Interviews & Publications

Strategies and Tools to Claim Power and Protect Yourself Energetically

6 Ways to Claim Power

1. Keep a list of times you felt power, capable
2. List what you notice when you are in your power: circumstances, mood, self-talk, posture, how you physically carry yourself, the kinds of things you pay attention to etc…
3. Experiments in Behavioral
   1. Pick situations to practice behaving “as if” you felt powerful
   2. They should start out very simple and easy
   3. Consider asking a friend to role play with you (can even take turns)
4. Energy Exercises to Connect with Your Power
   1. Grounding and Moving From Center
      1. Roots into the earth, tapping into power energy of the earth
      2. Standing and moving from your energy center
         1. Consider taking classes in Tai Chi or Chi Gong for training
         2. Opening door exercise (breath, bend legs, connect with center, grab door handle, move from center
5. Experiments in Imagination (with Suggestion)
   1. Start with easy, low stress and low intensity situations
   2. Imagine yourself responding to situations in powerful ways
      1. Picture yourself
      2. Hear yourself saying specific phrases (script them)
      3. Picture and hear others’ responses
      4. Imagine how it feels to be confident
   3. Play a “what if” game with yourself by asking yourself what would it be like “if” I felt and behaved powerfully in specific situations.
   4. Imagine various scenarios with various people
   5. Start with simple interactions
      1. What someone else says, what you say
      2. Add the other person’s response and your response (remember to imagine benign responses at first)
   6. Change representation of different scenes
      1. Swish pattern visualization
6. Changing Beliefs of Powerlessness.
   1. Background Info
      1. Beliefs of powerlessness can sabotage imagery and energetic exercises
      2. Such beliefs were likely formed during early developmental years in childhood
         1. Resistant to adult logic
   2. Action
      1. Structure Experiences that Contradict Beliefs
         1. Behavioral experiments (see above)
         2. Energetic exercises
         3. Imagery/Imagination
      2. Change thoughts and images about beliefs
         1. Find inspirational Models to work on self concept
         2. Mapping across
         3. Swish

7 Ways to Protect Your Energy

1. Identify people and situations who/that give you energy and who drain your energy
2. Imagery:
   1. energetic tube open at top and bottom
   2. Golden bubble that repulses specific things
3. Affirmation/Suggestion
   1. Ones that go along with the imagery and address specific thoughts that accompany giving up your power, feeling violated or having your energy drained
4. Attention to Grounding
   1. Practice bringing your attention to your feet & legs and connection with the ground.
   2. Move your attention to your strength and affirm your strength, your autonomy, your values
5. Practice Mindfulness: according to the University of Mass mindfulness based stress reduction website, mindfulness is defined briefly as
   1. “a way of learning to relate directly to whatever is happening in your life, a way of taking charge of your life, a way of doing something for yourself that no one else can do for you — consciously and systematically working with your own stress, pain, illness, and the challenges and demands of everyday life.”
6. Learn Self Hypnosis: to make imagery and suggestion more powerful and effective
   

A Few Guidelines For the Strategies

1. Practice
2. Give yourself experiences of success by starting small
3. Adopt Appropriate Expectations
   1. Realize that you will blow it because some things will always surpass your abilities for coping. Just because you can not lift 200 lbs does not diminish that you can lift 100 lbs.
   2. Realize that you will increase your capacity and so progressively fewer things will overwhelm you and you will feel progressively more able to feel strong and free from negative influences.
4. Utilize your resistance: Your resistance to taking action to claim your power and protect yourself from negative influences is a signal telling you that there is something to look at. For example, if you find yourself avoiding practicing, take it as a message that some part of yourself feels threatened by practicing.
5. Check in With and Trust Your Feelings: Sometimes our feelings are about our fear and ideas of limitation. However, they are often the truest compass we have. So, the first thing to do is to check in with what your feelings tell you about what is going on and what would be best for you. The more you spend quiet time with your feelings, the more you come to distinguish which feelings are expressing your wise mind and which feelings are expressing your fear and limitation mind.