Hello everybody and welcome back to the Awaken Together podcast. I'm Kat. I'm Jen. And today
we are talking with you all about energy. We're going to share a bit of the esoteric
and hope to make it really approachable as to what energy is and how to protect your
own. So Jen, do you want to start us off with just a little high level definition intro
to what the heck energy is? Yes. So if energy is something you've never viewed the world
through, welcome. Welcome to it. So yeah, there's really a belief system. I think the
more you get into the spiritual world that everything is energy. And as foreign as this
sounds there is, yeah, it all really starts to come together and is so beautiful. So if
we think of ourselves as energetic beings and that everything around us kind of has
an energetic quality to it, then we really start changing the way we move and interact
with the world because a lot of it is coming from an energetic standpoint. So when we're
talking about protecting our energy, there's a lot of different ways to shift and change
your energy. But we're really going to be going into thinking of it as energetic beings
and thinking of ourselves as having this aura around us that projects our own energy out.
So the aura is going to be just surfacing around your whole body. It's believed that
there's a kind of an aura involved in everything, an energetic field around any object, a person,
and that when we're coming into close space with someone's aura, we're picking up on a
lot of their energy itself. And so this is what protecting your energy is going to have
so many fun points that will go down. But looking at your body as being with this beautiful
aura around it and that aura as a projection of what's going on on the inside, that is
a beautiful first step in perceiving yourself as being an energetic being.
Yes, I love that. Put so well. And energy exists in all sorts of different forms. This
is one thing that my husband Kyle and I can actually agree on when we get into the woo.
The woo-woo touch, the woo-woo touch.
Exactly. Energy is neither created nor destroyed, and it exists in potential, kinetic, thermal,
electrical, chemical, nuclear, and all various different forms. So you can trust that it
is everywhere around us and within us, which I think is pretty cool.
Yeah. And I think that there is definitely, yeah, there's so much resistance sometimes
to fully accepting us as energetic beings. But one of the things that me and Kat have
really delved into is we are both Reiki practitioners. So if you haven't heard of what Reiki is,
Reiki is universal energy. We're tapping into that universal energy when we perform Reiki.
Or if we're a Reiki practitioner and we go and get attuned and set to that. So me and
Kat have both done that training. And Reiki was actually what changed my belief system
around energy in the first place. Because what the practitioner is doing is they're
tapping into your energetic fields or that aura and really doing a scan and seeing what
has projected out from your body outward and what they can feel. And I was so skeptical.
Because I've gone through my spiritual awakening, everything has come in layers. But accepting
us as energetic human beings was a little weird to me. But before we dive into Reiki,
there are so many things that you do that are reading energy that you don't even realize
you are doing. And once you have started believing in energy and you start diving into that world,
you'll go, wow, I was picking up on energy all along. So when we are hanging out with
a group of people and we pick up on someone's vibe. So if someone has a really good vibe
or really bad vibe, something feels either good or bad. A lot of times that is our aura
picking up on their aura. And we're receiving all this unsaid feedback and that happens
all the time.
Yeah, exactly. Picture someone who is just sitting in a chair, kind of slouched down
with their arms crossed, maybe head tilted to the side. Think about what kind of energy
they're giving off. Maybe a withdrawn look, maybe a tired look. Their body language and
what you're receiving from them is louder than any words that they would speak to you.
And on the flip side, if there's someone right next to them, standing up, taking up space,
the arms up overhead, just like open, their feet are pointing in opposite directions outwards,
their whole body language is saying, I'm open. Which one is going to be more approachable?
Right?
There is so much we do to read the unsaid, but then some people can still be so skeptical
of what energy is in the first place. Another example is when you go into really crowded
public spaces where you're at a social event, like a big party, there can be so much going
on around you, but you're also picking up energetically on so many different people
that it can be extremely draining. So if you notice that after social events, there is
that sense of like, whoo, that was really heavy. I need a lot of downtime now. I need
to be by myself. A lot of that can come from the fact that you picked up on so many people's
energy and now you are drained because you gave a lot of your energy away and also interpreted.
And yeah, it kind of took in a bunch of the people around you's energy.
Exactly. And what's so difficult, I think, about energy reading, like you were just saying,
how it can be really, really hard and not approachable for many people is that it's
like a language in its own and it's invisible. It's not one that has a set vocabulary because
it's one you need to feel into. It's a language we're supposed to be speaking.
Yeah, and it's a language we all know at our core. Like babies know it. We're all born
with it, but life can cloud it and get in the way and this veil of illusion can form.
So it's all about like chipping that away and getting back to what we know at our core.
Yeah. Yeah. And I think one of the other examples that I like to give for if, yeah, if you hadn't
believed in energy, looking back at some of the things you did that were energy related,
whether you knew it or not, they're one of the funniest things. I went through yoga teacher
training and I started learning more stuff. I learned a bunch about our chakras, which
we're going to go into a lot more depth in the next episode of, cause that is a whole
world of its own. But looking at you have these energy wheels just kind of moving through
your body and each one has different qualities to it. But the goal is that all of the wheels
are kind of turning, turning and working together. But you know, before I even believed in all
the chakras and believed that there were these energy wheels and that I had this aura, I
remember so often I've had issues with speaking my truth and my, my throat space. And so whenever
I would say something that was very vulnerable, I would literally have my hands like covering
my throat. And if I spoke something out loud that made me feel very scared, like it was
a bold statement, like I decided to talk back or say something brave, I would literally
have an entire red circle over my throat and my chest, like truly just a giant ball of
energy there because I had so much dysfunction in that area. So if you notice that, you know,
when you're, you're talking with someone, do you put your hand on your heart? Do you
put your hand on your belly? Do you put your hand on your throat? Do you tend to keep something
pressed against your head? There's just so many little, little gestures we do that really
can be kind of a map to our energetic world and what we're struggling with. Because if
we're physically protecting something, there's probably a little bit of dysfunction underneath
all of those, those little, little tiny details that yeah, you could really dive into.
Exactly, exactly. And I mean, thinking about protecting your own energy, right? This is
something that I feel like it's a hot topic these days because people are awakening to
the paradigm shift and caring about this kind of stuff. So ways to do it. One is Sage. This
is probably a really common smudging agent that many people have heard of by now. Another
one is Palo Santo. Other ones that are a little bit less endangered that you could use are
Lavender. But really the idea of a smudging agent is you can use this, you burn something
in order to remove the energy that you no longer want. So this can be within your home,
this can be around your body, just like going around your arms, around your outline, around
your legs, your head, to really clear that. And there are different ways that you can
use smudging agents. Jen, what would you say your favorite one is?
Yeah. So I look at, I love using rosemary and cedar and different herbs because they
really do make tons of different types of sage. So yeah, as Kat said, you always want
to be careful and make sure it's sourced to where you're not, yeah, you're not crossing
the line into taking a very sacred traditional plant and then abusing it or just using it
without that intentionality and appropriating a very close and sacred practice. But yeah,
we are taught that in Reiki training. You have to have a sacred intention of clearing
a space, whether you're using one of those agents or even incense can work. Smoke clearing
is a huge way to reset and collect the space to clear out anything that's negative. Crystals
as well is a whole other fun, fun topic, but there's so many crystals that have the same
energetic property as we were saying our bodies do in different objects and each of the crystals
can kind of have their own properties. And there's a lot of beautiful crystals that you
can add in to protect your space. And even if like all of that does sound very like foreign
or a little too out there for you, I think another good way to like view it is when you
come at anything with the intention of I really want to release, I want to reset, I don't
want any of the feelings that I've been stuck with. I want them out. You're putting that
out there and that is already a form of letting go. So even beyond all of these different
practices is also this, it's making the space sacred and also putting that intention into
being conscious and removing anything that hasn't been working.
Exactly.
Such a beautiful like ritual element as well.
Yes, for sure. So that is one way to protect your energy. It's with a smudging agent, it's
with burning. It's a great way to do your space. And if you choose to do this way, here's
a little tip. Along with the intentionality, there are some practices that are passed down
from time to time that help us understand like how to really take this further. So if
you're smudging, I was taught to make it in a counterclockwise formation with your tool.
This is closing a portal. So if your intention is to remove negative energy from the space,
that is what you're going to be bringing to mind as you counterclockwise use your smudging
agent. Now, you always want to replace that energy with something positive and high vibrational.
So this is where you come in with your affirmations of this space is cleansed, this space is pure,
this space is safe, and you move your hand with the stick in a clockwise space, a clockwise
formation to replace that energy with something healing. So that is one way to protect your
energy from your and really cleanse your space. Another one, when you're talking about your
body and your physical being, another one I was taught is brushing. So this is when
you take your hand to your arm, for example, and like, like brush your shoulder off, literally.
Your shoulder, your arms, your legs, just pushing everything. I'm like doing it to
my body right now.
I love it. I love the sound.
Yes, yes. Just like shoving it off you and putting it down into Mother Earth, and she
can take it all. So brushing it down and getting rid of your physical body, that energy that
you're talking about is a way. A third way that I'll offer that is a really simple way
to get into it is simply visualizing. So if you are talking with someone who you can feel
your energy being drained, minute by minute, the more they talk, we've all been there,
right?
Yes.
Right? It's visualizing a barrier between you and them to keep you safe and to keep
their energy on the other side. I've shared a little bit about this on Instagram, but
it's called the psychic rose, and it's imagining that there is a floating, beautiful red rose
or whatever color you decide between you and the person. Your attention and your energy
stays focused on this rose. And as a communication continues, the conversation deepens, the rose
can move around to help you keep your attention on it, stay really focused and aware on that
and maybe as the conversation progresses, a leaf falls off, a petal falls, just to keep
you really engaged with what's happening on that rose. So you're still there for the conversation,
especially if you want to hold space for this person, if you're not putting that boundary
there, this is your energetic way of putting a boundary between you.
Beautiful examples, love every single one. And yeah, doing that right before you leave
the house, setting that intention of like, I need to keep my aura close by, protect it,
not just going out without some kind of intention built around it. You will notice the difference.
So if you are still on the fence on if that's something that even makes sense in your belief
system, give it a try and you will be shocked when you set that intention of I want to protect
myself, I want to make sure that I'm honing in on my own space and only inviting in what
I want to invite in. When you set that as an intention before you do something big,
the difference you're going to feel and energy without doing that energy when you do that
is going to be a huge difference.
Absolutely. So, so true. And one way that I was taught about what Reiki is that I really
liked, it's always stuck with me through the years. First of all, it's a Japanese healing
modality, right? It's kind of interesting that it's made its way out here. So grateful
for that. But it's that it's like a massage for your energetic field. So think about like
a massage in your body, right? How it opens up, releases tension, massages out any knots.
It's that same thing for your energetic fields. It moves stuck energy and can help bring more
flow into that whole aura, like you were saying.
Yeah. So as the cat gave us like little practices we can do, but there's some there's really
a beauty to going to a Reiki practitioner and having someone else go into your aura,
scan it, feel it, remove anything that's not serving you and really work on kind of realigning
everything to all those different chakra wheels working together. And I remember I was so
skeptical I'll share my first Reiki experience because here I am going, okay, well, I heard
that this is like a massage for your aura. I've clearly been struggling with consistent
energy. That was my like thought behind it. So I'd go try it and I go to a practitioner
and I do physical therapy as my day job before, yeah, before all of it. So I'm so used to
treating the physical body and I had this like annoying pain in my shoulder. So for
months before going to this Reiki appointment, I started doing all of the exercises I would
teach my patients, really hyper focusing on that shoulder so that I could heal this issue.
I was doing a lot of self massage, all the exercises and I couldn't get it. And I was
so frustrated and I thought I must have like a little micro tear or something. I must have
tore my shoulder. And anyway, that was not even thought about going into this Reiki session.
So I go, I'm relaxed, I'm getting in this meditative state. And she's, first of all,
telling me stuff that I was shocked by. She knew things already from the get go that I
was like, how would she have known that? Just like speaking a lot of truths about, about
things in my own life. And then she said, I really feel like I'm supposed to put my hand
on your shoulder, which sometimes when you go to a Reiki session, some of it's not any
hands on some of it's all just kind of hovering right over that aura. And other times, yeah,
there'll be actual physical touch. So she connected to my shoulder and immediately I
started crying my eyes out and I was like, oh my gosh, where did that come from? Like,
and I was sitting there and I was like, I'm gonna let this out, but I don't know why I'm
crying. And she was like, oh, this is needed. And she's like, you were storing so much in
that in and around your shoulder blade. And after I did my session, I literally had no
pain in my shoulder, like ever again. And I, I even tried to like make the pain happen.
I was like lifting a heavier weight at the gym the next day, like shots. Like I was like,
I wish I'd not been there anymore. I was so skeptical. And then that was like huge for
me. And I think that made me really reflect back. I've treated thousands and thousands
of patients over the years. And so many of the time when I make physical contact with
my patients and physical therapy, so often they'll have emotional releases come up, like
start telling me a story that they were, they're like, sorry, I shared all that to you. You
know, there's just such this universal, beautiful energy when we fully tap into somebody else
and whether you're trained, Reiki training is only to help you get better at moving that
energy and reading that energy and tacking, tapping into your psychic abilities and your
spiritual gifts. But we all can work with that energy. I believe too. Um, yeah, Reiki
energy is so similar. It's the same thing. It's described through a different lens of
beliefs. But when we think about praying for somebody, or if you were raised in church
where, you know, you extend your hands out, there's definitely been miracles that have
happened when people have focused in on somebody else and sent them that healing. Um, but not
everyone has their energy cleared and, um, they're not always working so connected where
it's coming from, uh, up your place. And I think you become more powerful the more you
really start seeing as energy and protecting your energy day to day. Then when you send
this out as a gift, it's coming from this beautiful place and everything can align at
a higher frequency. So that's a huge reason it doesn't work sometimes for people.
Got to get ourselves in check first in order to be able to share it out. And totally reminds
me of, um, something we have in Greek culture called the evil eye. Have you ever heard of
this? Yeah, a little bit. Tell me more though. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So it's so funny because
my, my mom, my grandmother, uh, very, you know, always grew up going to church. My grandmother,
we call her Yaya. It's Greek for grandmother. Uh, she's the daughter of a priest. Her father,
my great grandfather was a priest in Greece. And, um, so of course, super religious upbringing.
And there's something that they practice even within the church called the evil eye. And
the idea of this is when there's someone who wishes bad upon you, whether it's jealousy,
whether it is, you know, malice, any negative thoughts that someone else places towards
you, you're going to feel that. And oftentimes this can manifest in the way of headaches,
of just a bad mood, of being tired. And so what my grandmother does, it's like, I always
say it's modern day witchcraft. We're moving back into that. It's beautiful. Right. She,
she can check you for the evil eye. And my mom has her own way of doing it, which is
separate from my grandmother. But what she does is she takes this cup of water and she'll
take olive oil in a spoon. She will say a little prayer and say the person's name, think
of them, bring them to mind. And then she'll drop a little droplet of oil into the water.
And based on how that oil separates in the water, she will be able to tell if this person
does in fact have the evil eye or not. Wow. I love that. I know she can then clear them
from the evil eye by saying another certain prayer. And my mom's way of doing this is
she will say the person's name, do the sign of the cross, and she'll yawn if they have
it and she won't yawn if they don't. So I love it. I love it. It goes back, man. This
stuff is not new. It's not new at all. And we are becoming, you know, all of this collective
change is happening, but we're going back to so many old cultures, old roots, things
that were working that once, yeah, once the ego got strong and money empowered became
the goal. We shove so much of this beautiful, intentional, sacred practices deep down. Now
we're rebirthing and bringing it all back. And it's so beautiful. Yeah. I wanted you
to share the story about your mom with Reiki too. That was such an interesting one you
told me as well. Absolutely. Yeah. So my mom is how I have been really turned on to like
Eastern healing with always going to a chiropractor since I was the age of three just for like
preventative care, natural healing. We saw reflexology. We got that as children. We had
someone come to the house every week. I think it was Tuesday nights or something and we'd
have our feet, you know, a little massage on our feet. And there's more I could say
about that. But to keep a really high level, my mom, she was diagnosed with breast cancer
when I was in college. It was really early stage. She had to get some surgery to get
the tumor out of her breast and it went in through her armpit. So after she had the surgery
done, it was taking a long time for that incision to heal in her armpit. And she was doing all
the right things and it just wouldn't heal for some reason. It wouldn't fully scab over
and heal. And she was still having a lot of pain there. So she was getting reflexology
done one day and the woman recommended that she try Reiki on this spot. She'd never had
it done before, but she had heard of it and so she was open to it. So she got it done
and just keeping an open mind, but you know, a healthy level of skepticism, like anyone,
I think, first time. And after that first session, much like your story, Jen, so funny
that it was like shoulder as well, armpit shoulder. But after that first session, her scar began
to heal. It finally scabbed over and that healing that was done in one session, she
couldn't believe it. It's like whatever was stuck there, whatever trauma, whatever was
going on in order to prevent that from progressing was just taken away. And she felt some warmth
in that spot as it was happening, even though no touch was done. It got hot. And then it
just she could feel it like draining away. Wow. Pretty. Yeah. And that's such a good
example of the physical, not only the emotional stress that we take on via traumatic events
or just, yeah, little tiny moments of shame or not being able to fully express our emotion,
our energetic body holds on to physical elements as well as so much emotional. But it is, it's
really beautiful when you, from a practitioner eye, the people I've gotten to work with,
feeling over their aura and feeling where they're holding physical balls of energy,
whether that's from a car accident or yeah, a previous over people's scars, you can often
feel like a little hole in their aura. There's so much that we project out and the more in
tune you get with checking in on that, that outer body or that outer aura, the more you
can learn stories about what the body is holding and moving. And when we move that energy out
and we give it room to, um, yeah, release it's yeah, the such a big physical and energetic
difference and also emotional difference. You feel lighter, you have less physical pain.
This really makes you wonder how much is all energy in the first place and it just manifests
as all these other, you know, very concrete, um, diagnoses, but it's really good to look
at things through all the different, all the different layers. I so agree. Yeah. And what
the last thing I wanted to, um, close on for this episode was why hurt at once. And I thought
this meant like this was a really good wording for me to hear it, but think of yourself.
Um, we talked about that protection layer, but when you are discussing or talking to
somebody or you're having like a one-on-one connection or even a group connection, when
you are looking outside of yourself and you are paying attention to what someone's doing,
like we said, reading the room, you are, you are creating an energetic cord with the people
around you. So being mindful of it as, as being these little energetic cords that we
are tying to and thinking of that as either adding to our energy or taking away from our
energy. I think it's really good to think of everything that we give awareness and attention
to is also pulling our energy in that direction. So we already know this, what we put our energy
to is what we focus on, what we, you know, how we move forward through action, but that
also has so much to do with our boundaries and our guidelines and how much we're overextending
ourselves because we're thinking of these things as being energetic cords that we're
trying, or we're tying ourselves to. So when we're letting go, we're working on protecting
our energy, we're also paying attention to how much we extend our energy out and knowing
that we don't have to necessarily use our power to read other people's energy every
single time we interact with somebody. Sometimes it can just be about dropping in and not memorizing
everyone around us out of fear and wanting all the information and wanting to know what's
going on with them. That is where we really can fall into that overextending. So we talked
protecting ourselves, we talked about how to cleanse and reset our space and our body.
We've talked about the Reiki and adding that in as a beautiful practice to use a practitioner
to help you get ahead if you're really struggling with, you know, releasing and letting go on
your own or with, you know, some of these different practices. So good talk. Loved it.
Loved it. This one was action packed. I loved it too. Thank you, Jen. Yes. Thank you guys
for talking. We will see you next week for another episode of Awaken Together. Bye. Bye.