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This guided visualization was inspired by my yoga teacher. During a class last year, she said (somewhat paraphrasing here) that when you pour your energy into something, something else is being neglected.
That idea isn’t anything new, but it was the phrasing — pour your energy into something — that immediately struck me. I started crafting this visualization in my head right then, and later worked on smoothing out the edges at home.
It can be helpful to record yourself reciting the exercise so you get the timing right and don’t have to memorize it. If there’s any interest I can also record and upload it.
A guided visualization for reclaiming your energy
Begin by getting into a comfortable position that will allow your body to fully relax. I prefer to lie down.
Relax your toes. Consciously decide to relax your toes and acknowledge any tension you were holding there in order to fully release it. Move on to your feet.
Work your way up: ankles, calves, knees, thighs, pelvis, buttocks, hips; with each body part, focus on isolated relaxation while maintaing the relaxation you’ve achieved in the others.
Abdomen, lower back, upper back, shoulders, upper arms, elbows, forearms, hands, fingers.
Relax your neck and throat. Relax your face. Relax your scalp.
Take a few deep breaths.
Picture yourself in a place that brings you a powerful sense of calm and a serene sense of power. Indoors or out, simple or luxuriant, dark or light; this is your space, and only needs to feel right to you.
Allow the details of the space to come into focus. Notice any sights, sounds, smells, and other sensations that call to you. Embody your sacred space completely.
You notice the soft bubbling of a stream nearby. Depending on your vantage, you may even see it. The sound of the stream fills you with peace; you can tell these waters are sacred.
You realize there is a well before you, just off to your left, and you know the well contains the pure, crystalline waters of this stream.
In front of you–perhaps on the ground, or a boulder, or an ornate altar–are glasses of water. Some are empty. Some are full. Some are filled part-way.
There is also a pitcher. The pitcher is full.
You can tell from the pure clarity and entrancing sparkle that these vessels, too, contain the waters of the sacred stream.
You move forward and pick up the first full glass within reach.
Your grip tightens; your body tenses. You know this is the same soothing, sacred water, and yet it feels different. Trapped. You turn the glass around in your hands. On the side that faced away from you, you see writing. Your eyes widen. It names the very thing — the emotion, the memory, the person, the substance — that you know in your heart of hearts has been eating away at you; the undeserving vessel into which you have been pouring your energy.
You pick up another full glass. It, too, bears the description of someone or something unworthy into which you’ve been pouring your energy; a situation or state of being in which you feel trapped.
You set the glasses down.
You hesitantly turn one of the empty glasses to face you. It names the project, activity, endeavor, practice, or relationship you have been most neglecting while spending your energy in the wrong places. The letters seem almost to glow.
Glass after glass, you lift or turn them. You see all of the emotions, relationships, activities, and other vessels into which you’ve been pouring your energy. Some are good for you; some are draining. Some require your careful attention to honor duty and discipline without becoming weighed down.
Some of the positive ones are full, or partially full; some of the negative ones have just enough water to keep you grounded: a bit of anger to fuel your activism; a bit of pain to remind you not to push too hard.
Some of these glasses are just as they should be. Some, though, are filled with the sparkling, healing, sacred energy that would be better used in another.
You breathe deeply and re-center yourself. That’s when you remember the pitcher sitting before you.
You lift the pitcher and gaze at it for a moment. You slowly realize there are letters, so faint they are almost unnoticeable, blending seamlessly with the sacred water.
It says: energy.
You know exactly what to do.
You take each glass that doesn’t contain enough water — each glass where your energy should be, but isn’t — and fill them to the right amount. Many will be full; some will be partially filled.
You then take each glass that contains too much water — those things you’ve been pouring too much energy into — and drain them into the pitcher. In some, you choose to leave a bit of water. Many are now empty.
You arrange the glasses on the table in a way that feels meaningful to you; a pattern that creates a personal sigil acknowledging this transfer of energies.
You take the pitcher to the well.
When you get to the well, you see a chalice sitting on the edge and a long rod leaning against the side. You pull up the bucket, fill the chalice, and set it back down. You pour the pitcher into the bucket and lower it.
Eyes closed, you drink from the chalice, filling yourself with healing energy and envisioning the energy shifts happening inside of you. You witness the alchemization of your spirit.
You open your eyes and gaze into the well. Lifting the rod, you reach down to tip the bucket. You swirl the water, three times clockwise, and you hear the stream pick up its gurgling, getting louder just for a moment.
You know the things that were taking your energy have been absorbed and transformed by the greater source, and have returned to being simple, unassigned energy, neither negative nor positive, flowing until their time comes to nourish the next parched pilgrim.
Thank you, you whisper. The well bubbles. The stream gurgles. You lay the rod to rest against the well.
You turn back to the spot where you began, before you approached the glasses. You move back there and sit or lie down. You close your eyes.
Begin to bring your awareness back to your body. Begin to take deep, focused breaths.
Gently wiggle your fingers and toes. Slowly let the movement creep back through you. If it feels right, take a deep, gentle stretch.
Your energy is transformed. Your focus is adjusted. Any time you need a reset, you can return to the sacred waters.
Open your eyes.
The Rebellious Hierophant 