As a highly sensitive person—also known as an empath—you feel everyone else’s emotions. Your body functions like a vibrational instrument, like a drum vibrating in tune to other people’s thoughts and emotions.

As a sensitive person, you also absorb other people’s thoughts and feelings. This is why after you have a conversation with someone, you walk away feeling drained or upset. A part of this is because you’re worried about whether the person will be okay in enduring a problem he or she is involved in.

Shielding

Shielding is just like using an umbrella when it’s raining. It’s just common sense, and has nothing to do with fear or paranoia.

Shielding means protection against harsh, negative, or lower energies. Shielding yourself is a way to ensure that your energy stays high and clean, especially if you are traveling through or working in a harsh environment. For example, if you’re employed at a company that has a lot of competition, political gaming, or negativity, this will affect you. Similarly, if you live with someone who tends to be negative, you will absorb his or her energy unless you have shields up.

Here are some ways to shield:

Crystals

Crystals are powerful minerals, rocks, stones, and gemstones that transmute, protect, and magnify various energies. Wearing, sleeping near, or holding these protective crystals, or placing them on your desk, can help deflect negative energy. Some of the more powerful shielding crystals include:

• Amethyst: This gorgeous purple gemstone helps lift the energy around you and in you.
• Obsidian: This beautiful black stone deflects negativity, anger, and psychic attacks.
• Citrine: This lovely pale yellow stone helps increase positive energy and push away negativity.
• Clear quartz: This beautiful clear crystal refracts sunlight into rainbows, and does the same thing to negative energy, breaking it up and turning it around.
• Smoky quartz: Put this crystal near your bed and you’ll release negativity from past relationships while you sleep.
• Rose quartz: This pale pink crystal helps protect you in romantic relationships.
• Lapis lazuli: This beautiful blue stone is a good general protector.

Angelic Shields

You can ask Archangel Michael, the protector angel, to shield you with his royal blue and royal purple light. To do so, just say either aloud or silently: “Archangel Michael, please surround me with your protective shield now.” Because this archangel is unlimited, he is able to shield everyone who calls upon him instantly.

You can also ask God to send extra guardian angels to protect you; your loved ones; your home; your vehicle; or any other person, place, or thing. There are an infinite number of angels, and all we have to do is ask for more and it is done.

Clearing

Just as important as shielding is clearing your energy. Whenever you feel tired, get confused, or become accident-prone, take the time to clear your energy. A lot of times, these are symptoms of having absorbed negativity.

As with shielding, there are many fine ways to clear yourself. My favorite is to say: “Archangel Michael, please clear away any energies from within me and around me that are not of God’s love and light.” The archangel will instantly come to the aid of anyone who calls upon him, since he loves us all and has the ability to help everyone simultaneously.

Another way to clear is by taking a very warm bath filled with sea salts (which you can buy in the spice section of your local natural store). You can also add pure flower essences and essential oils to your clearing bath and surround the bathtub with white candles as focal points for your intention to clear yourself.

Massage or similar bodywork also has wonderful clearing abilities. This is especially true if you work with a massage therapist who is skilled in releasing energy, as well as physical tension.

Detoxing your diet is another way to clear away physical as well as energetic toxins. You can do a juice fast, or work with herbs and supplements that flush out heavy metals and other physical contaminants that may be attached to energy toxins in your body. Talk to your local naturopath, or a trained individual at your supplements store.

Grounding

Grounding means that your consciousness is housed inside of your body, as opposed to floating above it, where you’re not aware of what you’re physically doing.

Many sensitive people leave their bodies because they can’t handle the earth plane. They “go home” in their consciousness and aren’t really here. This is okay to do during dream time or meditation, but during the day and waking hours, we must remember that we are in physical bodies for a reason.

To ground yourself, you can wear the crystal obsidian. You can also eat vegetables that grow in the ground, including organic non-gmo radishes, potatoes, carrots, onions, and turnips.

You can also ground yourself with a foot rub, either one you give yourself or one you receive from someone else. Another successful grounding technique is to visualize roots coming out of the bottom of your feet, as if you were a tree. Feel the energy of the earth connecting with the bottoms of your feet.

One of my favorite grounding methods, though, is to connect with nature. Taking your shoes off and physically touching the grass, soil, sand, or water will help focus your mind back on your physical reality.

Trees Are Amazing Healers!

For shielding, clearing, and grounding, you can receive a lot of support and help from trees. I’ve always felt a close connection to trees. They “speak” to me, and I can hear and feel their energy and messages.

The trees taught me about their healing power. One time when I was traveling and had a backache, I was guided to lean against a tree. I could feel the pain being absorbed by the tree. The tree didn’t hang on to the pain; it transmuted it.

Very quickly, my back felt wonderful!

Since that time, I have worked with trees for transmuting emotional pain and illness, too. I’ve also taught other people to do this, with the same positive results—including taking groups to connect with trees.

To heal with a tree’s assistance, walk among the trees and mentally ask one to help you. Trust your inner guidance about which tree to work with. It will answer and call to you. You’ll feel the response from the tree in your body and mind. I can hear an actual voice in my mind, as can many other people.

Then lean your back against the tree, and close your eyes and breathe. Be willing to let go of everything painful. And don’t worry—it won’t hurt the tree. It’s the same process that trees have mastered to turn dirty air into clean oxygen.

Tree healings are remarkable, gentle, and very loving. Trees hold so much wisdom! Each has its own personality and special focus. No two are alike.

I also love sitting beneath trees and writing their messages.

You can also clear and shield the world of negativity, which is a powerful process that all sensitive people can engage in to help everyone who lives on our beautiful planet. Visualize the world being cleared and shielded, and ask God to surround the earth with extra guardian angels and protective light. The more of us who do this, the more protection the planet receives.