How many times have you said or heard the phrase, “I just don’t have the energy today”? I’m pretty sure we’ve all been there. For the most part, we have a general understanding of what it feels like to be energized or to be drained. Unfortunately, because we all live busy lives a lot of us don’t really notice our energy levels unless it’s one extreme or the other. But what if I told you there was a lot more to it than simply being tired or pumped up? That it’s more than how much sleep you get at night, what foods you choose to consume, and how much regular exercise you get? While all of those things are vital for our health and well-being, there is something a bit more subtle that can easily slip under your radar if you’ve never heard of it: your energetic anatomy.

Our energetic anatomy is a subtle, but vast piece of our well-being. When we are able to take the time to study our own personal energy field, we open doors to self-development, awareness, and healing. When talking about energy anatomy, there are so many pieces to the puzzle; from chakras, aura, koshas, and bandhas there is a plethora of knowledge to be learned about how complex and interwoven all these pieces are — not only with each other but with the physical body as well! But for the sake of simplicity, let’s for now stick to the aura. Our aura is made up of vibrating layers of energy surrounding the physical body. Each layer is made of a different vibration and frequency depending on its purpose and connect to specific energy points in the body known as chakras. Chakras (Sanskrit for “wheels”) are aligned from the base of the spine to the crown of the head and are what connects this auric field of energy to our physical body. While the size and shape of everyone’s aura varies depending on its health, it does take up a significant amount of space around us. Have you ever been standing somewhere in public and you can literally feel someone come up behind you? That sensation is someone’s aura making contact with yours. If you aren’t sure what I’m talking about, grab a friend and stand about 10 feet in front of them with your back to them and have them quietly start walking towards you and notice how soon you start to feel their presence. You may be shocked at how quickly you’ll notice them! So, what happens when we are in a crowded space with lots of auras all around us? A lot of energy sharing! Do you ever walk into work and it just feels like something is off and everyone’s in a bad mood? And then suddenly, you don’t know why but now you’re in a bad mood? This is a common occurrence and is why it’s important for us to have energetic boundaries. In other words, learning how to protect our energy from others can greatly benefit our health, happiness, and self-awareness. But how do we do that? Here are a few suggestions on cleaning up your energy after being in a crowd or a not so pleasant environment:

Take a shower. Yes, showers are great to clean our physical body but also can really rejuvenate the energy body. As you shower, try visualizing all the stress and outside energy pollutants being washed off as well. You’ll be surprised how such a simple thing can make you feel so much better!
Smudging. Whether it’s burning sage or palo santo, it doesn’t matter! Smoke helps cleanse and clear out old, stagnant, unwanted energies from our aura but also our physical space like rooms, homes, offices, etc.
Meditation and breath. Try spending time first thing in the morning to clear your mind and connect with the breath. Check in on how your energy feels in the morning before being exposed to others. This can help give great insight to what feelings and vibes are yours or someone else’s throughout the day. The breath can help us release and clear the mind so we can examine ourselves with more accuracy.
Energy balancing through reiki or other forms of energy healing. Sometimes we all need to hit the reset button and seeking help from an outside source with knowledge and experience can be really beneficial and eye opening. Reiki is one form of an energetic healing technique where the practitioner helps move blocked, stagnant, and unwanted energy off the aura and chakras to help get you back to energetic homeostasis. The experience is quite unique, relaxing, and may be exactly what you need to get you back on track!

Diving into the energetic side of ourselves can be quite eye-opening once we start piecing it in with our physical, mental, and spiritual health. The fact is: it’s all connected. I read once in a book called Anatomy of the Spirit by Carolyn Myss that our biography becomes our biology, meaning what happens to us in our life and how we handle it becomes a physical and energetic part of us. Through awareness and journeying into the self we can discover why we do the things we do, how we are blocking ourselves from what we want to manifest into our lives, and how to heal from personal hardships and trauma. I hope you’ll stay tuned for the next few articles as we dive more into energy anatomy by breaking down each of the seven major energy centers, the chakras. Here you may begin to understand and discover parts of yourself you may have never paid any attention to before but will hopefully aid in the evolution of self-discovery and healing. When we take ownership of our healing, we then open the door for others to do the same. Heal yourself, heal the world. With love, Sarah Neighbors

Sarah is a reiki master practitioner, a 200-hour certified yoga instructor, a certified mediation instructor, and a tarot reader. Visit her at or sign up for her newsletter.

About The Author