Energy for relaxation. Energy for focus. Erotic energy. Healing energy. It can seem like so many techniques to learn.
One of my core values is peeking under the hood to understand how energy works. So today, I want to let you in on a secret: All of those techniques are really one technique. Or rather, one template that lets you find the right energy signature for most beginner-level energy techniques. And understanding this template, and how all those energy techniques are connected, is key to exploring energy yourself.
Understanding this template will empower you to create your own useful, practical energy techniques, perfect for developing a daily practice that builds your skill and strength with energy.
(Note: This post assumes you’re familiar with my guide on building an energy visualization. If you haven’t read it, I’d recommend reading it first.)
It’s easier to explain the template with a concrete example, so I’ll step you through making energy to help yourself focus:
The template has two halves. First you learn the energy signature for focus, then later, when you want to focus, you use that energy to help you do it.
Here’s how to do the first half, where you learn the energy signature. It has four steps:
1. Get yourself into a focused state. You might do this by thinking of the last time you felt really focused, or by visualizing a situation where you always feel focused, or just by doing this when you’re naturally alert and focused.
2. Tune in to the energy in your head and body. This is tricky — often, when people say “energy,” they mean “attention” or “emotional intuition.” Here, I mean biofield energy, also called chi or prana. Don’t just notice how your body feels when you focus — instead, tune in to the signature (or type) of biofield energy that your body is naturally producing.
3. Remember that energy signature. For beginners, I recommend associating a specific visualization with this particular energy, so one visualization for energy for focus, another for energy for relaxation, another for energy for pleasure, and so on.
(Later, you’ll learn faster, more scalable methods to recognize and recall energy signatures. If you know those, feel free to use them here.)
4. Test it out: Build the energy in your torso, move it to your head, and notice how you feel. If you’ve done it right, it should be an obvious shift, a fuller focus than just from thinking about a time you felt focused.
Now we’re ready for the second half of the template, which only has one step: When you want to feel focused but are having a hard time, use that visualization to build energy in your chest, and move it up to your head, and notice how you feel.
That’s it. That’s the formula for most beginner energy techniques: Find out the desired energy signature, remember it, and produce it as necessary.
(Many teachers add visualizations to engage attention, emotional attunement, and other skills alongside the biofield energy, and call the whole thing an “energy technique.” Also, some practices focus on channeling energy from an outside force, rather than using your own energy. So this template doesn’t cover 100% of everything. But if you’re looking for techniques that use your own energy, to use as a daily practice to build your skill and strength with biofield energy, this is the main template.)
A version of this was actually my first energy healing technique, too: A friend with chronic knee pain came to me. She had been a runner, but had given it up years earlier. I felt the energy of her inflamed knees, felt the energy of my healthy knees, and adjusted the energy of her knees to match the energy of my knees. And, for someone new to energy healing, the results were amazing: After a few months of weekly sessions, her knee pain was low enough that she could resume running. All from the approach of finding the desired energy signature (my healthy knee) and matching it.
Try it. Make it a daily practice to use energy to help yourself focus, relax, or something else. And make a weekly or monthly practice of picking a new state (sleepy, peaceful, aroused, etc) and developing a new energy signature and visualization for it. Practice daily, explore weekly or monthly, and play with useful energy techniques. That’s the key to learning.
Got questions or experiences to share? Leave a comment below.