Basic Skills

Shutdown means stopping all psychic activity, totally but temporarily. Closing all psychic perceptions lets you stop to understand what you have experienced. It helps you recover from emotional surprise or shock and return to reality.

When psychic experiences frighten you, take a step back and relax. Breathe. Consider whether you really need to shut down, or whether you’d do better to think things over. Shutting down means you will have to completely stop thinking about what happened. Sometimes this may not be helpful.

If thinking about the experience bothers you too much, or makes your energy feel bad, go ahead and shut down for a while. If, instead, you can stop using the ability for a few minutes, sit back, and think, do that instead. Shutting down all abilities is an extreme step. It can always be reversed, but it will take some effort to open again. The section on personal changes discusses frightening experiences in detail.

Shutdown happens when you focus all conscious thought toward the physical world. Become involved with other people, being social and discussing fun things. Do physical activity; walk around, stretch, jog, or do anything else that makes you more aware of your physical body. Let thoughts of the psychic experiences float away like a dream and stop worrying about them. If you like games, programming, writing, art, etc., do that. Do anything you can think of to keep yourself occupied, without memories of psychic experiences distracting you from it.

When you are ready to use psychic abilities again, start opening your perceptions as you would when you first practice any psychic ability. You can do this at any time, whenever you are comfortable and ready.

Q: I can’t stay shut down.

A: Concentrate on the physical world. Don’t let memories distract you. Do something fun and involving, like watching a movie or reading a book. If you’re curious about your experiences, you may be too interested to ignore them. Make sure to stay as relaxed and calm as possible. If you feel insecure, try creating a shield instead.

Grounding connects your energy to the earth in a stable, secure way. Ground to get rid of unwanted energy and take in clean, balanced energy. When you are well grounded, drawing energy through yourself is easier. Any time you are working with energy, grounding makes it easier.

First, let go of all the tension you can, relax your shoulders, calm yourself, and focus on what you are doing. Bring your attention to the current time and place. Let all the active energy you have release, and any that you don't want drain down off of you into the earth. Slow down and take a deep calm breath.

Extend your own energy down into the earth while keeping it also connected to you. Feel your energy as streamers or roots extending deep into the earth, as anchors. These roots balance your energy, so you're not dizzy, and they give and take energy to keep your overall level steady. When stressed, you may not anchor very well. Ground and stabilize your anchor to reduce the feelings of stress.

Drain your unwanted energy down through the anchors into the earth. The more strongly you anchor, the better your energy balance will be. More energy will flow through you smoothly, without feelings of tightness or nervousness.

Q: I just don’t feel anything when I try to ground. Am I doing it? What’s happening?

A: Make sure you are relaxed, not scared, and not feeling defensive. Gently and playfully, reach toward the Earth with your feelings. If you are tense or scared, you won’t connect with the Earth very well. If you feel defensive, you will hold your energy in and stop it from flowing to the ground. You must share your energy generously with the Earth, and accept its energy connection to you.

Q: I am relaxed, and I think I might have grounded. How do I know if it worked?

A: Trust yourself. Look at how you are feeling. Do you feel connected and stable, or dizzy and uncertain? When you are strongly grounded, you will feel more confident and calm. Trust what you feel.

Q: I can ground for a moment, but then it slips away. How can I keep it there?

A: Practice. Notice how you feel when you are grounded. Then notice how you feel just as it starts to slip. Focus on staying stable and letting lots of energy flow between you and the earth. As you start to feel grounded, slide in deeper and more stable. Stay relaxed; don’t let the excitement of success stop you from enjoying the feeling and staying grounded.

Centering means finding your own identity and essence. This is you, separate from the influences of societal expectations and pressures. It can enhance shielding or make them unnecessary. It allows you to perceive energy clearly. It keeps you emotionally stable as you encounter new things.

Finding your center will be easiest when alone. Find some quiet time, where you can be alone for at least 30 minutes. Do what you can to prevent interruptions. Turn off the TV, radio, etc. Turn off the telephone ringer and let an answering machine answer instead.

Sit quietly for a few minutes, just breathing and noticing yourself. Pay attention to how you feel and why. Let each feeling surface and then pass on without judgement. Recognize your stream of thought and let it flow. Notice how your body feels and looks, and any tension you are carrying. Notice your daydreams, ideas, and everything that is a part of you.

Also, notice anything you are feeling that may be imposed on you by others. Look for tension, pressure, or expectations. Notice how you have reacted to them, and what your feelings are in response. There's no need to change anything unless you want to. Just be aware of these things. Consider the things you want separate from the things others want for you.

As you do this, you will get a stronger feeling of yourself. With time, you'll recognize more quickly what is a part of who you are, and what is temporary or societal. This will help prevent empathic flooding, and increase control of energy work you do.

With practice, you will be able to pause for a few seconds to center yourself in almost any circumstance. If you tend to be susceptible to empathic overload, staying centered in crowds will reduce the flooding. It may take practice to get good at, but will help significantly.

You may find that you have trouble staying centered around certain people. Their pushiness, their ideas, and their feelings overwhelm you. When you notice this happening, strengthen your grounding and centering. Stay as strong, stable, and calm as you can. Once you learn to shield, you may also want to add a shield around yourself. The shield will keep your energy separate from theirs, and give you more distance from them. The section on shields discusses this in more detail.

Q: I try to find center, but I’m not sure what’s me. How do I figure it out?

A: Spend several hours, or if possible, a few days alone doing hobbies. Read a book, or do any activities you enjoy. Creative or imaginative activities are the best. Look back over photographs of your childhood or the past few years. Look around your home at the things you own, and consider why you chose them. All of these things help you feel yourself. Make sure you get plenty of time alone to daydream and think.

Q: I start to find center, and then I lose it again. I can’t stay centered for more than a minute or two. Every time I go where someone else is around, I lose it. What should I do?

A: Start out by centering for a long time while alone. Practice that until it feels comfortable and familiar. Watch out for getting too involved in other people’s emotions. Make sure you recognize and understand your own emotions thoroughly. Remind yourself of what is you when you are around other people.

Psychic energy is a strengthening, encouraging energy that exists in nature. You will need psychic energy to use psychic abilities. Energy comes from many sources, including the sun, moon, earth, nature, water, wind, storms, fire, emotions, and movement. People carry energy with them at all times. However, this energy can become drained as you use your abilities. Because of this, having other energy sources to draw from can help you avoid getting too tired.

Choose an energy source you enjoy to draw energy from. Feel energy from that source flowing into you. You can picture it as a garden hose pouring energy into you, or as a waterfall all around you. You might picture it as light surrounding and filling you, or a fire warming you. The energy surrounds and fills you, raising your energy to a much stronger level.

As you feel the energy flow through you, relax and focus on staying balanced. Don’t hold the energy in; let it flow through. Bottling it up will stop the flow. Raise the energy strength as far as you can comfortably go. Then, hold the energy flow at that speed and strength for a few minutes. Practice holding it stable.

If you begin to feel lightheaded, imagine a connection into the ground to let go of the excess energy. Lightheadedness usually means that you have too much energy and need to let some of it go back into the earth, like grounding an electrical system. As you draw energy, take only what feels appropriate. Don't force it; just gently draw the energy. Forcing it will only make it more difficult to get the right amount of energy.

When you are done, you will want to finish comfortably. Direct the energy flow back into the ground. Let the intensity gradually reduce. Send the energy securely into the ground, and bring yourself back to a normal state of mind. Close it down until it feels fully settled. Then let go of the final bit, and relax.

Q: I don’t feel anything. Am I drawing any energy?

A: Until you feel something, it’s hard to tell. Pay attention to subtle feelings. Are you actually not feeling anything, or do you just doubt what you feel? If you feel even slight tingles or pressure, you are probably drawing energy. Relax and be playful. Imagine drawing energy, even if you aren’t sure you are succeeding. When you’ve imagined it for a while, and imagined feeling it, you will succeed in actually drawing energy.

Q: I feel that I’m drawing energy, but it’s uneven and difficult to hold. How do I make it smoother?

A: First, relax. You may be trying too hard to control it. Let it flow naturally at its own speed. Get rid of any muscle tension you have by stretching and moving around, and then try again. Make sure you are breathing smoothly and deeply. Increase the energy flow as you breathe in, and keep it flowing steady as you breathe out.

Q: I was drawing energy smoothly for a while, and then it wobbled and stopped. Why did it wobble?

A: You probably got tense or excited, and lost your grounding. Ground and center, and then try again. Be sure to stay relaxed and playful.

Psiballs are balls of psychic energy. They can be any size, density, shape, texture, etc. They can be used to carry information, investigate an area, heal, warm, or cool an area, or simply to play with and to practice energy control.

Draw energy and direct it outward through your hands. Cup your hands as if you were holding a baseball or a ball of cookie dough, with one hand below it and one above it. Picture the energy flowing from your body, through your arms, and out through your hands.

Feel the energy swirling and building up between your hands. Make the energy into a ball between your hands, making it denser as you add energy. It doesn't matter whether your eyes are open or closed - do whichever is comfortable for you.

Let yourself feel the energy between your hands. Notice any push or pull between your hands, any difference in heat, changing density of the air, sparks of light, waviness of the background behind the energy ball, or anything else that changes.

If you have difficulty creating a strong enough psiball to feel, try drawing more energy and adding that energy to it. It may take practice to make a strong enough psiball to physically see waviness in the air, but you should be able to feel it quickly. Do not worry if you only feel it, and can not see it; that is normal. You may feel a lot of heat between your hands; this means you have drawn energy through them properly.

The sensations you feel may be very slight: tingles, pressure, or tightness. Trust your sensations. You're learning both to shape energy and to perceive it, at once. Both take some time to gain confidence with. If you think you felt something, you probably did.

After you are comfortable making a psiball, try working with friends. Each person starts by creating his or her own psiball. Then combine all of the psiballs into the center of the circle. Each person continues to add energy to the center. After a few minutes, discuss how each person perceives the energy. As a group, try changing the temperature or the density of the energy.

Practice regularly to improve your speed at creating psiballs and your control of them. As you become more comfortable making them, try variations. Make shapes other than a ball; try fire, a pool of water, a crystal, and any other shape you can imagine. Try changing the temperature of the energy, making it extra warm or extra cool. Make the energy carry different emotions, being agitated, or soothing. If you have a willing partner, try using an energy ball to tickle them.

Make a large energy ball of happy energy, and cover a friend in it. If you do it with a willing friend, but at a time they don't know what's happening, you can see how strongly it affects how they feel. (This often has the effect of making the receiver very happy and bouncy, as if they've had too much sugar or caffeine.) The energy can also be used to heal, by keeping the intention of healing as you create the ball and share the energy with someone.

Psiballs don't have many "practical" uses - their primary purpose is to learn basic energy perception and control. Beyond that, they can be used in all the same ways any energy can.

Q: I was able to make a psiball once, but it was weak and I can't do it anymore.

A: Try drawing more energy to make the psiballs. Since you were able to do it once, you have the technique, just not the strength. Let things happen gently, without forcing them, and be sure you are adding enough energy to make a strong psiball.

Q: I have drawn energy and tried to shape it, but I don't feel any energy ball forming.

A: Either you are not creating an energy ball, or you cannot feel the one that is there. First, open up your mind to feel any sensations around the ball, no matter how small. If you feel no sensations at all, try putting much more energy into the energy ball. It may take many times the amount of energy you expected. Also, let the energy leave your body; don't hold it in. Focus on letting go of it as it swirls around between your hands.

Q: I can make an energy ball but it immediately falls apart, or just doesn't do what I want it to.

A: Energy follows thought, so practice keeping your mind focused on the one thing you want the energy to do. As you practice, learn to keep your mind focused even through distractions. What you think and expect is what the energy will do, so as you practice, expect the energy ball to last longer and longer, until you decide to let it stop existing. You may need to continuously add energy to keep the psiball in shape.

A shield is a bubble of energy that works like a window screen. It filters the energy that moves through it and defends against other’s negative energy. It also prevents people with psychic abilities from using them with you. Shields help empaths keep others' emotions separate from their own.

Begin by clearly thinking through your purpose for the shield. Why do you want a shield? What exactly do you want it to do? Will it keep out all energy, or just bad energy? Will it be temporary, or will it be permanent? Will it only be defensive, or will it attack in response to negative energy?

Once you have a clear intent, begin drawing energy and swirling it around you. Picture the energy as anything you wish. Common visualizations are soap bubbles, waterfalls, balls of light, fire, trees/vines, crystals, feathered wings or fur, tank metal, and armor. Choose an image that you enjoy thinking about and that isn’t cramped or heavy. Swirl the energy around you.

When you feel the shield is strong enough, let go. It will maintain itself with whatever purpose you gave it as you created it. If the shield depletes over time, repeat to add more energy.

A shield can have many effects, alone or in combination. A shield can keep energy on one side or the other, or act as a filter to allow only certain energy inside. It can convert energy from one form to another so that a filter is unnecessary. Shields help empaths keep out some of the extra emotional energy so they don't feel overwhelmed.

Shields also define boundaries in the physical world, which people will usually not to cross. Often they won’t even realize why they stopped there. The edge of a shield works as a psychic alarm. When someone physically crosses it, the shield gives the owner a psychic warning that someone is nearby.

Shields cause any effects you intend them to have when you create them. Just like any psychic ability, energy follows thought. Whatever you think about when you create the shield affects how it is created. Shield effects are not at all limited to what is listed here; anything you can think of, you can do.

Stress sometimes interferes with maintaining a shield. Under normal circumstances, a shield maintains itself for quite a while. However, large amounts of negative energy, attacks, illness, and lack of sleep all weaken a shield. This section explains how to maintain a shield under stressful conditions.

Daily stress is the most common difficulty with shielding. While a shield often prevents psychic energy from adding to the stress, eventually the shield weakens. More rest, planned time alone, meditation, and avoiding stress are the best cures. Daily or weekly meditation replenishes a drained shield and helps relax you.

Empathic overload is similar to, but can be more intense than, normal stress. Large crowds, schools, and cities are filled with intense emotional energy. Empaths who are particularly sensitive to this learn to build very strong shields to keep other people's emotions separate from their own. The first few days of an emotionally intense environment can be particularly tiring if the empath has not yet made a strong enough shield.

Meditation and self-examination are important to protect from the empathic pounding of emotionally intense environments. Meditation helps relieve the stress and emotional energy in a controlled way. It also gives time to identify the difference between empathic emotions and personal emotions. By identifying yourself carefully (especially emotionally), you add an extra layer to the shield which defines "self" and "other." This helps external emotions bounce off harmlessly.

Sometimes electromagnetic fields, from power lines or electronic equipment, can tear at a shield and cause it to weaken. If a person has grown up near power lines, his or her shield may already be adjusted to compensate.

For people who have just entered electric fields, though, it can be rather intense. Experiment with drawing energy from the field and changing it into a more useful form of energy. Also, try matching your own energy to the existing electricity. With some practice, adjusting your shield to that energy takes little effort.

Shields also become weakened by psychic battles. Though most people will never need to deal with this, some can't avoid it. They may have known they were dealing with it before ever reading a book on psychic abilities. Shielding is a natural defense to psychic attacks.

During psychic battle, people hold their shields in place by willpower and energy. Willpower controls the shield the most. Calm confidence is the best way to prevent a shield from being drained. If you are uncomfortable trusting in your own endurance, trust in the universe to do what is best for you, whether or not that is protection.

If the shield does feeling drained, draw additional energy from a comfortable source to replenish it. Keep drawing until you know you are safe. If you cannot hold up the strength any longer, place your psychic self some place safe (or even shut down) to avoid being attacked. A safe place is any place, real or imagined, where you feel secure. Attack rarely causes any symptoms worse than a headache, but headaches can be bad. Avoiding fighting is best.

For this, and all future skills, first check your grounding and centering. You should be strongly grounded, and strongly centered. You also need relax and avoid pressuring yourself.

Q: I can’t get a shield created. I can’t stay focused.

A: Ground, center, and relax. Draw energy just as you would to create a psiball. Instead of directing it through your hands, direct it outward around your body, as if you are inside the ball. If you want, use your hands to trace out the size and shape of the shield in the air. Add energy until you feel it strengthen and hold its shape.

Q: I can create a shield but it’s not very durable. How do I strengthen it?

A: Your shield strength is very closely tied to your grounding and centering. Be sure they are both very strong and stable. Relax and stay playful. Your shield should be somewhat flexible, not brittle. Keep it flowing and swirling around you.

Q: There’s unhappy energy inside of my shield. When I put my shield up, I feel bad, or I feel like there’s something stuck inside.

A: Drop the shield for a minute, and push away the energy you don’t like. Clear the space around you. Before you put up a shield, push a lot of energy out away from you. Start the shield tiny inside of you, and make grow bigger like a balloon until it’s around you. This prevents energy from being trapped inside it.

Q: My shields are fine until I enter a particular room, and then they wobble or fail. What’s going on?

A: Other people may be affecting your shields, either purposely or accidentally. Staying grounded and well centered will help that. You also may be getting interference from power lines, or an electromagnetic field. Adjust your energy to match it, instead of fighting it, and the shield will work again.