Perhaps these two different perspectives seem exactly the same to you, or perhaps you are wondering why it even matters. The reason it matters is that the emotions you have while you are doing something will affect the outcome. You attitude towards what you do will affect the outcome. Making a shield because you think that you are too weak to fend off bad energies and that everything is out to get you is not a good idea, because you should first start working with that attitude. In my opinion what is more important than any protective or shielding process is your beliefs about your own power, safety and sovereignty.

Do you believe:

• You have the right to exist
• You have the right to be safe, healthy and happy and that you are allowed to exist in a space that enables you to be safe, happy and healthy. This also means you believe that you have the right to either remove or get away from things that are getting in the way of your well-being.
• You have the right to say no
• You are a powerful human being who has the ability to change their life for the better

The left side of this photo represents some beliefs that show a healthier perspective towards your own safety and power, while the right side shows some less healthy beliefs. Shielding while you are in the left state of mind is more like an amplification of your own power to raise up your own vibration even more, or a protective process. But shielding while you are in the state of mind illustrated by the beliefs on the right can be a cop-out of your own emotions or an ineffective way to create a feeling of safety. My intent with this is not to make anyone feel bad or say that there is only one proper way to shield or anything like that, but to state my opinion that feelings of safety should first be cultivated from within your belief system. I have personally dealt with years of feeling unsafe and energetically overwhelmed. I tried shielding at first only to realize that it was a cover-up of what was going on on the inside.

          If you identify with the labels empath, highly sensitive person, or psychic, you may find that you can tend to be a bit of an energetic sponge soaking up all of everyone’s energies, problems, and emotions. If you fit in this category, you probably shield because you often find yourself in situations when you feel energetically or emotionally overwhelmed by other people. This is why shielding is often recommended to these types of people. However I do not believe that energetic shielding is the best course of action for someone who does not even have proper physical boundaries up, which can often be the case. A lot of these beliefs and behaviors often spring from various traumas such as abuse and emotional neglect. Sensitive people are all too often drawn into these abusive relationships and so there is often a lot of self-work to be done when it comes to establishing boundaries, learning how to say no, and truly believing that you have a right to be safe. A professional therapist is a really great option for those who fit into this category. Other than that here are some tips to help empaths and other highly sensitive people begin shielding:

• Identify triggers that make you feel as if you need to shield – ex. being in a room full of people, feeling like someone is watching you
• Instead of immediately resorting to shielding make sure you are grounded. Again, separating yourself from everything else that is going on around you will most likely help you feel a lot safer
• If you are feeling overwhelmed by other people’s emotions or if you are identifying too strongly with them, make a list of what separates you from them. Prove to yourself that you are separate from them and that you do not have to have the same feelings as them

            Another thing I want to mention that is important to the shielding process (especially for empaths) is grounding (also known as centering) I have written more about grounding over here, but essentially it is coming back to the self, back to the present moment. It is connecting with your own body – how you feel and what you are thinking. By grounding, you are able to see what is going on just for you from your perspective. This helps you when you have your energy diffused out to about 4 other people in a room – energetically checking them out all at the same time and getting confused about whose feelings are whose.

      But what about the non empaths? Perhaps you shield because you are a medium and you want to keep away unwanted spirits. Shielding can help mediums too, but again, what is the intent? Is there a fear-based energy behind the shield? I used to believe that all spirits were inherently more powerful than me and that there was nothing I could do to make them go away. I tried shielding but it never seemed to work. Things only became better when I did research about spirits and learned to connect to my own power. The overall point that I would like to make here is that shielding is a wonderful process but it may not work very well when there are larger issues going on. Shielding is a very useful process and I recommend it for many people. However it is important to pay attention to your reasons for shielding and your attitudes while doing so in order to make sure that shielding is the best course of action.

From the perspective of an empath and energetically sensitive person, I believe that shielding can be a very great way to ensure that you stay in your own field and don’t unknowingly send out energy to other people which can make you feel drained and scattered. It also helps you feel grounded and less anxious. From the perspective of a spirit worker I believe that shielding can be like the icing on the cake for your spirit work practice, because it can help you to stay in a high vibration so that you are more easily able to connect with the kinds of spirits you really want to communicate with. I also shield before I do spirit work so that I can be more focused and have a clear mind.

So now that you know about the types of things to consider before you start shielding and you know some of the benefits of shielding, its time to try it out. Once again, there are as many ways to shield as there are people. Experiment and find what works for you!

One way of shielding is to visualize an aura of light surrounding your body. You can modify this aura of light to be any shape or color, and you can even invoke the help of various guides or beings to help you with your shield. For example, you could ask Kwan Yin to help your shield be a container of compassionate and loving energy so that you can be a more compassionate and loving person throughout the day. Good colors to use while shielding are gold and white because they are purifying and they lift up your vibration and energy. You can use any color you would like, it just depends on your intent. Even though I included this illustration here showing a golden light around someone, it does not necessarily mean that shielding has to be a visual type process. Here are a few alternatives to visualization shielding:

• Use your hands to project energy into the space around you, like forming an egg of energy around you with your hands (great for touchy-feely people)
• Do the same thing as above, but use a crystal
• Use a tuning fork or other instrument to project a specific sound vibration around your energy field, I personally have a 544hz tuning fork that I use
• Sit in the middle of a crystal grid  so that the energy of the crystals surrounds you.

It is my hope that you will not only find tools and processes such as crystals and shielding to help you be safe and grounded but that you will also remember that you are very powerful and deserving of peace, love, health, safety, and happiness.

None of these statements or products have been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This products and/or statements are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This is for educational purposes only and it is not meant to replace the care or advice of a medical professional in any way.