Energy: Grounding, Centering, and Shielding

"Now and again, it is necessary to seclude yourself among deep mountains and hidden valleys to restore your link to the source of life. Breathe in and let yourself soar to the ends of the universe; breathe out and bring the cosmos back inside. Next, breathe up all fecundity and vibrancy of the earth. Finally, blend the breath of heaven and the breath of earth with your own, becoming the Breath of Life itself." - Morihei Ueshiba

Energy plays an important role in everything we do. It is the power that animates the physical world, causing the sun to shine, our bodies to move, making trees and plants grow and flourish; and it is the force that flows within us, the primary source of our emotions, thoughts and spiritual life. When stress, injury, and negative feelings disrupt our flow of energy, our quality of life is diminished – even if we are not aware of it!

With careful practice and meditation, we can learn to sense the energies within ourselves, and bring them into balance so that we may embrace our highest good.

One of the easiest and most effective ways to balance physical and spiritual energies is a technique known as “grounding and centering.” 

Grounding

When you ground yourself you are either shedding your excess energy or replenishing yourself to balance your energy levels. 

Grounding helps to prevent the body from becoming too tired or energetic and can replenish your energy after doing spiritual work or magick.

Here are some things you can do to help bring you back down to earth:

• Eating healthy & balanced
• Drinking water
• Walking barefood
• Laying on the floor 
• Hugging a tree
• Sunshine/Moonlight
• Hiking in nature
• Yoga, Qigong, tai chi etc.
• Breathing Exercises
• Gardening
• Animals
• Being purposeful
• Carrying/working with crystals 
• Visualization 

Example of visualization:

The easiest and most helpful thing to imagine when you are trying to ground yourself is tree roots! Just imagine you have great long sturdy roots coming from the base of your feet (which should remain flat on the floor during the visualization), or, from the base of your spine if you are sitting directly on the floor. Just let these roots go right down in to the earth below and let them anchor you onto the earth. 

Colour can also be quite helpful, deep earthy colours such as red, brown and terracotta are always good. Again just imagine that this colour surrounds you. You can imagine it as light or a cloak or blanket, whatever is easier for you.

Centering 

"When you have a disease, do not try to cure it. Find your center and you will be healed. There are some things that can be sensed but not explained in words." – Taoist proverbs

Centering is a foundational skill for energy work. 

Centering allows someone to centralize his or her power someplace inside the body. 

This is beneficial because when casting a spell, or doing energy healing you will be able to access one center of power instead of your power being spread across your body. 

Some teachers often compare this to “saving money in the bank for a rainy day.” Everyday you put a little energy in the bank. Then when you’re old or sick you have a nice big savings stored up and you can use it to stay healthy, active and vibrant.

Most people center themselves in the navel and I suggest that for now you do as well, but when you are more advanced you can put your center of power anywhere you wish. Some don't recommend  storing it in the heart and head. And some claim that the most effective place to store energy is in the bone marrow of your entire body from head to toe.

At the end of any energy work, make certain to bring your dispersed energy back to your navel (or center of choice). This is very important. You don’t want your energy stuck up in your head or heart, as this can cause scatteredness and emotional problems—even Qi psychosis could result.

Basic technique to connect and feel your Tantien:

Sit down.

Place your fingers on your belly at the height of the hara, 2cm under the navel.

Breath in and push your fingers away from your belly with your muscles.

Breath out, the muscles that pushed your fingers out relax, and let the fingers go inside the soft muscles towards the center.

Let your exhales and the movement inside be longer than the inhale.

At the end of the long exhales, feel a contraction, in the center, inside your belly.

Stay there, a bit, until you feel the need to inhale again.

Then, with the next inhale, push your fingers away from the center again.

When you start to control the movement of the muscles, out and back in, you can remove your fingers.

Pushing your Tantien forward in your lower belly with the inhale and bringing it back to the center with the exhale, is the basic exercise for all the inner techniques of chi.

Practice this one as much as you can and your Tantien will become stronger and more present from day to day.

Shielding

I actually think this is the most important of the three skills, but unless you are grounded and centered, you′re not going to be able to shield very well. Once you are grounded and centered and put up your shield, then it will be harder for someone to knock you off your equilibrium.

Shielding is pretty much just what it says it is. It′s your suit of psychic armor that you put around yourself so that no one can impose their energy onto you, nor leach your energy for themselves. You′ll sometimes hear people talk about ‘psychic vampires.′

These are often people who drain the energy from those who are not properly shielded—sometimes without even knowing that they are doing it. Have you ever been in a room with someone and left feeling absolutely exhausted? They′ve drained your energy. Shielding can help you with this, whether it is in a magic circle, or just having to deal with a bombastic colleague or neighbor.

Ways of defense and clearing:

• Visualizing a force-field
• Visualization of white light
• Aura cleansing
• Using positive affirmations
• Smudging
• Meditation to strengthen the aura
• Mantra or repeated prayer
• Salt baths
• Essencial oils and herbs
• Protective imagery/jewelry/crystals
• Magic

For more information read my article: The threat of Psychic Attacks.

Tips

When you first start to ground, center, and shield you may feel that it′s all a bit complicated, but I promise you that if you remember to start every morning, this way it will become second nature to you. 

Remember, there′s really no one right way to do this. We′re all unique. There are many techniques for grounding, centering and shielding and it is wise to look for those that work best for you.

Do you have a favorite technique? Tell us in the comments! 

Also read:

• The threat of Psychic Attacks
• The Protective Aura
• Jing –Your original life force, and how to nourish it

Taoist sexual practices and sexual vampirism in ancient China

Some Taoist sects during the Han dynasty performed sexual intercourse as a spiritual practice, called "Héqì" ("Joining Energy"). The first sexual texts that survive today are those found at the Mawangdui. While Taoism had not yet fully evolved as a philosophy at this time, these texts shared some remarkable similarities with later Tang dynasty texts, such as the Ishinpō. 

The sexual arts arguably reached their climax between the end of the Han dynasty and the end of the Tang dynasty. After 1000 CE, Confucian restraining attitudes towards sexuality became stronger, so that by the beginning of the Qing dynasty in 1644, sex was a taboo topic in public life. These Confucians alleged that the separation of genders in most social activities existed 2,000 years ago, and suppressed the sexual arts. Because of the taboo surrounding sex, there was much censoring done during the Qing in literature, and the sexual arts disappeared in public life. As a result, some of the texts survived only in Japan, and most scholars had no idea that such a different concept of sex existed in early China.

The basis of all Taoist thinking is that qi is part of everything in existence. Qi is related to another energetic substance contained in the human body known as jing, and once all this has been expended the body dies. Jing can be lost in many ways, but most notably through the loss of body fluids. Taoists may use practices to stimulate/increase and conserve their bodily fluids to great extents. The fluid believed to contain the most Jing is semen. Therefore, Taoists believe in decreasing the frequency of, or totally avoiding, ejaculation in order to conserve life essence.

Male control of ejaculation

Statue of an Immortal

Many Taoist practitioners link the loss of ejaculatory fluids to the loss of vital life force: where excessive fluid loss results in premature aging, disease, and general fatigue. While some Taoists contend that one should never ejaculate, others provide a specific formula to determine the maximum amount of regular ejaculations in order to maintain health.

The general idea is to limit the loss of fluids as much as possible to the level of your desired practice. As these sexual practices were passed down over the centuries, some practitioners have given less importance to the limiting of ejaculation. Nevertheless, the "retention of the semen" is one of the foundational tenets of Taoist sexual practice.

There are different methods to control ejaculation prescribed by the Taoists. While, if done incorrectly can cause a retrograde ejaculation, the Taoists believed that the jing traveled up into the head and "nourished the brain."

Proponents of the bedchamber techniques theorized that if one could suck up the genital fluids of one's partner during sexual intercourse without releasing any fluids of one's own, one would emerge from the encounter with an increased store of qi — at the direct expense, of course, of the partner, who would eventually waste away and die if the technique were performed on her repeatedly.

Some Ming dynasty Taoist sects believed that one way for men to achieve longevity or 'towards immortality' is by having intercourse with virgins just under 14 years of age and women older than 18 should be avoided.

One danger for some weak men is that they might activate an endless outpouring of jing that never seems to stop, which can actually kill them, so in the old days the women would wear a needle in their hair and then take it out and punch the man’s buttocks with it — like acupuncture –to stop the leakage of jing to prevent him from fainting. They actually stabbed the man in the buttocks if this deadly scenario happened.

Women

In the early days of Taoism, men were running the show and they were writing the rules on sexual practices. As you might guess, the practices they came up with, largely favored male advancement and illumination. The female was getting screwed, literally.

Queen Mother of the West

Women were often given a position of inferiority in sexual practice. Many of the texts discuss sex from a male point of view, and avoid discussing how sex could benefit women.

While the man had to please the woman sexually, she was still just an object. At numerous points during the Ishinpō, the woman is referred to as the "enemy"; this was because the woman could cause him to spill semen and lose vitality. In later sexual texts from the Ming, women had lost all semblance of being human and were referred to as the "other," "crucible", or "stove" from which to cultivate vitality. The importance of pleasing the woman was also diminished in later texts. The practice was known as Caibu, as a man enters many women without ejaculation.

Women were also considered to be a means for men to extend men's lives. Many of the ancient texts were dedicated explanation of how a man could use sex to extend his own life. But, his life was extended only through the absorption of the woman's vital energies (jing and qi). Some Taoists called the act of sex “The battle of stealing and strengthening.”

So a group of Taoist women came up with their own practices, which favored the female or at least offered equal favor for their own advancement and illumination.

These women conducted their work in secrecy and were rumored to be illuminated master of sexuality, eternal youth and healing. A woman of this lineage was known as a White Tigress.

The unique aspect of the White Tigress is their claim that women have their own unique process for acquiring the physical and spiritual goals of Taoism, namely restoring youthfulness and ultimately achieving immortality through a disciplined use of sexuality. Tigresses viewed their sexuality as a spiritual gift, and they knew how to use it well to stay healthy and young.

The female practitioner of the White Tigress Teachings practices oral sexual union with as many men as she desires. During these sexual unions she is absorbing the jing energy from the male's penis and then focusing it into her body to revitalize herself. When a male partner or Green Dragon ejaculates usually on her face or body the semen is looked upon as a badge of honor. She will rub it into her body since it is one of the most powerful skin rejuvenation creams known to ancient man. This is where the concept of the White Tigress and the stripes come from and why Geisha girls had white faces in Japan.

"A Green Dragon serves no other purpose than to be a provider of semen and sexual energy, and he does so in most cases unknowingly. A Green Dragon is led to believe that he is being seduced by the White Tigress purely for sexual pleasure... After a White Tigress had sexual interplay with a Green Dragon and she depleted him of all his sexual essences and energy, he would be symbolically considered a "Fallen Dragon".  -Sexual Teachings of the Jade Dragon

The process was totally in favor of the woman. The man got nothing really other than gratification. With sexual intercourse the female creates a material child. With oral sex, her past childlike affinities are re-created.

Master Ch’ung Ho said: “It’s not only male sexual energy that can be cultivated, the female can cultivate hers as well. Western Royal Mother is a female who obtained immortality by replenishing her yin forces with the yang. Every time she engaged in sex with a man, he fell ill, but her own face would be so smooth and glowing that she had no use for facial powders or rouge."

In China, where the preservation of the male lineage has dominated religious and political laws for centuries, little importance was given to women maintaining their youth or health. The truth is White Tigresses were imprisoned in China for their practices and those that survived went underground for many reasons.

Lao Tzu himself states, “The mysterious female is inexhaustible.” How the Yellow Emperor achieved immortality and how Western Royal Mother achieved immortality cannot be compared. Each has its own path, each seeks the other's essence to become complete.

How does Qi transfer from one partner to the other, during sex? 

First, its easy to tranfer qi from one person to another. If you look at systems like Reiki, energy easily passes from one person to another - with or without touching - no sex involved.

The same is true during sex - energy can easily pass from person to person. But here we are not speaking about simple energy, its about Jing. Jing is a special form of qi, and for the vast majority of people you have a finite amount of jing - the amount you are born with.

No one can be obligated to give energy to another. Unfortunately, there is a rich tradition of sexual ‘vampirism’ associated with the sexual practices. And there was abundant misogyny in Ancient China.

Bai Mudan is a character from Chinese mythology. It is said that one day, the immortal Lü Dongbin took a walk in Luoyang spotted Bai Mudan, and was heavily attracted by her beauty. Lü Dongbin slept with her many times. However, she became very weak since Lu practiced "cai yin bu yang" on her. Meaning he absorbed her yin essence, without losing his own yang essence. Mudan was taught by other immortals how to make him ejaculate and to absorbe his Yang essence. Later she cultivated herself and became immortal as well.

I’d like to point out that there are many many Taoist lineages in which sexual contact is not required or is strictly forbidden - a sexual partner or their energy is not needed to ‘become one with the Tao.’ There are many paths to the Tao, only a few involve sex.

You can exchange energy voluntarily 

This does not require male ejaculation. The male can ‘release’ his jing without ejaculating.

During sexual intercourse, at an agreed moment, the female ‘pours herself’ into the male as the male ‘inhales and pulls his energy (and hers) inward and upward along his du mai to the bai hui’. Then the male exhales, and pours all of that energy (his and hers) down his ren mai into the female as the female inhales and pulls her energy (and his) up her du mai to her bai hui. When she exhales, she let the energy run back down her ren mai, and they run the energy back and forth between them - up his du mai, down his ren mai, up her du mai down her ren mai - with the energy crossing between bodies at the genitals - in a pattern called ‘figure eights’ - until they have equalized and balanced the energy between them. This is called ‘dual cultivation.’

The same can be done between two skilled practitioners without any physical contact.

You can absorb sexual energy from nature

Man and woman are not the only sources of yin and yang but small reservoirs of these energies which stream through creation.

Heaven is male and earth is female. Thus the man who needs yin energy but prefers not to receive it from its human container will absorb it from the earth; and woman will draw in the male potency from its source, the heavens.

For the man to draw in the yin energy, he lies belly down, embracing the earth. One leg is straight and one bent at the knee. He will pull in the energy from the earth. He must try to have no sexual thoughts. The genitals should not touch the ground, but hang a little above it. Relax and gather your concentration by breathing deeply in and out through the nose. Think the power from the earth slowly into the penis. This basic practice applies to man: think the power up through your breathing.
As you inhale, draw the power up as if you were absorbing up fluid in a Straw: the fluid is the power and the straw is the penis. From the penis draw it past the hui yin, chang-chiang, and up the back to the head. Store the yin power in the head. In due course it will overflow the crown and move down the front of the body and return to the hui yin. When this point is reached, you may bring it up the front of the body to the navel and work the centers navel, solar plexus and heart, respectively, in the manner described in the Yin-Yang Exchange. Put away all obsessive erotic thoughts or it will cause the power to drain out.

How to absorb sexual energy from the sun

This method of absorbing the solar power into the penis is regarded as top secret and rarely revealed.
Practice: Morning sun from 7 to 11 is much preferred or 3 to 6 in the afternoon. If the sun is not too strong we can gradually absorb its power into the glans (head) of the penis much easier.

To expose to the sun, hold stem of the penis with one hand and use it to rub the glans until penis is erect. Put it down facing towards the sun and imagine the power coming into the glans, absorbing it, so that it fills the organ with warm power. It will fill the entire organ with energy if your thought is properly concentrated. When your penis softens, do the whole procedure again. Do this exercise three to four times.

Also read:

• White Tigress Sexual Teachings
• The Three Treasures and Sexual Energy Cultivation
• Jing –Your original life force, and how to nourish it

The threat of Psychic Attacks

You're exhausted, but having trouble sleeping. You keep getting one lousy cold after another. You feel like there's a heavy lid over your usual wellspring of happiness. You can't seem to function right and don't know why.

What's going on? From a psychological standpoint, you seem to be depressed. But from the point of view of energy medicine, you could very well be under psychic attack or energetic attack. Yes, consciously or unconsciously, someone may have formed an intention to harm you.

What is a psychic attack? It is the assault upon your aura, without your conscious permission, by another person, group, or spirits. 

The ability to cause harm or drain energy from another person via some form of mental telepathy may seem like something out of a science fiction movie, and yet, many people (reputedly including military intelligence agencies from several nations around the globe), believe that focused negative energy not only exists, but may actually cause verifiable damage to targeted individuals. It’s said that Nazis used it, and both Russia and the U.S. Military have been experimenting with various telepathic techniques to influence adversaries since the Cold War days. Most psychic attacks, however, fall into the category of personal motivation, rather than political intrigue.

When under attack, a person may feel open, exposed, vulnerable and sometimes even a sense of danger along with an anxiety or panic attack. It is a drain of our prana, our life-giving energy. This is done with the intention to inflict either physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual harm or damage to your life.

Symptoms:

• unbearable headache,
• dizziness or nausea,
• limbs trembling,
• extreme weakness,
• shakiness,
• rising fever,
• having unexplained pains on a regular basis,
• sudden illnesses that seem to have no diagnosis.

Which are not only physical, but come accompanied with:

• a ‘tickle’ in your aura,
• sense of oppression,
• nightmares,
• unexplained sense of fear,
• high emotional state,
• sudden onset of depression,
• negative thoughts that seem to pop into our mind from out of nowhere,
• paranoia and jealousy,
• lack of clarity in thinking, or a sudden change in your analytical ability,
• feeling an unexplained sense of doubt in your life,
• strange accidents that seem to be recurring
• things being moved around in your home,
• strange odors that come and go,
• hearing voices or having the feeling of being watched or followed, even when you are alone
• and an impression that you are literally dying.

Ways of defense and clearing:

• First off, in most cases it is best to break off all contact with the attacker
• Do not get drunk; do not abuse drugs; avoid hallucinogens!
• Know your strengths, weaknesses and challenges
• Mentally "cut away" any perceived darkness from around you
• Keep up your energy level
• Create a force-field
• Ground! 
• Eat healthy
• Be positive/use affirmations
• Distract your mind with a positive book or lecture
• Seek some sunshine
• Protective imagery/jewelry/crystals
• Smudging
• Visualisation
• White light
• Meditation to strengthen the aura
• Mantra or repeated prayer
• Have a sea salt bath 
• Gem or flower essences  
• In rare extreme cases, moving to a new home
• And sometimes using magic
• Try to find someone who does spiritual rescue work and ask that person for help. 

Psychic attacks can easily be deflected by being aware of what the signs are and using some of the tips I suggested. No one can overpower us or take control of our lives without our consent. Self care and being aware of our own energy are the best defenses for keeping unwanted influences at bay.

"Nobody can hurt me without my permission". Mahatma Gandhi

If one’s psychic attacker refuses to let go of their target, they will eventually mentally destroy themselves  bringing on their own form of insanity. Karma works in mysterious ways and there are repercussions. Hate is the great destroyer. What you direct or do towards others, you eventually do to yourself.

Have you been a victim of psychic attack? Tell us your story in the comments.

Also read:

• The Protective Aura
• Pran (vital energy) Mudra
• Gossip can cause psychic harm
• Evidence of dream telepathy between people

Gossip can cause psychic harm

When we “gossip” we are interacting from our ego selves. Let’s face it, we gossip to judge and we gossip for a reaction. We gossip because it makes a part of us feel good, even if it’s just for a moment. 

But it is mistaken to think that there is no such thing as harmless gossip that is just for fun.

Our thoughts, our words and our energy hold a powerful and unique vibration and when we start discussing the personal lives of other people, passing our judgements and adding our opinion, we are really just sending out a form of negative energy.

This not only lowers our own vibration, but also sends our rays of negativity to the person we are talking about which could cause them psychic harm.

When we gossip or say negative things about others, our words create a toxic force field and as more and more people gossip and spread the same words, the more and more this toxicity grows.

It really comes down to being as simple as this- nobody likes to be gossiped about, so why is it ok to do it to others?

Of course we all know that spreading mean and hurtful things about others is never nice, but gossiping has become so socially acceptable that often we are not even aware that it can cause harm and contribute to a lower vibrational energy.

The media and entertainment industries are often rife with gossip. Just look at all those magazines at supermarket stands that capitalize on the misery and tragedy of others. We often know that many of those stories are half-truths or blatant lies, however many of us still feed into it all, discuss it with our friends and pass our judgements.

Gossiping honestly just reflects back onto the person who is making the comments and in many ways, reveals our own insecurities and our own issues.

In Ayurvedic medicine, gossiping effects the solar plexus chakra which is where we house our emotions relating to control. In that brief moment where we hold that “exclusive” information, it gives us a false sense of power and allows us to feel in control. Sharing that information then furthers the energy and causes the negativity to expand.

Our ego’s feed off this type of negativity and soon, it becomes hard to control what we say, and who we say it to. The gossip then spreads like wild fire and can destroy friendships, relationships, careers and even the health of those affected.

Gossiping can also block the heart chakra which is where we express our love and compassion and infect the throat chakra which rules how we communicate.

Above all, gossiping blocks our third eye chakra and our ability to ascend to a higher vibration. The constant verbal dribble about others stops us from realizing our own path and takes the attention away from our own lives and our own problems.

While there is nothing wrong in discussing problems or sharing information with your friends, it’s different when there is an intention to harm.

“Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people”- Eleanor Roosevelt 

Also read:

• Your Words Have Power