How to Manipulate Energy | Complete Guide
Energy is a tangible, animating life force that we can all comprehend in terms of how we feel on a daily basis (sluggish, over-tired, or on the flip side, invincible). Typically, we ascribe our low-energy days to sleep deprivation or poor nutrition. Aimee Falchuk, a therapist, believes that our energetic systems may be affected by physical, emotional, and cognitive obstacles we acquired in childhood. Falchuk, who follows a Reichian philosophy of body-centered psychotherapy from the school of Core Energetics, devotes her time to assisting people in releasing or relocating blocked emotional energy in order to realize their full potential.
We frequently over complicate the definition of energy by attempting to use scientific or mystical concepts. To comprehend energy, we need only to be still and tune into ourselves or our environment. When we feel present, for instance, our energy is grounded; when we feel attraction or repulsion, we may experience an energetic charge; and when we laugh or weep, we may experience an energetic release.
Certain conditions or people can sap our energy. Alternately, in situations where we feel insufficient, we may cling to others and use their fuel supply as our own. Even boundaries are a matter of energy: We can tie our energy when we wish to create isolation and allow it to flow freely when we wish to approach.
One of the earliest lessons taught in school is that energy cannot be created or destroyed, but it may be transformed. Energy can be accelerated or decelerated. It can occur in a closed system where the energy is contained or bound, or in an open system where the energy flows. The energy that is not contained can lead a system to become frantic or fractured. Energy depletion can cause a system to fail.
Despite its potency, energy is a neutral force in and of itself. Its movement is governed by consciousness. Considering this in terms of the energy and consciousness of the human experience, we might conclude that the more conscious we are, the more we focus our energy on creativity, connection, and evolution. The less awake we are, the more our energy is expended on alienation, stagnation, and even destruction.
Blocked Energy
I work with energy blocks and the restoration of energetic integrity in my practice. Ultimately, we can all recollect times when we were in the zone. We have an open and adaptable mind, deep and regular breathing, and a roomy physique. When we are in flow, expansion, and contraction, as well as activity (doing) and receptivity (being/allowing), are in healthy balance. We permit our rationality (thinking), emotion (feelings), and volition (doing) to collaborate. We have confidence in ourselves and the process, and we are appropriately undefended. We refer to this as energy integrity.
The majority of individuals I know, including myself, find these times of energetic honesty to be fleeting. People are more likely to characterize their energy as obstructed, stagnant, or trapped. Their reasoning is rigid and limited. Their breathing seems stifled, shallow, or irregular, and their muscles feel tense or weak. They are energetically unanchored, over-bound (separate), under-bound (entangled), or fractured. They struggle to maintain a healthy equilibrium between doing and being, giving and receiving. They are either dominant or submissive. They are either excessively rational, excessively emotional, or excessively determined. They battle with obstinacy, delay, perfectionism, obsessive thinking, excessive individualism, or conformity.
These are all examples of energy barriers.
Cognitive Obstacles
A closed mind is a source of negative energy. When our beliefs are rigid, we are impeded. Cognitive obstacles include statements like “this is just the way it is” “I am just not that kind of person” or “God does not want me to have that.”
Induced Currents
Our energy is impeded when we lack faith in the process or in ourselves. We cannot surrender our will in this location. Here, there is no surrender. Instead, we focus our energy on events or individuals because we lack confidence that we will receive what we need; we assume that the only way in is to force ourselves in. We refer to this type of energy as a forcing current because it makes demands such as “give it to me” and “I will force you to love me.”
What causes energetic obstructions?
Wilhelm Reich, one of the pioneers of body psychotherapy, hypothesized that we restrict our own energy to guard against undesirable emotions or urges. He referred to these blocks as “the physical instrument of emotional repression” and viewed the blocking of energy as an adaptive approach to coping with life’s challenges.
Consider a small child as an example. When her father returns home each evening, she sprints to him and leaps into his arms. Each time she tries this, her father either overtly or gently pulls her away. As a result of feeling humiliated by her father’s “rejection,” the youngster begins to restrain her joy and need to run toward him. In addition, she begins to construct a narrative to make sense of the experience. She may convince herself that her affection is excessive or that physical contact is undesirable. She may believe that expressing her desire for a man will result in rejection or desertion. Over time, the control of her impulses and the conclusions she draws from her experiences will have the effect of contracting her energy.
When we encounter this little girl as an adult, we may observe the effects of this energetic contraction on her life. She may have difficulty expressing her emotions. She may characterize her interactions as geographically remote. She may have perfectionist tendencies and prefer the security of adulation and adoration to the dangers of love and intimacy. She may believe, “I am too much,” “I am not enough,” “I must contain myself,” or “I will not show anyone my needs and desires.” Her life task is to escape rejection and humiliation, as well as the related agony, at all costs.
This adaptive life job of avoiding focuses all of her energies on guaranteeing its completion. She will likely rely on her will to control herself and the surrounding environment. With the aid of her strong will, she will likely reside in her mind, where reason and intellect reside, and where her emotions and urges can be restrained. The energy of fury and grief coming from her initial interaction with her father will likely be concealed by the energy of withholding, hostility, or numbing of her emotional experience. She may report being misconstrued as cold and emotionless. This, however, could not be further from the truth about who she is. For underneath the manipulation and manipulation of her energy, beneath all of her warped notions, lies the reality that is her life force. It is the child’s energy following the natural instinct to run and leap into life’s embrace.
Restoring Energy’s Wholeness
The restoration of energetic integrity needs some self-exploration, patience, and a willingness to take risks. The task at hand requires us to make the effort to become more conscientious. It requires us to take responsibility for the manner in which we spend our energy to defend ourselves and maintain our independence. It requires us to become acquainted with our belief systems and absolute pictures. It requires us to feel into our body and energy and become aware of the spots where we distort and refuse to bring life to. The image of a man placing his hands on his throat and declaring, “I will never speak up again” or a lady with a tight shoulder girdle who is unwilling to extend her arms forward and request assistance comes to mind.
As you become more aware of your energy, the pieces of the puzzle will fall into place. You may begin to recognize the ways in which you employ your energy to protect against specific events and feelings. You may begin to recognize how your energy has been utilized as a part of an adaptive strategy, how it has benefited you in the past, and how it is no longer beneficial. You will hopefully begin to understand how using your life force in this manner prevents you from realizing the potential that comes with accepting your complete life force.
I feel this procedure is not only for our own development. If we can comprehend the relationship between our own energy and awareness, we may be able to comprehend the relationship between energy and consciousness in the systems we inhabit, including our families, our political system, money, war, and how we treat the earth. What if, for instance, we viewed war as the energetic distortion of power and imagination? Or, what if we considered the pursuit of economic prosperity as a cognitive distortion of security and scarcity/abundance?
Almost everywhere in our society and inside of ourselves, energetic distortions exist and are reinforced by our lack of consciousness. If we can begin to comprehend the distortion of energy and put in the effort to restore it to its natural flow, we have a fair opportunity of bringing about genuine change in ourselves and the world in which we live.
