One of the goals I’ve set for myself is to demystify energy work, making it feel less like something foreign, new, or made-up, and more like something we actually encounter every single day – the only question is whether we do so consciously or not. For a long time, I didn’t want to touch on the “dark side” of energy work, fearing I might scare off those just starting to explore the topic. And yet, I see those moments of fear in the eyes of the people I work with during sessions regularly.
What changed my mind and pushed me to share these less pleasant parts of my work was the flood of social media content about spirituality that infantilizes and overly simplifies the subject (“Think positive and everything will be great!”, “Avoid low-vibration topics so you don’t attract them!”). As always, basic “health and safety protocols” are needed here – without unnecessary fear or panic, but also without dismissing the risks.
For me, energy work is primarily about expanding consciousness and getting to know yourself better, but it’s also a chance to help others and support them on their own paths. So, what do I find most difficult? First, it must be emphasized that no one gives you a manual explaining what to do and what not to do. This isn’t the world of science, where you can count, measure, and state clearly what works, what doesn’t, and, more importantly, why. In the world of energy, you have to test everything on yourself through trial and error. People who walked this path before you can suggest what worked for them or what they’ve heard from others, but ultimately, that doesn’t mean it will be the same for you. Furthermore, it is very easy to fall into the trap of blindly following those who claim to know more, because “spiritual fact-checking” is incredibly difficult.
This was a particularly huge challenge for me because I never took courses and don’t work in any of the “recognized” techniques or methods that provide rules and protocols. Through practice and deduction, I learned to understand what happens during my sessions, but it required time and building trust in myself and my intuition. To this day, I don’t have answers to every question, and I had to learn that this is simply part of the work. For this same reason, the world of spirituality can bring wonderful communities, but also a tremendous amount of loneliness and confusion. I think that is, in part, why a surprisingly large number of people we know from the “ezo-internet” return to religion—in search of answers, guidance, and structure.
The second issue, also tied to the fact that you have to discover so much on your own, is taking care of your own energetic space. Sometimes people mention cleansing, but just how crucial a part of energy work that is, is something I also learned “on the fly”—in a way that was more unpleasant than pleasant. When you start opening yourself up to energetic sensations, your field responds quickly. While you can open yourself to wonderful experiences and new possibilities, without proper protection, you can bet your life you’ll also attract energies that are looking to hitch a ride. I was convinced to implement a daily, brief cleansing and protection practice by a situation a few years ago when I started attracting energies in need of help like a magnet—to such an extent that my sister actually brought one back to me from Gdańsk. You might ask yourself, “Why the hell was I the one who had to help this energy?” I asked myself that too, and it was a breakthrough moment where I realized I would burn myself out if I didn’t take care of daily protection. Let’s call a spade a spade—yes, energetic attachments and broadly defined “negative energies” exist, but no, you shouldn’t be deathly afraid of them. Simple but regular (!!!) cleansing practices are usually more than enough.
Another big challenge (for which I still have no advice other than to just surrender to it) is that we don’t always get to decide when (or how long) we will work with a given energy, theme, or pattern. Sometimes we sit down for a full moon ritual, and other times the energy decides for us. And here, a few caveats—firstly, it’s obviously a philosophical question as to what is “us” and what is “energy,” and if someone wants to argue that they are the same thing, I’m not even going to fight it, but let’s assume for a moment that it means “conscious, bodily self” versus “subconscious, source, soul.” I need this simplification for a moment to better convey what I mean. A good example from my own experience is working with anxiety. This is a topic I worked on in therapy, so at some stage in my life, I made a conscious decision that I wanted to touch it. When anxiety appeared in my life, I stayed with it and looked at it from different sides. I also believe that topics we aren’t ready for won’t unlock enough for us to work on them, so it’s not like they will just fall from the sky and we won’t be able to handle them. However, when working with energy, you have to be prepared that this anxiety might wake you up in the middle of the night because it needs to pour out of you right then and there. Not exactly pleasant—a solid 2/10.
The last thing, which I know people working with energy in various ways deal with, is that this is a sort of calling that you cannot run away from. You can only decide on the form or intensity of your involvement (though sometimes not even that). But if your soul decided that in this incarnation you would have gifts in this direction in order to help others, then trying to block them will sooner or later end in physical illness. Shamans speak of “shamanic illness,” but it seems to me that most people working as broad-spectrum healers go through a very similar state. It’s like an energetic slap from the universe for not walking the path that is written for you. First, you get lighter signs, but ultimately (unfortunately), we usually need our bodies to break down for us to stop and re-evaluate. The point is that while we obviously make our own choices, if you have the capacity to help others, that capacity doesn’t just concern your own life.
Energy work undoubtedly has its “darker sides,” and it’s not just about touching on difficult topics and emotions. The list above is just the first few things that came to my mind. It’s worth remembering that the very sentence “everything is energy” should be taken literally—and since that’s the case, energy work is also an endless process, independent of whether we’ve put it on our calendar for today or not. Ultimately, the ability to expand your consciousness and shape your life is an amazing gift, but you have to remember that you get the whole package of experiences—the wonderful ones and the more tricky ones, which, of course, are also lessons.