The Energy Healing Blog

Can't Get Any Traction? How To Get Yourself Unstuck

--by Nancy Hausauer

Feeling stuck: it's an uncomfortable feeling. You can't seem to move forward in some important aspect of life, even though you desperately want to. It's sooooooo frustrating. And so common.

When we're stuck, we want to break through this discomfort and frustration as soon as possible, reclaiming some feeling of control over our lives. We may search for some or clever trick or technique to help us power through our stuckness. Usually, though, its more useful to step back and reframe the situation.

As an example, let's say you've decided you want to change careers. Your mind knows the steps needed to do that: take some classes, do some informational interviews, rewrite your resume. But as much as you want that new career, you can't make yourself start any of these tasks, and you're really beating yourself up about it.

Energetically speaking, if you're in this situation, you're pushing, pushing, pushing--and overworking your third chakra in the process. What should you do?

GETTING YOURSELF UNSTUCK

Just for a moment (at least) try to suspend self-criticism. There's another way of looking at this:

Your internal deadlock isn't coming from a character flaw. Such standoffs usually happen because there are two opposing forces within you, resisting each other to a stalemate. But the standstill makes no sense to you because you're only aware of one of them--your desire for a career change.

The other force operates below the level of consciousness. It's a benevolent power of great wisdom and love. It might be coming from any of your upper chakras, or even from an external power. For simplicity's sake, we'll call it the Higher Self.

In resisting your conscious plans, the Higher Self is trying to give you information about and protect your deeper well-being. Perhaps you're overtired and need to rest before undertaking a huge project. Perhaps you have a child who is having difficulties and requires your full attention. Perhaps the career you're contemplating isn't really right for you.

Whatever the cause, the more stuck and frustrated you feel, the more information there may be for you about what your heart and soul truly need. It can be a gold mine in disguise.

So instead of pushing harder, stop pushing at all. It can be uncomfortable, especially if you're a high-achieving type. But if trying to force change hasn't been working, forcing it harder isn't going to work either.

Instead, try something different. Rest. Listen to the quiet whisperings of your Higher Self (a sixth chakra function). Be gentle and tender with yourself (fourth chakra!). Know that it's OK to be still, to be patient, like the plants in earliest spring. Growth happens on its own schedule. You can trust it.

You Can Relax

Don't try too hard. You can trust the energy to go where it needs to go and do what it needs to do. You can trust that you will receive the information you need to know. You can relax.

Why You Need Spaciousness: Making Room for Healing and Intuition

--by Nancy Hausauer

A feeling of spaciousness, both external and internal, is important to anyone's sense of inner peace, but especially so for energy healers. We need to cultivate calm and leave room in our lives for the Energy to show up and do its work.

For many of us, this has become even more important--and often, at the same time, more challenging--during the pandemic. Here are some ideas for cultivating spaciousness and making room for healing, intuition and other blessings, even if you're navigating the new realities of being at home full-time with your family. As always, intention makes any act more powerful.

• Clear a room or even just a closet or table top; donate or discard.
• Meditate to clear an over-crowded mind.
• Weed and prune your garden; transplant crowded plants.
• Focus your attention on the spaces in your home, rather than the matter in that space.
• Let go of past and future and just be present.
• In your job and at home, re-evaluate all your tasks and commitments. Is there anything you can let go of or delegate?
• Go for a month without buying anything but necessities.
• Get out in nature.
• Allow yourself to do nothing.
• Avoid TV, social media and other mind-invading electronic chatter for a week.
• Write your worries down on a piece of paper and burn it.
• Expand your body's interior space by belly breathing.
• Visit open places such as mountaintops or beaches.
• Clear out some emotional space by letting go of grudges.
• Let your body relax and expand. Here's one method.
• Although I wrote this article specifically for clearing treatment rooms, you may like some of the ideas in it to help clear the energy of your entire home.
• You might like to try the "Shield of Light" technique to clear your personal energy field.

  **Imagine yourself surrounded by a cocoon of light about 2-4 inches out, all around your body like an egg. (This is your energy field, in a contracted state.)

  **Bring your elbows close to your sides, palms facing outward. Breathe in deeply,  and with the outbreath, push your hands slowly outward, visualizing/imagining/feeling that you're pushing or spreading the light outward.

  **Go slowly, and you may feel the pressure of your field as you push against it. As you push, visualize that you are also gently pushing out any energy that is "not of you," and any unwanted emotions, energy, or thoughts -- especially those that belong to other people.

  **Take several breaths like this, pushing your light out with the outbreath, until the light (your field) feels the right size. If your physical arms aren't long enough, use your expanded "energy arms."

  **Then put your arms down and take a few more breaths, enjoying the feeling of lightness, spaciousness, and clarity.    

• When you've cleared space in your life, don't fill it back up again.

Wishing you all the room you need to dance with Hope, Intuition, Potential and Possibility—Nancy

Your Heart's Desires: How To Reconnect When You've Lost Touch

--by Nancy Hausauer

Desire, especially the deep desire that comes from your heart and soul, is a powerful energetic force. It's the life force at work in us and arguably the root of all movement and everything that happens. Desire gives us a trajectory in life. Without it, we can feel lost, rudderless, stuck, like we're spinning our wheels.

Some people seem to be full of desires. They always know what they want, and they go after it. Others of us can get disconnected from our heart's desires, like people with treasure buried in the back yard, but we've lost the map. If that's the case for you, here are some exercises to try:

Four Exercises For Uncovering Your Heart's Desires

• If you can't identify any deep desires, work with some of your more casual wants. For example, maybe you've been wishing for a new car. Consider this: When we want something, often what we really want is the way we hope it'll make us feel. (Danielle Laporte writes eloquently about this.) Try this exercise based on that idea.

  1. Identify something, anything, that you want. Drill deeper into it. Daydream--vividly--about how you'll feel when you have it. When you've identified those feelings, write them down.

  2. Now brainstorm other ways you might be able to generate those same feelings.

  3. Once you get the hang of that, dream bigger. Have fun with this. Be outrageous and bold. Does anything here inspire you? If so, work with it. If not, you've identified a way you want to FEEL, and that's important information.
  
  

• Try coming at it from the flip side.

  1. Identify some things you DON'T want. What bothers you, annoys you, makes you want to scream? Write those things down.
  2. For each "Don't Want," journal about the most fabulously different situation--including the feelings-- you can imagine. Again, dream big, get detailed, and have fun. You may get some clues to your desires in there.
  3. Get some energy moving by changing some of those "don't-wants"!

• Pay attention to what you're curious about. Those tendrils of interest are clues to passions that may be hiding or growing in you. Follow up on them. Though not every passing curiosity will lead to a grand passion, a) it's fun; b) it might lead to larger passions; and c) it cultivates our life force and gives us practice in noticing our inner leanings.
  

• Check your calendar and to-do list. Are you over-committed, especially to helping other people fulfill their desires? Is your to-do list full of "shoulds"? Duty and passion rarely overlap much. Prune your commitments and to-do list and see what happens.
  

Practical Suggestions

• Get a health checkup.
• Get screened for depression.

A final word: Is it possible you're just contented with your life right now? Is so, nothing to be fixed there!

Wishing you desire,

Nancy

Creative Fire And The Power Of Art

--by Nancy Hausauer

In the Northern Hemisphere, February first (or second) marks the ancient Celtic holiday of Imbolc. It's the beginning of the beginning of Spring. (In the Southern Hemisphere, it's the beginning of the beginning of Fall.)

In Celtic/Gaelic mythology, the goddess closely associated with Imbolc is Brigid (usually pronounced "Breed"). Brigid is associated, among other things, with blacksmithing, home and hearth, and poetry. On first glance, this seems like a motley assortment, but there's a common thread there in fire and creativity.

I'm not much of a blacksmith, but I love poetry and take pretty much any opportunity to celebrate it. I believe that poetry, like all art, has strong energetic properties, healing us and calling us to a higher vibration.

So today, February 1, I want to share a favorite poem. Written by the great German poet Rainer Maria Rilke and translated by Stephen Mitchell, it describes an ancient Greek statue, deeply damaged but still holding its original energetic force. The poem defies a simple explanation, but I love its themes of the transformative power of art, wholeness despite superficial brokenness, the holographic nature of existence, the consciousness dwelling in everything. And of course, the breath-taking shift of the last line.

To me, the poem both describes and embodies creative fire, and it always gives me a visceral surge of energy. (The image above, by the way, is an archaic torso of Apollo, but not the one that Rilke was describing.)

Archaic Torso of Apollo

We cannot know his legendary head
with eyes like ripening fruit. And yet his torso
is still suffused with brilliance from inside,
like a lamp, in which his gaze, now turned to low,

gleams in all its power. Otherwise
the curved breast could not dazzle you so, nor could
a smile run through the placid hips and thighs
to that dark center where procreation flared.

Otherwise this stone would seem defaced
beneath the translucent cascade of the shoulders
and would not glisten like a wild beast's fur:

would not, from all the borders of itself,
burst like a star: for here there is no place
that does not see you. You must change your life.

In this beautiful, wise season of early spring, more poignant than ever because of the pandemic, I hope you find poetry and art that heals you and calls you to a higher vibration. And I hope that you exercise some of your own creative fire as well. That is always a healing and life-affirming thing to do.— Nancy

You may also enjoy this page about the energetic properties of art on The Energy Healing Site.

Energy Healing Is An Invitation
To Transform Your Life

--by Nancy Hausauer

Energy healing is an invitation to reclaim your connection with the Sacred, expand and shift your conscious awareness, and transform your everyday life.

Stuck In Fear Mode? How To Move It On Through

--by Nancy Hausauer

These turbulent times generate fear and anxiety (a mild form of fear) for a lot of folks. Though unpleasant, fear isn't inherently bad. Like all our emotions, it has a function. It's an important survival mechanism that alerts us to potential danger. But all the emotions, including fear, are meant to arise, do their jobs, and move out of the body and the energy field.

Too often, though, fear gets stuck in us. It can become chronic, exaggerated, and out of touch with reality. Then it's no longer helpful, and can lead to suffering, from stress-based physical ailments to long-term anxiety.

Fear is also a major inhibitor to important 5th chakra functions:

• speaking truth to power
• living our lives in full integrity
• bringing our essence fully into the world.

Because of this, learning to work with fear is often key to continuing 5th chakra development, which in itself is necessary for the healthy, balanced development of the 6th and 7th chakras.

So how do we work with this all-too-human emotion? How do we keep it from getting stuck in our body and energy field?

How To Move Fear Through And Out Of Your Body And Energy Field

In this exercise, adapted from mindfulness teachings, you will practice feeling your fear, instead of thinking it and telling yourself stories about it, which keeps it stuck in your energy system.

1. Take some slow breaths and allow your body to slow down and your thoughts to become more still.

2. Identify where (and/or how) you feel the fear in your body.

3. Put your hand where you feel the fear, and mentally put some words to the experience.

4. If you find yourself beginning a story about the fear, how it arose, or anything else, stop and return your attention to the sensations in your body. (The sensations may change character or location as you give your body attention.)

5. Breathe into the sensation(s), accepting and welcoming it. Allow your body to respond naturally. Trembling, shaking and feeling cold are all common fear responses. You may also notice wanting to flee or fight. Just notice, name, and continue to feel. You may find that you are afraid of your fear. Feel that too.

6. Continue re-directing your attention to your bodily sensations whenever thinking or story-telling arises. Just stay with your body and let the fear exist. Observe as it changes, trusting that it will leave.

7. When you feel ready, if you like you can end by intending/imagining that you are releasing any residual energy of the fear with each out-breath, and breathing in fresh, bright new energy with each in-breath.

8. Don't jump right back into your day. Take some time and honor yourself for responding to your emotion consciously instead of reflexively.

This practice can be adapted for any emotion.

Do consider seeing a mental health therapist to help with PTSD and other deep-seated fears.

Namaste, Nancy

Image: "Outburst of Fear," by Paul Klee [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

How To Send Energy Healing To Others

--by Nancy Hausauer

Last week I wrote about ways to be a healing force, just in how you live your life. Everything is energy, so you're impacting energy with everything you do. If you generally live with the intention to bring growth and healing to your world, you will do so.

But sometimes we want to be more purposeful and direct about working with energy. One way to do that, especially if we can't or shouldn't be physically present, is to send energy. Here are some ways to do that.

How To Send Healing Energy

Different types of energy healing and different spiritual traditions have slightly different techniques for sending healing energy, but at the foundation of all of them is intention.

Praying for someone is a form of sending healing energy. So is mentally sending good wishes. Quakers say they are "holding someone in the light." If you have a spiritual tradition, I recommend using the form of sending healing energy that's familiar to you. If you don't have a tradition to rely on, here's a technique to try:

• Sit in a quiet place and meditate or ground/center/become still. Visualize yourself surrounded by white light.

• Set an intention to work for the highest good of the person or situation in need. Don't specify a particular outcome--we can't know what's truly best for another.

• Light a candle, sound a bell, or perform some other act that allows you to define a beginning and end to your session.

• Close your eyes and visualize the person you wish to send energy to (I find it easier to visualize someone in motion rather than still); or get a felt sense of them; or if they are less familiar to you, just hold their name in your mind. Picture or feel them in a state of serene contentedness.

• Send an intention to support and amplify their highest good. Visualize them surrounded by white light. Hold them in this light for as long as feels right.

• End the session by taking a deep breath and re-centering. Notice your breathing and the sensations you're experiencing. Open your eyes and conclude by blowing out the candle or sounding the bell.

Of course, there are many other ways you can send healing energy. You don't need to follow a formula. Trust yourself.

A Caveat

Also, there are times when it just isn't practical to ask. For example, when I pass a car crash or when an ambulance passes, I briefly send healing energy for those involved. I keep it general--sending energy for their highest good.

The more individualized and personal your intent, the more extensive the healing session, the more important it is to ask permission. Common sense is the key here.

Wishing you peace, Nancy

Ways To Be A Healing Force Wherever You Go

--by Nancy Hausauer

Last week, I encouraged you to be a force for healing. I want to expand on that today.

For some people, such as anyone in a mental or physical health care field, it's obvious. You're already doing it. (Thank you.) It's enough, unless you feel strongly called to do more. Others of you may also have a clear idea about how you want to be or already are a force for healing.

But some of you may still be wondering how best to be a vehicle for healing in your world. I want to reassure you that it need not be an ambitious project. In fact, working in ways that come naturally may be best. Defining healing broadly--as helping people rebuild their wholeness, regain the fullness of who they are, live in harmony with others and the world, and be on a fulfilling life-path--there are endless ways to be a healing force. Here are a few ideas:

• Is there healing that you yourself need, on any level? Can you commit to good self-care, and can you dedicate that to the betterment of all? Can you keep your own energy highly calibrated with meditation, time in nature, compassion, positive and harmonious thoughts?

• Are you a parent? Can you teach your children self-care and self-healing practices? Compassion and tolerance? Reverence for the earth? Can you heal multi-generational wounds and dysfunctional behaviors, so as not to pass them on?

• Can you heal a patch of ground? Create beauty? Cultivate order and coherence?

• At work, can you refrain from participating in needless drama? Tap into the highest vibration of your organization's/job's mission? Try to be an uplifting, harmonizing influence?

• In your interactions with others, can you see the best in people? Give a word of encouragement? Appreciate and acknowledge others?

• More generally, can you practice basic principles of energy healing as you go about your life? If so, you'll automatically be a healing force in all you do.
  • Presence
    Deep, non-judgmental presence heals and creates space for transformation.

  • Intention
    Intentions are directed thoughts, and can be incredibly powerful. You can use this power in any situation by holding an intention for the recipient's highest good.

  • Positive thought and speech
    What we say and think has a huge impact on those around us. By maintaining positive thoughts and speech, we help others hold positive beliefs and thus create good outcomes for themselves.

  • Directed attention
    Energy flows where attention goes. Your attention feeds whatever you give it to. Whatever the situation, focus on the potential for good, evolution and healing.

  • A compassionate heart

I could go on, but you get my drift. Healing work, whether on a global scale or in the privacy of your own heart, is mostly about intention. Start where you are and go from there. You got this.

Next week, I'll write about another way to be a healer: sending energy to people or situations.

Winter Solstice: The Lessons of Mid-Winter

--by Nancy Hausauer

For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, the Winter Solstice is December 21st -- today.

The Winter Solstice, the official beginning of winter, is the longest night and shortest day of the year. It also heralds the return of the light—I love the poetry of that. Like each of the seasons, winter offers lessons about living in harmony with our energy.

The Wisdom of Winter

In winter, nature rests. The nights are long and still, the earth gestates and many of the plants appear to die. It's part of the natural cycle, necessary for the growth and productivity of spring, summer and early fall.

Often we forget that rest and stillness are necessary for us, too. This is true for everyone, but especially for energy healers and others who are sensitive to subtle energy.

In winter, nature teaches us that we must take time for internal stillness, external rest and self-gestation. If we haven't taken care of ourselves, we can't take care of others. We don't have enough extra light to direct toward healing, creating and other positive purposes. We must guard our time for restoration and inner stillness with the fierceness of a winter storm.

Staying Energetically Balanced in the Season of Winter

Here are some winter-solstice-inspired ideas for making sure your precious subtle energies stay in balance:

• Let go of traditions and activities that don't feed your spirit. The pandemic gives us a good excuse to overhaul our usual holiday patterns and start new ones. What really matters? What can you let go of?

• Get out into nature. Get as much natural light as possible.

• Turn off your electronic devices and do something creative.

• If you feel tired, take a nap. Your body is wise. Allow yourself as much sleep as you need.

• Nurture your inner child with play-time.

• Bring rich, beautiful colors, sounds and scents into your home and workplace.

• Take a mini-holiday every day, even if it's just a ten-minute jaunt outside for fresh air.

• Schedule regular time for stillness and reflection such as meditation, journal-writing or contemplative walking.

• Make room in your life for the distinctive poetry and beauty of the season.

• Take a night walk (safely, of course). Look at the moon and stars. Feel the richness of the dark.

• Allow the return of the light to feed your hope for the world. Light candles or build a fire to celebrate.

I wish you a beautiful, wise, restful winter -- Nancy