Shielding for empaths
5 Protection Techniques for Sensitive People
I’m a physician and an empath. In my medical practice of over two decades, I specialize in treating highly sensitive people and empaths, like myself. We feel everything, often to an extreme, and have little guard up between ourselves and others. As a result, we often become overwhelmed by excessive stimulation and are prone to exhaustion and sensory overload.
The key to self-care is to quickly recognize the first signs of experiencing sensory overload or when you start absorbing negativity or stress from others. The sooner you can act to reduce stimulation and center yourself, the more balanced and protected you will be. Whenever you start to feel exhausted or overwhelmed practice the following five protection tips to help you regain your balance.
1. Shielding Visualization
Shielding is a quick way to protect yourself. Many empaths and sensitive people rely on it to block out toxic energy while allowing the free flow of positivity. Call on it regularly. The minute you’re uncomfortable with a person, place, or situation, put up your shield. Use it in a train station, at a party if you’re talking to an energy vampire, or in a packed doctor’s waiting room. Begin by taking a few, deep, long breaths. Then visualize a beautiful shield of white or pink light completely surrounding your body and extending a few inches beyond it. This shield protects you from anything negative, stressful, toxic, or intrusive. Within the protection of this shield, feel centered, happy, and energized. This shield blocks out negativity, but at the same time, you can still feel what’s positive and loving.
2. Define and Express Your Relationship Needs
Knowing your needs and being able to assert them is a strong form of self-protection for empaths. Then you can be in your full power in a relationship. If something doesn’t feel right, raise the issue with your partner rather than suffering silently. Finding your voice is equivalent to finding your power—otherwise, you may become exhausted, anxious, or feel like a doormat in relationships where your basic needs are unmet.
Your partner isn’t a mind-reader. Speak up to safeguard your well-being.
Ask yourself: “What do I need in a relationship that I’ve been afraid to ask for?" Would you prefer more alone or quiet time? Would you like to sleep by yourself sometimes? Do you want to play more or talk more or have sex more? Or would you like to dance under the full moon together? Let your intuition flow without judgment. Uncover your true feelings. No reason to be ashamed or to hold back.
3. Set Energetic Boundaries at Work and Home
Empaths often suffer in their environment when they absorb the stress in their surroundings. The workplace especially can be noisy and over-stimulating. To protect your energy level in an emotionally demanding or crowded environment surround the outer edge of your space with plants or family or pet photos to create a small psychological barrier. Sacred objects such as a statue of Quan Yin (the goddess of compassion), the Buddha, sacred beads, crystals, or protective stones can set a boundary.
Noise-canceling earbuds or headphones are also useful.
4. Prevent Empathy Overload
When you’re absorbing the stress or symptoms of others and you need to release the negativity, inhale lavender essential oil or put a few drops midway between your eyebrows to calm yourself. Are you able to spend time in nature? Balance your alone time with people time. For me, time management is key to my sanity. I try not to schedule patients back to back. In my personal life, I don’t plan too many things in one day. I’ve also learned to cancel plans when I get overloaded. This is a skill all empaths must learn so you don’t feel obliged to go out if you’re tired and need rest.
Set clear limits with toxic people. Remember, “No” is a complete sentence. You don’t have to keep explaining yourself. I am adamant about avoiding draining people, particularly when I’m overloaded. Finally, practice self-compassion. Be sweet to yourself whenever possible—avoid beating yourself up.
After a hard day tell yourself, “I did the best I could. It’s okay honey.”
5. The Jaguar Protection Meditation
When you need extra protection I recommend this meditation to call on the power of the jaguar to protect you. I use it when there is too much negativity coming at me too fast. The jaguar is a fierce and patient guard who can keep toxic energy and people away.
In a calm meditative state, from your deepest heart, call on the spirit of the jaguar to protect you. Feel her presence enter. Then, visualize this gorgeous, powerful creature patrolling your energy field, encircling it, protecting you, keeping out intruders or negative forces that want to get through. Picture what the jaguar looks like: his or her beautiful, fierce, loving eyes; sleek body; the graceful, purposeful way the jaguar moves. Feel secure in the circle of this jaguar’s protection.
Give thanks to the jaguar. Know that you can call on her whenever there is a need. Feel the power of that.
As a sensitive person, you must learn is how to deal with sensory overload when too much is coming at you too quickly. This can leave you exhausted, anxious, depressed, or sick. Like many of us, you may feel there is no on/off switch for your empathy. This is not true. When you feel protected and safe you can take charge of your sensitivities rather than feeling victimized by them. To gain a sense of safety, recognize some common factors that contribute to empathy overload. Begin to identify your triggers. Then you can quickly act to remedy a situation.
9 Self-Protection Strategies for Empaths
Empaths are emotional sponges who absorb other peoples’ stress into their own bodies. As an empath myself, I know how exhausting this can be. Below are some basic strategies for empaths and all people battling with low energy from my new book, The Empath’s Survival Guide: Life Strategies for Sensitive People.
I practice these strategies in my life and teach them to my patients and workshop participants.
You can turn to these techniques if you’re absorbing the stress or symptoms of others and you need ways to release them. Experiment. See which ones work best for you. Use them in situations where you are feeling ill or upset and suspect you’re taking on someone else’s physical or emotional distress.
- Ask yourself, “Is this symptom or emotion mine or someone else’s?”
A tip-off that you’re absorbing someone’s energy is to notice if you experience a sudden change of mood or physical state around that person. Most likely, if you didn’t feel anxious, depressed, exhausted, or sick before, the discomfort is at least partially coming from him or her.
If you move away and the discomfort dissipates, it is definitely not yours! Sometimes, though, the emotion or symptom may be both yours and another person’s. Feelings are catchy, especially if they relate to a hot button issue for you. You are more prone to take on the emotional or physical pain that you haven’t worked out in yourself.
The more you heal issues that trigger you, the less likely you’ll be to absorb emotions from others.
- Breathe and repeat this mantra to counter negative energy
When negativity strikes, immediately focus on your breath for a few minutes. Slowly and deeply, inhale and exhale to expel the uncomfortable energy. Breathing circulates negativity out of your body. Holding your breath or breathing shallowly keeps negativity stuck within you.
As you breathe, I suggest firmly repeating aloud this mantra three times in a tone that conveys you mean what you’re saying: Return to sender, return to sender, return to sender. The power of your voice can command the discomfort out of your body. Your breath is the vehicle that transports it back to the universe.
Also, while saying this mantra, you can specifically breathe toxic energy out of your lumbar spine in your lower back. The spaces between the lumbar vertebrae are conducive to acting as channels for eliminating unhealthy energy.
Visualize the discomfort exiting through these spaces in your spine. Declare “I release you” as it leaves your body and blends with the giant energy matrix of life.
- Step away from what’s disturbing you
Move at least twenty feet from the suspected source. See if you feel relief. Don’t worry about offending strangers. In a doctor’s office, movie, or other public place, don’t hesitate to change seats. If you’re sitting next to a noisy group in a restaurant, you don’t have to stay there and feel uncomfortable. Feel free to move to a more peaceful table. It’s fine to lovingly say “No” to certain energies. Giving yourself permission to move is an act of self-care. Empaths often find themselves in overwhelming social situations. If that happens to you, be sure to take breaks to replenish yourself. Then, if you want to return to the gathering you can be in a more serene place.
- Limit physical contact. Hugs are a choice!
Energy transfers through the eyes and touch.
If you’re uncomfortable with someone, limit eye contact and touch, including hugs and hand-holding. Though hugging a loved one in distress often benefits you both, if you are wary of taking on their stress, make the hug short. You can keep sending them love from a distance. You have a choice about the kind of physical contact you participate in.
- Detox in water
A quick way to dissolve stress and empathic pains is to immerse yourself in water. Empaths love water! Epsom salt baths are divine and also provide magnesium, which is calming.
You might want to add a little lavender essential oil to your bath—it is calming after a long day. The perfect empath getaway is soaking in natural mineral springs that purify all that ails you.
- Set limits and boundaries
There’s no way around it. To survive and thrive, you need to set limits with people. If someone is draining, don’t be a doormat. Control how much time you spend listening to the person.
“No” is a complete sentence! It’s okay to tell someone, “I’m sorry, I’m not up for going to a party tonight,” or “Let’s discuss this when you’re calmer. I can’t tolerate yelling,” or “I need to meditate and be quiet right now,” or “I can’t talk more than a few minutes unless you want to discuss solutions.” Sometimes changing communication patterns with friends is a retraining process, but being consistent with setting kind but firm limits will protect you from energy vampires.
- Create alone time to regroup
Empaths need alone time to reconnect with their power. If you’ve picked up unwanted energy, be sure to take some alone time to center yourself. For a few minutes or more, quiet everything. No noise, bright lights, phone calls, texts, emails, internet, television, or conversations. It’s sometimes important to just feel your own energy without anyone else around. You are being your own best friend, which is a way to nurture yourself. By decreasing external stimulation, it’s also easier to clear negativity.
- Spend time in nature and practice ‘Earthing’
Empaths love nature and feel at ease there. Being in a fresh, clean, green environment or around water clears negativity. The Earth emanates healing. Try lying in a meadow and soaking up its energy in your entire body. This feels sublime! Earthing means going barefoot and feeling the earth’s power through your feet. To shed other people’s energies, feel the grass between your bare toes, walk in the sand or the soil. Sense the nurturing medicine of the earth coming through your feet to ground you—a beautiful experience.
- Take breaks from being online
You need regular time-out from technology that inundates you with too much information. Online media that triggers your emotions—such as Facebook groups, Instagram, violent news feeds—can impair your ability to fall asleep. It’s easy to pick up energy in the virtual world, so make sure you spend time in nature, meditating, or participating in other off-line activities that restore you.
A complete technology fast once in a while will do wonders for your sense of well-being.
Excerpted with permission from The Empath’s Survival Guide: Life Strategies for Sensitive People (Sounds True, April 4, 2017). © Judith Orloff, MD. All rights reserved. Dr. Orloff is a psychiatrist, an empath, a NY Times best-selling author and is on the UCLA Psychiatric Clinical Faculty. To learn more about the power of empathy, Dr. Orloff’s book tour schedule, and to sign up for her Empath Support Newsletter, visit www.drjudithorloff.com
4 powerful defenses for empaths
Mariam 05:38
Empaths and highly sensitive people in general need energetic protection from toxic people who can drain their energy.
We have all come across people in our lives who completely exhausted us, both emotionally and physically.
So today let's talk about 4 powerful ways to protect yourself and create healthy personal boundaries!
1. VISUALIZATION OF PROTECTION
Visualization is a quick way to protect yourself.
Many empaths and sensitive people rely on this to block out toxic energy.
The moment you feel uncomfortable about a person, place, or situation, just raise your shield. Use it at the train station, at a party, when you're talking to an energy vampire, or while you're waiting for a friend. Start with a few deep breaths.
Then visualize a beautiful white or pink colored shield completely surrounding your body and extending a few inches from it. This shield protects you from any negative, stressful, toxic or intrusive people, thoughts and energies.
Within the protection of this shield, feel centered, happy, and energetic. This shield blocks negativity.
2. IDENTIFY AND EXPRESS YOUR RELATIONSHIP NEEDS
Knowing your needs and being able to EXPRESS them is a powerful form of self-defense for empaths. If something doesn't feel right to you, bring the issue up with your partner instead of suffering in silence.
The expression of your needs is equivalent to your strength, otherwise you may become jaded, preoccupied in a relationship in which your basic needs are not met.
Your partner cannot read your mind. Talk to him about everything that worries you to protect your well-being!
Reveal your true feelings. There is no reason to be ashamed or to restrain yourself.
3. SET ENERGY BORDERS AT WORK AND HOME
Empaths often suffer when they absorb stress in their environment. For example, the workplace in particular can be noisy and overly stimulating.
To protect your energy level in an emotionally charged or crowded environment, surround the outer edge of your space with plants or photos of your family or pets to create a slight psychological barrier.
4. PREVENT EMPATIC OVERLOADED
When you absorb stress or other people's feelings, you need to release all that negativity with lavender essential oil to calm down.
You can spend time in nature. Balance your time. For me, time management is the key to my sanity. In my personal life, I don't plan too many things in one day.
I have also learned to cancel plans when I am overloaded.
This is a skill that all empaths should learn so that you don't feel compelled to go out if you're tired and in need of rest.
Set clear limits. Remember: "No" is a complete sentence. You don't have to constantly give additional explanations.
Translation and adaptation: "esotericblog"
5 important tips for empaths to help protect against negativity!
Author Great Picture Read 4 min Views 3.4k. Posted by Updated by
5 essential tips for empaths to help protect against negativity!
Empaths are people who can feel the pain and emotions of others on a very subtle level. They are very sincere and emotional personalities, but the problem is that they feel and let through themselves not only good energies and emotions, but also negative ones. The latter can destroy an empath, make them depressed, or worse.
It is natural for empaths to listen to the complaints of friends and acquaintances and show them sympathy. They simply cannot do otherwise. And it exhausts them greatly.
In order for such people to remain morally stable, it is necessary to try to control their emotions and protect themselves. Every day they are bombarded by toxic people and it seems that there will be no end to this. But, it's not.
How do you protect yourself from negativity if you are an empath? How to learn to cope with your gift, without harming yourself? Today we will talk about this in detail. After all, there are 5 important tips for empaths!
1. Meditation
Start making time for meditation, preferably do it every day . You need to stay focused and concentrated in order to counter emotional overload in time.
Do not be lazy to set aside a few minutes a day for meditation and recuperation. This will help center your energy and keep it whole.
Read also: 6 Signs that you are an EMPAT
2. Building a barrier shield
As we have already mentioned, it is important for an empath to be able to protect himself. Creating a barrier shield is one way that will help you.
To do this, you need to imagine an energy shield in front of you, which is concentrated in front of you, it creates a protective shell around your body. It protects you from the penetration of any negativity.
Don't think that this will somehow separate you and alienate you from people, it will just help you protect yourself on an energetic level.
First try using the shield method alone, and then you can practice it when you are around other people.
3. Quiet time
Take breaks during the day. Take a walk and allow yourself to clear your thoughts. Relax and be in silence, or listen to pleasant and calm music. Such breaks will help you recuperate and take a break from communication.
4. Say "NO" and "STOP"
When you find it difficult to communicate with a person and you feel that you are beginning to suffocate from other people's thoughts and words, say "stop". Take care of yourself and do not let others pollute your energy field. Explain to the interlocutor how his words affect you and stop listening to depressing speeches.
See also: Every empath will try to hide these 10 things from you. Noticed?
Don't let people drop their negative on you and feed on your energy. Those who complain are actually energy vampires. They deprive you of your strength. Say "no" to such people when their complaints are ready to develop into a habit. It can be very difficult for you to do this, because you are a polite and tactful person, but in such cases you need to act firmly.
Do not think that because you are on good terms with a person, you should listen to him and adapt in every possible way - this is not so.
Good friends and sane acquaintances should understand that these are your boundaries and should not be neglected.
5. Replenishment of energy
If you are used to constantly sharing your energy, helping other people in their difficult moments in life, then you should be aware that you still need to somehow replenish your energy. Where to take it from? Well, firstly, the first point that we talked about at the very beginning is useful to you - meditation. It helps to find harmony and restore energy balance.
And secondly, nature can serve as a source of additional energy. Walk in the parks, walk along the embankments, go to the forest or to the river. Feel the incredible energy of nature, absorb it into yourself!
The third and most obvious option is to borrow someone else's positive energy. This does not mean that there must be vampirism on your part. You just need to be more surrounded by people with whom you feel comfortable and at ease.
