side effects and almost zero recovery time.

Energy medicine is a painless procedure. Sometimes patients feel a warmth surrounding a physical healing and others find that an emotional healing will release a slew of tears. But there are no invasive procedures performed by faceless doctors in brightly lit and sterile hospital rooms, no stitches or crutches, no weeks of recovery time or tons of prescription pain pills.

Energy medicine works with the body to heal from within, so the physical recovery is minimal. Some patients feel immediately better and walk away from an energy healer like they’ve got clouds under their feet. Others feel a shift that grows and develops over the next few hours or days until the effects have fully unfolded. Either way, you should try to take it easy after an energy healing session, and be sure to drink plenty of water. But that is the extent of the “post-op procedure” and there’s no need to deal with insurance.

Some of the side effects of energy medicine that you might encounter include feelings of joy and relief, a lightened spirit, a sense of freedom, an emotional rebirth, a physical improvement, or any number of positive transitions in your mental, spiritual, physical, or emotional well-being.

Energy medicine has some of the most consistent results with the lowest risks. Why not give it a try?

If you would like to learn more about energy medicine and its boundless healing potential, check out my Hay House LifeForce Energy Healing Online Course, a twelve week program designed to teach you how to heal yourself and others, and certifies you to be an official energy healer!

Are you looking for a better way to interact with a certain someone in your life, or people in general? Does someone you deal with regularly have a behavior that you just can’t figure out, and you wonder what in the world is motivating their actions?

One of the greatest tools I can arm my students with is the knowledge of character types, or characterology, an amazing way to improve all your relationships. Seriously, this information is going to change your life.

Awareness Is the First Step

Characterology, or the study of character and body types, is a practical way of looking at other people that will illuminate their behaviors and motivations. With this deepened perception of others’ tendencies, you will be able to figure out the most effective way to deal with them in all kinds of situations. As an added benefit, once you have mastered using this tool to observe others, you can use it to examine your own patterns of thinking and behaviors and open up new levels of self-awareness, an essential component of spiritual advancement.

As a spiritual teacher and energy healer, I can tell you that all spiritual progress is born out of awareness. That’s why a daily meditation practice, staying in touch with your emotions, and taking healing courses to clear your chakras are all necessary elements in any spiritual journey. I am always guiding my students towards methods to increase their awareness, and understanding character structures is an excellent one.

The Link Between Trauma and Body Shape

In the last century, there have been many discoveries about the ways thought, behavior, physical body structures, energy fields, chakras, and illnesses are all interconnected. Practitioners of energy medicine and psychologists have independently identified some of the links, and, of course the ancients knew this without the need for studies, but it was Austrian psychiatrist Wilhelm Reich who first posited that childhood traumas, and the defenses created in response to those traumas, can actually affect the shape of your body.

Reich realized that many of his patients who had grown up with similar situations tended to develop similar body types, and patients who had similar body types tended to also have similar psychological patterns. He noted that people seemed to fit into five categories, which he named using terms that were popular for psychological discourse in his day: Schizoid, Oral, Psychopath, Masochist, and Rigid.

Don’t be worried by these dramatic names, and rest assured that they are not literal! If you (or someone you know) is a Psychopath in this character structure system, it does not mean you are really psychopathic!

Energy Field Distortions Create Physical Distortions

These character types are essentially defense mechanisms created as responses to traumas in your childhood. When a child experiences a trauma, they often block or repress their feelings. When the emotions are suppressed instead of expressed, they create a structure or system that allows for the child to deal with the world more easily. This defense pattern is designed to keep the child “safe,” though that safety is a façade because the defense itself perpetuates the behavior-response model it seeks to avoid. When this method of response to the world becomes habitual, it affects the structure of that person’s energy field and consequently, their physical body.

One of the tenets of energy healing is that your body is made from the energy in your personal field. When the energy field is sick, the body becomes sick, too, and when you heal your energy field, you can heal the body. It would make sense then, that a persistent distortion in your energy field could cause a distortion in your physical shape, and that similar distortions in different people caused by similar traumas would create similar body types.

Each of the five character types is formed at a specific developmental age from a specific type of trauma, and each has its own set of issues and goals, mottos and physical builds. Here is just a glimpse of the wealth of insight characterology provides.

1. The Schizoid

The schizoid feels unsafe and often tries to disconnect from the physical world. This internal struggle can manifest as a seemingly disconnected physical body, including weak joints. Schizoids are often tall and thin and some have twisted spines and/or asymmetrical or lopsided features or limbs.

2. The Oral

The Oral feels deprived. Often they feel an inner emptiness that they are constantly trying to fill. They are terrified of rejection and abandonment and are prone to depression and fatigue. The Oral’s physical form appears sluggish, with weak legs, hunched shoulders, and flaccid muscles. The Oral body tires quickly and may have low metabolism.

3. The Psychopath

The Psychopath feels betrayed, and has difficulty trusting anyone. The psychopath responds with aggression toward the world, often disguised, and this character type can be attractive and charming with compelling eyes. Watch for the slump of an overburdened soul, and back or joint problems to identify a Psychopath. Heart issues can also be a concern.

4. The Masochist

The Masochist feels trapped and defeated, unable to express their true self. They hold everything inside which fuels their anger, and as a result, their energy field becomes inflated. This energy pattern creates a heavy and compact body with big muscles and a short neck.

5. Rigid

Rigids fear vulnerability and are determined to squash their true self as a result of that self being rejected in early childhood. This constant “keeping up appearances” mode creates a stiff posture with a straight and erect backbone and a head held high.

Character types are so much more complex and multi-dimensional than I can cover in a blog post, but I hope this brief overview has given you a taste of how helpful this information can be in deciphering other people’s actions and becoming more aware of your own behavior or feelings. When you grasp character structures, you can begin to predict actions and responses from others, and learn the best approach to take with different types to improve every single one of your relationships, including with yourself.

I discuss each of these character types in much more detail and show you how to apply this knowledge to improve your day-to-day relationships in my current LifeForce Energy Healing® I Online Course, which is a twelve week program designed to teach you how to heal yourself and others, and certifies you in the exciting field of energy medicine!

If you’re on the path to higher consciousness, you have likely heard a great deal about the importance of keeping yourself and your energy field clear of negative energy. But how do you know for sure if your energy field is clear and strong, or if there are imbalances or blockages that need correcting?

Of course, you can take healing courses or workshops or meet with an energy healer to have your chakras read. A practitioner of energy medicine can determine where your flow is blocked or crimped like a hose and keeping your energy from streaming freely. You can also learn to read your own chakras by using an old and powerful tool: the pendulum.

The pendulum is an incredible way to diagnose imbalances in your chakras so you can continue your work of ridding your whole being from negativity. A pendulum can even connect you to your higher self!

Here are five things you need to know about pendulums:

1. The Type Does Matter

A pendulum is technically any weighted object connected to a fixed point by a string or cord so it can swing easily in all directions. I recommend you use a conical beech wood pendulum rather than a crystal or metal pendulum for these purposes. You’ll get the best results.

Keep the pendulum close to you for a few days; carry it around in your pocket and sleep near it at night so it begins to resonate with your specific energy. The pendulum acts as an amplifier for your energy, so the more it is in tune with you, the more accurate the readings and revelations you’ll get from it. Be sure to bless the pendulum each time you use it, and if you happen to get a used pendulum, don’t attempt to use it until it’s been cleared of all energy attached to the previous owner.

2. Get In Touch With Your Unconscious

Once you have let your pendulum soak up your energy, it’s time to test it and learn its signals. The best way to try this is to ask a series of questions that you know the answer to. To get a response from the pendulum, hold the cord between your thumb and forefinger and let the wood cone hang down, not touching or resting on any surfaces. Keeping your arm and hand still, ask a question, the answer to which is definitely “yes,” like your name or the city you live in. Observe which way the pendulum moves—clockwise, counter-clockwise, or side-to-side. This movement will always mean yes. Repeat the process with “no” questions.

When you have a baseline for yes and no, you can start asking questions that your conscious mind doesn’t know the answers to, but your unconscious mind does.

3. Connect to Your Higher Self

In the same way you can get yes or no questions answered by your unconscious, you can also get answers from your higher self. It’s important to center and ground yourself beforehand with meditation and/or a walk in nature. Then, relax, open your mind, and ask that your higher self help you in guiding the pendulum. Let your guides and higher self know that you would like their assistance, and then be sure to remain open and available to their influence.

Clear your mind so you are only focused on the question at hand. You don’t want to indirectly influence the response by letting your personality or conscious mind get in the way. Let the advice and wisdom of your higher self tell you whatever you need to know.

4. Determine the Condition of Your Chakras

When your chakras are blocked or distorted, it can manifest in all kinds of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual distress, so you want to keep them as clear and open as possible. In order to maintain the health of your chakras, you have to know how they’re moving so you can figure out where there are distortions or imbalances. In other words, you have to know the problem before you can treat it, and that’s where the pendulum comes in.

It’s best to have a partner help you with this process, and you’ll want to test your pendulum for accuracy with the yes no questions before you try to read chakras. When you’re ready, hold the pendulum about four to six inches above each chakra and observe its movements. It may take a minute for the pendulum to pick up enough energy to being moving, so try to be patient and remain clear and receptive.

If the pendulum spins clockwise, that means the chakra is open and balanced. If the pendulum spins counterclockwise, that indicates a blockage or negative energy associated with that chakra, possibly from emotional trauma. If there is no movement, that could mean the pendulum is in the wrong location on the body, or it could mean the chakra is closed-off.

A pendulum will find distortions and imbalances so you can fully understand the condition of your chakras, and your energy field.

5. Anyone Can Learn

One of the best things about pendulums is that anyone can learn how to use them. The more you use it, the better you will be at understanding its messages. Just like learning any new skill, practice and patience are necessary, but the rewards are immense.

Pendulums are powerful tools, and used correctly, can give you great insight into yourself and others. As an energy healer and spiritual teacher, I have seen energy healing change lives dramatically, and it starts with finding the blocks in your field, and then ripping them out at the roots. A pendulum is one of the first steps on the road to healing, health, and happiness.

If you want to begin accessing the power of pendulums, you can buy one here. If you would like to learn how to reach even higher levels of insight with pendulums, and enter the life-changing world of energy healing, you might be interested in my Hay House Online Video Course, now live! It teaches you how to heal yourself and others, PLUS certifies you in the field of Energy Healing!

Accidents are part of life. You’ve probably done things like bake a cake using salt instead of sugar or left your car windows open during a rainstorm. Sometimes small mishaps are totally random—you happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time—but more often than not, “accidents” occur in order to call your attention to something important that may be damaging to your health, like wake-up calls from the universe. Large “accidents” like an injury or trauma are particularly strong warning signs from the cosmos. It’s up to you to decide if you’re going to heed those warnings and snap out of the detrimental behavior.

Hello? You might be in trouble.

What is usually the first thing that goes through your mind when you realize you’ve left the oven on overnight or drove two hours in the wrong direction because you were on your phone and missed a turn? First, you probably get angry with yourself for forgetting to check that all appliances are off before going to bed, or allowing yourself to get so distracted while driving. Second, you probably make some sort of vow not to do it again. Imagine if that vow not to text while driving is just in time to prevent you from getting in a near-fatal car wreck or hitting a pedestrian? Even these small mishaps can help you be more aware of a behavior that is currently a potential hazard, like texting while driving, or help you notice an action, like leaving your oven on, that could possibly become unsafe down the road, especially if it is part of a larger pattern of repeating types of accidents.

How do you know when an accident isn’t really an accident?

Even small occurrences are not just accidents. Maybe you just happened to step in dog doo. But when it “just happens” to your new expensive shoes that you really couldn’t afford, perhaps the wake-up call is a reminder that material goods aren’t as important as peace of mind. Or if you trip on a curb trying to walk and read your phone at the same time after a long day in which everything has gone wrong, it might be a sign that you need to slow down.

Use your gut to determine the meaning of the early warning sign. Does it make you zero in on some activity or mental state that might not be in your best interests? If you spill milk on your outfit, knock over the trash can with your car, and then get rear-ended on the way to work, your Higher Self is trying to tell you something. Are you too stressed to concentrate properly and need to meditate or take a rest day to reset your system? Are you distracted by an emotional issue that needs to be addressed?

 
Deal with the underlying issue.

If you have recently had an unfortunate occurrence, and especially if you’ve had a progression of small accidents, you may want to figure out how to tackle the root problem. Journaling can help you access ignored emotions that may be creating roadblocks in your chakras, therefore affecting your health and wellbeing. Writing your true feelings can release the negativity, and help each chakra to flow in the right direction. Meditation can significantly reduce your stress and increase concentration, productivity, and happiness. Meditation also makes you generally more aware of yourself and your surroundings, which will make you less prone to accidents.

Big accident equals big wake-up call.

All large accidents are messages designed to grab your attention and snap you out of a behavior pattern that is no longer serving your best interests.

I’ll give you an example from my energy healing work. I had a student named Cora who, when her mother developed terminal cancer, moved to her mother’s home, vowing to stay there until the end. While her motive was altruistic, in fact, her own husband and children needed her.

One evening as she drove back to see her husband and kids, she skidded in an oily puddle on the highway and crashed into the concrete divider. Cora wasn’t seriously hurt, but she was shaken to her core. She realized how much worse the accident could have been, and she realized her life was not worth risking, trying to be the ideal daughter. This accident illuminated how stressed she was, and woke her up enough to get her back on track. There was a way for Cora to be supportive to her mom, without totally abandoning her obligations to her other family members and herself.

Illness is no accident.

As a spiritual teacher and energy healer, I often see people like Cora who have unexamined emotional issues that have created destructive behavioral patterns. Some attendees at my healing courses have such deep wounds in their energy fields that their wake-up calls have come in the form of a serious illness or injury. One of my biggest wake-up calls from the universe was my own diagnosis of cancer in my twenties. Hearing that I had the big C forced me to reevaluate the harmful actions I was engaged in: drinking, drugs, and promiscuity, and through journaling, meditation, and energy medicine, I was able to deal with my suppressed emotional issues so that I could live a life in light rather than darkness.

An accident could save your life.

When accidents happen to you, whether they are large or small, from falling down the stairs to a terrifying car crash, try not to beat yourself up. Instead, recognize that the universe is trying to take care of you and keep you safe and healthy. That accident is saying, “Hey, you. Listen up.” If you heed these warnings and examine your behaviors to find the problem, you can make a change that just might save your life!

There is a leader inside of you. Yes, you!  In spite of any shyness, or feelings of inadequacy at a task as large as leading others, or doubts and questions like, “How can I possibly make a difference in the world?” you can learn to inspire others. And that’s what true leadership is all about.

Too often we think of leaders as people in positions of power: presidents, CEOs, managers, directors, kings. While it’s true that one definition of a leader is someone who is in charge of others, another, purer definition is someone whom people follow. If you can inspire people to follow your lead, you are a leader, whether you are a CEO or senator, or not.

Inspiration comes in many shapes and sizes, and anyone can be a leader. A leader is simply someone who has done the requisite work to get to know themselves, has thoughtfully and consciously formed their core values and beliefs, and is fully committed to those values and willing to stand up for them. Who can you think of who fits that description?

You’re probably thinking of people like Martin Luther King Jr., Ghandi, Jesus, or Mother Teresa, who were all, of course, great leaders who prompted changes that have rippled out through generations. But there are lesser sung leaders, too. Think of a man who organizes his entire neighborhood together to build a community garden, or a little girl who campaigns to convince the school board to donate all leftover cafeteria food to the local homeless shelter. Everyday people can become leaders and effect change in large and small ways, and you can, too.

The first step to finding your inner leader is to find your true self. This requires some self-discovery. You must delve into your soul to fully understand who you are and what you stand for. What is your higher purpose? What are your core values? Why are they important to you? The better you understand your belief system, the easier it will be to ensure that your actions match your words. No one likes a dishonest or hypocritical leader.

Because you are the only person who can define your personal convictions, take some time to get to know yourself! Journal each night before you go to bed and write out all your deepest fears, your greatest joys, your hopes and aspirations. Meditate daily and open your consciousness to your highest self. Meditation not only calms the mind and spirit, but allows us access to our higher selves and the unified field beyond. If you have trouble connecting to your higher self or purpose, there may be blockages in your chakras that need to be dissolved. Healing courses or working with a spiritual teacher can help open the doors to your true self, and clear any obstacles between you and your inner leader.

Once you are attuned to your higher self and purpose, you can begin to inspire others by exhibiting your passion. Suze Orman, financial guru, has said that you can’t inspire others if you’re not inspired yourself. You have to care about your mission deeply. Perhaps you want to effect change on a personal level with a goal like losing weight; or maybe you’ve set your sights on starting a business or running for local office. I gave up practicing law when I realized my passion lay in energy healing, and even after assisting in the transformation of tens of thousands of people over the years, my desire to continue this work has never waned.

Whatever your ultimate purpose, passion is a key ingredient for leadership. How are you going to motivate yourself to exercise each day if you’re not passionate about feeling healthier? How can you expect your townspeople to vote for you if you’re not showing your enthusiasm for the betterment of the city? In order to be a leader who inspires others to action, your actions must inspire them, or yourself as the case may be. Without passion there is no inspiration, and without inspiration there’s no leadership. But if you’ve connected with your authentic self and are truly committed to your goal, your fervor will no doubt get people moving.

Your inner leader must also demonstrate unwavering intention. Did everyone listen to civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. or Mahatma Ghandi the first time they spoke out against injustice? No. Leadership takes more than a fleeting impulse—it takes a solid commitment. Ghandi and King both spent time in prison, and were verbally and physically attacked for their convictions, but they did not respond in kind. Instead, they continued to practice their protests with grace and demonstrated forgiveness for their assailants. Hardship is a test of a leader’s dedication, and great leaders like King and Ghandi don’t compromise their values even when things get tough. That’s why thousands of people trusted and followed them. Each man’s commitment to his authentic self and higher purpose could not be derailed, and they inspired thousands of people.

Inspiration brings transformation, and true leaders know that. With a firm foundation in your authentic self and higher purpose, a passionate attitude, and commitment to your beliefs, you can awaken the leader inside you and make significant changes in your life, your household, your community, and beyond.