If you’ve ever ended the day exhausted and thought, “I didn’t even do that much… why am I wiped?”, this conversation is for you. Because some tiredness comes from doing too much, but some comes from giving too much—emotionally, energetically, quietly. Learning how to protect your energy may be exactly what your body has been asking for.

In a recent Homes That Heal episode, I sat down with Umashnee Naidoo, an energy healer and founder of Find Your Light Wellness. From the very first moments, it was clear this wasn’t about becoming someone new or fixing what’s broken. It was about remembering who you are underneath the noise, the expectations, and the constant pull outward.

This post is an invitation to slow down, soften your shoulders, and explore what it really means to protect your energy—and why doing so may be one of the most healing choices you make this year.

Why So Many People Feel Energetically Depleted

Burnout doesn’t always look like falling apart.

More often, it shows up as functioning just fine on the outside while feeling disconnected, heavy, or quietly numb on the inside. You’re getting through the days. You’re showing up. But something feels off, even when nothing obvious is wrong.

Many people I talk to are doing all the “right” things. They eat well and move their bodies. They care deeply about their families and their work. They’re responsible, capable, and resilient. And yet, their energy feels thin.

From an energetic perspective, this makes perfect sense.

When you’re constantly giving, anticipating, caretaking, people-pleasing, or bracing yourself for the next demand, your energy field never gets a chance to fully repair. Small leaks add up. Over time, they turn into real exhaustion—one that sleep alone doesn’t fix.

This is where learning to protect your energy becomes less of a luxury and more of a necessity.

What It Really Means to Protect Your Energy

When we talk about protecting your energy, it’s easy to picture walls, withdrawal, or shutting people out. In reality, it’s something much softer—and far more powerful.

Protecting your energy is about discernment.

Your energy is your vitality, your intuition, and your capacity to respond rather than react. When it’s scattered or depleted, even simple decisions can feel overwhelming. When it’s intact, you move through life with more clarity, resilience, and ease.

Umashnee explains this through the lens of the energy body—a subtle field that surrounds and interpenetrates the physical body. This field holds emotional experiences, unprocessed stress, and long-standing survival patterns.

When parts of that field become dense or blocked, you don’t just feel it emotionally. You feel it physically, mentally, and spiritually as well. Protecting your energy isn’t about avoiding life. It’s about maintaining integrity in your own energetic space so life doesn’t drain you dry.

Burnout, Sensitivity, and the Cost of Being “The Strong One”

Highly sensitive, intuitive people often learned early how to be the steady ones. The reliable ones. The ones who hold everything together.

Over time, sensitivity without boundaries turns into overload.

If you’re empathic or deeply perceptive, you’re likely absorbing far more than you realize—other people’s emotions, expectations, stress, and even their unspoken fears. Without conscious practices to protect your energy, your nervous system stays stuck in low-grade vigilance.

And that constant state of alertness is exhausting.

Here’s the reframe that changes everything: needing energetic boundaries doesn’t mean you’re weak. It means you’re wired differently, and your system requires a different kind of care.

Darkness Isn’t the Enemy — It’s the Doorway

One of the most grounding reminders Umashnee shares is this: darkness isn’t something to fear or eliminate. Darkness is simply the absence of light.

Think about walking into a dark room. Your body tenses. Your mind fills in worst-case scenarios. Yet the moment you flip on the light, your nervous system settles. Nothing in the room changed; only your awareness did.

In much the same way, when we avoid uncomfortable emotions, old wounds, or patterns that no longer serve us, they don’t disappear. They wait.

Protecting your energy doesn’t mean bypassing the hard stuff. It means bringing enough presence and light to meet it safely, so it no longer runs the show from the shadows.

The Body Knows When It’s at War

Here’s a truth worth sitting with: you cannot be at war with the body you live in.

So many people approach healing, weight changes, or wellness from a place of frustration or self-criticism. Energetically speaking, the body doesn’t respond to force. It responds to safety.

When your body feels unsafe—emotionally or physically—it holds on. It clings to tension, old patterns, and even weight as a form of protection.

But when you slow down, ground yourself, and soften the way you speak to your body, it receives a different message: I’m safe now. I’m allowed to let go.

That shift alone can be profoundly healing.

A Simple Practice to Protect Your Energy (Anywhere, Anytime)

One of the most practical tools Umashnee shares is beautifully simple and surprisingly powerful.

When you feel overwhelmed, drained, or energetically exposed:

• Place your feet on the ground
• Bring your palms together at your heart center
• Take a slow, steady breath in
• Gently affirm: I am the light

While subtle from the outside, this practice closes your energetic circuit, draws awareness back to your heart, and signals safety to your nervous system.

Rather than pushing anything away, you’re calling yourself back home.

Protect Your Energy Without Disconnecting From Life

One common misconception about energetic boundaries is that they make you cold, guarded, or distant. In truth, the opposite is often the case.

When your energy is protected and intact:

• You show up more fully, not less
• You respond instead of react
• You feel less responsible for other people’s emotions
• You trust your intuition more clearly

Most importantly, you stop leaking energy into situations that were never yours to carry in the first place.

Protecting your energy isn’t about doing less. It’s about doing what matters from a grounded, regulated place.

A Peek Into My Own Practice

Before most podcast recordings or meaningful conversations, you’ll often find me outside—barefoot if possible—standing in the grass or even the snow, letting the sun hit my face.

It’s simple on purpose.

I imagine roots growing from my feet into the earth, slow my breath, and remember that I’m supported. Those few minutes of grounding change everything that follows.

Protecting your energy doesn’t require an elaborate ritual. More often, it just requires intention and permission to pause.

Your Energy Is Precious — Treat It That Way

Your energy is your life force, and it deserves care.

In a world designed to distract, rush, and deplete you, choosing to protect your energy is a radical act of self-respect. It’s choosing presence over pressure, awareness over autopilot, and light over fear.

You don’t need to become someone new to heal. You simply need to protect what’s already within you and allow it to shine.

Umashnee’s Bio:

I embarked on a journey of self-discovery and healing after being diagnosed with severe depression, physically burnt out, obese and questioning the very point of my life. My path began after resigning from the field of Mechanical Engineering, and discovering the ancient healing modalities of Yoga, Primordial Sound Meditation and Energy Medicine. I have combined these wisdom practices with modern technologies to create unique approaches to health and wellness that encompass spiritual healing within our energy bodies. This has helped me reach levels of health, joy, energy, vitality, and freedom that I never knew were possible, and to guide my clients to do the same.

True, deep healing from within guides us to “Who we are”, the “I AM” presence, the essence of who we came here to be. It is my purpose is to guide other souls along this authentic path of awakening to their divine purpose, as we heal our wounds and clear energetic imprints, generational curses and affinities that manifest as ill health and imbalance in the body and mind. l created Find Your Light Wellness, to share these beautiful gifts with the world, so that we can all move into a new paradigm of multidimensional health, awakening and enlightenment, as we learn, grow and evolve with compassion and unconditional love for ourselves, into the Highest Versions of ourselves. The healing process revolves around our reconnection to our innate nature as cyclical beings of the planet, so much of the dysregulation in our lives stems from this disconnection.

Connect with Umashnee:

• Website: https://findyourlightwellness.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/umashnee-naidoo
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@findyourlightwellness
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/find_your_light_wellness
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Findyourlight_

Resources

• Check out my website for more infrared sauna info
• Take a peek at my Jen Recommends list to see more of my favorite products.
• Grab my FREE Home Wellness Checklist here for more tips.

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Disclaimer: This podcast is for general information purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, or other professional health care services. The statements and views expressed are not medical advice and are not meant to replace the advice of your medical doctor. This podcast, including Jen Heller and her guests, disclaims any responsibility and any adverse effects you may experience from the specific use of the information contained herein. The opinions of guests are their own and this podcast does not endorse or accept responsibility for the statements made by guests. The content of this podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you think you have a medical condition, consult your licensed physician.