According to the Andean tradition, we live in a world of living energy, called the kawsay pacha. Like so much of this tradition, the conception of energy is simple yet elegant and powerful.

The animating energy of the universe, kawsay, is just that—energy. It has no moral overlay. There is no good or bad energy, no negative or positive energy, no angelic or demonic energy. There is only energy that is moving freely or slowed down.

Sami is the energy of the cosmos and everything in it. It is refined, free-flowing energy. Another meaning of the word sami is “nectar.” Energy is the nectar of the cosmos on which everything feeds.

However, we humans have a singular talent. We alone can slow energy down, and we can even cause it to get stuck or blocked within us. When that happens, the energy is called hucha, or heavy energy. Only humans create hucha. But here’s the rub. It’s not bad or negative energy. It’s just sami that is slowed down and so not flowing freely. There is nothing to fear about it. If you feel weighed down by heavy energy, you simply cleanse your energy body, using simple intentional techniques.

You never have to fear energy. You never have to protect yourself from energy—unless you believe you do. What you may perceive as “negative” energy is energy onto which you have projected fearful beliefs. It’s not really negative, and you do not have to fear it or protect yourself against it. It’s just energy constrained from moving freely, and it has no capacity to harm you. If an energy feels too heavy for you, just leave it alone. Empower yourself so that one day you can freely interact with it. This is the liberating news of the Andean mystical tradition. So if you are in protective mode, if you have put yourself in an energetic jail, it’s time to break out, permanently.

It’s time to stop wasting your energy by being fearful of what can’t hurt you. There’s no need to surround yourself with white light or a golden shield or whatever symbol of protection you favor. It’s time to determine what about your awareness is causing the nectar of the universe to slow down and become heavy. The Andean tradition has simple intention and energy techniques to cleanse your personal energy body of hucha and empower it with sami. In fact, according to master paqo don Benito Qoriwaman, using only the two primary cleansing and empowering techniques, you can reach enlightenment. How’s that for simple yet powerful?

The bottom line in the sacred, mystical work of the Andean path is that any energetic jail sentence is a self-imposed imprisonment. You can set yourself free at any time. In fact, the goal of the sacred work is to cultivate such a refined energy body that you can freely interact with the energy of the universe in all its permutations. You want to joyfully “taste” every cosmic “flavor” of energy,  be open and receptive to the experiences of life, and be in free and unrestrained ayni (interchange) with the animating field of living energy.