How did you start energy work?
I started with my dad when I was a child. He taught me several meditation techniques (useful to be able to feel and focus on energy), how to "feel" for rocks, trees, buildings. Later I began introducing "focus on the inner fire" when meditating, and around 14 I finally came upon basic energy work practice like balls and practised that for a year or two. I then spent several years not practising daily until I first started travelling other worlds and being taught stuff.
Exercises that taught me, personally, but may also work for you :
- meditations. Especially focused on parts of the body, breath... everything that shuts the conscious mind but brings focus on the "now" in an active way. I think it's starting this practice very early and keeping up with it that made me able to sense and later , see energy. (I remember my shock when I first received Reiki around 13 and realised I felt the same things I did when meditating). There's a way to practice meditation for everyone even non neurotypical, it's worth looking into if you want to gain in focus, precision, knowledge of how your own energy works.
When you can maintain a basic state of focus and relaxation, you can start focusing on how your energy body feels. For me, it was tingles wherever I directed my breath/in major energy points. Then, when I became more attuned I started receiving other types of sensation, especially non physical ones. One day I became aware of an "inner fire" and started focusing on it in my meditation. Several traditions have some semblance of this so I think maybe some of you have a similar thing, might be useful for you
Note that “meditation” here only means using techniques to induce relaxation of the mind and body and focus to enable you to work with the subtle bodies. Zen related trads are another thing completely. They are worth looking into but do not serve the same immediate goal. Though, I know Tantrism has a lot of “energy work”.
- feel for things. My father used to tell me we can access the memories of old stuff, touch a stone to see what it has seen, touch a door to see all the people that has passed through it. Using his technique, I understood it can also make us communicate with stuff and not only feel the imprint of the past. I made friends of trees like this. It's achieved by touching inside the thing you want a read on, using your own energy. You can tap into several layers : the identity/soul (energy signature, core, etc), all the way down to the remnants of things that interacted with it (energy traces, wisps, etc.)
- basic energy work stuff. Found in most new age type books, basic techniques like the psy balls, the bubble shield, working with the visualisation of colours... is useful. Even if it's not your jam, it can teach you stuff about how you work. Practising these regularly build up spiritual muscle, just as meditation does, and makes you able to tackle larger stuff after. If you want to go further, look up magicians' trads that inspired the new age energy work (ex: Bardon, Eliphas Levi, sorry it's morning for me and I can't think of more examples in either categories, look up shit in Google and stuff yourself bc there's a lot to say on the subject). They often develop an intensive daily practice to follow for months/years to build up these muscles efficiently.
- practise with other ppl. That's something we did with my father after he became initiated into a high magick trad in the last years of his life. Feeling other ppl energy bodies, comparing notes on things you feel at, look auras together, transmitting energy at each other in a circle (holding hands). If you have no one irl, you can also do this long distance with friends over the internet, it can teach you a lot. Compare notes !
- finally, develop your own jam. Find a spirit tutor. Experiment always farther.
- "energy work" is a colloquial term. It's doesn't really mean anything. Things “energy” can mean depending on context : aura, center of gravity, conscious breath, thoughts, emotions, protection, spirit, "intent" (ugh), will, power, ego, unconscious, link, information, source/origin of things manifest, spark, layer of being, Being, etheric/spirit body, essence of things manifest, magic... Keep that in mind especially when you record stuff, to avoid simplification and record the subtleties. Also that may enable you to expand your mind on this and find new sources of information, especially before Mesmer/Blavatsky/... or the new age period and the use of "energy” in a pseudo-scientific and spiritual sense. Be aware of the history of the word.
- Have goals and stay focused on getting the means to reach them. (ex: you want to heal your leg/protect your home/read your pet’s subtle body/battle away the nasty spirit that has been pestering you in the astral... idk.) Without goals, or strong academic curiosity, you’ll lose interest before doing anything interesting.
-Practice, and then practice some more. If you want to get serious, have short exercises to do every day. Depending on your tradition and interest, it can be the lesser banishing ritual of the pentagram, a simple ground/center/shield with visualisation, breathwork, ... As soon as you’re able to, try to open your Sight a bit every day while you’re doing usual stuff. Try to sense random stuff you come across.
- Journal. Everything. Keep receipts! Detail your feelings, thoughts, experiences. Hell, if you can't keep explicit written records, at least do like Carl Jung did and paint/draw. It's not as precise in the intellectual department but will keep impressions and feelings better.
- Read. A lot. Get off Tumblr. Find books. Read on every trad or current you come across, and stay open minded. Hell, read philosophy. Think about how you conceive and perceive energy, and how that would relate to Kant and Sartre and Platon ideas of the “essence of being” and stuff.
