Energy Sensing

Introduction

Energy sensing involves sensing "energy". By this, what is meant is that the aura is sensed. Tingling, hot spots, impressions, intuitive feelings, anything may be interpreted as a symptom of sensing the aura. But is it really energy sensing, or is it all about psychology?

Energy sensing

In energy sensing, one person may feel that they are feeling another person's aura and this may be followed by someone else (like in the example below). However, just because something stated by one person is consequently repeated by someone else, does not mean that:

a) the first person's statement was correct or

b) the information was got through paranormal means (e.g. from a [perhaps the same] spiritual source)

Figure 1

This is also true for workshops and groups (including psychic and mediumship development groups that also do this activity occasionally) that involve trying to "feel" or "sense" energy. Whilst it is inappropriate in Reiki healing "share" sessions for Person 2 to place their hands in exactly the same places as Person 1 did, in order to give Reiki to the recipient, since Reiki had already been given to that area of the body, informative social conformity and social loafing can still occur in other situations involving energy work, which are focussed on sensing energy. 

    For example, imagine there is a workshop based in an ancient stone circle, with all involved trying to "feel" the energy of the standing stones, concentrating on one in particular (Stone 1). The host of the group, Mary, asks people (Persons 1, 2, 3 and 4) to individually try and "feel" the energy of the stone. Already, the suggestion has been given that Stone 1 has some sort of energy that can be felt - presumably thermic, since Persons 1, 2, 3 and 4 are asked to lay both hands on a different area of the stone to each other and are supposed to be sensing the energy with their hands (see Figure 1 which shows the different areas where Persons 1, 2, 3 and 4 placed their hands on the stone). Each person is asked to report back if they get anything. After a while:

• Person 1 notices that their hands are feeling very warm
• Person 2 feels tingling/pins and need sensations in their hands - the left more than the right
• Person 3 gets quite drowsy and sleepy
• Person 4 gets light-headed and thinks they can feel the kundalini running through their body

Each participant got an individual response which they each attributed to the stone.Furthermore, Persons 1, 2 and 4 report that the stone had 'hot spots' on which they'd placed their hands. However, this is perfectly explainable, since the stone had been heated by the sun earlier in the day and had retained the heat. 

  Why did each person get a different reaction? For one thing, they were all different. Person 1 may have felt quite cool prior to touching the stone, so may have been more inclined to noticed the stone feeling very warm, whilst Person 2 was perhaps a little bit not quite down to earth - perhaps she is also quite sensitive and is rather meditative; Person 3 was probably quite tired and needed a good rest and was prone to getting into a drowsy, sleepy state during the energy-sensing activity; whilst, finally, Person 4 was probably rather spiritual and dream - maybe also a dedicated meditator.

   Of course, maybe the response to energy is subjective and perhaps its interpretation is subject to one's state of mind. Anyway, so Persons 1, 2, 3 and 4 remark on what they got. Persons 5, 6, 7 and 8 go and do energy sensing, but because they overheard what the others had got, they are prone to suggestion and informative social conformity. They heard that Person 1 had felt hot spots on a particular area of the stone, so at least one person will want to feel that for themselves and because they are open to the suggestion and perhaps due to believing that Person 1 is correct, they will find evidence to support Person 1's idea of a hot spot area. They will feel heat in their hands. Person 1 was correct! There is definitely a hot spot over here! They might think. It will strengthen their belief that Stone 1 has an energy and that they are feeling it now. This is called cognitive dissonance.
     So now another person (Person 5) has also felt the "hot spot" and he/she will mention it to the others - Persons 6, 7 and 8 who will also place their hands over the same area to see if they can feel it too.

Sensing the aura

Another example is the following. Imagine being a member of a psychic development circle. The host, a 46 year old woman who is a professional psychic, informs you of the activity that you all will be doing tonight. Although it is not, in any way relevant, the time is 7.30pm. There are seven other members of the circle tonight. She pairs everyone up. Then she asks for four people to stand up facing three of the walls of the room. Your partner wants to be one of them, so you let them. 

  

Fig. 2: Did YOU Feel That?

"Now, the people who are not standing by the walls, I want you to slowly and quietly approach your partner, with your palms facing forward, to feel their auras," the psychic instructs you clearly. Slowly, quietly, you walk towards your partner as the psychic had instructed. You try to breathe very quietly so your partner can't hear it, indicating that you are getting nearer and nearer to them...

    However, it's too late. Because the psychic had already said what you were supposed to be doing to the whole group, your partner is fully informed of the fact that you are getting closer to them. Therefore, their sensations are going to be biased, too. "I want the people who are standing facing the walls to tell their partners when they can feel their energies getting close," the psychic tells everyone.

    "I can feel your energy," your partner tells you. You are almost close enough to reach out and touch them. After a pause, you get nearer. Then you trace your hand a couple of inches over their head and spine, slowly and soundlessly. "Ooh! I can feel that! You're tracing over my spine!" your partner giggles. 

Now, the psychic is calling you all to swap. So now it is your turn to face the wall and energy-sense...

Is it energy or baloney?

Hopefully Figure 2 explains the example of energy sensing. Questions are: 

• Since the person who was standing facing the wall (Person A) knew that their partner (Person B) would be approaching them gradually and that they were supposed to be feeling their "energy" (aura) as they approached, did Person A REALLY sense the energy field (aura) of Person B?
•  Or did Person A imagine feeling Person B's aura?
• Or did Person A, through classical conditioning, attribute a random feeling (e.g. tingling down the back) that happened to present itself at the time Person B was close to them, to their sensing or feeling Person B's aura; and, furthermore, the random feeling was not, in fact, linked to the aura and had just been a coincidence?
• Did Person A "feel" Person B's aura merely due to the suggestion that had been planted by the host psychic who had explained what everyone would be doing that night and, in doing so, had told them what to expect (i.e. what to "feel")?
• When Person B traced Person A's spine with their hand, a couple of inches away from the physical body, was Person A aware, through the normal senses, of what Person B was doing?
• Could Person A have felt Person B's tracing through physically feeling their body heat due to their close proximity? 
• Could Person A not have felt what Person B was doing (such as tracing their spine), but was aware of their actions some other way (visually, not through paranormal or psychic means); yet had felt obliged to socially conform and through normative social influence had falsely claimed to "feel" Person B's energy as they came nearer or whilst they did tracing on their spine? Perhaps they felt guilty for Person B's, the host's or the group's sakes that they weren't feeling anything and wished to defend their status in the group by conforming with the rest of the group by claiming to feel the same as everyone else? Or maybe Person A felt guilty because they thought that because they weren't feeling anything and yet everyone else of the group did (or claimed to), they thought that they were doing something wrong, and that everyone else was doing the right thing as they were getting results? Essentially, because everyone else got results and Person A didn't, Person A thought they were wrong, or doing something wrong (informative social conformity).

 Conclusion

Perhaps the view of this post on the explanations of energy sensing are incorrect or incomplete and that it is, controversially, the sceptics who are wrong and that the believers/psychics are right? What if energy works and functions psychologically and that it can be felt by people such as Person A, who believe in or are not sceptical of its existence and, consequently, their mind is more open to interpreting (or sensing) the existence of energy? What if the sceptic's mind does not sense energy, because they are sceptical of its existence and so, therefore, their mind is less sensitive to interpreting or sensing energy? Perhaps because the sceptic does not believe in its existence, their mind does not wish to sense energy? Hence, is it possible that energy is sensitive to the observer's (e.g. Person A's) beliefs and mindset, whereas for sceptics, energy prefers to keep a low profile, so that its existence cannot be found? Maybe the believers/psychics are picking up on one side of energy sensing and the sceptics are exploring another side of it?

   Perhaps, if it is indeed energy at work in energy sensing, not purely psychology and the mind, understanding the psychology involved in energy sensing and investigating or exploring accounts of energy sensing may, unwittingly, provide insight into the processes, functions and characteristics of energy and how it works?

See also: Cognitive dissonance ;Classical conditioning; Informative social influence;