Sometimes we carry a heaviness that isn’t easy to name. It might feel like a fog in the mind, a weight in the chest, or a loop of thoughts that don’t seem to belong to us. Many traditions describe this as negative energy.
In psychology, it might be called trauma imprints, intrusive thoughts, or inner critics. In spiritual language, some speak of entities, cords, or interference.
Whatever words we use, the experience is real. It can leave us drained, doubtful, or blocked from living fully. The good news is that negative energy doesn’t mean we’re broken. Our bodies and spirits have ways of showing us what doesn’t belong — and of helping us release negative energy with gentleness and care. This guide explores the symptoms of negative energy, how to recognize when you’re being pulled into loops that aren’t yours, and how to release negative energy through practices of cleansing, presence, and sovereignty.
This guide explores the symptoms of negative energy, how to recognize when you’re being pulled into loops that aren’t yours, and practices to release and cleanse your energy. Along the way, I’ll share some of my own experiences — moments when interference showed up in dreams, visions, and even in my creative work — and how simple practices helped me return to light.
1. Symptoms of Negative Energy
Before we can release negative energy, we need to recognize how it shows up. These symptoms aren’t always dramatic — often they’re subtle, woven into the way our nervous system reacts or how our inner world feels.
🌿 Physical signs
- A throat that tightens whenever words want to come out
- Shoulders that never fully drop, even in rest
- A heaviness in the limbs, as if something is draining energy away
🌿Emotional signs
- Sudden waves of fear, judgment, or hopelessness with no clear cause
- Feeling stuck in self-criticism, as if an inner voice is working against you
- A sense of being blocked in creativity or expression
🌿 Spiritual signs
- Dreams that are abruptly cut short or filled with interference
- Seeing or sensing shadowy presences
- Feeling like you’re “not yourself” — as though something foreign has entered your space
One of my most vivid experiences of this came in a Compassion Key session. I suddenly found myself in dark, swirling water, being dragged toward a funnel that pulled me further away from safety. Then I saw a figure — hair hanging wet across her face, skin aged and wrinkled, mouth twisted into hate. The fear was overwhelming, more tangible than anything I had felt before.
With the guidance of the practitioner, I realized this was not simply a memory or a part of me. It was an entity — a force of negative energy that had hooked into my system. As the clearing unfolded, I felt the fear rise like a wave through my body and then move out. The sensation was intense, but when it passed, something shifted. For months I had been paralyzed in my creative work. After that session, the stuckness was gone — and I was finally able to begin building the projects that matter to me.
This is one example of how negative energy can manifest: not just as fear or exhaustion, but as a deep block to our aliveness. Naming it is the first step in learning how to release negative energy and return to freedom.
2. How to Release Negative Energy from the Body
Once you recognize the signs, the next step is learning how to release negative energy from the body. This isn’t about fighting with yourself or forcing something away. In fact, struggle can sometimes feed the heaviness. What helps most is to create safety in your system, so that what doesn’t belong can naturally let go.
🌿 Somatic practices
- Grounding touch: placing your hands on your heart, thighs, or belly to remind your body it is here and safe.
- Breath: slow, steady exhales signal to the nervous system that it’s safe to soften.
- Movement: shaking out the arms, stretching, or humming can shift energy that feels stuck.
🌿 Awareness as light
Sometimes awareness itself is the release. When you notice a heavy thought and simply name, “This isn’t mine,” it loses its hold. Shamanic traditions often guide us to send these energies to the light, with no resistance or hatred — only a clear knowing: you don’t belong here.
🌿 My own experience of interference
Once, I was dreaming peacefully when a sharp crack — like the hit of a stick — suddenly jolted me awake. The sound was so vivid I remembered it consciously, as if something had interrupted the dream on purpose. That moment felt like interference, a breaking of flow to keep me from clarity.
Instead of spiraling in fear, I placed my hand on my heart, breathed, and reminded myself: I am safe, I am here, I am held. The fear loosened.
Releasing negative energy isn’t always dramatic. Often it is simply choosing presence, safety, and light — again and again — until what doesn’t belong has no place to cling.
3. How to Release Negative Energy
Releasing negative energy is different from simply “removing” it. Removal can feel like something being cut away; release is more about letting go of what has already loosened its hold. It often happens when we shift our focus, soften into presence, or choose something life-giving instead of spiraling deeper into fear.
🌿 Presence and gratitude
Negative energy feeds on our attention. When we focus only on what feels heavy, it can seem to grow larger. Shifting into presence — noticing the warmth of a blanket, the steadiness of your breath, or the safety of the room you’re in — creates space for energy to release on its own. Gratitude helps redirect the body toward what is nourishing, which often opens the way for releasing negative energy naturally.
🌿 A personal example
One evening I noticed a spiral of negative thoughts pulling me down. As I lay in bed, I remembered something real and grounding: I am warm, I am safe, I have an incredible diesel heater in my van keeping me cozy.
When I turned my focus there, I had a sudden vision. I saw an entity lurking in the shadows beneath a porch, face sunken and grey. It tried to pull me into fear, but when I shifted into gratitude for what was real and supportive, it couldn’t follow. Instead, I disentangled and floated up into light. The simple act of choosing presence released the hold it had on me.
🌿 Gentle practices of release
- Journaling to give your body a safe place to put emotions down.
- Movement — shaking, dancing, stretching — to release tension the body holds.
- Voice and sound — humming, sighing, or speaking truth softly — to move what was stuck in silence.
Releasing negative energy doesn’t mean pretending it never existed. It means choosing to return to what is steady and real, so the weight can lift without needing a fight.
4. How to Get Rid of Negative Energy in Your Body
When people search for how to get rid of negative energy in your body, it often comes from a place of urgency — a desire to be free of the heaviness right away. But “getting rid” doesn’t have to mean fighting against yourself. In truth, what feels heavy is often not who you are. Sometimes it’s an old survival imprint replaying fear; other times it may be interference attaching to those wounds.
The body shows it through tension, fatigue, or a sense of being weighed down. The key is gentleness: when we soften into presence, negative energy loses its grip and releases more easily.
🌿 Discernment matters
Not all heaviness is the same. Some negative energy is the residue of your own patterns — like people-pleasing, hypervigilance, or silencing your voice. Other times it feels foreign, as though something external has hooked in. Discernment helps you respond wisely: you don’t need to fight either one, only meet it with compassion and awareness.
🌿 Ways to get rid of negative energy in the body
- Breath + touch: Place your hand on the part of the body that feels heavy and breathe slowly into it.
- Visualization: Imagine the weight moving out with each exhale, dissolving into light.
- Clearing rituals: Try a salt bath, sage, incense, or cord burning to symbolize release.
- Compassion practices: Whisper to the heaviness, “I see you. You don’t belong to me. You can leave now.”
🌿 Awareness as sovereignty
One of the most freeing realizations is that negative energy doesn’t mean you are broken. It means something is present that doesn’t belong. By naming it, and by meeting it with care, you reclaim your body as your own. That is how to get rid of negative energy in your body — not through struggle, but through sovereignty.
5. Cord Cutting & Rituals
Sometimes negative energy doesn’t just feel like a vague heaviness. It can show up as a cord — an energetic tie to a person, belief, or situation that continues to drain us. These cords aren’t always visible, but many sense them: a tug in the heart, a repeating old story, or difficulty moving on. Gentle rituals like cord cutting or cord burning can help release negative energy and restore sovereignty.
🌿 Cord Cutting Affirmations
Affirmations are gentle reminders that your energy belongs to you. When cords form through relationships, survival patterns, or even interference, it can feel as though parts of you are being pulled in directions you no longer choose. Speaking affirmations during a ritual supports the release.
Examples include:
- “I release what no longer belongs to me.”
- “My energy is whole, sovereign, and free.”
- “I allow only what is loving and life-giving to remain.”
Whispering these words while touching your heart, journaling them, or burning them as part of a ritual invites the body to remember its wholeness.
🌿 Cord Cutting Prayer
Prayer is intention offered with reverence. In cord cutting, it softens fear that release might harm someone else. In truth, cord cutting does not destroy love — it only dissolves unhealthy attachments.
A gentle prayer might be:
“I release this connection with gratitude for what it brought. May both of us be free, whole, and well.”
🌿 Side Effects of Cord Cutting
Releasing cords can stir emotions, much like emotional detox. Common experiences include:
- Grief — mourning what was lost, or what never was.
- Exhaustion — integration after carrying heaviness for so long.
- Lightness — a surprising sense of freedom.
Think of cord cutting as energetic surgery. Tenderness, rest, and hydration are part of the healing process.
🌿 Cord Burning Ritual
Fire has long symbolized transformation. A cord burning ritual uses flame to help release negative energy and create space for renewal.
Simple practice:
- Write the name of the person, belief, or pattern on a small piece of paper.
- Hold the paper, speak an affirmation or prayer of release.
- Burn the paper safely in a fireproof dish or outdoor fire.
- As smoke rises, imagine the cord dissolving into light.
The ritual works not because fire is magic, but because your intention is.
🌿 How Does Cord Cutting Affect the Other Person?
This question often arises, since cords usually form in close relationships. Many worry: Will it hurt the other person?
Cord cutting does not harm another. What shifts is the draining attachment, not love or respect. The other person may sense the dynamic has changed — especially if they were unconsciously drawing on your energy — but this simply restores balance.
Think of two trees whose roots were tangled. Cord cutting is like carefully separating them so each can grow strong in its own soil. They may still share sunlight and space, but now without suffocation.
A simple blessing might be:
“I release this cord with love. May you be free in your energy, and may I be free in mine.”
🌿 FAQ: Cord Cutting
Does cord cutting hurt the other person?
No. Cord cutting does not harm or punish anyone. It simply releases the unhealthy attachment between you. What is real — love, respect, memory — remains untouched.
Will the other person feel it if I cut cords?
Sometimes they may sense a shift, especially if they were unconsciously drawing on your energy. They may notice distance or that their usual “pull” no longer works. This is not pain — it’s simply the restoration of healthy boundaries.
Does cord cutting mean the relationship ends?
Not necessarily. Some relationships actually feel lighter and more authentic after cord cutting, because you are relating by choice rather than obligation. The connection can continue in a healthier form.
Can I cut cords with love?
Yes. In fact, the most powerful cord cutting practices are rooted in love and respect. A gentle affirmation might be: “I release what drains me, and I bless both of us in freedom.”
What happens after cord cutting?
Side effects can include temporary grief, tiredness, or a sense of lightness as your system integrates the release. Rest, water, grounding touch, and time in nature help support this transition.
🌿 Closing Thoughts on Cord Cutting & Release
Cord cutting, whether through affirmations, prayer, or a simple cord burning ritual, is not about severing love or punishing another. It is a practice of sovereignty — releasing negative energy, dissolving old attachments, and creating room for renewal. What is true and life-giving always remains. When practiced with intention and care, cord cutting becomes less about loss and more about freedom: the freedom to stand in your own energy, open to what is real and nourishing.
6. Crystals for Protection Against Negative Energy
Crystals have long been companions in the journey of protection and cleansing. While they are not a “quick fix,” their steady vibration can remind the body and spirit of balance, especially when negative energy feels heavy or intrusive.
🌿 Black Tourmaline: The Grounding Shield
Black Tourmaline is often called a protection stone. Many people use it to absorb or deflect negative energy. If you feel easily drained by others, carrying a small piece in your pocket or placing it by your bed can help restore steadiness. It’s like having a quiet, grounding friend at your side.
🌿 Amethyst: The Calming Guardian
Amethyst is known for soothing the mind and calming inner turbulence. When negative energy shows up as spiraling thoughts or judgment loops, amethyst can help bring clarity. Keeping it near your workspace or holding it during meditation can support peace of mind.
🌿 Selenite: The Cleansing Light
Selenite is often used for clearing. Its luminous quality mirrors the truth that heaviness can dissolve in light. Many place selenite near doorways or sweep it gently through the energy field after a long day, imagining the body being rinsed clean.
🌿 Smoky Quartz: The Stabilizer
Smoky Quartz is grounding and stabilizing, helping to anchor you when emotions feel overwhelming. It is often used in rituals of release, as it supports the gentle transformation of dense energy into something lighter.
🌿 How to Use Crystals for Protection Against Negative Energy
- Carry a small stone in your pocket as a physical reminder of safety.
- Place crystals in your home, especially near doors, beds, or spaces where you rest.
- Hold a crystal in meditation or breathwork, letting it anchor your focus.
- Combine with intention: whisper an affirmation like, “I welcome only what is loving and life-giving into my field.”
✨ If you’d like to explore this more deeply — including how to choose, cleanse, and work with these allies in daily life — you can wander into 🌿 Crystals for Protection Against Negative Energy.
7. Closing: Returning to Sovereignty
Negative energy can feel confusing, frightening, or overwhelming. But meeting it does not mean you are broken — it often means your body is showing you what no longer belongs. Sometimes that heaviness comes from old survival strategies that once kept you safe. Sometimes it’s interference, entities, or cords that hook into those wounds.
Whatever the source, awareness itself is powerful. The moment you notice, name, and turn toward the truth of your own light, the grip begins to loosen.
Remember:
- You are not the heaviness.
- Your energy is yours to reclaim.
- Your body is your compass.
Each breath, each affirmation, each ritual of release is a step toward sovereignty. Negative energy does not have the final say. Your aliveness, your wholeness, and your freedom are still here — waiting to be lived.
If you’d like to keep exploring gentle practices, you can wander into 🌿 The Healing Garden or explore 🌿 Somatic Practices to deepen your sense of safety and return.
🌿 FAQ: Removing Negative Energy
How do I know if I have negative energy in my body?
Negative energy often shows up as tightness in the throat or chest, shoulders that won’t relax, sudden waves of fear, judgment loops, or exhaustion. Spiritually, it may appear as shadowy presences, interference in dreams, or a sense of being “not yourself.”
How to remove negative energy from body gently?
Gentle somatic practices like grounding touch, conscious breath, and movement are a good start. Rituals such as cord cutting, salt baths, or working with protection crystals can also help. The key is compassion — not forcing the energy away, but creating safety so it naturally releases.
How to release negative energy without harming others?
Cord cutting and cord burning rituals don’t hurt anyone else. They only dissolve unhealthy attachments. What is real — love, respect, and memory — remains untouched.
How to get rid of negative energy in your home?
Air out the space, use cleansing tools such as incense or sound bowls, and set a clear intention: “I release what does not belong and welcome only peace and safety here.”
Which crystals protect against negative energy?
Common choices are Black Tourmaline for grounding, Amethyst for calming the mind, and Selenite for cleansing. Carry them, place them in your home, or use them in meditation.
How to Release Negative Energy from Your Body?
Gentle practices such as grounding touch, breathwork, and movement are effective ways to release negative energy from your body. Many also use rituals like cord cutting, salt baths, or crystal cleansing. The key is compassion — not fighting the heaviness, but creating safety so it can naturally dissolve.
Gentle Closing
Each breath, each affirmation, each ritual of release is a step toward sovereignty. Negative energy does not have the final say. Your aliveness, your wholeness, and your freedom are still here — waiting to be lived. And whenever you wonder how to release negative energy, remember: the gentlest step is often the most powerful one.
Your unfolding is already underway — and it’s beautiful.