Energy Basics
Yep! I am about to get proudly woo woo.
As a young dancer, especially in a competitive environment, you learn to read the energy in any room. Your eyes dart and strain from side to side — to classmates, to teachers, to images in the mirror — and you notice everything and anything that has charge.
This is partly why I am highly sensitive. In some ways it is a good thing, I can tell with just single shifts of body language and movement what is going on with my friends. But, in other ways, I can absorb other people’s energy, especially the negative type, if I don’t protect myself.
If you are new here, in 2023, I began to study an energy lineage that focused on understanding my own personal energy, and how to work with it.
There is a concept in this lineage called “Me, Not Me”, and for whatever reason, when I learned it 1000+ days ago, it changed my life. Before that day, I really was unable to separate myself from other people’s energy…especially when it was more powerful than my own. I was a sponge — losing my shape with the tiniest change — until I began to tune into the below “basics” to learn how to navigate the world around me.
When you read through these, you will see that this is a framework on boundaries — but instead of the cognitive flavor, it is the intuitive.
When people ask me about “energy work,” I always want to demystify it. We aren’t talking about something esoteric or performative. We are talking about science: nervous system regulation, boundaries, coherence, and attention. Energy follows awareness, and body responds and becomes neuroplastic to what we consistently practice.
Between a few different spiritual teachers, I have begun to work through my own energy framework. These are the basics I return to again and again.
Energy Basics: A Practical Framework
The Breath: Everything begins with the breath. A simple inhale of “I am” and exhale of “safe” (or insert your favorite word like worthy, or whole, or loved) can regulate more than most complex rituals. Let the tongue rest gently on the roof of your mouth to complete the energetic circuit in the body. This isn’t magic; it’s physiology. When the breath slows, the nervous system softens. When the nervous system softens, perception becomes clearer. If you only practiced one thing from this list, practice this.
Ground: From there, root down. Imagine your energy extending like roots through your feet deep into the Earth — all the way to the molten core if that image resonates. On the inhale, draw up steady, ancient Earth energy. On the exhale, release anything that feels stagnant or not yours. Think of it as compost, not disposal. Energy is exchanged, not discarded. Grounding stabilizes you so you are not constantly lifted by other people’s emotions, or by your own mental spiraling.
