A grounding shielding practice

There are times when life gets you on edge, and a shielding practice is a great way to quell some of that nervous energy. With a regular and established meditation practice, I still like to shield myself.

It’s because I feel like I use my own energy, and those of my ancestors and relations to create a shield around myself to protect me as I go about my life.

Shielding protection

In my own life, I use this smoke-cleansing** on Sunday or Monday mornings to prepare for the week. I feel this protection when I’m commuting to work in my car on the busy highway. I feel it when I see and hear negative energy in others: I know my own shielding will deflect it.

I feel this protection in life’s ups and downs, knowing that my ancestors and relations who have passed on before me are helping me to use energy to help me stay strong.

This practice has its roots in both Native American Indian traditions, as well as in Far Eastern traditions.

Shielding with smoke-cleansing

The smoke-cleansing version is one I like to use at the beginning of each week as mentioned, but also at any time I feel I need to dispel negative energy and bring in more positive energy.

Sage gets rid of negative energy. It clears the air and sanctifies it.

Sweetgrass encourages positive energy and also makes the air sacred.

I do this at the beginning of the week. I imagine a shield surrounding me.

Materials:

  • Sage stick
  • Sweetgrass stick
  • Matches
  • Candle
  • Feather (optional)
  • Any favorite stones or crystals

The practice

I usually do this after meditation, but you can do this before or if you don’t meditate, the early morning is a good time.

Light a candle.

Take three deep breaths, and close your eyes. Allow your mind to settle into this practice. (It won’t get still unless you’re an olympic meditator, by the way.)

When you’re ready, take the bundle of sage and gently light it in the candle flame. Blow on it to help it to smoke (and not have an open flame).

Take a feather (or not – you can run the sage stick up and down the body without it) and waft the smoke around the head, around the arms, legs, back, front, and finish back at the head.

While working with the sage

Call upon your ancestors and relations (some people like to call on their angels and relations) that, through the sage, to shield and protect you as you begin your week. Imagine their energy from The Great Beyond coming through to guide and protect you with this energy shield.

This energy shield clears out negative energy from around you, the body, and mind.

While the sage is still smoking, imagine all the energy centers – the chakras – in your body spinning as marbles of light. This light expands and fuses with the energy shield you have created with the sage.

When you have finished with the sage, do the same with the sweetgrass. Imagine this sweetgrass sealing your energy field with positive energy and helping to psychically keep out any negative energy.

If you had a stone that you set nearby, it is now infused with all this energy. You can take it with you to keep in your pocket, backpack, purse or other item. It can serve as a reminder of the shield energy around you.

You are now ready to begin your week!

Shielding without smoke cleansing

This second practice is one I use for any time I need to feel grounded – any time I’m anxious about something, or when I just want to feel more connected or grounded due to stress or anxiety. This practice is similar to the one above on smoke-cleansing, but without the sage and sweetgrass.

You can do this at anytime, or anywhere, as a sort of boost to your smoke-cleansing practice.

Shielding while out in the world

Find a quiet spot.

Put your hands on your hips to assume the stance of the power pose. Take ten deep breaths – breathing in for 4 seconds, holding for 7 seconds, and exhaling for 8 seconds.

With your eyes capped or closed, imagine the seven energy centers of the body (the chakras). See their individual light as the colors of the rainbow.

Now see how their light is, at first, the size of a marble at each chakra point, but with brightness like that of the sun. Watch as their light expands to fuse with each other. This light continues to grow such that it envelops your body and becomes one bright, white light.

Silently repeat to yourself:

I am grounded.
I am protected.
I am safe. 

Continue to breathe and see this light shield surrounding you for a few more minutes. See your feet growing roots and connecting to the earth so that you feel safe and protected.

When you’re ready, open your eyes and return to your day.

 

**I have begun to use the term smoke-cleansing out of respect to my Native American Indian fellow humans. It is their sacred practice to “smudge” and those who are not of Native American Indian descent have often stolen artifacts, cultural identities, rituals, and more for their own gain. I feel like using different terminology is one small way I can show respect to the people who created and figured out this practice early on and used it in a very sacred way. I always aim to give credit where credit is deserved.