When I conduct a spiritual cleansing on a client, one of the most important components is energy manipulation. We determine the overall energetic health of the client, identifying any strengths and challenges, and then we fine-tune the energy output or receptivity accordingly.

What is wonderful is that although a professional healer has the training and experience to do this to a deeper level, even a novice can help someone who is struggling with energy overload or toxic energies if they have a few bits of specialized knowledge. Healing is a sacred task, but it is not overly complicated. We all can heal others, which is a wonderful asset for the preservation of the species!

The human energetic system is intricate and fascinating, with an impressive array of moving parts and interrelated reactions. If you have a fundamental knowledge of the basics, however, you can balance energies, clear chakras, and encourage positive energy flow.

We have seven chakras, which are powerhouses of personal energy, both radiating and receiving. Think of them as seven tiny hearts. In our circulatory system our heart beats and sends oxygenated blood out to our cells and at the same time, receives depleted blood back in for reoxygenation. Our chakras work in a similar fashion, with each one receiving energy from the outside, processing it with our own energy, and moving it through our energetic system by way of the meridians, which are like blood vessels for energy.

Our lymph glands are energy purifiers, much like our lungs or kidneys. They take in toxic energy from our meridians and release it, just as our bodies exhale, sweat, and urinate out our body wastes. When the system works perfectly, our lymphatic system relieves us of energy that would otherwise contaminate our energetic system.

When we experience trauma, including subjecting ourselves to negative people, our energetic system goes off balance. Sometimes, it will spontaneously recover, but when we have a series of traumas one on top of another, or an intense trauma, we do not have sufficient recovery time and the toxic energy stays inside us and begins to build up. In this case, we need to take measures to eliminate the toxic or excess energy and restore the energetic system to health.

The best way to do this is to have a spiritual cleansing performed by a professional energy healer. Some, like myself, are trained do this remotely using a proxy vessel to transfer the energy of the cleansing to the person who needs help.

If you are unable to work with a professional healer, you can ask a trusted friend to assist you in adjusting your energy flows and removing the toxicity. With quiet time, patience, and some common tools, you can alleviate some of the effects of post-traumatic stress and help your energetic system recover. This includes stressors such as depression, relationship traumas, anxiety, and other stressors.

I do not advise attempting to use these techniques on yourself. These practices work best when someone else can do them for you. It is like tickling yourself—we never quite get the same result when it is just us. For that reason, from here forward, I will relay the information as though speaking to the person who is conducting the healing.

Before you begin the healing session, be sure to silence all cell phones, have someone else care for any pets or children who might need assistance, and eliminate all possible distractions. I recommend having the person being treated, who I will refer to as "the client" for simplicity's sake, stretch out on a flat, comfortable surface such as a massage table, couch, bed, or even on the floor. Put a rolled-up towel or blanket, folded pillow, or bolster under the client's knees to prevent back stress.

Have them take a few deep breaths, relaxing more with each breath. You may want to burn incense or play relaxing music as you work on them. Relax yourself and tune into the energy you feel from the client and from your spirit guides.

Each of the chakras governs a part of the human experience, and any of the seven may become contaminated after trauma. To check the health of the chakras, we use a pendulum. If you do not have a pendulum, you can use a necklace or pendant that has some weight to the ornamentation and can swing freely when you hold it between your thumb and forefinger.

Hold the pendulum over each chakra in turn, taking note of the movement.

The root chakra, which is the first chakra, is at the tailbone, so with the client on their back, hold the pendulum as still as possible over the area of the pubic bone. If the pendulum is perfectly still, the chakra is blocked. If it swings vigorously, the chakra is hyperactive. If there is a gentle swing, the chakra is working normally. The root chakra relates to our feelings of safety and identity. It is the core of who we are, and our security.

Next, we move up to the second chakra, which is the sacral chakra. It is in the small of the back at the level of the lower abdomen. It governs our emotions and specifically our passions. Hold the pendulum steady over the lower abdomen and notice if it moves and how much.

The third chakra is the solar plexus and it is in the center just below the breasts. The solar plexus chakra is our center of personal power. Watch the movement of the pendulum here.

The fourth chakra is the heart chakra, which is at the heart, just above and between the breasts. The heart chakra governs our relationships.

The fifth chakra is our throat chakra, which is in the middle of the throat. The throat chakra relates to our ability to communicate effectively, both speaking and listening.

The sixth chakra is the third eye chakra between the eyebrows. The third eye chakra relates to our ability to look inward, to know ourselves, and to access our own divine wisdom.

The seventh and last chakra is the crown chakra at the very top of our head. The crown chakra is our gateway to the Divine, where we connect to whatever we consider to be holy.

If a chakra is blocked or hyperactive, it means it is responding to trauma of some kind. We can adjust the chakra energy using sound, colors, and stones.

Think of the elements (earth, air, fire, and water) and consider how they affect energy. This will guide you in raising or lowering the energy of a chakra. Water and earth calm energies. Air and fire stimulate energies. Think of their colors as well. We normally associate water with blue, which is calming. Most blue stones are also calming. We think of earth as brown and green. Both brown and green are calming colors. Air is white or yellow, which are invigorating colors. White is the presence of all colors, which is especially stimulating. Fire is orange and red, both of which are motivating and exciting.

Rattles of any kind are fire tools; they excite and ignite energy. A drum, on the other hand, is earth. It steadies and calms. A chime is air and usually would be stimulating, but if you use a three-toned chime, you can either raise or lower energy. If you chime from the smallest chime bar (the highest note) down to the largest chime bar, you will lower energy. If you chime from the largest chime bar to the highest, you will raise energy.

How can you put all of this together into healing?

Focus on the chakra points on your client that are not responding normally. If they are blocked and the pendulum does not move, we want to raise the energy to break through the blockage. To do that, we could lay red, orange, or yellow stones directly onto the area. We can shake a rattle over the chakra point and we can chime UP from lowest tone to highest, turning the chime so that it faces the chakra point and allowing the tone to reverberate into the client.

If the chakra is hyperactive, which is more common that a blockage, we want to calm it down. A hyperactive chakra is often a fight/flight/freeze response to a trauma that blew open the chakra and left it gaping and vulnerable, like the door to a house that an intruder kicked in.

To calm a hyperactive chakra, we can put a blue, green, or brown stone onto the chakra area, or my favorite, a black stone. Black rocks of all kinds are energy sponges and will pull toxic energies away from a trouble area. In my shop, we have "negativity sucking stones," which are smooth, black rocks that clients hold in each hand when they feel overwhelmed or anxious.

We can "chime down" over the chakra area by starting at the smallest chime bar and chiming to the largest chime bar, the lowest note. We can drum over the hyperactive area to help it to normalize.

In the case of either a blocked or hyperactive chakra, you can also cup your hands directly over the area, high enough that you do not touch the client, but low enough that you can feel the warmth of their body, and send focused healing energy to the location. You do not have to receive specialized training to do this. Just picture that pure, white light is channeling through your body and into the client. You may feel your hands heat up as you do this, which is normal.

When you feel you have done all that you can do, use the pendulum to check the chakra health again. You will likely find that the troubled areas have normalized.

If a client feels anxiety or tension and all their chakras respond normally, they may need to ground their overall energy. We can do this through visualization ("You are a tree with roots going far down into the healing earth" or, "You are standing over a drain with water flowing down over you, washing away all toxic or anxious energy"). They can hold smooth, black rocks in each hand, feeling the stones draw away the excess energy and stress. They can hug a tree, pushing as much of their body as possible against the bark. They can go "earthing," walking barefoot in dirt, mud, or grass to let the toxic energies flow out the soles of their feet.

As hard as it is in our highly technical life, people who frequently experience anxiety and tension should avoid electronics and have no screen time or electronic exposure for at least one or two hours per day, preferably before they go to sleep.

To maintain optimal energetic health, it is important that we release any energy that does not belong to us. Our energetic systems work best when they only have to manage our energy. This means taking time out from worrying about the problems of others or taking on their lessons as our own. If you are in a high-risk job for these sorts of things (such as a teacher, healer, social worker, etc.), it is essential that you take time to recognize what is and what is not your energy.

We do this by—c’mon, don't be afraid—meditating. Meditating is not what people often think it is. We do not have to make our brains go blank. We do not have to stop thinking. What we have to do is remove distraction. We must turn inside and imagine that our thoughts are a hurricane of stuff blowing around us and that it slows and slows and slows so that everything drops to the floor. The thoughts are still there, but they are no longer swirling. Meditating involves deep, regular breathing to oxygenate the body and spirit. It involves comfort, so that we are not distracted by a leg that is falling asleep or a room that is too hot. Meditation is about going within and finding our own inner wisdom without the chatter that comes from the outside world. Once we do this repeatedly for over a long time, we can easily identify what energy is ours and what is not. This lets us know when something from the outside is contaminating our energy field. Then we can grab that negativity sucking stone.

Taking responsibility for the healthy of your energetic field is a great step toward cultivating wholeness, peace, and wellness as a way of life. Get to know who you are without the demands, opinions, and needs of the outside world. Release your energetic traumas and balance your energies, which will help you to balance your life more quickly, easily, and effectively. That is true energy magic.