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technique ENERGY WORK "I'm Not Working Right Now" Learn to Set Energetic Boundaries By Cyndi Dale normally bother you, but this is an emergency. You've probably even had a client leave a session and then return to your work space, asking for "just a little more help, please." I'm an intuitive practitioner, which means I've received a host of unusual inquiries. Once, a client I hadn't seen for years approached me at the movie theater. She asked whether her mother, who had cancer, could be healed. Another time, I was enjoying a spa day in Iceland. A stranger I'd never met knew my face from a book I'd written. He asked for an intuitive session on the spot—in the whirlpool. Petitioners don't realize they aren't only asking for your time when a request invades your personal space. There are other physical energies at stake. And, of course you want to accommodate when possible, especially if the inquiry comes from your mother. Still and yet, you deserve boundaries, both subtle and practical. SIGNS OF—AND SOLUTIONS FOR— SUBTLE COMPROMISE People have a right to make a request. It's on us to say yes or no. But we can spare ourselves the temptation to give away our valuable life energy— or absorb another's problematic energy—if we recognize the signs of subtle compromise. Subtle compromise describes what happens when we swap subtle energies with someone in a way that is unhealthy for us. Depending on our vulnerabilities, it's 92 m a s s a g e & b o d y w o r k n o v e m b e r / d e c e m b e r 2 0 2 0 What can you do when caught with a request—or demand, depending on how you look at it—that requires assistance outside of your work-time parameters? Nearly everyone in a health-care profession shares a similar concern. You're not in work mode. Rather, you're grocery shopping, having a blast at a party, or walking in the park. Then someone asks you to assist them outside the boundaries of a session. It's hard. We've all been asked to help "only this once." Told by a loved one or client that they wouldn't