Grounding & Protection Tips for Empaths & Healers

Can I take on other’s energy?

While practicing Reiki, we do experience interconnectedness and oneness. This can be a blissful feeling of love, respect and compassion for others. It can also lead us to be aware of other people’s pain. We may experience sensations, in the body and mind, that alert us of the energy around us. With that being said, we are not taking on anyone’s pain, problems, or karma. We are simply holding space for their mind, and body to heal themselves. 

What does it mean to be empathic?

Empaths have a thinner veil. We tend to be more aware and intuitive. Our body can send us messages about the energy of a space or someone around us. You may walk into a public space and feel the collective consciousness. You may offer Reiki to a friend, and experience their symptoms temporarily. 

What does it mean to be grounded?

Being grounded means that we are aware of our body and immediate surroundings. We are present, and easily able to step out of the past and future. We are not aloof, or floaty. We are less likely to be affected by the energies of other people, places, and situations. We are calm, and focused, when our energy is grounded. We also tend to feel safe in our surroundings, and secure in who we are. 

Why do I need to anchor into my body and the present moment?

When we raise our vibration, and open our higher chakras, it’s important to equally expand the lower chakras. In terms of the Three Diamonds, The Earth center must be equally strengthened as the Heart and Heaven centers. A strong Earth center helps us to balance our sensitivity. Since the body is the vessel and sacred space for our soul and mind, our happiness is often dependent upon our vitality. We cannot fulfill our life’s purpose without health. Our mind’s ability to rest, concentrate and learn is increased when the body is vital, flexible, and taken care of. Space in the physical layer, creates space in the mental and emotional layers. 

The gifts in being Empathic

Our sensitivity can be a blessing or a curse depending on how we perceive it. If we lean into our empathic nature, harness our intuition, and navigate accordingly, we can use our skills and natural gifts for our betterment and for those around us. We can use our intuition to avoid situations that don’t serve us, and make decisions. We can see through people and opportunities, with a higher level of awareness that not everyone is able to access. We can offer words of guidance and support to others, when they are open to it. We can see the love and light in others, when they may not be able to. Our empathic sensitivity to energy can be a force of good, if we embrace it.

10 Signs to Determine if You’re Empathic

1. You feel the energy of the space, when you walk into a room, mall, or someone else’s home
2. You have a deep desire to help others, that can sometimes be a desire to “fix”
3. You feel physically and mentally drained around certain people
4. You may feel overwhelmed, or as if you’re not able to process all that you’re taking in
5. Your intuition lets you know when something is just off
6. You feel more emotional than others at weddings, or funerals
7. Your body gives you strong signals when something isn’t meant to be
8. You appreciate silence and feel most recharged with alone time
9. You’re drawn to spending time in nature or with pets
10. You are sensitive to light, sound, and/or scents

What can I do to ground my energy?

Here are some ways in which you can ground yourself after practicing Reiki. These tips can be used to navigate your empathic nature and protect yourself as you offer Reiki sessions. 

1. The first step in harnessing our empathic tendencies, is to become intimately aware of your nature. Begin to develop awareness around your own energy field, so that you can easily distinguish what energy is yours and what isn’t yours. If you don’t pay attention to your own belief systems, feelings, and patterns, you will not know if you’re picking up on other’s energy or your own.

2. Acknowledge that there is a purpose to your empathic nature. You can lean into it, embrace it, and learn to manage it. On the flip side, you can resist your gifts, and curse yourself for being who you are. Be open to seeing the gifts of your sensitivity.

3. Give yourself the boundaries that you need to feel safe and comfortable. You may have to let go of old relationships, or jobs that don’t honor who you are. You may have to give less time to your family. In the end, the goal is to feel balanced. You can only be of service to others in the capacity to which you are healthy and happy yourself.

4. Carve out time to be alone. Empaths cannot handle sensory stimulation to the extent to which others can. We need time for our body and mind to process. Empaths thrive when we take at least 20 minutes to simply sit in silence. Additionally, many of us will need a few shorts breaks throughout the day, or a vacation periodically to center ourselves. 

5. Exercise can help empaths drop into the physical body, when we’ve been floating in our mental, emotional, spiritual and energetic bodies. It helps us to become present. You don’t have to sweat extensively, or carve out an hour everyday. Even 20 minutes of moving our bodies on a daily basis, can honor our body’s needs.

6. Empaths may need extra sleep than others since our mind and body is processing a lot through the day. Try not to judge your body, or your lifestyle if you need to rest more than those around you.

7. Seek out professional support. Just because we are healers, doesn’t mean that we can’t go to others for guidance. In fact, the more we lean on a community of bodyworkers, energy healers, and doctors, the more we will be able to fulfill our Divine purpose. You may also exchange treatments with colleagues to keep each other balanced.

8. Retreating in nature can be soothing for empaths. Sunlight, oxygen, and salt water amongst other elements provide numerous benefits for the body and spirit. The Earth is one of the most powerful healers that we have. Practice walking barefoot in your garden, or sunbathing for 5 minutes a day. You can ask these elements of nature to help bring you into alignment. 

9. Crystals are a gift of Mother Earth, that store large amounts of energy and information. You can carry them around as you go about your day, hold them in meditation, or sleep with them under your pillow. My go-tos for protection are selenite, black tourmaline, black obsidian, and hematite. When working with a crystal, ask to release any old programming that won’t serve you, and ask for the crystal to work with you in your highest good. You can program it with specific intentions, simply by holding the crystal and speaking to it.

10. Know that your sensitivities will heighten on some days, and that’s ok. See if you can lean into why your intuition is heightened, and what your body is signaling to you. Is there something that you’ve been neglecting? Is there a message that you need to pay attention to?

11. Presence and mindfulness are essential to all lightworkers. If we want to be vessels for light and consciousness, we have to be aware. Practice doing one thing at a time, and releasing the need to multitask. Aim to do all that you do, whether it’s moving, eating, or holding a conversation, with presence of mind. That involves focusing your attention on what’s right in front of you, and letting go of the past and future. 

12. Experiment with a standing meditation. Bring awareness and the breath to your entire body, especially focusing on the feet, legs, spine and crown. Ask for all energies that aren’t yours to leave through your feet. Surrender them to the Earth where they can be transmuted. Let your body soften with every exhale. 

13. Take an epsom salt and himalayan salt bath. Salt is used as a cleansing and purifying element in cultures around the world. It also has numerous minerals that help us relax. You can add therapeutic grade essential oils such as, Frankincense, Lavender, Ylang ylang, or Geranium.

14. Stay hydrated and consume nourishing food. We must tend to the body, if we want to be healthy vessels for consciousness. 

15. Visualize a bubble of white light protecting you. Sit in meditation with this visualization, and call in the support that you’re seeking. Let the light surrounding you be so bright and powerful, that is transmuters anything that doesn’t serve you. You can practice cutting cords that are attached to your field, or dry bathing (Kenyoku Ho). 

16. Be open to receiving Reiki in your mind, body and spirit as you work on others. You can set intentions to heal as you hold space for others. Healers can often have the impression that they are using their own energy and depleting themselves as they offer healing to others. However, if we are open, we can receive healing while offering it to others.

For an illustrated guide to performing Kenyoku Ho and 5 guided reiki meditations for beginners, join the free Empower the Reiki Healer Challenge.

17. Let energy move through you. Release the need to overly identify or attach to anything you are experiencing. Be the observer of energy rather than the absorber.

18. Burn incense, sage or palo santo. Across cultures, various plants are burned to help energy move. Some of these can be unsustainably harvested so be sure to do some research before making a purchase. 

Reiki is a system for self-awakening, that offers us tools to come into deeper alignment with our True Nature. The only thing that drains us is the fear that we project. On the contrary, if we approach energy healing with faith, and awareness, we can serve ourselves and those around us with our sensitivity.