Thank you for the healing ball of color and explanation as to why I feel drained. I will try this!

Wonderful posts! Congratulations on starting on the path to be a healer! Most people that have this talent use their hands as their diagnostic tool. One hand to sense the illness or what I describe as the 'wrongness', and the other used to do the repairs. I am a nurse and I use my hands as well as my medical knowledge to help people. The previous posts are quite correct in that you must! clear out the negative or illness energy after your work. You will also find it best to 'ground' yourself before begining work of this nature, otherwise you will use up all of your own personal energy and can become seriously ill.
How do I ground myself? Be aware that the earth is made up of a vast amount of energy. The earth will not become drained if you use some of it, but you can use up your own energy and then be drained. Think of it like you are a battery and the earth is an electrical outlet. I can use my laptop all day when it's plugged in, but only a short while running on batteries. To plug yourself in, or ground, imagine your feet with spikes of golden light from the bottom of your feet connecting deep into the earth. Feel the energy from the earth reaching all the way up from the ground through the top of your head. Feel yourself bathed in the golden light, feel all the negative energy in you drain away from the top of your head through the bottom of your feet.  do this both before and after you use your diagnostic empathy.
This is only one method, there are many more. Use what works for you. the more you use your talent the better you will become with it. Also be aware that there are some things you cannot repair on your own. There is a place for modern medicine, but energy work can help it be more effective.

Thanks Nighthawk!   You helped answer a nagging question that I wasn't able to formulate, that of the difference in my hands and the sensations of the two. It makes sense! When feeling the energy leaving my body, I usually feel it deep within my first chakra. Is this normal? Is this because I am not grounding myself and its my energy leaving me? Thank you everyone for your help.~jules

I used to have the same experience very very often! I would just know when people around me were in pain but it was only ever the people I cared about and it was only ever when I was talking to them in some way. It was always eerily accurate for both me and the other person, but I couldn't get a handle on how much it hurt, only where and what type of pain.

What happened for me that made it stop happening was very disgraceful though... I starting having to take psychiatric medications and the pain predictions/locating stopped. I actually stopped feeling spiritual entirely for about 4 years. I didn't believe in spirits until gradually again recently, due to thought disorder problems. What I mean is I can't "feel" right.

There is just this weird sensation that you're connected with reality and you can tell what's happening around you, can you know what I mean? You just sense what is happening. It started for me with Tarot reading and then I was apparently scrying in some form with the cards. Then I could pinpoint physical pain with a sort of somatic sensation that was ACCURATE.

Somatic hallucination was what someone called it for me, it's a sensation the mind creates in the body when you're aware of something that others can not perceive. Or they are perceiving, but you're communicating it in a different way. It's really rare gift, but the medications I'm taking right now block that ability/sensation for the most part.

When I feel connected to another person or force it's like a falling sensation in my body through my arms and down my torso that lifts when I breathe but it's barely noticeable... It's like you know you're there. I can't feel it anymore EVER though. Have you ever felt a sort of free-falling sensation very slightly on your body? Or maybe like, when you're first waking up in the morning?

Once I was having trouble with breathing when I was waking up in the morning and it always felt like I was freefalling and that's when it started to last all the time, for that time. I can't explain. I think it is something you can reproduce with drugs but it wouldn't be the same as a natural gift, like the indigo children. (I think I'm a lavender though).