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Energy Work: A Tutorial.
Over the course of a few lessons, I will try to teach you as much about energy work as you would need to know to successfully work on your energy body and develop a solid understanding of energy. Before we get started I should state a few things:
1: Most, if not all, of the material I will be presenting comes from two books: Energy Work and Astral Dynamics, both by Robert Bruce. He has over 40 years of personal experience in these fields, and I highly recommend you get and read these books for energy work and astral projection. Astral Dynamics has almost all you'd need to know about energy work in it, but Energy Work has more specific things, and is much smaller. They are very technical and easy to follow, thus great for any beginner.
2: Skipping ahead, doing certain exercises too much or too forcefully can create imbalances mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. These aren't usually dangerous, but you would do well to avoid this as, it will set you back and make certain things unproductive.
3: This won't happen overnight. Almost nothing ever does. However, if you practice regularly, and do it right, you will very likely see extremely rapid improvement in a relatively short time compared to other methods.
4: This method uses no 'visual' visualization. It is supposed to use your sense of touch alone to move energy in your own body, and outside of it as well. People already trained in visualizing things with mental images may find this somewhat difficult to pick up at first. Not everyone will pick up on this immediately, and it is acceptable to start out using a small amount of mental imagery to get started, but you should discontinue that as soon as you possibly can to maximize the benefits of this training.
5: Lastly, everyone is different. As stated before some will pick up instantly, others will have trouble at first. Robert Bruce has taught this to many in personal sessions before ever releasing his books. He states that some people will come across inactive areas, or get no sensations at all in some parts, which are usually the result of blockages. With time these will clear and improve. Consistency is key here: if you give up early on because you don't feel anything, of course you won't get anywhere with it.
That being said, I shall go over the layout of the energy body for you. Your energetic body and its structures are every bit as complicated as your physical body is, and it is linked very intimately with your physical and mental functions. This is why ignoring certain areas or overworking things can lead to imbalances.
You have the 7 chakras, which are well-known enough that I won't waste time covering all of them here, just know that form bottom to top they are located 1: at the base of your spine, located directly underneath your private areas on the lowest part of your torso. 2: located between your belly button and privates, around your pubic bone area. 3: located between your belly button and heart, known as the solar plexus. 4: Near your heart. 5: Between the middle and base of your throat. 6: Located between your eyebrows. 7: Located on top of your head, usually covering a large area around the top of your skull and above your head. These are very powerful and vital to life functions. These should be last structures you work on as imbalances here would be the most severe and unpleasant, though still not very dangerous in terms of physical harm unless one is very stupid about it.
You also have 3 energy storage centers. The first is vitality energy, which gives you the physical energy you use throughout the day. It is located near the solar plexus, just below it and behind the belly button area. The second is emotional energy, and is stored in about the same area as the heart chakra. The third is mental energy, or psychic energy, and it is located in the skull. It is important to note that when grounding you should only directly attempt to fill the first storage center, as it will naturally overflow upwards into the other two. Directly trying to fill the others while skipping the first can lead to imbalances.
You also have 'energy exchange pores' all over your body. This is how the body takes up, gives off, and sense energy all around you. There are certain spots on the body where these pores are very heavily concentrated: The palms of the hands, soles of the feet, genitalia, and mouth. It is interesting to note that these are the areas that you typically interact with the world, to create, destroy, or manipulate your surroundings. These major areas are also where you will be able to take in, project out, and feel energy the easiest. In fact, energy naturally is drawn into your body at all times through your feet, up your legs, into your body, and also up your arms and in, eventually joining stream where your heart and lungs would be and flowing up out of the top of your heard through the 7th chakra, and into your aura.
The chakra system is called the Primary energy system, and the exchange pores and all of the connecting pathways that energy flows throughout your body is the Secondary system. You will be working almost exclusively with the Secondary system in my instructions. As you work on this system and move more energy through your energy body, the pathways with grow larger and stronger, and your body will naturally take up more energy from your surroundings. As this happens, even areas with blockages or inactive parts will start to open and clear, and your Primary system will become more active as well, due to the increased flow of energy. This also has a positive impact on your mental, physical, and emotional health. Someone that exercises and eats well has naturally increased energy, and on the flip side, you're working on your subtle body will increase your health and well-being. If you choose to exercise and eat right while doing this, you will likely see a dramatic improvement, as the two go very well together.
As for the actual technique, it is very touch-based. Two important things to note are that most people get heavy sensations when they first start out, including buzzing, bone-deep tickling, hot or warm areas, fuzzy feelings, falling-asleep-limb feelings, and even slight pain, especially in the feet which are very sensitive. The other thing is that this is normal and will pass. As you get better at this and your energy body strengthens, these sensations will actually decrease, but by then you shall know that you are moving the energy and you won't be sitting there asking if it's working or not. No sensation at all is very rare, but is a good indicator of heavy blockages.
I will cover actual training in the next lesson, but I will leave you with lessons to try that will give you a feel for using what Robert calls 'Body Awareness' actions.
1: Sit comfortably, preferably in a chair or laying down, and relax. You do not need to meditate heavily or be in trance for most of these lessons. Breath deeply and evenly, and try to relax any tense areas.
2: With either your finger or a small brush or ruler, lightly scratch your arm, or hand, or sole of the foot, just enough so that a light tingly feeling is left in its wake. Often simply lightly dragging a finger across the palm of your hand will leave a strong tingle due to the amount of nerves there. Remember to keep relaxed during this exercise, and take time to breath and relax as you feel yourself tensing up. This might be a physical sensation, but it doesn't actually take physical effort to do, but your mind may try to trick you into gritting your teeth, furrowing your brow, and tensing up the body part you focus on. If it can't be helped at first, get the hang of this and then work on relaxing as you do it later.
3: Focus on that physical sensation, try to remember what exactly it felt like as you did this. Try to FEEL you rubbing or scratching that area again but without actually touching it. This creates a point of awareness that you can focus on. Try not to use mental images when you do this. Repeat step 2 and 3 until you get a feel for this. Try different things on different areas of your body until you find something that works better.
4: Once you have step 3 down, try moving that point around your body, go as slow as you need to, as moving it too often will result in you simply focusing on point A and skipping to point B, and what you want is to drag that awareness through your body. What this does is focus your attention, and when your attention is focused on something, you draw energy to it. As you move it through your body, you increase the flow of energy to that area, causing nerves to fire and making energy flow in the direction you move that point.
5: Keep practicing this, and once you've gotten the hang of it, try different variations, like moving the point inside of your body and not just across the skin, which is easier than it sounds. Also try using multiple points, though for the purpose of these lessons you can get by with just 1 point, and won't have nay use for more than 2.
And that concludes the introduction. When you have an idea of how to feel this point of awareness and can do this without a large amount of difficulty, you are ready to go to the next section.
In this section I will cover different types of 'awareness actions', and explain how to perform them, followed by a series of exercises that you can do that will get you started on the path of strengthening your energy body and it's pathways.
Awareness actions are simply tactile (sense of touch) techniques you can use with your awareness. Performing these will stimulate energy flow in your body. There are a few different kinds of actions, and certain actions will be more useful on certain areas of the body. I will cover 6 such actions in this lesson. If you can, a helpful technique to use for many of these, is to try and imagine (not visually, but with sense of touch) an extra pair of arms, one from each shoulder. Imagine them with no limit tot he angle or length that they can reach, possibly even disembodied hands. This may help you perform some of these actions, but if it is too hard, or you can do better without, then by all means do without. If you choose to use this method, keep in mind that it will, as with most of this course, become substantially easier the more you use it. For all awareness actions, you should be dragging this action through, as if there is some resistance. When you try to move your hand or leg quickly under water, there is a drag, and resistance to your movement to some extent. It should be similar here.
1: Stirring action: Move your point of awareness in a circle on a selected area. Imagine a stirring, as if you can put your finger into the body and stir as if stirring a bowl of pudding. This is good when stimulating the palms and feet, and for joints, such as the knee, elbow, ect. It is also effective for stimulating the primary energy centers (chakras), but again, do not attempt to mess with those just yet.
2. Brushing action: Move your point of awareness back and forth through the skin, as if you were brushing the area with a paintbrush. This can also be used on joints, and is very effective on palms, feet, and is useful when doing whole-limb areas such as the entire leg or arm, or parts of the arm and leg.
3. Wrapping action: Move your point of awareness around a targeted area or limb, as if wrapping it with an imaginary bandage. This is especially useful for joints, and as a side note, it is a helpful technique to use when applying healing energy to an affected area.
4. Tearing action: this one requires awareness hands, but may not be needed in most cases. Using your awareness hands, imagine you are holding a small piece of bread or roll on or under the skin, and tear it in half over and over again. This is mainly used on primary energy centers, but its useful for the exchange pore areas (hands, feet, mouth, ect.), and joints. It is helpful for breaking up blockages in these areas, so if you have trouble with moving energy through your knee or shoulder, a tearing action may help.
5. Sponging action: this is effective with awareness hands, but can be done without. Imagine a large sponge (or your hands holding a large sponge) full of water, and sponge upwards through your leg, pulling water up with it and behind it. This is mainly used as a whole-limb action, and is very effective for drawing energy into your body while stimulating all of the energetic pathways on the way. The consistent upward (from toe to body, or finger to shoulder) motion is key here. This is relatively easy to do, as this is a very natural way for energy to flow through your body.
6. Bounce action: This is similar to creating an energy ball. You center your awareness inside a limb, and move it from one point to another, being sure to actually follow its movement from point A to point B and not simply flicking your awareness from one to the other, which accomplishes nothing. This is effective in limbs, fingers, the spine, as well as chakras and the entire body. You can also make a loop with your hands and run your awareness around through the hands, up one arm, through the shoulders, and down the other arm. This is a very versatile awareness action.
Before we get into the exercises, I feel it necessary to give you some notes right from the author of the book I learned all of this from, Robert Bruce. He calls this system he created the NEW system.
Instructional Notes:
The NEW system does not require a deep level of relaxation, nor even a great deal of preparation. Once these techniques are learned, it is possible to raise energy at any time, even while traveling, walking, talking, working, or watching TV, ect. For the following exercises, use light relaxation only, except where you encounter problems learning these techniques and getting energy moving during early exercises. While deep physical relaxation is not necessary for the NEW system, if you encounter difficulties,some preliminary deep physical relaxation and trance work will usually help.
I recommend sitting in a comfortable chair, with your legs reasonably straight and out slightly out in front, preferably with bare feet or loose socks. Do not wear tight clothes, especially on legs, as anything tight or uncomfortable will interfere with awareness targeting and energy raising. Place a pillow or cushion under feet. Do not sit cross-legged during training sessions, as this makes awareness targeting difficult. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths, generally settle yourself, and begin.
When unresponsive secondary energy centers (joints in fingers, elbows, knees, joints in toes) or groups of exchange pores are found, do not stop your progress to concentrate on blocked areas. Work on them for the suggested length of time, then move on to the next exercise. Working around blockages in this way helps clear them.
I suggest that eyes be kept closed and not be allowed to look at the targeted area. I have found that looking toward the target area, even from behind closed eyes, tends to dilute the effectiveness of awareness actions. Still, some of my volunteers reported having difficulty learning to focus awareness without using their eyes to aid targeting. It is permissible to use your eyes to aid awareness targeting, by looking at the area being worked on, but I suggest that the use of eyes for targeting be slowly discontinued as soon as is practical. Many of these coming exercises do not allow eyes to be used at all, as with trance and projection techniques, ect.
Keep in mind for the following that as you start out, you may get very heavy and sometimes unpleasant sensations due to the new amounts of energy in these areas. This is normal, though if it is too much for you, simply discontinue and try later. The feet in particular have some of the strongest sensations. Also, if needed to help in targeting, lightly rub, scratch, massage, or use a brush on the area you wish to stimulate next if you need it to help you target better. You will get better as you go, and you should discontinue using pre-stimulation when possible.
Foot Work: Toes are an important part of the larger and more powerful energy structures within the feet. Each joint has a secondary energy center, with 4 poles (up, down, side to side) stemming from the bone, and spreading out to cover the surface of the skin. These are connected to large amounts of energy pores on the toes and feet. The soles of the feet are covered in energy pores, and thus are also very important to work on. When it comes to energy raising (the purposeful drawing of energy into the body, sort of like grounding) the feet and leg circuitry are the largest and strongest. Starting from the toes up will increase the flow of energy into the body, and help open and activate the rest of your energetic structures. Also, skipping and trying to do higher up areas will be much more ineffective,a s your body will not be able to draw the energy needed up as efficiently, if at all. Note that one foot, usually the left, will be more responsive and activate faster, and the other may not be responsive for a few sessions. In the case of a non-responsive area, just perform the actions anyways for a few minutes, or as long as you spent on the active one, and move on.
The big toe has the largest secondary centers. Use a brushing action across the tops of your toes, the big toe in particular. Try to do this inside the skin when possible. Vary occasionally and brush the sides, and the bottom of each toes, from the tip to slightly past where it joins the foot. Keep doing this until you feel a slight buzzing or localized heaviness in the toe, then move on. Next use a small sponging action through the whole of both big toes, one at a time. If particular joints are hard to activate, stirring actions can be performed on them individually as needed. End this part with another brushing action on all toes, just as you started out with.
Next the soles of the feet. These should be worked on thoroughly for best results. Target the very center of your sole. Use a small stirring action of around 1 and a half to 2 inches around, and stir continually. Move this stirring action slowly over the underside of your foot and toes, being sure to cover as much surface area as possible. This should be like using a small rotating massager on the area. Be sure to spend at least 5 minutes with this on each foot (early exercises only) or until they become responsive before moving on. Next use a large brushing action to cover the entire sole, from heel to toe, doing this a few times. Lastly perform a sponging action from toes to heel and back again. Be sure to try and feel this as passing through the entire foot and not just on the surface. Taking good care of your feet in hands while doing this will help you as well. Be sure to wash and dry them carefully when bathing, and even rub them with oil or lotions. Massage will also help clear blocked energy structures in the feet and other areas.
Back to the sensations, you will likely be experiencing them by now, or once you have done these exercises. There is not much you can do but continue on. As you continue these exercises, they will fade, and go away completely wit time. The more you do them, the faster you will stop feeling any discomfort. Also, these may seem tedious now, but you will be happy to learn that after a while, if one has done these correctly, and continues to do at least weekly limb work and energy raising, these smaller centers will usually remain open and functioning. Plus what seems like a chore at first will become second nature and effortless. You will barely have to concentrate to do it. Also, some of these actions will continue even after you stop performing them, as sort of a muscle memory.
Leg Work: The largest circuit takes energy naturally from your feet to your body. Most of these exercises deal with stimulating the large pathways in your legs to get them used to the extra energy. It is sort of like working out: the more you lift, the more capable of lifting your muscles become. So it is with energy. First is a brushing action, which should take about three seconds for you to sweep from tips of toes and up your leg to the top of your hip joint on the front, or buttock if on the back. Make sure you vary and sweep the front, sides, and back of each leg. You should take time with this and brush back and forth about a dozen times for every side of each leg. Pay attention to take energy from every corresponding side ( if you do the outer leg, sweep from the smallest toe, across that side of the ankle, and up, if from the front, the top of all toes , across the top of ankle, and so forth.) on each sweep. Finally, do a sponging action, again trying to feel this as the inside of your entire foot and leg, from your toes all the way up each leg. Remember to sponge form toes to top, then flick awareness back to toes and start over again. As for the knees and ankles, you may, but do not have to, perform wrapping or stirring actions on them. If they seem to be inactive, then this may help to stimulate them.
That will conclude this lesson. In the next installment I will cover hand and arm work, and go over other tips and factors that will help you out. If you feel like doing some work ahead of time, you can replicate similar actions on the corresponding parts of your hands and arms.
In this installment I will be covering hand and arm work, then going over different factors that will help you understand the mechanisms of the energy body better, which helps you gain greater control. I will also go over any other techniques such as grounding that pertain mostly to the secondary energy circuit. With the completion of this lesson you should be able to actively work on this secondary circuit and develop your energy structures in a stable and balanced manner with few problems.
Hand work: To start off, there is a difference between the energies entering your legs as opposed to your arms. This does not need to be overcomplicated, the energy rising through your legs is of a more earthly origin while that which you take up your arms tends to be more subtle and atmospheric in nature. Just like the toes, your fingers have small energy centers in each joint, as well as the joint (which you may otherwise miss, hence me pointing it out) at the base of your wrist where the thumb is joined. Spread fingers slightly and use a narrow brushing action on the tops of each finger, from the tip to the wrist, and then on the undersides as well. Do this just long enough so that you start to feel them become stimulated. Once this is done, use a larger brushing action to cover the entire back of your hand and fingers, from wrist to tips, for about thirty seconds, even if they responded well earlier. The palms of the hands, like the feet, are often subject to more powerful sensations when you first start out, though these tend to fade more quickly than in the feet. Use a tight stirring action, moving it around on your palm and undersides of fingers until you have covered the entire underside of the hand. This should be done very similar to how you did the soles of your feet. Then use a wise brushing action from a few inches below the wrist to the tips of the fingers, and finish this area with a sponging action inside the whole of each hand. These should be performed very much like the feet, and until you feel they are stimulated enough.
Arm Work: Move awareness back and forth from fingertips to shoulder several times, trying to take about 3 seconds each way. On the outer arm, do a brushing action on each limb, from fingertips, across the back of the hand, over the outer forearm and elbow, outer biceps, and outer shoulder joint and back again along the same path several times. Repeat this on the inner arm, tracing from fingers across the palm, inner arm, inner elbow, up and to the armpit. Make sure to brush back and forth several times in both directions, on both sides of the arm.
Splitting Awareness: It is possible to focus on more than one point of awareness as was in some of the earliest exercises. This is not as difficult as it seems, and as long as you keep practicing at it you will get more accustomed to it and eventually succeed. However, feel free to pace yourself in this and don't get frustrated if you can't do it. For any of the hand, foot, arm, or leg exercises, you can work on both legs/feet/hands/finger/toes/arms at the same time, and you will do the exercises more quickly as a bonus. But don't rush things if you can't do it properly or you may defeat the point of these lessons with improper work.
Bounce Techniques: these are all good to strengthen and redefine your energy pathways in the body. After successfully working on all of the smaller parts of the secondary system such as toes, hands, and limbs, you will eventually cease needing to work on the many intricate parts unless you feel you have a blockage there. Instead you will be doing more of these bounce actions. These can be performed on the fingers and toes, especially the big digit on each hand/foot, but is more useful in the limbs, the spine, and the whole body. Bounce techniques are performed back and forth and cause a ripple of energetic disturbance in your energy body, which stimulates flow and helps clear blockages.
Resistance Factor: when you move your awareness rapidly through the energy body, you encounter a natural energetic resistance. This is not a bad thing, but it is a factor that needs to be discussed. You may have already noticed that when performing certain actions, you lose your point of focus after a certain speed, and instead of moving across or through an area, you end up shifting directly from point A To point B. This resistance may feel like you are dragging your awareness through liquid, which is interesting, because this allows you to feel the substance of your own energy body! All bounce actions, similar to sponging, should be felt as inside the substance of your leg and not just on the surface.
Testing: Pick any part of your body, preferably a limb, and try to bounce the point of awareness back and forth. Do this slowly, and speed up until you encounter resistance. When you encounter resistance, slow down just enough that you can quickly move it, but easily follow it. This will be the correct speed of the bounce action in that area for you. It is as simple as that,but you must experiment to find a comfortable rhythm for yourself. You'll find that most bounce actions will have a tendency to continue on their own after you are done doing them intentionally, and with practice this becomes very effortless.
Leg: Take awareness through one or both legs, from feet to hips and back again. Test the resistance, find your frequency, and continue to bounce for at least a minute per leg, or for as long as you wish. Sensations will likely be mild, and can become pleasant once you get used to it. For splitting awareness, holding legs closer together helps greatly.
Arm: As with the feet, take awareness from fingertips to shoulders and back again. Test and find rhythm, keep up for about a minute or more.
Spinal bounce: This can be very effective for those who suffer from back pain, tension, or spinal injuries. Once mastered, it is easy to keep this going almost automatically in the background while you are engaged in other activities. This can promote deep physical relaxation, ease knots of tension, and gently stimulate the roots of the major chakras. Target the tailbone at the very base of the spine and move along the full length of your spine to the top of your head. Bounce back and forth, feeling it all the way. About half a second or so each way seems to be a comfortable rhythm for most people, but feel free to adjust speed as needed. Make sure you breathe naturally while doing this, as sometimes this bounce action interferes with normal breathing you will find yourself breathing shallow and out-of-sync. This should not be too troubling, but it's always best to err on the side of caution.
Full Body bounce: This will bounce through the entirety of the body, and can be done in any position, though lying down with arms extended above the head seems to work best. Take awareness from both feet, up through the whole body, and up to your fingertips, making sure not to skip the head. Try to feel the entire body inside and out as you do this. Again, don't be discouraged, just keep trying. The more you try and do, the better you will get. A variation for sitting or standing with arms at the side can be done as well, simply going from feet to just above the top of your head, making sure not to neglect the arms and hands in the process.
As a grounding technique (Raising energy) that will also stimulate most of your energy body, I suggest this: Either standing or sitting comfortably (feet bare and on the ground outside seems to work the best for me), take a few deep breaths to center yourself. Inhale deeply with your gut pushing out, and exhale with your gut pulling in. when you have the rhythm down (whatever is easiest for you to follow, I prefer 3-4 seconds for each inhale and exhale), it is time to start raising energy. N the inhale, try to either feel both, or just one leg and draw energy like a sponging action up the leg(s), across your spine, up your neck and stopping to accumulate over your head. On the exhale, brush the energy across your face, into your mouth, down your throat, and down into your gut where the first storage center is. If you use only one leg for this, then make sure you alternate which leg you draw up each time you do inhale. You can also use your arms and draw energy in a sponging action up through those, meeting the flow on the back and spine and up to the head as before. If possible, try to use both arms and both legs at the same time, or work your way towards that if not able to focus on that. Try to stay relaxed at all times, but don't worry if you unintentionally tense, twitch, or similar things, as it is not uncommon during this sort of action, and will not interfere with it. You will eventually be able to do this while walking, running,talking, ect. If this more effective first method is too hard to begin with, try sponging energy directly up the legs and into the first storage center, and with the arms sponge up the arms and down your body from your shoulders and into the first storage center. Remember, do not try to actively fill the upper two storage areas, as the first one will naturally overflow into the other two. With energy raising, the breath can be extremely useful. It creates a natural up and down, in and out rhythm, so make use of this rhythm when possible. Though it is not necessary, it may give you an extra edge and will help you perform these if you are having difficulties without it. I often use breath in energy work and healing, inhaling to draw energy into myself, and to draw off negative energy from a target. Exhaling I associate with sending healing energy to a target, or sending my energy out into the universe, as well as removing negative energy from myself.
That will be all for my Energy Work lesson. I wish you luck on your path, and I hope this is helpful. Again, I suggest the books Robert Bruce wrote, as there is no way I can transfer the level of understanding that he can.
Peace and Love,
Krim