To Shield or Not To Shield, That is the Question
Energetic shielding is a way of protecting yourself from outside energies. Many empaths—those sensitive to energy—have taken to shielding as a way of daily survival, as they feel the energies of people, objects and places more intensely than most. As the environmental energies intensify, allowing even the less sensitive to feel them, more people have taken up the practice of shielding their energy.
Frankly, I am not a big fan of shielding and I would like to propose an alternative to it. But first, let’s talk about what it is and its drawbacks.
Shielding
There are several ways to energetically shield yourself. A common way is to intend to place a wall around your body and aura. You can bring energy down from Source or up from the Earth and send it through your body and out into the aura and create a kind of bubble of energy around you. The idea is that low vibration energies will not be able to penetrate the walls of the bubble and you will be protected from them.
The problem with this approach is that all energies will be blocked from coming in and yours will be blocked from going out fully. We all need the give and take of energies to stay healthy. We need the energies from each other and from nature and other positive things in our environment, like our pets, crystals and houseplants.
If you have been working on building your own vibration, you will also stop others from feeling it and being positively impacted by it as you interact with them or simply walk by. Your family won’t be able to feel your love for them. Instead, you may hear something like, “I know you love me, but I don’t feel it.”
An Alternative to the Shield
Instead of shielding, consider the idea of becoming a lighthouse:
1. Imagine the light of Source way above your head.
2. Pull down a beam of that light into your crown chakra at the top of your head, and into your heart chakra at the center of your chest.
3. Let it build there with a few breaths.
4. Send it into your entire body until it is full of light. Imagine it glowing.
5. Continue pulling the light down as you continue to breathe.
6. Then, using the breath, push the overflow of light out into your entire aura.
7. Then push it out to extend beyond your own energy field.
Just like a flashlight beam or a lighthouse signal, the outer boundaries of light simply begin to fade. There are no firm outer boundaries, just a strong light surrounding you. This light is full of the love of Source, and therefore only feels good to those around you. It is not abrasive like other, personality-based energies might be.
Positive energies of high vibrational beings, loved ones and the environment can all pass through this light to enrich you because they are of a high vibration, but lower vibrations will not be able to penetrate.
Protection from Dark Forces
When I share this technique, people often challenge me, saying that this Lighthouse Technique is not enough protection against darker forces or entities. “What do you do when you need more protection,” they ask. I rarely need more. Occasionally, typically in healing sessions, I will encounter a dark entity. At those times, I stand more fully in my own power, calling down the light of Source to make my own beacon brighter. And I immediately call on Archangel Michael, the ultimate angelic protector. I have never needed more.
Years ago, I remember struggling with the issue of when to stand in my own power and when to call in God. Spirit had shown me that I was very powerful. All of us as energetic beings are. Spirit told me through a vision to rely on my own power on a regular basis and to call specifically on a Higher Power when what I was facing was too big for me. The night before a healing session, Spirit reminded me of this through a dream and, sure enough, the next day I faced a darkness that was very strong that had attached itself to my client’s energy. I literally stood up, calling in my full power and expanding my light and then called in Archangel Michael to support and protect us. I felt his energy immediately and said to the entity: “This is Anne’s body and energy. You may not be here. I command you gone.” I asked Anne to do the same and the entity was gone.
It is important to build up your own energy—your lighthouse beacon—daily and remember to stand in your own strength as a being of light. Over time, it just becomes a part of who you are energetically.
Many empaths have learned to do an almost opposite practice. They pull their energy in close to their bodies so it doesn’t interact with anyone else’s. They lock it down tightly, limiting any energy that can get in. As a result, many are coming down with illnesses and struggling with anxiety and depression.
