How to Activate Your Spiritual Gifts: Intuition, Energy Healing & Dragon Energy
Spiritual gifts do not always awaken in ways that feel neat, familiar, or easy to explain.
Sometimes they begin with a vivid dream.
A recurring symbol.
A powerful bodily sensation.
An intuitive message.
Or an experience so unexpected that your first thought is:
What in the world just happened to me?
In my conversation with Theresa Nguyen, we explored spiritual awakening, intuition, energy healing, ancestral patterns, mentorship, and her unusual personal relationship with what she calls dragon energy.
Theresa’s path is a beautiful reminder that spiritual development does not always look the way we expect it to.
And perhaps more importantly:
Your spiritual gifts do not have to look like someone else’s in order to feel meaningful to you.
Prefer to Watch?
In this episode of the Spiritual Spotlight Series, Theresa Nguyen and I explore spiritual awakening, intuitive development, energy healing, dragon energy, spiritual mentorship, signs, synchronicities, and learning to trust your own unique path.
Key Takeaways
Spiritual gifts may become noticeable through dreams, intuitive nudges, recurring symbols, bodily sensations, or unexpected spiritual experiences.
Unusual experiences do not automatically need an immediate explanation.
Self-trust develops through curiosity, discernment, and repeated personal experience.
A spiritual mentor should support your growth without asking you to surrender your own authority.
Fear of judgment can sometimes keep people from exploring or expressing experiences that feel meaningful to them.
Spiritual development should include grounding, safety, and the freedom to say no.
Theresa describes dragon energy through her own spiritual framework; your path may look completely different.
When Spiritual Gifts Awaken in Unexpected Ways
Theresa did not grow up expecting to work with dragons.
Raised Catholic in a traditional Vietnamese refugee family, she was familiar with dragons through cultural symbolism and the Chinese zodiac, but she did not initially connect them with her spiritual work.
Her path had already included energy healing and spiritual exploration when she attended a retreat at Mount Shasta in 2022.
During a sound bath, Theresa says she began experiencing extremely strong sensations throughout her body.
Her heart was racing.
The rhythm of the drum seemed to intensify what she was feeling.
She initially tried to suppress the experience because she did not understand what was happening.
Eventually, she surrendered to it.
Theresa describes spontaneous sounds beginning to move through her voice—clicking, hissing, tonal sounds, and vocalizations that did not feel consciously planned.
Later, she says she perceived dragons above her and interpreted the entire experience as her first conscious encounter with dragon energy.
That experience became the beginning of a spiritual relationship that she continues to explore today.
Whether you understand an experience like Theresa’s literally, symbolically, energetically, or as a deeply personal altered state, there is an interesting lesson underneath it:
We do not always have to understand an experience immediately in order to become curious about what it means to us.
Why Fear Can Appear When Spiritual Gifts Begin to Awaken
Theresa did not immediately start telling the world about her experience.
In fact, she waited.
She worried about judgment.
What would her family think?
Her husband?
Her children?
What would people say about sounds that felt raw, unusual, and difficult to explain?
That fear is relatable even if your own spiritual experiences are much less dramatic.
Maybe you had a dream that felt unusually meaningful.
Maybe you sensed something before it happened.
Maybe you began feeling energy during meditation.
Maybe you feel drawn toward a spiritual practice that no one in your family understands.
Sometimes the hardest part is not the experience.
It is the fear of being seen differently because of it.
Theresa eventually realized that she had been searching for someone else whose spiritual expression looked exactly like hers.
When she could not find that, she began considering another possibility:
Maybe her path was not supposed to look like anyone else’s.
Your Spiritual Gifts Do Not Have to Look Like Anyone Else’s
This is one of my favorite themes from Theresa’s story.
We can become so focused on finding proof that our spiritual experience is “normal” that we accidentally create another set of rules for ourselves.
A medium should experience spirit this way.
An intuitive should receive information that way.
An energy healer should use this modality.
A spiritual awakening should look like this.
But what if your experience does not fit neatly into a category?
That does not automatically mean it is divine guidance.
But it also does not mean you have to immediately dismiss it.
Stay curious.
Stay grounded.
Observe.
Ask questions.
Pay attention to how the experience affects your actual life.
Does it help you become more compassionate?
More present?
More honest?
More empowered?
More connected with yourself?
Those questions matter far more to me than whether your spiritual experience looks impressive from the outside.
Theresa’s Story of Voice, Family and Freedom
Theresa’s journey also connects deeply with her family history.
As the daughter of Vietnamese refugees, she spoke about recognizing the sacrifices her parents made so she could have freedom and opportunity.
One line from our conversation stayed with me:
Her parents did not risk their lives for her not to love hers.
That is powerful.
Theresa also connected her spiritual development with learning to use her voice.
In the family environment she grew up in, silence could represent respect.
Being the “good girl” could mean:
Do not argue.
Do not create trouble.
Do not stand out.
Do not have too many opinions.
And then her spiritual path brought her into an experience that literally asked her to make sound.
There is something beautiful about that.
Sometimes healing is not about becoming quieter.
Sometimes it is about finally allowing ourselves to be heard.
What Is Dragon Energy?
Theresa describes dragon energy as an ancient spiritual or life-force energy associated with transformation, creation, awakening, and the activation of spiritual gifts.
This is Theresa’s spiritual framework and personal experience, rather than a scientifically established form of energy.
Within her work, she views dragons as spiritual allies that can help people explore deeper aspects of themselves.
She also connects this work with ancestral patterns and the idea that intuitive or spiritual gifts may have been suppressed in families because expressing them was once unsafe or unacceptable.
You may interpret that literally as ancestral or energetic inheritance.
You may understand it more symbolically.
Either way, there is a useful question underneath it:
What parts of yourself have you learned to hide because they did not feel safe to express?
Your voice?
Creativity?
Sensitivity?
Intuition?
Emotions?
Spiritual curiosity?
Sometimes awakening is not about becoming something new.
It is about giving yourself permission to explore parts of yourself that have been quiet for a very long time.
Signs Your Spiritual Gifts May Be Awakening
There is no definitive checklist that proves someone’s spiritual abilities are “activating.”
But during periods of greater spiritual awareness, some people report noticing experiences such as:
1. Stronger Intuitive Nudges
You may begin noticing gut feelings or moments of knowing that you previously ignored.
2. Vivid or Meaningful Dreams
Dreams may become more memorable or seem to carry themes that feel relevant to your life.
3. Repeating Symbols
Animals, colors, words, numbers, images, or other symbols may repeatedly catch your attention.
The important part is not automatically assuming everything is a message.
Ask what the symbol means to you.
4. Greater Sensitivity
Certain environments, people, conversations, or practices may feel different than they did before.
5. A Desire to Express Yourself More Honestly
Sometimes awakening looks less like seeing spirits and more like finally saying what you actually mean.
6. Curiosity About New Spiritual Practices
You may suddenly feel drawn to meditation, energy work, intuitive development, sound healing, ancestral work, or another spiritual path.
Curiosity does not obligate you to believe anything.
It is simply permission to explore.
How to Work With Signs and Synchronicities Without Losing Discernment
Theresa talked about asking for very specific signs as a way of building trust in her relationship with spiritual guidance.
For example, someone might ask to see something unusually specific rather than something they encounter every day.
The value of the practice is not proving that the universe is personally arranging every object around you.
It can simply help you become more present and observant.
If you enjoy working with signs, try this:
Choose something specific.
Set an intention to notice it.
Give yourself a reasonable period of time.
Do not obsessively search for it.
If it appears, notice how you feel and what meaning you naturally associate with it.
Avoid making major decisions solely because a symbol appeared.
Spiritual signs can be meaningful.
But discernment still matters.
A dragon on a billboard does not necessarily mean you should quit your job tomorrow. 😉
Safety Matters in Spiritual Exploration
One of the things I appreciated in Theresa’s story was the role of safety.
During her intense Mount Shasta experience, she was with someone she trusted.
That mattered.
Spiritual development should not require forcing yourself into experiences that feel overwhelming or unsafe.
You are allowed to stop.
You are allowed to say no.
You are allowed to question what is happening.
You are allowed to seek support.
And if you experience persistent voices, visions, physical symptoms, severe anxiety, or changes that interfere with daily functioning, spiritual interpretations do not replace appropriate medical or mental-health evaluation.
Grounded spirituality makes room for both.
Why a Spiritual Mentor Can Be Helpful
When you are exploring something unfamiliar, a mentor can sometimes provide perspective.
But Theresa and I both touched on something important:
Do not put a spiritual teacher on a pedestal.
A good mentor should help you become more capable of trusting yourself.
Not less.
Before working with someone, consider:
Do they have meaningful experience with what they teach?
Are they comfortable answering questions?
Do they make guarantees or exaggerated promises?
Do they respect your boundaries?
Are you allowed to disagree?
Do they encourage your own discernment?
Do you feel pressured to keep buying the next level of access?
Do you feel more empowered after interacting with them?
A spiritual teacher is still human.
Your mentor can guide you.
They cannot become your inner authority.
The Five Pillars of Theresa’s Dragon Energy Work
Theresa describes her dragon-energy work through five primary themes.
Again, these are part of her spiritual system and teachings.
1. Creation
Theresa associates creation with life force, rebirth, expression, creativity, and becoming.
It is the part of us that wants to bring something new into the world.
2. Transformation
Transformation is not always the pretty butterfly moment.
Sometimes it is the cocoon.
The uncertain phase.
The identity that no longer fits.
The old life dissolving before the new one has taken shape.
Transformation can be uncomfortable precisely because we are between versions of ourselves.
3. Activation
Theresa uses activation to describe spiritual gifts or abilities becoming more noticeable.
Rather than forcing those experiences, she encourages curiosity and self-awareness.
4. Transfiguration
Within Theresa’s framework, transfiguration refers to becoming more fully connected with what she considers our authentic spiritual essence.
You might also understand this more simply as becoming more fully yourself.
5. Transmutation
Theresa describes transmutation as releasing or transforming energy, beliefs, and patterns that no longer feel aligned.
Whether you use energetic language or not, most of us understand the experience of realizing:
I cannot keep carrying this the same way.
A Gentle Practice for Exploring Spiritual Connection
You do not need to channel dragons or recreate Theresa’s experience.
Actually, please don't try to manufacture one.
If you want to explore your own spiritual awareness, begin much more simply.
Find a quiet place.
Take a few comfortable breaths.
Ask:
What am I being invited to notice right now?
Then sit.
Notice what arises.
A thought.
An emotion.
A bodily sensation.
An image.
Or nothing at all.
Do not force meaning onto the experience.
Write down anything that feels significant.
Then return to your day.
Spiritual awareness develops through relationship—not through demanding that something mystical happen on command.
Your Gifts Are Not Here to Make You Fit In
Perhaps the most interesting lesson from Theresa’s story has nothing to do with dragons.
It has to do with permission.
Permission to be different.
Permission to use your voice.
Permission to explore.
Permission to question.
Permission to stop comparing your path with everyone else’s.
Sometimes spiritual awakening confronts the identity that once kept us safe.
It may show us how much energy we have spent trying to be understood, approved of, or accepted.
And eventually we are asked:
Who would I be if I stopped trying so hard to fit the version of me that everyone else expects?
That question can open a door all by itself.
Rachel’s Takeaway
What I love about conversations like this is that we do not have to share every belief to become curious about somebody’s experience.
Theresa’s relationship with dragon energy is uniquely hers.
Your spiritual path may involve angels.
Akashic Records.
Mediumship.
Prayer.
Nature.
Meditation.
Energy healing.
Or none of those things.
The deeper lesson is not:
“You need to connect with dragons.”
It is:
You are allowed to discover what spirituality means to you.
Stay curious.
Stay grounded.
Use discernment.
Do not hand your power to a teacher simply because they sound certain.
And allow your spiritual experiences to make you more present, more compassionate, and more fully yourself.
Because your gifts are not supposed to turn you into somebody else.
Maybe they are helping you remember who you have always been.
Ready to Go Deeper?
If you are exploring spiritual awakening, intuition, energy healing, or your own unique spiritual gifts, continue the journey with me through Akashic Angels and the Spiritual Spotlight Series.
My intention is to create a space where we can explore extraordinary spiritual ideas while staying grounded in self-trust, discernment, and personal sovereignty.
Because you do not need someone else to define your spiritual path for you.
You are allowed to discover it for yourself.
