Mastering Energy and Emotions
- emmaplackett
- Mar 16, 2024
- 10 min read
Updated: Mar 17, 2024
Understanding how to use energy to manage feelings for a happier, healthier life.
What is meant by ‘vibes’ or ‘spiritual energy’ and why does it matter?
How do I become more resilient and control my feelings better?
We are constantly being buffeted by outside energies, and tend to be swept along by our emotions, as if we are in a boat on a stormy sea. Understanding our energy and how we interact with the energy of others is crucial if we are to successfully control what we experience and manifest into our lives. If we can recognise what is influencing us we can decide how we react and get in the driving seat of where we want to go. It’s the secret to confidence, peace, resilience and contentment.
As the scientists are learning in their studies of quantum physics, everything vibrates at an energetic level. Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) was a Serbian scientist who discovered that energy could be harnessed from sources other than fossil fuels, and he developed ways to use this energy to power our homes and businesses. He was at the forefront of the move away from fossil fuels towards electrical energy, best known for his contributions to the design of the modern day AC electricity supply system. He said “If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.” He also said “Everything is a vibration.”
Spiritual teachings tell us that if we want to affect what we experience in life we should control the frequency at which our personal energy vibrates, and direct the focus and intensity of our vibration towards the experiences we want to attract. The principle of the Law of Attraction is that you will attract into your life what you focus on. Simply put, ‘like attracts like’. If you focus on negative thoughts that is what you attract more of into your experience, but if you emit positive energy and have positive thoughts you will attract positive experiences. There is as yet no scientific evidence to support this principle, but common sense tells us that people with a positive attitude have a happier life, and the Law of Attraction takes the idea one step further with the theory that we can actually control what we let into our experience. We will deal with manifesting in the next session, but we need to understand energy, vibration and frequency first.
What energies affect my experience?
Personal energy - energies that are a mirror of what you’re putting out
Local energy - the energy of people in your vicinity impacting on you
Planetary energy - the collective energy of what we are all going through on Earth
Personal energy is within our control, but local and planetary energy is not, however we can notice it and choose whether we connect with it or not, to maintain the vibration we choose to experience. So how do we control our personal energy?
Chakras
This is the term given to the subtle energy centres within our bodies, first described in ancient Vedic scriptures of Hinduism in India. Many different chakra systems developed, but in the Western world the most common chakra system is the 7-chakra system. Each chakra is in a different location on the central line of the body, and has attributed to it a name, colour, symbol and physical/emotional influence. It is useful to know about them because we can use them to identify where our energy may be blocked, affecting our mental and physical health. We can then focus on how to release the energy so that it can flow again, restoring our health and wellbeing. These are the seven major chakras:
Root Chakra
Colour | Red |
Location | Base of spine, tailbone |
Influences | Physical body, material needs, security, grounding |
Blockage indicators | Arthritis, constipation, and bladder or colon problems, or emotionally through feeling insecure about finances or our basic needs and well-being. When it’s in alignment and open, we will feel grounded and secure, both physically and emotionally. |
Sacral Chakra
Colour | Orange |
Location | Just below the belly button, the abdomen |
Influences | Sexuality, pleasure, creativity, fertility of ideas |
Blockage indicators | Urinary tract infections, lower back pain and impotence. Emotionally, this chakra is connected to our feelings of self-worth, and even more specifically, our self-worth around pleasure, sexuality, and creativity. |
Solar Plexus Chakra
Colour | Yellow |
Location | Solar plexus |
Influences | Self esteem, confidence, personal power, resilience |
Blockage indicators | Digestive issues like ulcers, heartburn, eating disorders, and indigestion. Emotionally it's related to our self-esteem and self-confidence. |
Heart Chakra
Colour | Green |
Location | Centre of the chest, just above the heart |
Influences | Love, compassion, bonding, relationships |
Blockage indicators | Heart problems, asthma and weight issues. People with heart chakra blocks often put others first, to their own detriment. It’s the middle of the seven chakras, so it bridges the gap between our upper and lower chakras, and it also represents our ability to love and connect to others. When out of alignment, it can make us feel lonely, insecure, and isolated |
Throat Chakra
Colour | Blue |
Location | Throat |
Influences | Communication, ability to be authentic |
Blockage indicators | Voice and throat problems as well as any problems with everything surrounding that area, such as the teeth, gums, and mouth, can indicate a blockage. Blocks or misalignment can also be seen through dominating conversations, gossiping, speaking without thinking, and having trouble speaking your mind. When in alignment, you will speak and listen with compassion and feel confident when you speak because you know you are being true to yourself with your words. |
Third Eye Chakra
Colour | Indigo |
Location | On the forehead between the eyes |
Influences | Intuition, imagination |
Blockage indicators | Headaches, issues with sight or concentration, and hearing problems. People who have trouble listening to reality (who seem to “know it all”) or who are not in touch with their intuition may also have a block. When open and in alignment, it’s thought that people will follow their intuition and be able to see the big picture. |
Crown Chakra
Colour | Violet or white |
Location | The top of head |
Influences | Awareness, intelligence, |
Blockage indicators | The crown chakra is linked to every other chakra (and therefore every organ in this system), and so it affects not just all of those organs, but also our brain and nervous system. It is considered the chakra of enlightenment and represents our connection to our life’s purpose and spirituality. Those with a blocked crown chakra may seem narrow-minded, sceptical, or stubborn. When this chakra is open, it is thought to help keep all the other chakras open and to bring the person bliss and enlightenment. |
Auras
It is helpful to know what auras are because it is a term that is routinely mentioned within the spiritual environment and it can help to explain some of the underlying interactions you are having with others.
It is generally accepted that every living thing has an energy field around them. We are emitting an electromagnetic frequency at all times that changes with our mood. The aura typically emanates for around 4-5 feet around our body, but this fluctuates depending on what we are feeling, and our feelings change its colours too. The aura and its colours are linked to the chakras of the body.
Some spiritual practitioners claim to be able to see auras and can diagnose physical and mental conditions. Some have claimed to be able to photograph auras using special camera techniques. Some say that anyone can train their eye to perceive these vibrations as colours.
When we are in proximity to others, the aura is what spiritual practitioners say we tap into when we can sense the subtle variances of their mood, even though they are giving no physical indications of what they are feeling. It is helpful to recognise that we are all emitting auric vibrations because we can then choose to either mentally reject others’ negative moods or even physically remove ourselves if the mood is not one we want to interact with. Some spiritual teachers give meditations that are designed to protect us from the undue influences of others’ auras, polluting energy and energetic demands of us.
Energy cords
It is said that cords of energy can connect two people’s energy bodies. They stretch between two people very much like an umbilical cord and transfer emotional energy and life force energy between the two people. It does not matter how far away the other person is, as the cord is not a physical substance and distance is irrelevant, so this connection can still be felt from the other side of the world.
Energetic connections and cords have been documented in long distance healing studies, and it has been shown that thinking about another person or even being shown a picture of a perfect stranger will register in the other person's energy field. Even if the concept of energy cords stretches your credulity too far, it is still useful as a metaphor for decluttering the relationships that have outstayed their welcome.
Cords can be formed between any two people or even groups of people that have significant emotional relationships. Lovers, friends, workmates, ex-spouses, and even enemies can all have energetic cords between them. However, the most commonly felt entanglements are the energetic attachments or cords between lovers.
When two people have been in an emotional relationship for a period of time there is a good chance that the two people have a cord. Depending on the emotional issues of the two, the cord can either stay fairly clean and be a good thing which helps the two with emotional nurturing, or become draining. If one partner is needy or overly domineering it is likely that they will drain the other which could eventually lead to resentment by the drained partner.
The emotion pyramid (also called levels of consciousness)
As we grow up from childhood and beyond, society tells us which emotions are ‘bad’ and which are ‘good’, with emotions such as anger and revenge frowned upon. The emotion pyramid takes a different view that is in line with the spiritual teachings that God/Source does not judge anything as good or bad, instead loving and valuing the experiences of both for our spiritual development.
The emotion pyramid varies slightly between teachers but its concept remains essentially the same. The main emotions are placed on an inverted triangle with the smallest point at the bottom, indicating the lowest emotional vibration. The premise is that our emotions vibrate at different frequencies, and the emotions that we consider to be bad or negative feature lower down the pyramid with a slower vibration and the more positive emotions are organised higher up in order of emotional frequency.
Dr David Hawkins was a pioneer in this model of levels of consciousness. He coined the phrase ‘power vs force’ when referring to how we attempt to affect the world around us. According to Hawkins, "Force" is the use of manipulation or coercion to get what we want, and it is associated with negative emotions such as fear, anger, and aggression. We have been conditioned to think that force is power i.e. by controlling others, but true power comes from the spirit and is attained through personal development and spiritual practices. However, when we are cultivating positive, higher emotions such as love, joy and peace we can increase our level of power and reduce our reliance on force. Force in small doses is useful when we are in the lower emotions and need the momentum to move up the emotional scale; for example forcing ourselves to be brave to have the courage to achieve something difficult. However, force only leads to satisfaction, whilst power leads to joy.
This theory may explain why it is so frustrating when we are in a very depressed state and someone tells us to cheer up! It is impossible because we might be able to move up a couple of points on the scale in one effort but we can’t usually leap from the lower points of the emotion scale to land several places up - we have to work our way up, possibly using other slightly less negative emotions as stepping stones.
For instance, if you feel resentment towards someone because of their treatment of you, you should not try to ignore it or suppress it, because this will only lead to a movement back down the emotional scale and potentially to physical and mental illness. Neither should you remain in that state for too long. Instead, consider the emotions slightly above it on the scale and how you can alter your perspective by travelling through those emotions. You might allow yourself to feel angry with them, and defiance to kick back against their influence before releasing that to move up through worry about whether you will be able to stand up to them in the future, and then on to acceptance that you will deal with it if it occurs and a willingness to challenge the status quo in the future. You have then successfully moved from ‘force’ to ‘power’ in the scale, and a higher, more allowing and flowing vibration.
It’s a useful model when you want to understand another person’s behaviour, releasing judgement of their emotional position because they’re just doing the best they can. We can then avoid advising them to stop feeling the way they do, and can potentially help them move up and out of negative emotions.
For more help on how to use your energies to improve relationships, check out the Spiritual Directions page of this website - 'How do I use a spiritual approach to improve my relationships?'
Recommended resources
Chakras
WEBSITE Complete Guide to the 7 Chakras and Their Effects by Ram Jain
This is a page from the Arhanta Yoga site. It explains what the chakras are, names the seven main chakras, and then lists each chakra giving information that includes its colour, location, emotional characteristics, and symptoms so that you can tell when it is blocked. You will also be given suggestions of how to unblock your chakras.
WEBSITE The 7 Major Chakras: What you need to know and how to work with them by Amanda Lieber
This is a good article that explains the chakras, what they represent and how to tune in to what they are saying to us. The author gives suggestions of what to ask yourself in order to realign the chakra that your intuition says is not working freely.
INSIGHT TIMER Various Tracks by Amy Patee.
Amy offers a selection of tracks that allow you to focus on a particular chakra, so that you can cleanse and activate it. They are guided meditations that take around a quarter of an hour, and you will also find tracks to calm and align your energy in more general ways too.
Auras
WEBSITE What Is An Aura? And 15 Other Questions Answered by Kimberly Holland
This page from the Healthline website is a very informative article that explains what auras are, what the colours mean, how to see auras, what the layers mean, and how to cleanse them.
Collective energy
YOUTUBE Monthly Energy Updates by Lee Harris
Lee Harris channels his spiritual guides to obtain from them updates of the key energy themes every month. These themes are similar to a global astrology forecast or a spiritual weather forecast, using the types of energy that we will be feeling as a global collective of souls. He typically shares 5-7 themes of which we should be aware, and gives wisdom of how we can adapt our mindset to either get through the negative influences, or make the most of the positive ones.
Energy Cords
WEBSITE What Are Energy Cords? by Erica Onofrio
This page from the Soul To Soul website explains the theory of energy cords, both positive and negative. It shares two helpful questions you can ask yourself to see if you have a negative cord attached to you and gives you a technique to symbolically cut a cord that is no longer serving you.
INSIGHT TIMER Cutting Cords by Ariel Hardy.
Ariel has been an energy healer for over 25 years and works remotely around the world sending light to her clients through short energy tuneups. In this 13 minute talk, she discusses what to do when you are burdened by a connection with someone you aren’t close to any longer, and what to do about severing their influence and moving into a more happy, empowered space. Interestingly, she explains why in her experience the commonly-used technique of visualising the cutting of an energy cord doesn’t work.
Managing emotions
WEBSITE Emotional Guidance Scale by Abraham Hicks: How to Best Use It by Diana at The Chic Life.It is said that we vibrate on a particular frequency depending on what emotion we are experiencing; and this in turn determines what experiences we are attracting, because like attracts like, and it is in our interests to feel joy so that it attracts things that bring us joy. This is a scale of the 22 most common emotions, organised from the highest to the lowest vibrations. The Abraham Hicks perspective teaches that no emotion is bad, it is just a stepping stone up the scale to a higher emotion, which is preferable for a more joyous experience. It is far more difficult to transform our emotions straight to positivity (level 4) if we are feeling overwhelmed (level 11), but if we reach for frustration (level 10), it will take us out of the lower feeling so that we can start working up the scale step by step. This article explains more, with suggestions for how to use the scale.
WEBSITE Levels of Consciousness by David R. Hawkins by Luka at Mindfulled.This article uses the perspective of David R. Hawkins’ book Power vs Force, focusing on each emotion on the scale of emotions, explaining each one and giving insights from his book on how to raise your level of consciousness.
WEBSITE Power vs Force: Summary Review and Takeaways, by Tal Gur
Some people might find David R. Hawkins’ book a dense read, so here is a summary of the book and its valuable wisdom. It describes a summary of the book in three takeaways, gives bullet points of the summary points and some paragraphs of the summary notes.
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