The Practice of Energetic Inquiry
Why Practice Energetic Inquiry?
Energetic Inquiry is a practice for bringing your hidden beliefs to conscious awareness. This opens your life up to more possibility and allows you to make choices more in line with your desires. It’s really about learning to reconnect; first to yourself and then to others.
What is Energetic Inquiry?
The basic practice of Energetic Inquiry is-
- BECOME AWARE of the flow of energy in your body known as felt sensation and feeling.
- FOCUS YOUR AWARENESS ON FEELING the sensation in your body without using action or thought to circumvent it. Simply watch and witness the moving energy.
- ALLOW the sensations and feelings to flow as they wish. If you notice any points of tension where the energy seems stuck, you might allow your awareness to remain on that area for a while. Continue to allow and welcome the energy, feeling it until the compulsion to act or judge has subsided.
How Does Energetic Inquiry Work?
Our feelings are tied to our thoughts, but we often cut our feelings off prematurely by interjecting action into a situation based on old thought patterns and past judgements. When we do this, we also cut ourselves off from the knowing that is tied to the present feeling.
Over time, as you stop interrupting the flow of the energy and simply watch it and feel it, you will begin to realize you are holding some beliefs that you were unaware of.
It’s hard to understand how Energetic Inquiry works until you do the practice. This is because the knowing that results from the practice does not come from the rational mind. It’s a different kind of knowing.
Ideas and Tips For Practicing Energetic Inquiry-
Use Real Life Situations as Your Guide
- I think the reason this practice has been so helpful for me and that I’ve been able to stick with it for so long is that it is tied to my real life, present moment situations.
- With life as your guide, there is no guess work in what to work on next. You just follow your feelings as they arise.
Use Triggers
- Catching yourself in the act of being triggered is a good way to Become Aware of your feelings. As soon as you begin to feel upset or overwhelmed, begin to tune in to the energy.
- It’s the very things we try to avoid that are often our best teachers.
- “What’s in the way is the way.” -Mary O’Malley
No Amount of Practice is Too Short
- Even a few fleeting seconds of awareness focused on felt sensation and coupled with non-action and non-judgment during a heated argument or any interaction with another person can bring realization.
Use Time Alone for More Extensive Practice Periods
- It’s often hard to stay in the practice of Energetic Inquiry when you are involved in an interaction with another person. When it is not feasible to practice EI in the moment, but you have caught yourself being triggered, you can always go back to your felt sensations later in the day when you have some time to yourself to sit and do the practice.
Note: Be sure to come back to this page as I will periodically update it with additional ideas, tips, etc.