Some of you may have heard of Empaths: people who are known for their highly developed ability to sense the emotions and thoughts of the people around them.
You might have heard all the symptoms of being an Empath; finding public places overwhelming, confusing others emotions with your own and absorbing them like an “emotional sponge“, finding films/images of violence or cruelty unbearable, feeling other people’s physical pains, being a great listener, suffering from fatigue, needing solitude to recharge and even experiencing the emotions of loved ones who are far away. But most articles fail to answer why this occurs.
And more intriguingly, Empaths account for about 5% of the population, yet are much more predominant within people who identify with being Old Souls or as a Highly Sensitive Person. How can this be explained?
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Understanding Energy Bubbles
Until a few years ago, I had never heard of the word “Empath “.
Growing up, I noticed a strange shift within me whenever I was around other people. I’m naturally very calm and centered, but in the presence of other people, I can empathize with the emotions they are feeling almost immediately, which can create distress.
When I was younger, I eventually learned that this was something very useful to possess and had been known for centuries by the Incans. In the Incan way of viewing the world, we believe in a concept known as “Kawsay Pacha“, living energy. To us, the world of nature is alive and responsive, and the cosmos is a vibrating field of pure energy frequencies.
Incans once believed they were born into a world that was as conscious of them as they were of it, and that everyone could experience the energy of another living being as if it were their own. These people who could experience the energy of others had a great blessing, as they would find it much easier to cultivate a soulful connection with all living energies in nature and learn to harmonize themselves within their surroundings using “Ayni“, an energetic reciprocity that exists within all living matter.
When two living energies (for example: humans, animals, mountains) first meet, their energy bubbles touch each other, which is known as “Tinkuy“. Once a person encounters another person’s energy bubble, something we call “Tupay” starts to occur, where the two people begin to experience a collision of contrasts and differences between their energies, creating a confusion.
It’s at this point that the successful “Empath”, differentiates the type of energy of the person, whether it is “Yanantin“; a completely opposing energy, or “Masintin“, an energy similar in frequency. That is when you apply “Taqe“, an attempt to harmonize these two encountering living forces.
The Quechua word for an Empath is a “Qawaq” which means “one who sees“. It comes from the verb “Qaway” which means “to see” the living energy.
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Old Souls As Empaths
We all experience empathy to some degree. Empaths, however, struggle to distinguish their own emotions from those of others.
Highly Sensitive People are born with a physical sensitivity, that of a brain that is overly sensitive to stimuli of emotions, thoughts or activity. In many cases, HSP’s are so sensitive to subtleties within their environments that it allows them to feel the emotional changes within other people as well. However, not all HSPs are Empaths.
With Old Souls there’s a difference; their sensitivity is not physical in relation to the brain, but is spiritual, or is in relation to their souls. This doesn’t mean that all Old Souls are Empaths, but it does mean that many can easily become spiritually attuned to the living energy around them.
This spiritual attunement experienced by the Old Soul is enhanced by their “Old” energy that has been reborn many times. The more an energy comes into consciousness and then returns back to its origins, the thinner the veil of identity between “I” and “That” is, and the more it is purified.
As our individual egos become less defined, our unconscious intuitive receptors are left open to not only experience our own emotions, but the emotional vibrations of those around us.
The closest I can come to scientifically explain this is that somewhere within the frontal lobe of the brain, there is an area responsible for Echopraxia,which not only allows us to involuntary repeat others actions, but when activated in Empaths, can also allow for emotions from the surrounding environment to be involuntarily received and absorbed. However, there aren’t enough studies conducted to determine any of this conclusively.
Grounding Your Emotional Center
Being an Empath can be a great asset; but only if you learn to center yourself, grounding your emotions within your own being and refraining from shouldering the unhappiness and suffering of the entire “Pachamama“, mother nature. If you don’t learn how to ground yourself, you’ll live like a slave to your emotions, rather than a master of them.
Once you learn to master these emotions, you will not feel burdened by your empathy, but freed by it. You’ll have the ability to control when you want to feel other people’s emotions in order to purposefully understand them. You’ll also learn when to tune them off, allowing you the space and clarity to act or advise accordingly.
But first, how do we do that?
1. Identify the Origin
The emotions you feel will not always be from other people; they are often your own. It’s easy to think all negative emotions are coming from other people, so in order to get things straight, try to constantly analyze whether there is something that may have caused the negative emotions you’re feeling or not.
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2. Apply Mindfulness to Ground Yourself
The emotional energies that you absorb and experience from others are usually processed through your unconscious intuitive receptors. When you focus your attention with mindfulness on a specific action, it forces your unconscious mind to tune out of those emotional frequencies and focus conscious attention on something else instead. Examples of grounding exercises include focusing on your breathing rhythm, visualizing a protective shield around you, or focusing on the spot between your eyes where your “third eye” is located.
3. Seek Solitude and Distance Yourself
After you have grounded yourself using a mindfulness technique, try to leave the area that persons energy bubble might have effected (for instance, leave for a different room or physically distance yourself by a few meters). This will allow you to see whether it really was that person’s emotional energy that was influencing you or not. Afterwards, make some solitary time for yourself which will give you the space to centre yourself again.
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Being a Qawaq, or Empath has proven to be an invaluable skill in my life which allows me to teach and treat other people. It has helped me to understand what a person wants or needs and what they are afraid or insecure about by attuning myself to their different emotional vibrations.
So now I’d love to know: what are your experiences as an Old Soul with the gift of being an Empath? Please share with me below!
If you would you like to keep reading about empaths, you’re welcome to click on one of our other empath articles below:
Alternatively, check out our empath book for further guidance and clarity.
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Each article on this site is like a chapter of a wonderful and rare book….Is so good to feel that I am not alone!
Thank you both!
Adina
I’m overjoyed to hear that you identify so strong with our work. We believe in the power of awareness and the freedom of information; there’s no point in us hoarding all these valuable tools and experiences we’ve realized in our journey when they could be benefiting countless other people.
Thank you for taking the time to read our work Adina.
Are there any resources on the Incan way of seeing empathy? I was especially curious about differentiating energies and harmonizing them. Something I have had problems with.
Hola Thomas,
Unfortunately there’s nothing written on how to harmonize energies as our culture is one who has for generations passed on this ancient knowledge verbally through apprenticeships to those who received their Estrella (calling).
The main barrier is that knowledge and information cannot capture in words the subtleties that must be experienced to explain. The Incan culture was one based on the senses, emotions and experiencing the world; it’s a way of life, so words can never really describe how to do anything, they can only describe what you see happening externally.
That being said, I do look forward someday to writing a book or series of articles explaining some of the key views that we learn in the Andean teachings, and how to learn to be more in touch with Pachamama.
Apart from that, your best option is to find a Paqo that might be willing to mentor you as I do with some students here in Australia.
Let me know if there’s anything else you’d like to know about the culture.
I remember from the age as early on as 5 being able to read people. I didn’t understand at the time why I was receiving such messages but I just could. Now older I understand it all but have also felt cursed as I felt I was sensing too much. I felt I never belonged and didn’t fit in with most people. I tended to like to be on my own and sought solitude and quiet time a lot. I suffered in the school environment as it just wasn’t for me.
My son now 17 is gifted the same. He senses others and doesn’t fit in with the school scenario. He always knows when something is bothering me. He wont let up till I tell him. We often find ourselves thinking of the something at the same time. He’ll say something while I will have been thinking of it or vica versa.
Over the years and being divorced now I was seen as incapable, weak, too sensitive and quiet, suffered low self esteem, depression which added in my whole being of people not understanding me although I always had this innate ability to understand them. I could sense their unhappiness and bitterness. I sensed their insecurities and I knew their lies. I’ve always sacrificed my own life for others. I felt continually drained by peoples inability to not understand me because some were outgoing, often lacked awareness of others, judged without really knowing someone, enjoyed being around lots of people all the time, enjoyed socialising and having parties which wasn’t me at all. Whereas I gained my energy and happiness from solitude.
Now older and more accepting, I tend not to worry what people think. I love being an empath, intuitive and HSP. I understand now how to master my emotions and have learnt how to control when I want to feel others emotions.
You’re not alone in your experiences and realizations; we essentially decided to call our website LonerWolf because of that fact, that during our journey of self discovery we ourselves as well as many others have experience immense isolation and solitude due to our decide to break free from our cultural conditioning.
That’s truly fascinating; it is believed being an empath is genetically passed down but to be on the same frequency is rare so I think you and you’re son have been gifted double.
In this community we strive for empowering people we these usual traits a lot of us possess but at the same time using Involution as a system to develop the self understanding, maturity and acceptance to not fall for the trap so many have before of putting yourself down because you’re different and unique.
It’s a shame so many, including yourself, have had to suffered unnecessarily because of a culture that doesn’t value unique individuals and instead what to make us a collective of efficient machines.
I applaud your work and efforts to free yourself and gain master of your emotions.
Thank you for sharing your insightful experience.
We empaths love nature so one grounding exercise I love is hugging trees :)
Tree hugging is a really awesome exercise; it literally “grounds” you because your focusing your entire conscious attention in your senses, in nature, and absorbing the calm energy frequency of trees.
Do you have any information about PTSD and Empaths? I identify as an Empath, and Highly-Sensitive. And I have picked up a few other labels ~ such as INFJ. and Old Soul. Maybe Indigo. Among other ‘explainers’ that have helped me. But currently, I would like more info regarding healing from significant trauma, namely PTSD. … any leads? I appreciate it. Thx
~m
Hola Monica,
PTSD is a psychological issue that has mainly to do with your nervous system. Empath in this regard only works as a contributor of stress, not the cause itself. The best thing to do would be to study the interplay between the fact that you’re a HSP and PTSD. Highly Sensitive People are more prone to developing PTSD because their nervous systems become overwhelmed very quickly.
Unfortunately as you don’t live in Australia, there’s no physical or spiritual therapy I can offer you. I can suggest that grounding techniques such as Yoga and Meditation that have been used to treat soldiers returning from war with PTSD has been very successful in reducing it for them.
Let me know if there’s anything I can help you with.
I am also an empath and have suffered from ptsd from several different things in my life. A few years ago someone told me about something called eft which stands for emotional freedom techniques I think… It is a type of energy healing and you just tap on certain points while saying affirmations. There’s lots of info on YouTube about how to do it. Im sure it works differently for everyone but it has absolutely saved my life. It acted as a catalyst for finding my healing as well as a tool to heal my traumas. I don’t know how it works but I would definitely recommend it. It took me from a place of extreme depression and fear into a place of happiness and security and confidence. I wish you the best on your journey :)
Hi Monica — your comment caught my eye for I am an empath who also suffered from PTSD relating to a traumatic incident that happened last year. It led to one of the most confusing times of my life and ultimately, the death of my ego. But now life feels more beautiful than ever.
I feel that I have come out “on the other side” of my nightmare — if you want to talk about what happened to you as well as what I did to help myself, feel free to message me at clairdeluneart@hotmail.com :)
Figuring out I was an empath was the worst for me. I had no idea a lot of feelings weren’t mine for a long time. I was maybe 22 when I finally figured out, hey! I am NOT feeling that! My daughter is empathic and I am so glad I am around to explain what it is and how to deal with it.
A long time ago I decided it was a gift. I can use it to anticipate what people need from me and then give it. I think that giving what you have to spare to someone’s need is a duty not something we should do as a gesture. Being empathic helps me with this. And it makes me a good friend. That’s the yang.
The yin is that I can feel really hurt and angry people and shady people and that can be a creepy and exhausting experience. I also find that incubi and succubi are drawn to me and my energy. I learned a technique to close cleanse myself and zip myself into a protective sleeping bag to sever the connection with certain people. It took practice and I still can’t do it in highly intense situations but I can do it at home to stop it after the situation.
It can be rough for sure. I had a professor in a closed room with no energy flow at all that raged at most of his students for 2 hours. So all the girls were emoting fear and panic and he was emoting rage. None of it was aimed at me and I stepped in as much as I could to deflect but after awhile that made him rage at me. Oh god the worst 2hours of my life once a week for 4 months. That was difficult. Really difficult.
Good luck to any empaths out their! Keep your head up! You’ll be okay!
They say being an empath is very often genetically passed on; perhaps its natures way of trying to help newer generations understand their gift by having a guide there to provide support.
I never like thinking of doing anything as a duty, because in duties our spontaneity is lost, our livelihood, it becomes a dead rule or tradition. Similar to those people who donate to the poor because their religions demand it as a duty; it becomes a robotic thing that can often be done without a heart, just because we think is the right think instead of feel it.
But I know what you mean, we should be constantly giving when we have enough. Hence my desire to contribute to the growth in Self-Love, to develop enough love for ourselves that we have plenty extra to want to share with others.
Energy vampires work very similar to emotional frequency bombardiers, but as long as you can ground yourself you’re more or less unaffected ; you mention visualizing a sleeping bag that you can use as a shield to protect you from it which is a great tool.
People like your professor are the ones you have to always be very mindful around. I grew up in a latin society where you constantly come across very overwhelmingly intense in energy people that love getting into dramatic arguments. I feel the constant friction with them is what polished my mirror enough to develop the strength and clarity I have today :)
I am an Empath, I can have strong feelings when I am around people a lot. So I retreated back to solitude, which helped me a lot to forget about the feelings and energies from the people I hang out with.
Because I was in solitude by default, and was quite content with being alone most of the time, where I could devise plans and just play with my thoughts. That was quite a blessing. Trying to socialize more, made it all more different. But I was sensing that my feelings even if I am alone, can pickup the general mood of the environment. But I think my irregular sleep pattern helps with that oddity as well.
Also because I am of more quiet nature, this feelings or energy of other people guide me, when it is smart to say anything, or when they are ready to hear what they need to hear at that given moment. This is also the reason, why we (at least me) are not seeking attention, because this empathy is very personal and deep for each person with whom we come in contact with.
Hola Simon,
Solitude is a great tool to recharge and find space to ground ourselves but it’s important to not make it too much of a crutch, otherwise you never really experience the friction necessary to help you develop your ability of grounding yourself to resist the turbulent emotional storms create in the company of others.
That’s a good way to think of your empath skills, it can be a great tool to guide you in socializing. Since I was young I’ve felt comfortable in being able to talk to anyone about anything; somehow when you can feel the emotional significance certain topics have for certain people you talk to, you can measure how something means to them and talk about it more.
Just wait until you choose to live with someone; I found it strange at first that all of a sudden I could feel almost like a vacuum of sinking emotions in the next room. In personal and deep relationships some of the most intensity empath abilities can develop as again the veil of self becomes less defined when you have strong emotions for someone else.
Here is my point of view. It has no traditional roots, just experiential.
Empathy is the resonant capacity that allows us to feel one another. In general it is limited to congruence of experience or proximity. It is primarily associated with the emotional and physical states.
Telempathy is the clear perception of another’s thought through the field of felt (empathic) resonance.
Telepathy is somewhat different in that it is a shered spiritual resonance that carries thought values. For example someone might be describing a spiritual experience and suddenly you will share a bit of their illimination. As it filters through your system the results will be in harmony with the original source but create a unique expression in you.
That’s how it seems to me… today.
Thanks for your work here, Mateo and Aletheia
♥ Welles
I don’t know if it really is related to experience and proximity. I only say so because a few years ago a childhood friend of mine had to bury her infant, and I had a pretty grievous response to her loss. I remember the day I found out the baby had died ~ I sobbed (somewhat violently) in bed all day, and then didn’t do much of anything the next day either. I think it took me a few weeks before the grief and fatigue started to lift. I have never had to bury one of my own children (in this life at least), nor have I ever even seen a dead baby in my life. I also do not live local to her; she’s a 1,000 miles away. We were childhood friends, but we have not been particularly close in adulthood. I experienced a lot of pain mourning for her, or with her. I never shared it with her; it wasn’t really something to share with a grieving mother. This all was before I was more conscious of the energy I was giving away to others, and also to the energy I was taking on from others. I was much less aware a couple of years ago.
I also once had a premonition that a friend of mine had a miscarriage; the thought just came to me and I knew. I called and sure enough she was just recovering from her D&C. I was also not local to her, and I have never had a miscarriage myself. With this friend I didn’t grieve too much, as she was was only a few wks pregnant. But I knew of her loss and I felt compassion for her. So … I don’t know if it has to be in relation to our own personal experiences, though that might heighten our empathic response. And I don’t think we have to be local to the person at all; though I think we have to know of them likely. maybe. Or at least knowing of them would help us to make sense of our empathic experiences enough to remember/share.
That’s a good way of putting it Welles, I do look forward to writing about telepathy in the future and my experience with it.
Often I’ve found, the spiritual experience that is shared by others through your presence is usually a result of the heightening of your conscious vibrations. As all is energy, even our consciousness, when we are capable of elevating our vibration through intense spiritual work, that increased intensity of energy is felt by the people around you.
Thanks for sharing your perceptive on this.
It is tough to be an empath, especially when you grow up thinking something is wrong with you…not understanding what is really happening. I did not realize I was an empath until my early thirties, and have learned how to seek solitude, ground myself and recharge. At times, though, it still catches me by surprise…when connecting with the emotions or events of a family member far away…
Work in process…still learning! Great blog, thanks!
Hola Ellie,
When it comes to family members I think everyone has even thinner veils of self; we wear less of a mask and feel more comfortable around our families making our sense of self less define and more receptive to the energetic play of emotions.
I’m happy to hear you’ve learned to ground your emotions and are growing in strength with them every day, well done.
Until I read this, I had no idea why I was so different. I had for years been diagnosed as “Borderline Personality Disorder”, because I was so highly sensitive. I was inded litterally “a slave to my own emotions” But I never felt like I actually had a mental illness, and now off medication and having learned mindfulness through DBT therapy, I feel as if there was another explanation for the way I am-possibly being an empath. My psychologist had even commented that my sensitivity did not just include my own emotions, but being ultra sensitive to the emotions of those around me, and I had to be very careful to not take that on.
I know that’s not entirely what makes you an empath, but after reading the first paragraph I realized that’s exactly who I am.
“You might have heard all the symptoms of being an Empath; finding public places overwhelming, confusing others emotions with your own and absorbing them like an “emotional sponge“, finding films/images of violence or cruelty unbearable, feeling other people’s physical pains, being a great listener, suffering from fatigue, needing solitude to recharge and even experiencing the emotions of loved ones who are far away”
I experience one or more of these symptoms every, single day. Even with my psychologist, with whom I have often started off our sessions by saying “You seem off or upset-what’s happened”…even though she looked normal in every way. And every time, something HAD happened. One time it was the death of her father. Of course, as a professional, she would bring the conversation right back to me, but always commented on my ability to sense these things. Yesterday I had an hour long conversation with a very good friend who is having serious marital issues and was very, very angry. I then went home and not a couple hours later had a completely irrational and unreasonable (on my part) argument with my own husband, for no good reason at all. Looking at it now I can see where I took in my friends anger (and this hasn’t been the first conversation like that recently) and turned it inward and out at my own husband. In my own rational mind today, I apologized to him for initiating a ridiculous argument and blowing things out of proportion. And in hindsight, I can remember so, so many other incidents where similar things have happened, but never put two and two together. I had never heard of an empath before now.
There are many other symptoms that I experience daily, but now I know what it is. So thank you for this article and helping me to understand, well, me. And I’m going to celebrate it, instead of looking at it as some do, like this is a burden. Its a wonderful opportunity to connect with others, as long as I can master the skills to manage it. Mindfulness and distancing myself I have gotten good at, but identifying the origin is new to me and will take work.
Thank you so much for this article-not only for helping me understand myself, but for identifying what skills are important for me to keep myself grounded, and be able to use my empathy in a good way without being overwhelmed by it. With so many things going on in my life right now-moving across provinces, health issues, it is an important time for me to consciously use these skills to keep from being swallowed up in the approval or disapproval of others over my choices or actions and stay true to myself and my family.
Thank you.
Modern science is a great disappointment in that regard, many of these spiritual experience, anything out of the ordinary, due to lack of understanding, is immediately given a label and prescription.
The Shamans of the Western worlds are all in mental institutions; they received their calling, they shared with doctors the words of their spiritual guides and they end up doped out of their minds to numb those feelings.
Being capable of distinguishing others emotions as your own does make it sound like you experience some of the manifestations of being an empath. The difference is very subtle compared to feeling empathy, but only those who have experienced the subtlety of it will understand; the both feel the pain of the other, but one of them has a less defined veil of self and feels it with more intensity.
You gift seems to have manifested strongly, it’s a shame you hadn’t heard of “empaths” earlier as it would have saved you a lot of problems and confusion. This is why I began writing about Empaths, I’ve had a few of our Involution students make similar revelations to the ones you have and we figured out they had been affected by emotional frequencies of others as well.
I applaud your positive outlook on this gift, because it truly is a gift. Many might see it as a burden, as something to get rid of, but that’s because they haven’t learned to ground themselves, they haven’t put the effort in to establish roots in their core. Empaths are like a tree and the emotional frequency of others is like the wind. You must create strong roots for yourself if you are going to take on all these strong winds. I’m so happy you are doing just that, imagine for example if every psychologist had the capacity to be an empath, how much more efficient they would be.
You’re very welcome Alyssa, if it’s only a few lives that we enhance by providing awareness, help and information; it makes our mission and work through our website and practice worthwhile.
Feel free to contact us if you need guidance or help with anything :)