5 Simple Ways to Separate Your Energy From Others

Do you want to learn how to separate your energy from others and feel more balanced? In this article, we explore 5 powerful techniques to do so.

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Just last week, I was wrapping up a call with a business collaboration partner when I felt it again: a sudden, inexplicable heaviness pressing on my chest. My breath grew shallow, my stomach fluttered, and a fog of worry clouded my mind. At first, I panicked, thinking it was mine to solve, another problem to fix. But then I remembered what Julia Harrell, a clairvoyant teacher who recently hosted a masterclass in the HiSensitives Membership, taught me: when you feel an energy overload, it’s not yours. You can handle your own energy.

That moment was a revelation. Instead of spiraling into self-doubt, I paused, grounded myself, and gently asked: “Was that really me?” As I visualized the surplus energy returning to its source, I felt a remarkable lightness wash through my body: like pulling on a heavy coat and finding it no longer there. In its place, I filled my aura with a soft, golden light of protection and self-calm.

If this sounds familiar, feeling drained after conversations, taking on others’ worries as your own: you’re not alone. As highly sensitive people, we’re natural energy magnets. Our empathy and intuition draw us toward people in need, but without the right tools, we can end up carrying burdens that aren’t ours. Let’s explore five simple ways to recognize when someone else’s energy has slipped into your field and how to kindly return it so that you can stay centered, clear and compassionate without the drain.

What Does “Borrowed Energy” Feel Like?

Borrowed energy often shows up as a subtle shift in your body and mind: an uninvited heaviness, a spike of anxiety, or a dull fatigue that has no clear cause. In order to tell if energy is yours, you might want to notice:

• Physical sensations: a tight chest, quickened breath, a fluttering stomach, or sudden headache.
• Emotional echoes: unwarranted worry, agitation, or sadness that surfaces out of nowhere.
• Mental fog: scattered thoughts, confusion, or an inability to focus on your own tasks.

When you tune into these empath energy boundary signs and recognize they don’t align with your own inner state, you’ve taken the first step toward reclaiming your energy.

1. Notice Your Baseline and Compare

Every HSP has a natural energy baseline: your typical mood, breath rhythm, and body sensations when you’re well-rested and at ease. Take a moment each morning, before the day’s to-do list begins, to record how you feel:

• How deep is your breath?
• Where in your body do you feel open versus tense?
• What’s your emotional tone: calm, curious, joyful?

Later, when a wave of heaviness or tension hits, compare it to this morning’s baseline. If it feels like an extra weight that wasn’t there before, ask yourself: “Did this arise from something I’m doing internally, or might it belong to someone else?”

2. Trace the Trigger to Separate Your Energy from Others

When you notice that heaviness, gently investigate what happened just before it appeared. Perhaps you:

• listened to a friend vent about their insecurities.
• absorbed a coworker’s frustration over a missed deadline.
• scrolled through social media posts filled with outrage.

By tracing the trigger, you can often pinpoint the source of the borrowed energy. This awareness empowers you to decide whether to compassionately hold space for someone else on your terms or to diplomatically step back.

3. Tune into Your Breath and Body

Once you suspect an energy overload and want to separate your energy from others, shift your attention inward. Close your eyes for a moment and take three slow, mindful breaths. Notice:

• Does your heart feel fast or tight?
• Are your shoulders creeping toward your ears?
• Does your stomach feel knotted?

These bodily cues are reliable messengers. If they contradict your mental state – say, your mind is calm but your body feels agitated – you’ve likely absorbed external energy. Your breath becomes both a detector and a reset tool, guiding you back toward your own rhythm.

4. Return What Isn’t Yours

With the overload pinpointed, it’s time to return the energy. I learned from Julia Harrell that we don’t need special powers just clear intention and a grounding practice. Here’s how I do it:

1. Ground first: Stand barefoot on the earth or place one hand on a grounding crystal and imagine a grounding cord going into the core of the earth.
2. Visualize: See the excess energy in your chest or belly as a colored mist (often gray or murky).
3. Send it back: Imagine that mist flowing down through your feet (or hand) into the ground returning to sender, cleanly and with gratitude.
4. Seal & protect: Draw a circle of golden light around your aura, affirming, “I handle my own energy; I return what isn’t mine.”

That simple visualization resets your energetic boundaries and re-establishes your sovereign field.

5. Cultivate Regular Energy Check-Ins

Prevention is as important as the remedy. Build a habit of brief energy check-ins throughout your day: especially after intense conversations or social events. Ask yourself:

• On a scale of 1–10, how grounded do I feel right now?
• Is there any heaviness or tension that feels foreign?
• What small ritual can I do to realign my energy?

Even 30 seconds of awareness, closing your eyes, breathing deeply, and scanning your body, can ward off cumulative overload.

Here Are Some Reflective Questions to Help You Separate Your Energy from Others

1. When was the last time you felt sudden heaviness after being around someone else?
2. Which of the five ways, baseline comparison, tracing triggers, breath/body scanning, returning energy, or check-ins, resonates most with you?
3. How can you integrate a one-minute energy check-in into your daily routine?

Ready to Separate Your Energy from Others and Deepen Your Energy Management Practice?

Recognizing and gently returning energy that isn’t yours is a profound act of self-care for HSPs. It honors your sensitivity while keeping your nervous system clear and your heart open. Also, I discovered by doing this regularly, I don’t tend to take things so personally anymore, as not all energy was mine to work with. By building these simple habits, knowing your baseline, tracing triggers, tuning into your body, returning borrowed energy, and checking in regularly, you reclaim your natural boundaries and protect your energy and radiant core.

Ready to deepen your practice and separate your energy from others ? Explore Julia Harrell’s Grounding Techniques and Energy Management Tips for HSPs inside the HiSensitives Membership. Together, we’ll cultivate compassionate presence without compromise, so you can truly love your sensitivity and shine your brightest light.

In this article, we collaborated with AI, meaning that the input and stories are real, but the blog itself has been created with support from AI.