CHAPTER 7

Crystal Sensitivity Training

When trying to use crystals for the first time, there’s a way to tell if you are making a good connection. You can actually feel the crystal’s energy in your hands when you touch a crystal. For some, it feels like a cool breeze. This might seem a bit strange at first, but it signals the beginning of the conscious awareness of crystal energy!

As your consciousness opens, your subtle energies become activated and you start to bond with your crystal, but you may fear that you’re doing something wrong. Trusting your inner process is really what matters. Without that, crystals are simply pretty gemstones. They need to connect with your energy to get their work done!

Learn How to …

Awakening Your Intention

You might have opened this book to learn about crystals for personal reasons or because you want to help yourself or someone else in the healing process. Maybe it’s to heal from drug or alcohol abuse, sexual or psychological abuse, disease or illness, bodily trauma from an accident, bad luck, unemployment, or family stress—the list of possibilities goes on and on. The problem doesn’t really matter. What matters most is whether you’re truly ready to heal. Without that intention, healing can be difficult. To heal, we need to get to a place of wholeness in body and spirit, and that can only happen if the person who needs healing is open to experiencing that healing. So, if you’re trying to help a friend or loved one, you must wait until that person is ready to heal.

When you start working with crystals, an awakening begins. It helps if you have been practicing mindfulness. Through mindfulness, you become more aware of your surroundings; you may feel energy moving more freely through your body; your mind will be more alert; and your breath will be deeper as you breathe in new life, sending oxygen into your body. You may find your surroundings more pleasant. Your emotions will be more balanced, and it will be easier to express them. Your eyes will be brighter, and you might have a spring in your step. In short, you’ll have a feeling of hope—one that you perhaps haven’t felt in years!

Nothing to Fear, Everything to Gain

Fear is a huge factor in life. It’s what slows us down and holds us back. Some people don’t believe in crystal energy, yet others fear it. Keep in mind that crystals have been sitting in the ground for hundreds of thousands of years without causing any problems whatsoever. Crystals provide a means for connecting to a vast energy network to promote healing and meditation.

Some of you might be thinking, “I don’t know what to expect”, “What will I experience?”, or “I’m afraid of not knowing what’s going on.” Challenge yourself to take one small step at a time. When you become more familiar with the crystals and their healing energy, you’ll feel more confident.

Crystals work on scientific principles and have been successfully used by countless people for centuries! In fact, many people wear crystals in their jewelry. If you are married or engaged, look down at your hand and chances are that you are already wearing a very popular crystal, a diamond in your engagement ring!

If you are looking for a place to put feelings of skepticism, put them into a spot called wonderment. You already know this place—it’s where you were as a child, enjoying unrestricted access to new information and investigating the world around you. As long as you enter a learning process, wonderment should be there. Whether it’s learning about computers for the first time or designing a new injection mold for plastics, let your life be one long learning process.

Developing Sensitivity to Crystals

Bonding with your crystal is a way to align your biochemical energy structure with the crystalline structure in the crystal. Having a crystal close to you for a while to harmonize your energy with the crystal’s is an important first step. You’ll also open the subtle energy bodies, and your consciousness will become more attuned, which will help you become more sensitive to crystals. You’ll want to get started with a crystal right away.

To train yourself to feel the energy of crystals, begin with a cleansed and charged clear quartz crystal, 2 to 3 inches long with a single point at one end. Hold the crystal, point down about 1⁄2 inch away from the surface of the palm of your hand. Make small circles running the point above the surface of your palm. You might immediately feel some pressure or tingling at the surface or under the skin. If you don’t feel it right away, keep trying. Your consciousness will eventually open up to these sensations. It may be something you have never felt before. They don’t teach this in school, so be patient learning something new.

Now, run the point of the crystal up and down your fingers, barely touching the skin’s surface. Play around at the tips of the fingers. The crystal will help to activate your internal electrical energy system, clearing meridian lines that carry chi energy and opening up subtle energy channels called nadis.

Your feet are also very sensitive to energy. Run the point of the crystal over your toes and ankles. You can also run your crystal over your arms and legs, lingering over any sore spots. What does it feel like on your face? Run the tip of the crystal around your eyes and frown lines where there’s so much tension. Now you can see why crystals are added to cosmetics. That’s one way to treat a wrinkle!

If after 4 or 5 minutes, you still aren’t getting a feeling of energy, heat, or tingling, put the crystal down. Open and close your hands several times. Rub the palms of your hands together and shake them lightly. Pick up the crystal and try running the crystal over your hands again, keeping the tip 1⁄2 inch away from the skin’s surface. Experiment by moving the crystal 2 inches away and going back and forth toward your skin surface. You’re seeking a subtle energy, like a breeze. You may not even notice it at first. Give yourself time to feel it.

You’re finding a new sense, your sixth sense. Your sixth sense is your intuitive strength and your ability to perceive subtle energy. When you do find it, take a bow, because many people live their whole lives without knowing or even using this sense due to its subtlety. This is really a moment of personal discovery and wonderment.

Crystal Clarity of the Mind

In Chapter 3, you learned about the beginnings of mindfulness and meditation. Now, you’ll combine these techniques with crystals to amplify the experience and obtain even more benefits. The benefits of meditation have been recognized by the scientific and medical community for years. Some people associate meditation with Eastern religions and steer away from it because they’re afraid it conflicts with their own beliefs. Although meditation originated in Asia, it’s so commonly used these days that it isn’t tied into any particular religion. In fact, you’ve probably meditated without realizing it. Do you remember watching the clouds float by as a child and the way you could shut off your mind and not think about anything? That was sky meditation. Now as an adult, you can do mindful meditation. And although you can certainly meditate without crystals, using a crystal can help you calm the erratic energy of a busy mind. The crystals that are most frequently used for sitting meditation are clear quartz and amethyst because they help regulate the mind’s activity. If you have a very noisy mind that constantly chatters or wanders off, using a dark crystal, such as smoky quartz or obsidian, help to ground and center the mind.

Incense or essential oils are sometimes used to help focus the mind during meditation. Do not use perfume because most of them contain chemicals and alcohol that disturb subtle energies. Some natural scents that are commonly used include sandalwood (for quieting the mind), patchouli (for focusing the mind), jasmine (for calming the mind and emotions), and amber (for alerting all the senses).

Start this basic crystal meditation by holding a clear quartz crystal in your left hand (your receiving hand for energy) with the point facing toward you. Alternatively, you can place the crystal 6 to 8 inches in front of you so it’s in your energy field. In this instance, it should point up or toward you. Then follow these steps:

  1. Sit either cross-legged on a cushion or in a chair with your feet flat on the floor. Let your hands relax into a natural position, in your lap or on your thighs.
  2. Bring awareness to your breath as a way to quiet your mind of thought. Inhale through your nose for a slow count of eight. Pause, then exhale through your nose for a slow count of eight, relaxing your diaphragm completely.

You’ll know you’re in a state of meditation when your body is relaxed, your mind isn’t in thought, and you feel awake and aware, yet totally at ease in your body. If your mind starts to wander off, bring it back gently by focusing on your breath for a while and then relax again into mindfulness. Rest in meditation for as long as you can. Stay present. It’s not unusual for beginners to be able to meditate for only a few minutes. Each time you practice, hold your meditative state a bit longer, eventually extending your session to 20 minutes.

To enhance your meditative experience, try the following tips:

If you’re having trouble getting yourself into a state of relaxation, try a guided meditation video or app. These tools provide helpful visualizations and mental stimulation that slide you into a state of relaxation and then into a deeper meditative state. However, it’s best to not become dependent on them. There are some really great apps for smartphones and devices, such as Muse, that can provide some basic guided meditations and instruction.

Physical Relaxation

We hear it all the time: “Relax! Take it easy!” Why should we slow down the physical body? Won’t we have time to rest when we’re old and weary?

It’s important even for healthy younger folks to take a physical break once in a while. When your body is relaxed, your subtle energies flow more easily, and your mind becomes quiet and still. And when both mind and body are relaxed, a deeper healing (physical and emotional) can happen on many levels.

Here are some guidelines to achieve a deeper state of physical relaxation using a crystal relaxation technique for 10 to 20 minutes:

  1. Put on some light and airy instrumental music or turn on a fan to block out any background noise. Lie down, comfortably supporting your neck and shoulders with pillows and cushions. Prop your knees up with a pillow underneath them to support the sacral area and to flatten the stomach.
  2. Place a clear quartz crystal at the solar plexus chakra to help alleviate emotional stress. Draw a light blanket over yourself to prevent your body from losing heat during this process. Perform the grounding exercise visualizing yourself anchored to the earth by roots.
  3. Bring your focus to your toes and feet. Wiggle them gently to release any tension. Next, focus on your ankles, calves, and knees. If there’s any tension there, draw it in with the breath and release it on the exhale. Check in with your thighs, buttocks, lower back, and lower torso (groin). Search out tension in your middle torso, upper chest, and back and shoulders. Be aware of any tension in your fingers, hands, lower arms, and upper arms. Do you feel tension in your neck, jaw, cheeks, mouth, eyebrows, or temples? Finally, feel your hairline, your scalp, and the back of your head where it meets the pillow. Breathe in and out to release any tension found in each area.
  4. Allow your back to sink into the mattress or ground. Let your body feel heavy. Feel each joint drop into the floor, fully supported by the earth.
  5. Bring your awareness to the crystal sitting in your solar plexus chakra. Now, visualize a bright golden radiant light like the sun. See this golden light spreading throughout your body. First, send the light through your bones. Then send it through every organ. Finally, send the golden light to your skin.
  6. If there’s a particular area of physical healing your body needs, focus the golden light intently on that area for a while. When you’re ready, bring your focus back to the golden light above the crystal at your solar plexus and let your mind relax there.

This relaxation exercise unifies mind and body energy and provides a healing awareness. When you’re ready, take the crystal off and get up gently, trying not to disturb your energy. You will feel quite refreshed, and your vital energy will be restored.

Mental and Emotional Relaxation

Once you’ve settled your physical body, it’s time to work on your mental body and your emotional body. Your mental body is all the subtle energy of your thoughts. Remember how a thought can have so much energy, you may feel like you might explode with all those thoughts going around and around in your head. Similarly, your emotional body is comprised of all the emotional energy based on those thoughts, experiences, and perceptions, and whether they’re good or not so good. Think about when you feel anger. There’s so much energy in anger that you may even feel it at the physical level as excess heat. Crystals are often selected for relaxing, balancing (meaning neither too much nor too little), and integrating both the mental and the emotional body. You’re right if you’re thinking that healing the chakras will help at all levels—physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. Before you get to chakra activation and healing, you’ll still need to focus on your mind and emotions to provide a place for the crystal healing energies to work.

To promote mental relaxation before working with crystals, perform the breath-in-and-out technique when meditating or whenever you seek to relax your mind of its troubles. For settling your emotions, hold a clear quartz crystal in your right hand (your sending-energy hand) over your solar plexus. Breath in and out to complete an energy circuit that will help ground your energy.

Chakra Activation

You might already know about the energy centers of the body called chakras and are ready to begin with a crystal energy exercise that will open up those centers for deeper healing. A chakra is a wheel of energy that responds very well to subtle energies from crystals, light, and sound. Chakras contain a lot of emotional energy. Releasing excess energy in the chakras and balancing these energy centers will also benefit your mental state.

A way to stimulate deeper healing is by using sound and visualization techniques with crystals for chakra activation. When a chakra is active, its structure is in motion, rotating and distributing energy to other parts of the subtle body system. Why would anyone need to exercise their chakras? Well, sometimes a chakra will be sluggish in its rotation or be blocked with excess emotional congestion. The following chakra activation alleviates these symptoms and promotes health in the chakras. You will need your Chakra Tune-Up Kit.

First, find a quiet spot free of distractions, lie down. Get comfortable and grounded. As a reminder, use the visualization technique of seeing roots growing from under your feet down into the earth, anchoring your energy.

Place one of the chakra crystals directly on top of each chakra while visualizing the chakra color. Sing the chakra sound for a few seconds to activate and awaken the chakra energy. Do this one by one for each chakra, starting at the root chakra. Let the crystals rest on top of your body for 3, 7, or 15 minutes to soak in all the energies and rebalance the body.

When you want to get up, remove the crystals or let them fall gently off as you roll to one side. Get up slowly and gently. You have had an energy workout, and getting up too quickly might be a bit of a shock to your system. Drink some cool water and walk around a bit to restart your not-so-subtle energies.

When chakras are open and clear, you might feel more vulnerable about certain issues. It’s worth noting what those issues are in your crystal journal because they indicate which chakra might need more work.

Spiritual Stimulation

Are you looking to open up your consciousness to higher realms? Perhaps you wish to engage in dialog with entities from those realms. Okay, what are those realms? The etheric body is one of your aura’s outer layers. Most people aren’t aware of it. It holds the expression of our highest potential, our divine expression. This is where sacred geometry works to provide the alignment between ourselves and our divine perfection, our perfect symmetry with all that is. It’s where the perfect geometry of crystals merges with your mental intent and brings an alignment to the healing process. Let’s try a crystal manifestation exercise using visualization.

Visualization Techniques

You just used a visualization technique with the image of a colored ball for your chakra activation. Now let’s try something a little more complex to create something you’d like to happen, such as winning a sports competition. This is where you will pattern your intent at the etheric level.

First, select one of the crystal forms from the set of Platonic solids mentioned in Chapter 3. Remember that Platonic solids contain the elements of all things. If you don’t have a Platonic solid crystal, use a generator or channeller clear quartz crystal. (See Chapter 9 for types of quartz crystals.) Start with a cube or tetrahedron Platonic solid at first and then move to the more complex shapes. If you don’t have one, use a clear quartz crystal. Assume your position for meditation or visualization. You know the drill by now—find a quiet spot with no distractions.

Hold the crystal in front of you and gaze softly at the crystal. Think of something you would like to have happen in the next few days. Alternatively, you can think about an upcoming activity you’d like to successfully navigate.

Now visualize the image of yourself inside the crystal going through each and every motion very clearly, right down to the words spoken and what people are wearing— imagine as many details as you can. See the complete scenario from beginning to end in the most positive way. Move through it slowly, deliberately, and whole-heartedly. The crystal will store the energy of the visualization. Keep the crystal with you and then see what happens.

By now you will be quite attuned to your crystals. You will feel centered and confident using crystals for your chakras. They know your energy and you know theirs. This is just the beginning of a beautiful relationship!

CARVED IN STONE

When so much seems out of place and you can’t get things into any order, isn’t it wonderful that you can reach out for something that is beyond the chaos? Crystals connect you to the bigger picture. This unchanging connection to the divine is in all of nature. It is yours to connect to your divine nature.