Maria Shriver

How to Be Your Own Energy Healer

By Mary Ann Robbat

Adapted from her new book, "Engaging Your Power"

Once you learn to feel and work with your body's own three energy systems -- spiritual, life force, and identity -- it can open up a whole new way to deal with negative emotions such as mild depression or anxiety and the physical symptoms that result from these conditions. Don't know how to find or tap into your energy fields? Here are three simple ways to get started.

Step 1: "Play ball" with your energy field.
Place your hands about 6 inches apart with palms facing the ceiling. Imagine a 6-inch white ball of light on your right hand. Focus, and when you can really feel, see, or sense the ball of light, throw the ball to your other hand. As you toss it back and forth, pay attention to how it feels. Is there a tingling or buzzing sensation? Congratulations, you can now feel your energy field. Now, imagine this ball of light inside your stomach; focus on feeling the ball expand and try to move it up through your body and out the top of your head. Is the energy flowing easily, quickly, and lightly, or did it move slowly and heavily? This will give you an indication of how freely the energy is flowing within your energy field. If the ball of light moved really slowly or felt heavy, you probably have what we call energetic blocks. When you have energetic blocks, you cannot feel all of your natural vibrancy.

Step 2: Practice "reading" your own aura.
Your aura is like a snapshot of your emotional state at any one time. Auras can and do change. Here's a simple way to sense yours. Hold your hands 2-4 inches from your body. Move your hands in and out to see where your aura starts. It may be subtle and may take you several tries. Once you feel where it begins, follow the energy out from your body with your hands to see how extensive it is. A very expansive aura usually indicates that you are feeling good and emotionally balanced. An aura that is tight or condensed around your body usually indicates that your emotional well-being is not as balanced as it could be.

Step 3: Locate your identity energy blocks.
In your mind, relive a time or event in your life when everything was going well and you felt on top of the world. Put yourself in that time and place, and do it several times until it's vivid. Now, put your hand about 3 inches from your solar plexus (the indentation below your chest but above your stomach) and feel if the energy feels light, heavy, big, expansive, contracted, and so on. Move your hand away from your body to see how far your energy extends (your hand should just move naturally outward, if all is well). Now, think of a time in your life when you felt powerless, disappointed, rejected, unloved, or unappreciated. Go through the solar plexus exercise, above. After doing this, you will know if you have energy that's blocked in your solar plexus, which is the center of your body's self-power.

Want to learn how to clear up energy blocks and get your energy flowing freely throughout your body? I'll walk you through it, step by step, at my blog.

Mary Ann Robbat is a widely esteemed energy healer, shaman, and coach, and runs the Robbat Center for Advancement of Energy Healing, which trains people in energy-based healing modalities. Her forthcoming book is Engaging Your Power: Using Your Divine Energy to Have the Life You Want.