Before you started reading this book, I bet you had no idea of the power you possess or the healing you can perform on yourself, and eventually perform on others. I’ve already taught you about the power of energy healing and how it works, where this power comes from, and how you can activate it in your life. We’ve covered the chakras—your seven energy centers in the body and the eighth chakra above your head (and some even beyond that)—and their importance for healing. Throughout the remainder of this book, I am going to share some uniquely powerful tools that I learned and mastered in my personal pursuit to become an energy healer. Each tool will help you strengthen and guide your inner power to all things healing and good.
The first energy healing tool I want to teach you about, and one that is your ultimate healing device, is meditation. You’ve most likely heard all about meditation and its benefits, but let me tell you even more.
The word meditation comes from the Latin root meditatum, which means “to ponder.” It’s a practice that focuses your attention inward, calms your mind, and has a wide range of powers to transform and heal you—emotionally, physically, and mentally. There is no downside to meditation. It has been practiced in the East for thousands and thousands of years and has of late solidly landed in the West.
Some forms of meditation have their roots in religious traditions, particularly Eastern ones: Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism. But you don’t have to be involved in any religion to practice these meditation techniques; they all have the power to help heal you on many levels and help you grow in consciousness and compassion. You will really be amazed at how twenty minutes of meditation, once or twice a day, can power up your life.
You may have an image of meditation as someone sitting cross-legged on a cushion in full lotus position with incense wafting through the air. It can be so much simpler than that. With the right practice, you can just as easily sit in a cozy chair or your car (with your back straight), close your eyes (if you’re not driving), and bask in a few minutes of being in the zone. That’s it. You never even have to light a stick of sandalwood. Meditation is what you make of it and what’s most comfortable for you.
The goal of meditation is to tune in to yourself, not shut off your mind or run away from troublesome thoughts. By closing your eyes and going inside, you will see yourself more clearly, and solutions to your problems will arise naturally. Meditation is excellent for de-stressing, relaxing, and helping bring you into a healthy state. Meditating can take you deeper spiritually, where you can connect to Source, as well as balance your chakras on every level.
Meditation’s ability to help you tune in is why it is an important tool for energy healing: it focuses your attention on your consciousness, lets you get into the gap between your thoughts, and connects you to the universal energy field.
When anyone asks me the secret to my light-filled, healing life, my first response is always, “Meditation.” As a spiritual teacher and energy healer, my number one recommendation to advance your pursuit of energy healing is a daily meditation practice. And I’m not just talking about sitting still for five or ten minutes each day or listening to soothing music or guided meditations. When you have learned to focus on a single object—and I use mantras for this purpose—you become more present with yourself, just as you are.
Meditation will take you deep into the inner silence and profound stillness of the universal energy field. This is exceedingly important because it allows you to connect not only with your Higher Self but also with the rest of the world. Imagine what the world would be like if we were all connected through meditation!
If you have a great deal of stored-up stress, as I did when I first started meditating, it may be a while before you can go this deep. But even when you first begin a meditation practice, you’ll feel the healing benefits right away. Meditation immediately begins to raise your consciousness and helps you to release old energy from traumas or negative energy you’ve taken on in your life thus far.
As I mentioned earlier, when I was a competitive young lawyer in my twenties, busily climbing the grueling ladder of success at the cost of my health, I thought I was just fine. I justified my addictions as temporary or as a means to an end. But there was no end in sight. Each rung up the ladder led to another challenging step: making more money, getting even thinner, or winning the next big case. When I was diagnosed with cancer, I was forced to face myself—not an easy task. I was overwhelmed by fear about my health and about everything I had to do to get well.
This was an incredibly stressful time for me. So to keep from self-destructing, I started meditating: twenty minutes in the morning and then twenty minutes again later in the afternoon. It only took a couple of weeks before I noticed a big difference in my life. Every day, I used to walk out the front door of my house and get in my car to go to work. On one particular day after I started meditating, I walked out the same door as I always did and suddenly noticed these exquisite flowers growing in my front yard. I didn’t know where they had come from until I realized I had planted these perennials myself the previous year. They’d been blooming for weeks, but I hadn’t even seen them because I had been so preoccupied. Meditation allowed me to let in the world around me and taught me to be more open and less fearful. I have meditated every single day since.
Everyone has some problem to heal—a disease or health condition, anxiety and stress, difficulties with sleep, general unhappiness and lack of vitality, or old energetic blockages that keep them from functioning and feeling at their best. When you are ready to shift, to change in some fundamental way, turn to meditation as your number one tool.
With a continued meditation practice, all aspects of your life will become a lot easier. You’ll be less reactive to external forces, more thoughtful, more present, happier, and healthier. Meditation is the best tool you can use to access your energy healing, and mantra meditation is one of the most effective methods.
Until you have a mantra, you can practice mindful breathing; it’s an excellent exercise to prepare you for meditation.
A mantra is a sacred syllable or a word that you repeat to yourself internally so you can focus your mind. In other words, instead of paying attention to your breath, you will be paying attention to your mantra. Thank goodness, so much easier! The word mantra itself comes from Sanskrit and combines man (mind) and tra (liberate), so a mantra can liberate your mind with its vibrational energy.
A mantra in this sense is not the same as using an affirmation to keep you focused on a certain outcome, like I am happy, healthy, and whole; instead, it is more of a subtle driving wedge based on ancient Sanskrit seed syllables that will help you break through into higher levels of consciousness. Having a mantra will enable you to enter a very deep state of meditation. Coming from the ancient Vedic tradition, the sound of these mantras can transport you right into the unified energy field, more than concentration on the breath or visualizations can do.
The mantra you use and its pronunciation are very important, so you need to be given a mantra that is the right vibration that will connect you to Source. Seed syllables plug you into your highest power—the Source of all wellness—and recharge you on every level. Once you receive your mantra, know that it is sacred and needs to be kept private and treated with respect. It should not be said aloud or shared with others. Until you are able to get your own mantra (check out the resource section for more information on obtaining your personal mantra on my website), you can use the generic seed syllable of Om as your mantra.
Here’s a cool thing about meditation: it slows down those endless thoughts that continually bombard your mind. Our “monkey mind” is always chattering away—it’s what the thinking mind does—and we can get caught in these loops of thoughts constantly playing and replaying in our mind.
In mantra-based meditation, you don’t stop your thoughts. That’s impossible. It’s the mind’s job to think. What meditation does is give you more space around your thoughts so you can see them more clearly after you’ve finished your meditation. Once you have this keener sense of awareness of your thoughts, you will automatically start to discard the ones that don’t serve you. That goes for any bad or antiquated thoughts you might have about yourself too. A meditative practice sets you up to later see the workings of your mind—especially negative thought patterns—and effortlessly replace them.
When you get to know yourself better as a result of meditation and can see and reflect clearly on your thoughts, you’ll discover the benefits this practice can give you—a sense of calm, a feeling of abiding peace, and a sense of oneness with the rest of the world. With meditation, you can find yourself slipping into the space between your thoughts and resting in the universal energy field.
A regular meditation practice will beat any other relaxation technique to release your stress, improve your health, release your feelings of depression, give you an energetic face-lift, and all in all improve your quality of life. How super is that!
If you are new to the practice of meditation, you may find that negative thoughts—the ones that you buried earlier in your life—surface during or after meditation. Don’t worry; that’s sometimes part of the process. If this happens, take a moment to observe your emotions quietly in a nonjudgmental way. It’s normal for thoughts and feelings like this to arise, as the process of meditation clears old emotions and memories from your energy field, making you fresh and new. Send forgiveness to any individuals who may have harmed you, and certainly forgive yourself for your mistakes and any negative experiences you’ve had. This is part of the journey to self-mastery. If you can relax about your negative states and are unafraid to examine them closely, you’ll be able to win your battle over guilt, shame, jealousy, anger, or any other tough emotion.
Here’s what else I love about meditation: it connects you to that still, small voice of your inner knowing. You will be able to hear if you’re heading in the wrong direction in your life. You’ll have a clear sense if your relationship is worth saving. You’ll know if there is an opportunity you need to explore further. Your inner voice will get louder as a result of meditation, and this voice will bolster your trust in yourself and your decisions. You will ultimately understand what you need to live your best life.
Your ability to connect to higher levels of thinking and higher planes of the universe will also develop in meditation. As you become more and more practiced and proficient, this information will make more sense to you. Your clearest perceptions usually happen after meditation, not during. You might be showering, having breakfast, or walking the dog when you are struck by powerful ideas and insights.
Here’s the best part about meditation and why it’s the ultimate energy-healing tool. As you already know, the higher up the spiritual ladder you climb, the more you come to realize the importance of helping others as well as yourself. Through a consistent meditation practice, you can actually help everyone on the planet. Whenever you hear, see, or read distressing news, you can do your part by meditating and sending out peaceful and healing vibrations as you meditate. By letting your higher consciousness ripple through the universal energy field in meditation, you are sending good, healing energy to everyone on the planet and ultimately healing the world. Now that’s what I call energy healing!
In the next chapter, you’ll learn how to meditate.