How to effectively remove bad energy from a person

Have you ever spent time with someone and, after they leave, felt exhausted, irritable, or had a strange sensation in your body? That’s what many people refer to as “bad energy”: moments when someone’s presence seems to bring the mood down… along with your own.

Here you won’t find magical solutions, but rather a mix of symbolic rituals and emotional advice to help you feel lighter, both inside and out.

What do we mean when we say someone has bad energy?

When we say someone has “bad energy,” we’re almost never talking about something literal. We’re usually describing how they make us feel: tension, discomfort, nervousness, fatigue, irritability… It’s an everyday way of describing the combined effect of their attitude, the way they speak, their current life situation, and how all of that impacts others.

It can also refer to very heavy emotions (anger, resentment, accumulated sadness, envy) that aren’t managed well and end up “spreading” to the environment. This isn’t a medical diagnosis or something that has to be mystical—it’s a label we use to understand why, with certain people, our bodies ask us to keep our distance.

Signs that a person is carrying bad energy

It’s not always easy to tell if someone is “charged,” but certain patterns tend to repeat. Some common signs include:

• You feel drained or get a headache after spending time with that person.
• They talk almost exclusively about problems, drama, or conflict, but never look for solutions.
• They constantly criticize others or are stuck in a mindset of complaining.
• They create tension in the group: arguments, misunderstandings, hurtful comments.
• They seem to enjoy it when things go wrong or downplay your achievements.
• You notice a heavy atmosphere when they arrive and a more relaxed one when they leave.

If several of these signs show up consistently, you may need to remove bad energy from your environment and protect your own emotional balance.

How to remove bad energy from a person

Before looking at specific rituals, remember something important: you can’t change someone who doesn’t want to change, but you can cleanse and protect your emotional space—and even offer support without absorbing their emotional load.

The following rituals for removing bad energy work mainly as tools for emotional and symbolic hygiene, much like opening a window to air out a room.

Rituals to remove bad energy with cleansing baths and showers

A cleansing bath or shower is a moment where you use water to imagine it washing away whatever feels heavy.

You can use coarse salt, aromatic herbs (such as rosemary or lavender), or citrus-scented soaps to reinforce the feeling of cleansing. The idea is that if you’ve spent time with someone who feels emotionally heavy, you later take a mindful shower to remove any bad energy you may have absorbed.

You can try it like this: in the shower, gently rub salt on your arms, neck, and back (avoiding sensitive areas) while thinking about everything you want to release. Then let the water run as you visualize it going down the drain.

If you have a bathtub, you can prepare a warm bath with a handful of salt and a few drops of essential oil. It’s a simple gesture that turns something everyday into a small ritual for removing bad energy and returning to your center.

How to cleanse bad energy using smoke, candles, and natural elements

Another classic way to cleanse bad energy is to use smoke and fire symbolically. People often turn to incense, sage, palo santo, or aromatic sticks, passing them around the body (always carefully) and around the room, as if you were “sweeping away” heavy energy.

Candles are also widely used. Lighting a white candle while focusing on calm, balance, and protection can help you mark a clear before and after, especially after dealing with someone very negative.

If you want to take it a step further, you can combine this with opening windows, tidying up, getting rid of things you no longer want, and adding plants or stones that make you feel at ease. As you air out the space, pass the incense by doors and corners and mentally repeat something like: “Let go of anything that no longer adds anything good.” You don’t need to believe in anything specific—the important thing is that you feel you’re setting boundaries and taking care of your space.

How to help someone lower their negative energy without absorbing it yourself

Sometimes, the person carrying bad energy is someone you care about: a friend, a family member, or your partner. In those cases, it’s not about running away, but about helping without burning yourself out.

Listening is fine, but set limits. You can say things like “this is as much as I can handle today,” or suggest focusing on solutions instead of repeating the same problem over and over.

It’s essential to take care of yourself while being there for them: take deep breaths, allow yourself small breaks, change the subject if you feel yourself being dragged down, and afterward, do a release gesture (go for a walk, write down how you feel, or take one of the cleansing showers mentioned earlier).

That way, removing bad energy from a person doesn’t mean sacrificing yourself—it means staying present from a place of balance.

Common mistakes when trying to remove bad energy from a person

When trying to help or cleanse the environment, it’s easy to fall into certain traps that end up making things worse:

• Believing that you are that person’s salvation. You can support them, but you can’t make decisions for them.
• Using fear-based language (“you’re full of bad vibes,” “you’re toxic”) instead of speaking with respect.
• Forgetting your own limits and saying yes to everything just to avoid conflict.
  Not checking in with your own energy. Sometimes we project onto others things we also need to work on ourselves.
• Relying only on external rituals without changing habits. If there’s no honest communication, no distance when it’s needed, or no professional help when appropriate, the same problems will keep repeating.

If you avoid these mistakes and combine rituals for removing bad energy with healthy boundaries, self-care, and honest communication, it becomes much easier to coexist with intense people without carrying their emotional weight. In the end, it’s not about living obsessed with negativity, but about creating an environment where your energy feels light, protected, and at peace.