Most people assume that channeling is a rare gift reserved for a select few...perhaps those born with special abilities or years of spiritual training. But what if everything you've been told about channeling is incomplete?
In a revealing conversation with Stephanie Banks, an intuitive channel who communicates with spirit guides, animals, trees, and even planetary consciousness, we discover that channeling isn't a mystical superpower...it's a learnable skill that everyone already possesses. What separates those who actively channel from those who don't is simply curiosity, openness, and the willingness to get out of your own way.
The Birth of a Channel: How Limitations Become Possibilities
Stephanie's journey into channeling began not through ambition but through necessity. When her mother developed dementia, traditional communication became impossible. Words failed where love remained. Rather than accept this barrier, Stephanie discovered a different pathway: soul-to-soul connection.
"I was never told that I couldn't channel Mother Earth," Stephanie explains. "I was never told that I couldn't channel trees and I was never told that I couldn't channel anything I wanted to. So I do, and I teach other people how to do so."
This simple insight, that we are often limited not by our abilities but by our beliefs, is revolutionary. We inherit invisible boundaries from culture, family, and society. These boundaries convince us that spiritual awakening is meant for others, that intuition development requires rare talent, and that accessing higher consciousness demands exceptional circumstances. But what if the only real barrier is our own imagination being told it can't?
Understanding Channeling: It's Not What You Think
One of the most common misconceptions about channeling is that it requires completely stepping outside yourself, that a channel becomes an empty vessel for outside forces. Stephanie challenges this assumption head-on.
"We're all making this up all the time," she says. "And that is very freeing when you realize that."
This doesn't mean channeling is fiction. Rather, it means recognizing that imagination is the gateway to channeling. Every physical object in existence first existed as imagination...as thought, vision, and intention. The same is true for channeling. You're not abandoning your consciousness; you're expanding it.
Channeling happens when you enter what Stephanie calls "imagination space", the realm of third-eye perception, receptivity, and spiritual connection. This is where imagery becomes accessible, language flows, and alignment with higher consciousness occurs. You are not replacing yourself; you are aligning yourself with higher frequencies of consciousness.
The Practice of Presence: Your First Step Toward Modern Spirituality
Before any channeling can occur, something essential must happen: you must learn to be quiet. Not quiet in voice alone, but quiet in the constant mental chatter that defines modern life.
This is where most people encounter their first real obstacle. In a world designed to capture your attention, creating space for receptivity feels revolutionary, and it is. The constant stream of notifications, emails, news cycles, and social media creates what Stephanie calls "scattered energy." Your consciousness becomes fragmented across dozens of digital channels, unable to focus on the only channel that matters: the one connecting you to spiritual guidance.
"We have to pause in silence because you cannot receive when you are talking or when you're thinking," Stephanie emphasizes. "You cannot receive when you're going a mile a minute like the culture has us running at."
The good news? Presence doesn't require perfection. Stephanie describes herself as "a terrible meditator", her mind ramps up with distractions, yet she continues showing up. This persistence itself is the practice. Like building a muscle, meditation and conscious presence strengthen your capacity to receive spiritual guidance.
Three Proven Methods for Accessing Your Channeling Abilities
1. The Foundation: Earthing and Grounding
Before diving into active channeling practices, Stephanie recommends earthing, the simple yet profound practice of standing barefoot on soil, grass, or sand. This isn't mystical theory; it's about reconnecting your consciousness to the planetary frequency.
"Mother Earth is the best energy I know of to drain what doesn't serve us," Stephanie explains. "You stand barefoot on the planet and let this energy drain out of you, and you draw up this pure, positive, loving frequency that is earth energy...that's universal love."
When you earth yourself regularly, you're not just reducing stress or releasing negative emotions. You're aligning your vibrational field with Gaia's frequency, the planetary consciousness that communicates with intention and love. This alignment is the foundation upon which all channeling rests. You cannot channel higher consciousness while disconnected from the physical frequency that supports all life.
2. The Practice: Meditation and Receptivity
While formal meditation trips many people up, they expect their minds to go blank and feel like failures when thoughts arise, there's a simpler approach grounded in realism.
Your meditation practice doesn't need to produce a state of blankness. Instead, it needs to produce a state of receptivity. Stephanie describes the ideal state as moving mental activity from your head into your heart. When you "keep it out of your head," you're directing consciousness downward, away from constant analysis and judgment, into the space where intuition development actually occurs.
Start small. Five minutes of sitting quietly with the intention to listen is enough. The intention matters more than the duration. You're essentially announcing to your higher self, your spirit guides, and your own consciousness: "I am open to receiving."
3. The Shortcut: Channeling Through Sleep and Dreams
If daytime presence feels impossible, there's another path: channeling while you sleep. Your ancestors, spirit guides, and higher self can reach you more easily when your analytical mind is offline.
Here's how to activate this practice:
Before sleep, create a simple ritual. Clear any energy that attached to you during the day...visualize releasing worry, stress, and others' emotions. Then invite specific guidance: "I welcome my grandmother Rose to share in my dreams" or "I request clarity on the decision I'm facing."
Keep pen and paper by your bedside. You might wake in the middle of the night with the answer you've been seeking, or a name, a direction, or a feeling. Not everyone remembers dreams vividly, but that doesn't mean communication isn't happening. The guidance often integrates into your consciousness without conscious recall.
One of Stephanie's clients practices exactly this method. She goes to sleep asking specific questions and wakes with the answers, sometimes the exact name she needed or the precise direction for her next step. The beauty is that soul purpose becomes clear through these nocturnal sessions in ways that daytime worry cannot produce.
What Messages From Spirit Guides Actually Contain
When people first learn about channeling, they often wonder: What do these messages actually sound like? Are they mystical and obscure, or practical and grounded?
According to Stephanie, channeled messages from genuine spirit guides always share one characteristic: they come from unconditional love. They never contain judgment, shame, or fear, only guidance toward your highest good.
When Stephanie channeled Karen's spirit guides of health during their live session, the message wasn't cryptic or complicated. The guides offered three practical recommendations: notice the miracle of your fingernails and share that observation with others, give yourself a scalp massage to reconnect with your body, and consciously send healing fluids to your joints through massage and movement.
These aren't profound mystical revelations. They're simple, embodied practices that reconnect you with the miracle of your physical form. This is what channeling actually delivers: practical wisdom wrapped in love, guidance aimed at helping you become more conscious, more present, and more aligned with your soul's purpose.
The Five-Dimensional Consciousness Connection
Stephanie emphasizes a crucial distinction: she only channels from fifth-dimensional consciousness, the realm of unity, unconditional love, and divine connection. This is why she never encounters dark or heavy energies.
Before she agreed to channel publicly, she made an agreement with her guides: "Please only let through those whose vibrational frequency matches or exceeds my own." They agreed and became her gatekeepers. This protective agreement has held for years.
Fifth-dimensional consciousness isn't mystical, it's the frequency of souls existing beyond separation, judgment, and fear. When channeled messages come from this level, they transform relationships, clarify life purpose, and unlock spiritual growth that seemed impossible at the physical level alone.
This distinction matters because it means channeling isn't about accessing random cosmic information. It's about connecting with consciousness at a specific frequency...the frequency of your own highest self, your guides, and the unified consciousness that underlies all existence. Everyone can access this frequency; most simply haven't learned the technique.
Channeling Loved Ones: Messages From Life After Death
One of the most powerful applications of channeling is receiving messages from departed loved ones. This isn't spiritualism or parlor tricks, it's recognizing that consciousness doesn't end with physical death.
Stephanie describes an experience with a client who wanted to hear from a sibling on the other side. The channeled message wasn't new information, it was confirmation of wisdom the sibling had shared while alive. But here's the profound part: hearing it again, this time channeled through a clear conduit, the message landed differently.
The living sister finally believed it. She finally received it in a way her human personality couldn't block. This is the gift that channeling offers, not new information necessarily, but the ability to receive what we already know in a way that transforms us.
We all have barriers that prevent us from accepting guidance from those closest to us. A daughter might dismiss her mother's advice because of childhood dynamics. A friend might ignore counsel from someone whose opinion she previously questioned. But when that same message comes through a trusted channel, speaking directly from the soul's perspective, the resistance dissolves.
This is why channeling has become integral to modern spirituality and spiritual growth. It bypasses our personality defenses and allows pure soul communication to reach us.
Overcoming the Digital Addiction to Reclaim Your Channeling Power
Here's something Stephanie and her hosts discovered together: the greatest obstacle to spiritual awakening in the modern era isn't lack of ability or absence of guidance. It's the constant pull of digital technology.
Smartphones and social media platforms were intentionally designed to addict us. The research is clear. The consequences are devastating, particularly for youth developing their consciousness during these formative years. This addiction fragments our attention into scattered pieces, making it nearly impossible to access the receptive state channeling requires.
"This is an intentional addiction that we are all subjected to," Stephanie observes. She doesn't offer guilt for succumbing to it. Instead, she offers a solution: accountability.
Announce to your family that you're taking phone-free time. Make it specific: "From 5:00 to 5:30, my phone is in another room." Then, when that time ends, share with your family what you experienced that you wouldn't have if you'd been on your phone. Maybe it's the most meditative tooth-flossing you've ever done. Maybe it's noticing how your child's eyes light up when you're fully present. Maybe it's finally feeling your own breath.
These small moments become the foundation for spiritual growth. They prove to you, repeatedly, that presence is more valuable than anything you might miss on your phone. They rewire your consciousness toward what actually matters.
Your Soul Chose This Body, This Lifetime, and These Challenges
One insight from Stephanie's channeled messages strikes at the heart of spiritual awakening: you chose this. Your soul selected this particular body, these specific relationships, and even these particular challenges before this lifetime began.
This doesn't mean you're stuck accepting everything that happens. Rather, it means recognizing that your soul intentionally entered these circumstances to learn, grow, and expand. Every difficulty is an opportunity for soul purpose to clarify. Every relationship challenge is precisely designed to accelerate your spiritual growth.
This perspective transforms how you approach life after death conversations, manifestation practices, and your relationship with intuition development. You're not a victim of circumstance. You're a conscious being engaging in exactly the growth you need.
The Path Forward: Practical Next Steps
If you're ready to begin your channeling journey, Stephanie offers clear guidance:
First, establish presence. Whether through meditation, time in nature, earthing, or sleep-based channeling, create regular periods of receptivity. Even five minutes matters.
Second, set clear intentions. Ask specific questions. Request guidance from particular guides, loved ones, or your higher self. Clarity of intention creates clarity of reception.
Third, practice accountability. Announce your spiritual goals to people who matter—your family, your closest friends. Their awareness and support creates the energetic container where transformation happens.
Finally, trust the process. You're already channeling. You've been channeling your entire life through your intuition, your hunches, and your unexpected insights. You're simply becoming conscious of what you're already doing and learning to develop it intentionally.
The messages you need are already available. Your spirit guides have been trying to reach you. Your loved ones on the other side are still connected to you. Mother Earth herself is communicating, asking for your awareness and your service.
The only question remaining is this: Are you ready to listen?
Your spiritual teachers, whether they appear as guides, ancestors, or the conscious planet itself, are waiting. They've always been waiting. And the moment you create space for presence and receptivity, they'll step through with exactly the guidance your soul needs for this exact moment in your journey.
That's not mysticism. That's consciousness remembering itself. That's life after death becoming life after awakening. That's the truth that was always there, waiting for you to slow down enough to hear it.
____________________________________________________________________________
Curious minds, meet your tribe. Every week on The Skeptic Metaphysicians, we dive into the mysteries of consciousness, spirituality, and the human experience, mixing humor, heart, and a healthy dose of wonder.
Don’t just scroll...evolve with us! Join Will and Karen on The Skeptic Metaphysicians for mind-bending conversations, laughter, and aha-moments you won’t forget.
Watch or listen wherever you get your podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter for exclusive insights, behind-the-scenes stories, and inspiration to keep your vibe high between episodes.
Because awakening doesn’t have to be serious… it just has to be real.
Raising Spiritually Awakened Kids Without Accidentally Screwing Them Up (Too Much)
