This psychic skin meditation is designed to help you cultivate conscious awareness of your energy body, and develop the ability to heal and protect yourself from psychic/energetic/magical intrusion without sacrificing awareness or sensitivity to the energetic aspects of the world around you.  It also encourages the development of introspection and self-awareness as a path to both better understanding yourself, and also making conscious changes to your self.

I developed this meditation for myself as a teenager when I realized I often absorbed the energies and emotions of those around me and internalized them as if they were my own.  I did not wish to sacrifice sensitivity and awareness, but I also did not need to take on everything I encountered.

To that end, I decided on the metaphor of the physical body, specifically the skin.  Skin is a sensitive, flexible, beautiful organ through which we experience the physical world, but which also serves as an effective barrier that keeps our bodies safe from most of what the physical world throws at us constantly.  It is sensitivity and protection wrapped up into one beautiful construct. 

Our energy bodies are as individual as our physical, emotional, and mental bodies, but unlike our physical bodies, energy bodies overlap and flow through each other constantly.  We sometimes internalize outside energies as though they are our own simply because those outside energies are occupying the same perceptive space as our own.  This can be problematic for many people, including those who are naturally empathic, psychically gifted, neurodiverse, a victim of trauma, or frequently work with the energies of others through profession or vocation.

Developing your psychic skin can provide a valuable tool for keeping those external energies external, even when your energies overlap.

Psychic Skin Meditation Short-Term Goal

In this meditation, the part of your energy body that interacts with the world around you functions like your skin, sensitive to that world, and yet also maintaining a boundary of what is you and what is not.  Then, the conscious and subconscious minds act like your internal organs, processing the energies that you take in by incorporating the beneficial energies, and converting or discarding detrimental energies.

Initially, this meditation will probably take 10-20 minutes and is most easily done somewhere without distractions.  With practice, it can be done anywhere and takes just a few moments to reaffirm your self and reinforce the sanctity of your energy body.

Skin is a sensitive, flexible, beautiful organ through which we experience the physical world, but which also serves as an effective barrier that keeps our bodies safe from most of what the physical world throws at us constantly.  It is sensitivity and protection wrapped up into one beautiful construct. 

Psychic Skin Meditation Long-Term Goal

You can use this meditation for shadow work by doing it consistently over time.  As the meditation becomes more natural for you, it can eventually become an ongoing unconscious action your energy body takes even when you aren’t meditating.  In other words, the goal is for the psychic skin to become part of your shadow self, ever present even when you do not use the meditation to pay direct attention to it.

This can take months, or even years, but with consistency over time you can essentially train your energy body how to act and respond to the energies it encounters. 

If you want to train your energy body, I recommend doing this meditation frequently (roughly every 1-3 days) until it feels completely natural.  That way, the effect of the meditation can become subconscious and constant.  Once your energy body has been trained and these behaviors are a part of your shadow self, you can do the meditation less frequently.  But, it can still be helpful to consciously do the meditation whenever you feel the outside world encroaching upon your personal energetic space, or to give yourself a little extra boost of protection and cleansing.

Meditation Overview

I recommend reading through the meditation and trying to commit it to memory at least a couple times before attempting it.  Have it handy so you can double-check if you need to, but it is also valid to wing it when you lose track, to avoid breaking meditation.  Read back over the instructions again when you are done meditating so you can note anything you forgot or unintentionally changed.  That will help you remember it more accurately next time.

Feel free to modify the provided visualizations to suit your personal paradigm and awareness of your energy body.  I perceive my energy body as a field emanating around my physical body with cyclical flows throughout.  Some people are very aware of their chakras or another paradigm of energy layering.  I know one person of heathen persuasion who most easily visualizes their energy body as a microcosmic reflection of Igdrasil, the world tree.  The modern version of the tree of life would be a very similar visualization.

You can also modify it to focus on senses other than sight, like touch (feel the energy), especially if you have difficulty with visualization.  There is no wrong way to meditate, and working with your personal psyche will get you a lot further than fighting it.  Personally, I can visualize, but I do not see energy.  I instead primarily feel it, as my brain filters my energy perception through my sense of touch.

There is no wrong way to visualize or perceive your energy body.

There are five main stages to this meditation:

            Awareness of physical self (earth)

            Awareness of energetic self (air)

            Healing and conscious movement of energetic self (water)

            Awareness of energetic self and energetic surroundings (spirit)

            Return fully to self and release of foreign energies (fire)

If the elemental attributions are not helpful to you, feel free to discard them.  And, as always, modify any aspect of this meditation as suits you and your practice.  We are all unique, and one-size-fits-all is a falsehood.

I recommend reading through the meditation and trying to commit it to memory at least a couple times before attempting it.  Have it handy so you can double-check if you need to, but it is also valid to wing it when you lose track, to avoid breaking meditation.  Read back over the instructions again when you are done meditating so you can note anything you forgot or unintentionally changed.  That will help you remember it more accurately next time.

The Psychic Skin Meditation

Find a peaceful place, free of distractions.  Candles, incense, music, etc. are not necessary, but feel free to use them if they will help you be in the moment, relax, and focus.

Sit or lay down somewhere comfortable, where you can relax completely.  Breathe deep, and take a few moments to arrive in the moment.  Acknowledge and let all the thoughts bustling around in your mind drift away.  There will be time for them later.  This time is about Self.

Your eyes might be closed, or they might be slightly open.

Awareness of physical self (earth)

Let your focus drift to your physical body. 

Feel the weight of your fingers and toes, your ankles and wrists. 

Let the tension melt out of them. 

Feel your shins and your forearms, your elbows, and your knees. 

Feel your whole legs, and your whole arms. 

Let them be heavy and relax. 

Feel your shoulders and your hips. 

Shift your body slightly if you need to to get the hitches out and relax more fully. 

Feel your spine, from base to top. 

Feel your spine lengthen, straighten, and relax.

Breathe deeply and deliberately, and let all the muscles relax, each in turn, from base to top. 

Feel your abdomen, your heart, your chest. 

Feel your scalp.  Let your jaw relax, let your face relax. 

Just Be.

Awareness of energetic self (air)

Shift your focus to your energy body. 

Feel the weight and warmth of it in your core. 

Observe the motion of it. Maybe it pulses, flows in or out, or in a spiral, or something else entirely.  You might perceive colors, or you might not.  Breath and observe.  There is no wrong answer.  This is you, as you are now, for you are unique, and each moment is unique for you. 

If you find yourself tensing, breathe into your core, and give yourself permission to be you.

Start to follow the energy out from your core. 

Feel it in your arms and legs, and down to the tips of your fingers and toes. 

Observe its movement.  If you perceive colors, observe any changes in different parts of your body.  Observe any changes in the weight, pressure, or warmth of it. 

Breathe and observe.

Feel the energy in your head and through your spine. 

Feel all the connections between your nervous system and energy body. 

Take some time to follow the motions.  You may notice that as you are paying attention to these flows of energy, they start to feel more active than they seemed before.  Maybe you notice them slowing down and flowing more deliberately.  Or maybe you notice something else.

Breathe and observe.

Expand your awareness to the part of your energy body that is outside of your physical body.  Find where it becomes lighter, more diffuse, and finally where it ceases to be you and entirely becomes Other. 

No one’s energy body goes on forever.  Find the faint outer reaches, feel them, and accept them as part of you.  Energy bodies constantly overlap, and yet remain distinct.  Keep your focus on what is You.  Let the rest fade into the background.  If you have difficulty distinguishing You from Other, that is OK.  Know that this is a skill you can cultivate through practice.  Yes, you.

Breathe and observe.

Feel the flow of energy throughout your entire energy body.  Observe where it cycles or spirals, where it flows out or flows in, where it pulses or vibrates, where it sits without moving much at all, or something else entirely. 

Breathe and observe.

If you are playing music or sounds, observe how the flow of energy changes with changes in what you are listening to.

If you have difficulty perceiving your energy body, try shifting your visualizations.  If you are familiar with chakras, let your focus shift to observing your chakras, and then follow the energy out from there.  Try a tree of life visualization, with your legs at the roots, your torso the trunk, and your arms and head the branches, roots and branches reaching up and down to touch each other well outside the physical body, and the outer reaches of the roots and leaves forming the outer boundaries of your Self.  If another visualization appeals, try that, even if you’ve never heard of something like it before.  Each energy body is unique, as is your experience of it.

Observe how your observations alter the flow of energy throughout your energy body.

Continue to observe until you feel you have a sense of your current energy body.

Healing and conscious movement of energetic self (water)

Start to consciously influence the flow of energy.  Encourage it to alter so that it is flowing in coherent currents involving all parts of your energy body.  The exact flow is not as important as using the conscious mind to deliberately organize and cyclically move your energy body.  I recommend trying different patterns, especially over multiple meditations.  It gives you a chance to observe how your energy body responds to different ways of flowing, and how the different patterns make you feel.

Three suggested flow patterns to try:

• Magnetic field: The energy flows up through the torso, out the head, cascades out and down to the feet, before coming together and flowing up through the torso again.
• Spiral or Vortex: The energy flows in a rotating column with the torso at the center, not unlike a tornado.
• Waves: The energy pulses in and out, from the core to the outer bounds, and back again.

Once the flow pattern is established, play with your energy body for a bit.  If you perceive colors, try to change the colors.  Adjust the speed of movement, and nudge the specific currents.  Observe how it makes you feel, and how it changes the energies near it.  Observe how quickly or slowly it returns to the basic flow pattern.

Look for places where the energy is bleeding out.  Gently encourage it to instead join the flow of energy within your Self.  Do not force it, and if an area is particularly stubborn, give yourself grace.  Move on if you start to get frustrated.  Come back another day.

Look for places where the energy is blocked, and gently nudge it loose.  Do not force it, and if an area is particularly stubborn, give yourself grace.  Move on if you start to get frustrated.  Come back another day.

Look for energies that feel foreign or detrimental, and clean them by pushing them out, letting them go, or transmuting them into beneficial energies.  Do not force it, and if an area is particularly stubborn, give yourself grace.  Move on if you start to get frustrated.  Come back another day.

Be consciously aware that with practice your energy body can learn to do this subconsciously and constantly from the shadow self.

Be consciously aware that not everything is instant or easy, and stubborn spots can take time to heal.  They may have been there a long time, or you may have more invested in their presence or state of being than you currently realize.  Persistence, perseverance, and practice will serve you well.  Change is often difficult or frightening, and in most cases it takes time, so give yourself all the time you need.

Let the flow of energy remain in strong, clean currents cycling throughout your Self, and shift your focus to the outer layers of your energy body. 

Awareness of energetic self and energetic surroundings (spirit)

Bring your awareness to the outer edge of Self. 

Breathe into it. 

See/feel/perceive that outer edge as a skin that protects your Self.  Breathe into it, sooth it, mold it.  This is the edge of what is distinctly You, and its job now is to keep foreign energies from being randomly absorbed into your energy Self.  The currents of your entire energy body flow through that outer layer, yet it remains distinct, just as blood flows through your skin, nourishing it.  It is both constantly moving, and continually present.

Shift your focus to include the energy world outside of your Self. 

Observe that you can feel those Other energies while retaining awareness that they are not you.

Observe that you can reduce their direct impact on you.

Stay here as long as you like.

Return fully to self and release of foreign energies (fire)

Pull back into yourself.

Observe your current energy body, paying particular attention to the distinctions between Self and Other. 

Encurage all remaining Other energies within your energy body to flow away naturally, in whichever directions they wish to go.

Allow any excess energy you are holding to flow away naturally, in whichever direction it wishes to go, thanking it as it does so. 

Observe your current energy body, paying particular attention to Self. 

Observe your physical body, paying particular attention to Self. 

Take a deep breath. 

Open your eyes.