Because it is multidimensional, the auric energy body has a more complex nature than the physical body, with a different relationship to linear time. Auric energy healing requires a sequencing of healing work in order for it to be truly effective; it does not rely on one simple event, or single surgical “operation”. In the physical world, a medical operation will remove a damaged part and close up the wound, thereby allowing the natural healing process to begin. But with auric energy healing it is the consciousness of the client themselves that evolves, from a lower stage towards a higher stage. Any development of consciousness requires time in order for specific stages to be fully completed. Time is also needed for the acceptance of what is true, which only then can lead to a sustainable internal shift in the self. This includes a change in the client perception of the problem itself. In other words, time plus integration of specific stages of development equals transformation of consciousness.

This is why I utilize the Six Session Series, a format for working with my clients which allows each healing session to build upon the gains of the previous one. So, what happens?

I will begin each Six Session Series by clearing and strengthening the client’s auric boundary, then moving on to enhancing their legs and feet into the local earth energies beneath them. The vital connections to Mother Earth – especially the chakra relational cord that connects us to the center of the living planet – are enhanced. Then, with this foundation energy flow in place, the client gains the prana and containment of energy that allows for specific chakra cord repair, and for astral clearing work.

The chakra cord work is only begun after the client and I have dialoged about the personal and health issues that now bring them to seek healing work. This dialog is an essential part of the process, almost equal to the energy work itself. Bringing consciousness to the client’s issue helps activate the necessary internal support that can be pivotal to their journey.

My assumption is always that my client is in the process of soul evolution: that they are facing the very challenge that can evoke growth (evolution) or healing (release of an incomplete growth stage.) Healing only has relevance if it puts the client back on track for their personal evolution. Of course energy healing should take people out of pain and anxiety, but it should not be minimized as a “complementary” health treatment.

The energy healer’s task is to help re-boot the client’s stuck “operating system”, so they can move on with their development. Chakra cord work can help clear away the numbed feelings, the suppressed emotion, the mistakes in emotional connection that we all make, and can reset the auric consciousness system back into a place where it can resume growth. We don’t need to bring everything into a rational, everyday consciousness state in order to do this. We only need to support the natural functioning of the auric consciousness system, and let it do its job. Shock, trauma, denial … all these things both stimulate and interrupt the natural growth process. Energy healing works towards resuming the forward momentum towards personal and soul development. While the soul is grateful for the learning process it must also learn to shed the toxic residue left by this same learning process.

The final week of any Six Session Series will include energy work with the upper chakras: Talu, Bindu, Agnya (Ajna), Crown, and the Guru chakras. By enhancing the flows and the connections we have with these higher centers we can come to understand many of the problems we struggle with, but in a new light. Insight is not just the gaining of a rational understanding; it is the connection formed from our everyday mind to our higher self.

This sequencing of Six Sessions (Auric container, Earth connections, chakra and chakra cord development, Astral clearing, upper chakra functioning) can loop again and again, each time differently deepening the overall process for the client. Always we will return to the auric boundary, to our supportive connections into the earth, to our relational cords, and to our growing awareness of our higher nature. Some of my clients have their Six Session Series back-to-back, preferring a sustained growing process, while others take a few weeks between one Six Session Series and the next one. The timing must come from within. Then, just as when we cross a river by hopping over the rocks already sitting in the stream, we can pass each developmental obstacle effectively. Healing (i.e., repair work) is only needed when we slip off a rock and almost fall into the raging river below. Evolutionary growth occurs when we make it to the other side, after having grown into our full potential during the journey. When we arrive at the end of our journey, we find ourselves as both material and energy consciousness. We find ourselves whole.

Human beings over the course of thousands of years have explored contact with the Astral world. Sorcererers, witches, priests and shamans have learned how to interact with these invisible realms. The modern-day energy healer will often come across Astral people or objects that have become attached to the etheric structure of a client’s energy body.

The Astral world is not always a toxic or evil influence. In actual fact, my current assumption is that the Astral world has always co-existed alongside our world, playing a major and beneficial part in the physical evolutionary process. In many ways, the Astral world may be the sentient yin to the material world’s yang: it is receptive and fluid in contrast to the structured boundaries and natural laws built into a material universe.

When an energy healer comes across Astral phenomena she may welcome such an interaction as an important entry point into understanding the client’s development, at a level deeper than the human personality. Astral influences often connect the client more clearly to their identity as a soul: our true nature as an energetic conscious being unlimited by physical death, unrestrained by organic entropy. Despite our eventual death as a body our soul nature absorbs all of our life lessons,  in order to evolve.

I see the Astral realm as a vital partner in our ongoing soul development, rather than a hindrance to it. To work with the Astral is to work with the forces that help develop soul growth because when we work with spirits or Astral energies, we are breaking out of the restrictions placed upon us by our short and limited physical life span. We are touching deeply into spiritual immortality, as our identity dissolves and reforms constantly across the time line.

Unexpected interactions with the Astral world can occur during any life-threatening event (such as a Near Death Experience), any form of trance-inducing spiritual ritual, or under the influence of psychotropic drugs (Ayahuasca, Peyote, Psilocybin mushrooms, etc.) But it is more commonly experienced in the dream state: either sleeping or the waking or hypnogogic state of consciousness. In contrast, the psychic healer learns to interact with the Astral while remaining in the waking state, which resembles a form of healing trance to the outside person. The energy healer acts as an organic bridge between the material world, the etheric world, and the Astral realms. This bridge allows for personal growth to occur by the healer supporting a shift in an individual’s perception of themselves, and of the nature of the world around them. When such a shift of perception occurs the old way of seeing “reality” will fade away, and a new and more integrated reality will supersede it. The observer will change or – more accurately – begin to remember their higher spiritual perception.

When that happens – the remembrance of your true nature – everything in your life will begin to change. You will awaken to new possibilities, and become aware of multiple hidden influences upon your life. With this experience you can begin to take charge of your life, rather than be a spectator to it. This changes everything.

We are energy beings incarnated into a physical body. So the question is: why do it? What is the endgame of such a tremendous endeavor: the pouring of our multiple-frequency spiritual identity into low density matter? After all, higher-dimensional beings such as Angels are reportedly quite happy, as Baroque Angel paintings show. So, what do incarnating humans hope to achieve that can go beyond what the Angelic higher realms already offer?

Perhaps the answer lies in our desire to embrace a spiritual freedom. Freedom to create, freedom to explore, freedom to express all sides of the universal manifest reality. And the freedom to make mistakes. Lots of them. Even though such a freedom will bring with it loss, and release from old ways of being. More than one golden childhood will be lost to us in our lifetime.

Energy Healing can support spiritual freedom when it floods our undeveloped or traumatized systems with fresh and novel energy that leads us into becoming aware of things in a new way. It supports us in being willing to face ourselves – and the world in which we live – through a radically different perspective. Trained Energy Healing is the transfer of prana, and when this life force passes from healer to client it can be with the higher intention to awaken or support personal development in the other. This intention can help the client begin to question the fundamental assumptions of their problem, rather than to settle for an easy answer.

Freedom always questions authority. Freedom must never assume we (or another) have all the answers. Authoritarian control systems, whether internal ones (our critical voice within) or external ones (any political system) want us to take their answers, and their conclusions, at face value. These control systems tell us we are right when we accept their motives, their goals, their agendas. But inner and outer control systems have a vested interest in us remaining asleep, unconscious, repetitiously running on the same hamster wheel of denial. Good for them, but not so good for us.

Which means we have to start learning how to ask the right questions again, just like the inquisitive children we once were. We have to start thinking again, and thinking is hard work. But Energy Healing can direct the energetic consciousness of transformation to flow into those parts of our psyche, our feelings, and our body, that unconsciously resist recognizing meaningful truth. The truth we resist is like helium inflating a balloon; when it flows it enables us to fly.  Only by facing the raw, uncensored truth about our lives can we ever choose to change, and to evolve ourselves. Our inner Baroque Angel may find itself evolving into something even more magnificent: a free human being.

Then we can really fly.

But we must take care that such teachers don’t take our innocence and inexperience and use it against us. The hidden agenda of any populist teacher (often self-serving or financial) eventually conflicts with what students healers really need to learn: that their evolution as a healer lies as much in the transformational journey itself, rather than the following of a charismatic leader. It is the search itself – and not the leader – that changes us.

Learning to become a professional energy healer is neither simplistic (“No training required, everyone: just tune in!”) nor eternally solipsistic (“Just one more year of my training program, everyone, and then you will see the aura just like I do!). Energy healing training exists along a continuum of growth, only starting with simplistic methods. The “No training required” groups appeals to anyone who has neither the time, nor has glimpsed the dedication required, to enter deeply into the eternal mystery that is spiritual transformation. This is all in spite of our real-world wisdom regarding professional competence. Would you go for a root canal treatment if your dentist had only received a weekend of “channeled” guidance on dentistry? Would you go to a marriage counselor who had never been counseled themselves, or even been part of a long-term relationship? No, of course not.

But people do eventually catch on to the game. After time spent with the “no training required” teachers they wisely begin to look around for an authentic training program. During this phase it is common to jump from from teacher to teacher, from healing system to healing system, on a quest to find the “perfect” teacher: someone who is not just another egoist or a businesswoman, but who can really offer a quality service. Once you find your teacher, hopefully one who is at the other end of the populist spectrum, you may find yourself signing up for a long-term training program. Significantly better than the simplistic approach, an in-depth program provides a deepening of knowledge, and the all-important factor of community. We come to learn as much from our fellow students as we do from the teacher. But even long-term training programs in energy healing come with an expiration date. A training program must, eventually, graduate you, and release you to resume your quest for personal and spiritual development. You may find yourself staying around to serve your teacher rather than choosing to deepen your own soul growth. Again, I don’t have a problem with that. Because, you may need this additional time to release the idealization of the outer teacher, a necessary step in order to allow yourself to be closer in touch with your own, inner teacher. Of course, you may authentically resonate with your teacher’s world task, and feel the desire to be an on-going part of their community. In the end, only you can know which is true.

At some point on your journey you may arrive at the unmistakable conclusion that to learn energy healing is, truly, a lifetime endeavor. There are no “Masters” out there, with secret keys to the kingdom. Like professionals in other disciplines, dedicated energy healers continually learn, practice, consult with specialists or with others with greater experience, in order to evolve. It is this eternal dedication to personal development that defines a truly helpful healer, or a useful teacher. And when you emerge from your training experiences more aware of your connection to yourself, and you begin to share your specialized work with the world, a new shift can begin. Your Guru chakra – the center of consciousness that lies just above your head, and holds the wisdom of your soul – learns to speak more directly through you, and balances the learning you receive from the outside with that from the inside. You learn to connect to yourself, and to your own spirit guides, as a vital part part of evolving towards spiritual adulthood. Once you are free of becoming lost in the charismatic orbit of an outer teacher you will learn to make new choices: for yourself, as well as for your clients. Your training will continue, new information and skills will find their way to you, and the apparent complexity of what is energy healing will finally shimmer into focus. When you are listening within yourself, with at least the same amount of attention that you used to invest in any outer teacher, something wonderful will happen. You will no longer be thirsty for another person’s verification of your value as a healer. You will know it, for yourself.

Good luck on your journey.

The physical body lives within the limits of the three-dimensional reality of the everyday world. It can exist only in one location, and it follows an aging process where exercise and nutrition play vital roles in health maintenance. The Etheric body is impacted by these needs, but requires additional nourishment, exercise, and development. The Etheric body is not only the substrate for the physical body but is also a vehicle for consciousness expansion. The Etheric body can be released from its localization and attachment to the physical body, and can travel huge distances. It can also learn to interact with, and to affect, the Etheric body of another at a distance.

If you have ever experienced a lucid dream, where your body is flying effortlessly through space, that is probably your Etheric body having an out-of-body experience. OBEs (Out of Body Experiences) occur when, either spontaneously or through intent, the Etheric body detaches from being docked with its physical counterpart, shifting into either three-dimensional space (as in Remote Viewing) or into four-dimensional space (as in Distance Healing or Astral Healing). The lucid dreamer will usually experience their Etheric counterpart body as being noticeably different to their physical counterpart in that it is more youthful and agile, in contrast to their usual experience of an aged material body. Similar experiences are reported by Near Death Experiencers (NDEs).

Additionally, when you are traveling using your the Etheric body your human senses – vision, hearing, touch – are vastly heightened in comparison to your everyday experience. Vision, especially, often seems to function 360 degrees around you, rather than directly in front of your eyes. Finally, time in the Etheric body is extremely fluid; either running very fast, or slowing down to micro-seconds while retaining full awareness.

When you receive an energy healing, an acupuncture session, or any form of Prana-based therapy, its primary impact will be on your Etheric body. Acupuncture and other body meridian healing systems operate by returning the natural flow and healthy rhythms of the Etheric body into balance and effective functioning. Prayers and blessings, in combination with focused intention, also positively impact the health and vitality of the Etheric body. When a healing event such as one of these is set in motion the physical body can be encouraged to return health, as the Physical and the Etheric bodies are interdependent. The cooperative nature of the two bodies explains why, moments after physical death (at which point the Etheric body detaches from the Physical) the person you once knew so well looks different. The Etheric body (along with other higher aspects of that person’s soul development) of your loved one has departed. The life force of the person – the “driver” – has left the chariot of the body, and moved on to the next stage of their evolution.

In my second and upcoming posting on the Etheric body we will explore how the Etheric body can be developed and utilized by the energy healer who wishes to be of service to others, as well as touch on some of the implications such development offers those of us seeking further personal , or spiritual, development.

The problem for students moving through the Barbara Brennan School of Healing program is that not everyone has the ability – or the natural disposition – to work effectively with the Astral world. My experience is that you cannot train just any student to connect to the Astral world, do their astral healing technique, and then just leave unscathed, and unaffected by Astral energies. Working in the Astral world (and with those that inhabit it) is specialist work. Plus, there are various influences on Westerners that take it beyond the issue of a healer’s individual skill level. Westerners have all been taught, since childhood, to ignore the Astral as unscientific, to disparage it as a realm of spirits and demons, and to view it as a dangerous place that means to do us harm. Our preconceptions automatically distort our perceptions.

In this article I want to present to you what I truly consider the Astral world to be: a fourth spatial dimension (comprising of 49 sub-domains) that co-exists with our linear time-and-space everyday world. The Astral world is not a dimension in opposition to human reality. It is an integral part of our human evolution from the very beginning, a dimension that actively co-creates our personal and spiritual journey for both human and non-human alike. It is a realm filled with other beings, with other “people”. These Astral beings may look, to the inner psychic eye, like goblins and serpents, but they have their own spiritual depth, and individual personalities.

Astral “entities” are people. To call them entities, or demons, does them more than a disservice. It is a subtle form of racism, if we agree to extend the racist ethical concept beyond humankind and into the rest of the universe. If  we share time and space with other non-human beings they deserve the same respect, rights, and consideration that we would naturally extend to members of the human race.

They are “people” the way our pets have a unique nature that we come to know, and to love. Astral beings deserve the same respect that we offer to other human persons in the world. This is so even though the Astral is mostly an unseen world, seemingly existing within our inner reality,  glimpsed only through dreams or moments of hypnogogic lucidity.

Occasionally there are physical manifestations of the Astral, such as poltergeist activity, or photographic evidence (such as ghostly apparitions, or photographic orbs). But if a healer is drawn to work with the Astral realm these manifestations become more real to our inner vision, and more apparent in how they affect many of the life issues that we – and our clients – have to deal with. We come to see the imprint of the Astral everywhere: from our personal issues all the way, to social and global issues.

Within the Astral world we find different species of beings at various levels of evolution, similar to the range and development of animal and plant life here, in the physical world. Describing something as a “Lower Astral Entity” is akin to pointing at a large dangerous-looking spider or centipede, and calling it evil. There is nothing evil about a spider, nor the so-called Lower Astral being. Yes, it is true that it may bite you if you pick it up, or disturb it. But that is the nature of the spider, or the Astral being. It’s not personal.

Just as we divide up the animal kingdom into various domains, so we can place different Astral or non-physical species within useful categories. The “Lower” Astral are one category of Astral people that don’t have a highly-developed individuated consciousness. They exist in the domain of instinct, survival, and of propagation. Lower Astral people seek the nourishment of your pranic emotional energy. They are often found in the warm, moist cavities of the human body, nestled close to an endocrine gland or a digestive/elimination body organ. They happily suck up human prana and, in return, deposit a waste material which healers experience as Astral Gunk. Yes, that sticky and viscous material that you pull out of a client’s body during an Astral healing is spirit being waste matter. Don’t forget to wash your hands once you are done.

The second category is the “Higher” Astral, and is usually experienced as the place where angels and spirit teachers (or guides) cluster; those who interact with the human race in order to promote spiritual growth. Unfortunately, just because an Astral person tells you that they are from the Higher Astral does not always guarantee that they are Higher Astral. Many Astral people feed off the human radiance of attention, and may say anything to get it.  Just like getting to know a new friend, it takes time to get to know any Astral being. They may tell you they are a priestess or a guru from the past, in order to impress you, but they may have a hidden agenda. Unless their actions and counseling lead you on a consistently-upward growth curve you could be dealing with a trickster rather than a teacher. Remember the Biblical adage: “By their fruits ye shall know them.”

The third category of Astral people are ambivalent entities, or the Middle Astral. Like ourselves, these are developed beings of energy consciousness but who have taken on a different evolutionary direction from we three-dimensionally-bound humans. They exist as energy beings in a Fourth-Dimensional reality. They can take on different elemental forms, or adapt their personalities to new and creative roles. Where a Higher Astral angel may be following and implementing Divine Laws, the Middle Astral likes to bend those Laws, twisting them into new shapes. They are creative life forms. They contribute to the novelty and diversity of the Universe. And they are unpredictable.

The Middle Astral often appear to us as spirit allies, as teachers, or even as our Muse. Less authority, more friend and colleague, Middle Astral people can assist our growth and personal transformation far beyond any earth-bound human friend. But this is not all about you; Middle Astrals have their own lives, their own goals, their own personal agendas. Just like humans.

From this perspective Astral healing is not about removing the “evil”or negative activity of a shadow world from the physical world. Astral healing is learning to interact with, to understand, and to benefit from, relationships with non-human and non-physical people. As I wrote earlier, these are not alien “entities”. They are people. And this is why Astral healers must have a certain kind of personality that can interact with this realm, especially as the power of the Astral may overload your auric system with energies that you are not yet able to handle.

Astral energies will often lead you towards great transformation and change in your life, but (and for energy healers especially) it is common to have excess Astral influence in our lives. If Astral energies flood, or overcharge, the auric energy system (especially the brain stem area, where Talu chakra is located) there can be a tremendous destabilizing effect on the human nervous system. The common symptoms of Astral overwhelm are: chronic insomnia, hyperactive thoughts, paranoia, obsession, the sabotaging of our relationships, and hearing inner voices that may not have our best interests in mind if we follow their lead. And then there are the body shaking, nervous system jerking, and involuntary sounds or movements that affect us at the physical level.

Working with the Astral is a very specialized form of energy healing. If this work is not for you (as a healer or student healer) don’t feel bad, don’t feel inadequate. There is plenty of powerful and important energy healing techniques that can be done with our clients, such as Chakra Cord healing. Astral work is best suited for adventurers and quirky individuals: those with strong stomachs, flexible hearts, and an appreciation for spending time in the trenches of the human spirit. It is for those people who enjoy “digging in the dirt”, prospectors looking for gold. Oh, and a sense of self deprecating humor will help you  tremendously. There are many intermediate and advanced Astral healing skills to learn, but Astral healers do a lot of astral plumbing work … just pulling nasty stuff out of people. It is not romantic work. Along the way we get to meet challenging spirit beings that may – or may not – have our health and evolution as their primary concern. We always have to sort out the Astral crooks from the good Astral people, to help our clients navigate their individual path of personal growth.

The study of Astral healing is not for everyone. But, if it is for you, I promise one thing … you will never be bored.

Where do we look for our true nature? Let’s use the analogy of the personal computer. The human body is the hardware. The egoic belief system and non-conscious physical workings of the body are the software that runs upon it. But the awakened self is the user interface: that place where body, mind, and soul come together to lift us out of the animal state (where we simply function, or survive) and into the individuated state (an interconnected reality where we evolve and experience choice). The grip of physical reality (combining the false or egoic self, programmed beliefs, and infant-level assumptions about reality) on our everyday awareness is immense; it takes a tremendous meditative effort to experience the awakened self. Our true nature has been given many different names in various cultures but it can be distilled into a singular experience: “I experience that I am of the body, but that I am not the body: I am energy consciousness itself. I am free.”

Because the physical body and the false self exists in linear time the awakened state is often not recognized, only barely intuited. The awakened self is outside the flow of linear time, and even free of fixation in localized space, contradicting many of the limits experienced by the physical body. The awakened self is nothing special – since we all possess it – but it is our true nature, whereas the everyday egoic self is a temporary and limited entity. The awakened self moves from body to body, lifetime after lifetime. This is the self that hungrily responds to energy healing because, through it, the awakened self becomes strengthened and is reflected back to the client by the healer. Yes, when receiving a healing the physical self will heal faster… but more importantly, the awakened self will have an opportunity to move into the forefront of our lives.

A powerful and effective energy healing should always inspire us to move into deeper contact with ourselves. It should always connect us to our personal power, to our ability to change any unconscious (or toxic) belief, and then help us to move on and create something new. When we awaken we learn to see things as they really are: through the higher senses of our true nature.

In a previous blog posting I wrote about  some of my work with a lesser-known chakra: the Talu chakra, a small energy center located in the human brain stem. I first discovered this tiny chakra during my teaching tenure at the Barbara Brennan School of Healing (BBSH), mostly because many of my students exhibited over-charged brain stems along with excessive Astral involvement during their time at the school. My assumption at the time was that Astral flooding was part of their training program… how better to learn about Astral healing than by immersing yourself in it?  Unfortunately, many BBSH teachers denigrate the astral world as regressive, as something to be transcended rather than integrated into the BBSH approach. No one took notice of a very important fact: that the healer-students were processing far more lower Astral energy than was healthy, or helpful. In fact, many students ended their training fearful of working with anything other than high-level spiritual guides.

Once I had left BBSH in 2003 I became free to return to a more objective study of the Talu chakra and other higher chakras, greatly assisted by my discovery of Shyam Sundar Goswarmi’s book, “Layayoga”. I came to realize that the Talu chakra was both a receiver of astral consciousness, as well as the main conduit in our communications with Astral entities.  Psychic healers have very highly charged Talu chakras compared to the general population, which makes them “food stations” for Astral people roaming at large in the material world. An over-charged Talu chakra will also affect the human nervous system in a negative way. In short, a strong psychic with poor boundaries makes a wonderful meal for Lower Astral people!

Without a good regime of regular astral hygiene, and a strong energetic container, psychics are often at the mercy of various forms of psychic invasion and energy draining. The sushumna (energetic spinal column) can become clogged with various Astral influences, dragging the healer’s vibration to a low, level, perhaps affecting their health. But by clearing out Astral debris, and by reinforcing the boundaries of the Talu chakra, the same psychic healer can learn to both tolerate – and even to thrive – in a high-Astral environment.

Here are some of the symptoms that suggest an over-charged Talu chakra:

1. An increase in mental restlessness and insomnia: a churning mind, full of voices or ideas that are jumbled around, as if you are tuning into different astral frequencies at random.
2. Energy drain that does not respond to the usual remedy of good diet, extra rest, or taking vacation time.
3. A sudden obsession, such as food or recreational drug use, has recently taken over your life.
4. Jolts or shakes randomly occur in the body, especially in the neck and head segment.
5. Vivid astral dreams that leave you disturbed rather than rested.
6. An increase in your personal fear levels, and difficulty in soothing yourself when anxiety sets in.
7. You find yourself saying inappropriate or invasive words to others that are not your words, as though someone else is speaking through you.

I regret not being able to bring Talu chakra clearing work into The Barbara Brennan School of Healing during my tenure there, as it adds a vital piece of knowledge to any healer training program. If you are struggling with astral invasion, have difficulties during your training as a psychic healer, or exhibit some of the above symptoms, please consider a Talu chakra clearing session with either myself, or one of my Diploma Course graduates. It usually only takes a few sessions to clear and re-set the energetic brain stem. This can often make a tremendous difference to the functioning of your overall energy system. You deserve to have good boundaries with the astral, and to have your life force flow in a healthy direction… and not unknowingly into the Lower Astral world.

If you are working within your culture-of-origin you already possess much of the social and relational understanding needed to connect with like-minded others. But if you leave your country, or if you need to connect to others from a different land, challenges in connection do occur.

Now that I am old enough to have had experience in several cultures I better understand one important mechanism: each culture possesses a consciousness matrix made up of social, spiritual, and cultural energy. To tap into a culture other than your own you must tap into the energetic consciousness of their unique matrix. Yui Wang first pointed this out to me, as we walked the streets of Tokyo, on my first visit to Japan. I had almost been hit by a cyclist coming up from behind me. I had expected him to be responsible not to hit me. He had expected me to feel him coming, to be aware of the space around us both, and to move out of his way. I didn’t move, and he almost hit me. “You have to feel the Japanese “grid” around you”, said Yui. “The Japanese cyclist expected you to “feel” him coming up from behind, and to “fit in” with him. It’s the consciousness of the village, and not of individual rights.”.

I began to experiment energetically connecting into the social grid in Japan, both personally and professionally. Sure enough, the connections with the culture had a specific experience to relational awareness. But I could also see that you needed to live in the new culture for a while in order to experience it. Both time, an intention to understand others, and experience in talking or working with local people was essential in order for the local social consciousness to gain access to your auric system.  This has recently started to happen here in Sabah, Borneo, where I recently moved. A few weeks ago I felt something “click” into my energy field.  Suddenly, I was in the flow of local life in a new and more pleasurable way. I was no longer stumbling around like a Western tourist; I was a fish amongst other fish. I felt I had somehow just become a citizen of the town. The local social grid had taken me in.

Of course it takes many years (including language acquisition) to truly understand any new culture. Expect this process to impact, or challenge, some of your long-held relational assumptions, such as what is polite and appropriate, personal boundaries, and what is expected from others. The hunter-gatherer Western societies are tremendously different to the rice-growing Asian consciousness, as many well-traveled authors such as Rudyard Kipling have noted. And in an evolving global economy understanding others as culturally different from you will become increasingly important. For those of us who are also on a spiritual quest, and seeking wisdom from other cultures, understanding their social energy grids will help us gain what we seek. Because if we expect someone from another culture to be like us, true connection will not occur. Personal and business needs will not be supported. Relationships will not deepen. And without strong relationships, we cannot heal and grow, learn and prosper, or enter into mutually beneficial arrangements.

As energy healers we must continually build a presence in the marketplace that shows the public exactly how our work can address specific issues and produce results. We must differentiate ourselves from energy-only practitioners, and from flaky “New Age” healing in general. We must find our authentic professional identity. So, the first step for building your healing practice is to know how you want to make a difference in your work.

In other words, what is your specialty?

One place to start is not by talking to others about who you are, but to go into the privacy of your room, and meditate on what it is you are here to share with the world. Without interruption, with just a small index card and a pen, write down words and sentences that express your worth, and what you know to be true. Don’t edit, don’t criticize yourself, simply write down your words. Then, get out an audio recorder, and interview yourself based on words or sentences on the card. Remember that this is a birthing process: you are the midwife to your own message. Others can help you, or write books to inspire you, but your message is unique and personal.