Techniques for Sensing Positive and Negative Energy

Positive Energy : 10 Extraordinary Prescriptions for Transforming Fatigue, Stress, and Fear into Vibrance, Strength, and Love
by Judith Orloff, M.D.

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In the mid-eighties when I'd just begun to expand my traditional psychiatric practice to include intuition and energy, I did plenty of experimenting. My good buddy for the first few years of this exploration was Michael Crichton, filmmaker, author, and Harvard M.D. A towering six foot nine, Michael has a wicked mix of intellect and humor with a cynical edge. For me, he was the perfect companion to investigate a dimension of health I'd never heard of in medical school: our body's subtle energy system.

My world has never been the same, this was my initiation into Energy Psychiatry. I want to share with you our discoveries, and what I've been learning since. Being able to sense and direct our life force gets positive energy going: we exude it, attract it, and can read it in others. Our subtle system is the engine that drives well-being. Acupuncture activates energy by placing tiny needles in meridian points in the body. So does exchanging good vibes with people. First, I'll teach you what energy feels like, a sublime experience that intuition conveys. You may perceive it as colors, light, or positive and negative vibes. This program makes real for you what Energy Psychiatry is based on: that our bodies and spirits are microsystems of energy, and that health is about balance, which intuition helps us achieve.

Friends can be the best coconspirators in charting the unknown. Michael and I set out to experience energy, a real adventure given our "rational" medical backgrounds. We were the blind leading the blind, but so curious. Here's what we did, an exercise you'll try later: I'd lie on my back on the floor as Michael placed his palm about two feet from my head. Slowly he'd edge closer until he described feeling "a distinct contour of warmth" inches above me — the halo depicted in sacred art. We all have halos, not just angels. Michael used the same sensing technique to outline my energy field from head to toe. Starting a few feet away, he'd move his palm nearer until he definitely felt warmth, tingling, quivering or pressure, marking an invisible energy border inches to a foot from my body. Then we'd switch places, and I'd practice with him. Michael describes this process in his autobiography, Travels: "I was terrifically excited like a kid with a new toy, a new discovery I didn't think about, I just kept doing it. I could feel this warm contour just as distinctly as you can feel hot bath water when you put your hand into it."

As part of the First Prescription, I'd like you to try sensing energy too. This is important because the energy that people exude can profoundly influence your health and mood. Once you know how to read it, you'll better determine who nurtures or saps you. Practice with a friend: be playful. See how his or her energy feels.

Make Changes Now

Experience Energy Through Body Scanning At Home

Sit beside your friend as she lies on her back on the floor or a bed. Together, take a few deep, calming breaths. Once relaxed, observe your friend's eyes, hair, clothes, then look further. Picture a capsule of light surrounding her body, what Carlos Castaneda calls "a luminous egg." This is the energy you're going to intuitively sense.

Start by cupping your hand a few feet over her head. Then slowly come closer. With the palm as your sensing device, notice a point at which you hit a subtle border of heat, coolness, pressure, a hum or vibration — the outer rim of her energy field. Raise your hand, then lower it against the rim until you're sure. It's all about feel. You also may see colors. Similarly, continue to map the subtle energy around her entire body, without touching the skin.

When you're finished, it's your friend's turn. Then compare notes.

What a hoot to realize we are more than our physical selves! Each of us radiates a palpable energy. In practical terms: Have you ever sat next to someone at a luncheon and were drawn to her immediately? It wasn't so much what she said or did, but how refreshing she felt to be around. Or how about that coworker who seemed congenial, but you always left a conversation feeling run down? We are medicine for each other, sometimes good, sometimes bad. An exchange occurs whenever you interact with someone.

Certain people give off positive energy, others negative. It's the quality of someone's being, a measure of the love with which they've led their lives. It also reflects the inner work they've done, their efforts to heal anger, hatred, or self-loathing, which poison us like toxic fumes. Energetically these linger, precluding joy from shining through. It's important to grasp, however, that once you undertake the process of healing, it changes the quality of even the negativity that remains. Don't be too hard on yourself — we're all works in progress.

Signs of Positive Energy in People

• They exude an inviting sense of heart, compassion, and support.
• You intuitively feel safe, relaxed, wanting to get closer.
• They emanate a peaceful glow.
• You feel better around them. Your energy and optimism increase.

Signs of Negative Energy in People

• You experience a sense of being demeaned, constricted, or attacked.
• You intuitively feel unsafe, tense, or on guard.
• You sense prickly, off-putting vibes. You can't wait to get away from them.
• Your energy starts to fizzle. You may feel beleaguered or ill.

Beginning to differentiate these energies, I was able to name something I'd always intuited: why as a child, within seconds of meeting someone, I knew whether or not I liked them. This knowing wasn't about looks or how nice a person seemed. Rather, I could sense invisible tendrils reaching out to me from a person that transmitted information about them. It would happen before we exchanged a word. The confusing part for us is that people aren't always as they appear. Sensing energy reveals a fuller picture. I don't care how intelligent or attractive someone is on paper, if he zaps your energy, he isn't for you. True chemistry is more than intellectual compatibility. Beyond surfaces, you must be intuitively at ease.

Copyright © 2004 by Judith Orloff, M.D.. Excerpted by permission of Three Rivers Press, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

About the Author

Judith Orloff, M.D., is a board-certified psychiatrist, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at UCLA, and a staff member at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. She is also the author of Second Sight, a memoir about coming to terms with her intuitive abilities. Dr. Orloff is an international lecturer and workshop leader on the interrelationships of medicine, intuition, and spirituality. Her work has been featured on CNN, PBS, Lifetime, A&E, and NPR and has appeared in New Age, Self, and USA Today. She lives by the ocean in Los Angeles, California.