Ghosts Among Us - James Van Praagh [70]
Unfortunately, the nature of television is sensationalistic, and the producers have all the control. Since the executive producer of Beyond could not predict the outcome of my readings, she instructed the segment producers (unbeknownst to me) to find people in severely desperate situations. She assumed that the more emotional and layered an event, the better chance I would have of getting clear and accurate communication. The layers may not have come through, but exceptionally real human drama did.
Even with years of experience, I could not predict the toll these negative and distressing situations would take on me. Because I had to open myself up to the spirit world, I would invite all sorts of energy into my aura. I was constantly centering and grounding myself through meditation and visualization techniques, but exposure to such negative energy still left me vulnerable to horrendous emotional upheaval. No matter how much protection I surrounded myself with, the constant barrage of negative, hurtful, and painful energy took its toll on my psyche. It was as if I were a target on a firing range wearing only a bulletproof vest.
After several months of communicating with homicides, suicides, and other forms of human depravity and destruction, I was unable to get a good night’s sleep. My diet was off; I ate stuff I had never eaten before. I became irritated at the drop of a hat. It never occurred to me that my worn-out feelings were due to the readings. I assumed I was exhausted from long hours of taping and a very hectic schedule. However, it was much more than that.
Eventually, I made an appointment with my good friend Michael Tamura, a renowned psychic healer. Michael is very gifted, not only at pulling out energy on a psychic level but at discerning its characteristics and its source. During the two-hour session, Michael peeled off several layers of energy belonging to many dead people. What surprised me, however, was the amount of energy he pulled off from the people in the audience who had bizarre expectations of what I would reveal. The most interesting energy that Michael peeled off my aura was the fearful energy of network executives and the show’s producers. Michael explained that one of the female producers was invalidated as a child and she “needed” the television series to become a hit so that she could feel as successful as her male counterparts.
To say the least, I was amazed at Michael’s findings. After his healing intervention, I felt like my old self again. Surges of incredible energy ran through my body. That night I had the first good night’s sleep I’d had in months, and I was less irritable and impatient than I had been. (I will describe Michael’s protection technique later in this chapter.)
Michael reminded me of something I had known but forgot to use on my own behalf. When we give our energy to others, we have to get it back; otherwise, we eventually feel depleted. Ever since that time, whenever I read for someone, the same evening I meditate on the person and visualize my own energy leaving him or her and returning to me. It works! Never again have I felt that enormous sense of exhaustion and irritation.
GHOSTS ON THE PROWL
I believe that a ghost can invade a person’s aura and influence the physical vessel in order to relive a particular physical experience. In the previous chapter, I explained how a ghost