I’ve had so many people come to me in the last few weeks asking what they can do to protect their energy. Some of these people identify as empaths (and if you do too, this post is really important for you!), but even if you don’t identify as being an empath, it can be important and refreshing for you to protect yourself or clear out energies and emotions from other people, environments, and situations you may encounter. An empath is someone who is affected by other people’s energies, and has an innate ability to intuitively feel others. They are unconsciously influenced by others’ desires, wishes, thoughts, and moods.  Being an empath is much more than being highly sensitive and it’s not just limited to emotions.  Empaths can also perceive physical sensitivities and spiritual urges, as well as just knowing the motivations and intentions of other people. But, let’s be honest– even if you aren’t an empath, we’re ALL sensitive to outside energies to some degree. I’ll bet that even if that description doesn’t resonate with you, you can think of a time when you found yourself dealing with a person, a situation, an environment, or a confrontation that you just couldn’t shake, even long after you had removed yourself from the situation at hand. It’s the same reason you can walk into a room after two people have just had a fight and feel it, even if they aren’t actively fighting anymore.

As we move through our days, and especially if you do identify as an empath on any level, we’re experiencing, reacting to, and picking up the energies and feelings around us. There are specific energy practices and rituals that we can do to help protect ourselves from the energy around us that doesn’t belong to us or that isn’t serving our best and highest good– There are three that I have learned that work well for me, and I do them every day before seeing clients and often before leaving my house.  The good news is they’re easy to do and pretty short, so not a huge drain on your time!

If you’re a particularly sensitive empath, you may find that you need to do more than one of these to feel okay, or even repeat one or more of them throughout the day. Likewise, if you identify or resonate with the description of an empath and have never protected yourself from the energies around you, chances are you’re carrying around a bunch of old stuff that doesn’t even belong to you– in that case, I’d recommend a clearing with an energy worker (Click here to find out more about how we can clear your energy field from anything that isn’t serving you!). In addition to my three favorite practices for protecting your energy, I’ve also included a simple energy release technique I often use after being around a person or in an environment that feels low vibe or particularly icky.

3 Powerful Practices to Protect Your Energy

Kashyapa Mudra

Kashyapa Mudra Light Visualization
Find a comfortable seated or standing position and place both of your hands into the Kashyapa Mudra (pictured). A mudra is simply an energetically charged hand gesture, and this particular mudra symbolizes the union of masculine and feminine, and it creates a seal against negative energies while balancing and grounding. While holding this powerful hand gesture, close your eyes, breathe deeply, and imagine a white, universal light coming down from above, directly from source (or God, or the Universe– whatever vocabulary you’re most comfortable with!), coming in through the top of your head, and flowing down into your heart. Imagine your heart is filled with this divine, white light. As your heart becomes filled, imagine this white light expanding out from your heart and filling your body– every space and every cell. As your body becomes filled, imagine the light expanding further out into your aura and filling the energetic space around you. Finally, imagine this white, divine light creates a protective boundary around you and your space, like a bubble of light, leaving no space for any negative or less-than-amazing energies you might encounter. No energy you encounter that does not belong to you or does not serve your best and highest good can cross this boundary of light. When the light feels solid and in place, take a final deep breath, open your eyes, and release your hands.

Mirror Armor
I learned this technique from a powerful psychic and medium who has studied and worked all over the world. I was fortunate enough to be in one of her classes and had the opportunity to work with her as I was just learning to hone my own abilities and skills. In this exercise, imagine, as clearly as you can, putting on beautiful, mirrored armor– specifically, a headpiece that goes around your forehead and third eye, a throat piece that spans from your jaw to your collarbone, and a belt that goes around the middle of your torso. Set the intention that these pieces will stay on and with you no matter where you venture or who you encounter during the day, reflecting back and bouncing away any energy that is negative or does not serve your best and highest good. I love to do this exercise in a meditative space, with music playing and REALLY imagining, but you don’t have to!

Energy Balancing
One of the easiest ways to protect your energy is to make sure your own energy is already balanced. I recommend this meditation to all of my clients after sessions, but you can also use it to start off or end your day.

1. Get comfortable, sitting with your feet flat on the floor.
2. Visualize or imagine that you are a tree (large, solid, powerful), and imagine roots coming from each of your feet, sending them down into the earth, and anchoring them in the bedrock at the earth’s core.
3. As you inhale, imagine that vibrant, nurturing earth energy is being drawn up into your body through these roots. Give it a color if it makes it easier.
4. Imagine that energy filling up your physical body, starting with your feet, and filling each chakra, all the way to the top of your head.
5. As you exhale, imagine this energy flowing out of the top of your head and mixing with the energy of the Universe.
6. Now imagine a radiating white light at the top of your head. Allow it to come down into your body, filling your body all the way down to the bottom of your feet.
7. As you exhale, allow it to flow through the roots coming from your feet and into the earth.
8. Repeat 3x
9. After the visualization, repeat the following out loud: “I now thank my Higher Self, Guardian Angels, Spirit guides and the Light of the Violet Fire for assisting me today and everyday. As I ground myself in the loving energy of Mother Earth, I AM eternally grateful. Thank You, I Love You, Together Divine.”

Fast & Easy Energy Release

If you’ve already encountered something less-than-stellar, or you haven’t ever protected your energy before, you may want to do this easy energy release. It’s fast, simple, and you can do it anywhere! I do this every day at the end of working with private coaching clients- it helps to ensure that I haven’t unwittingly picked up anything that isn’t mine or I don’t need.