GROUNDING 101 - HOW AND WHY I GROUND
I often forget the importance of being grounded.
Being in the realm of healing and spirit, I’m often “up in the clouds” and sometimes I forget to make sure I’ve truly come back down to earth, back to my body.
But think of yourself like a tree — the deeper the roots, the higher we can grow.
When connecting with spirit, source, higher self, etc, grounding helps anchor that energy into the physical world so it’s not just a mental or energetic experience, but something that can actually carry through into your life.
Being ungrounded also becomes an issue for me when I’m overworking, overstressing, overdoing. I’ll be in a complete frenzy, feeling disconnected and panicked, I’ve got a real habit of sinking into these feelings, but eventually I’ll step back and go “oh.”
It is so humbling every time to realize when I’m not practicing what I preach. I’m telling people on a weekly basis that they need to ground, but I sometimes struggle to realize when I need to do that for myself.
There are three reasons I ground:
To deepen my experience with spirit
To reconnect with my body and nervous system
To reconnect with earth
To deepen my experience with spirit, I have a grounding ritual.
I find a patch of grass and stand barefoot. I close my eyes, and bring my awareness to my energy - sometimes I’ll hold my hands facing toward each other, sometimes I’ll place them on my stomach, sometimes I’ll have them down by my sides with palms facing forwards, it depends on the day. There’s no wrong way in my opinion. I then spend some time consciously making an energetic connection between myself and the earth. Just really focusing my intentions on building a bridge between my energy, and the energy of the planet. Passing my energy to the earth, as the earth passes energy to me. I then do the same upward, to the centre of the universe. And then I’m held and tethered from below and from above.
To reconnect with my body and nervous system, I have a couple of little things that work for me, but this is all very individual, you’ve got to find what works for you. It may be these things!
Sometimes, a little bit of a dance will be just what I need. And this may be while I’m cooking dinner, hanging out washing, or it may be going to a dance event (shout out to Manawa, if you want to try a conscious dance event, these ones never miss).
Other times, using my voice can be really helpful for me. And not just singing - sounding. Making whatever sound comes through, whale sounds, little screeches, something evocative of a wah pedal, I’ve had all sorts of noises come out of me. Some would maybe call this vocal stimming, if you’ve heard this term before. I just think its expression and release! I don’t know why it works, but it does the trick for me.
Of course there is also the breath, a widely used tool for body and nervous system regulation. My favorite breathing technique is SUPER simple.
Bring your awareness to your heart.
Breathe in, draw your awareness to your head.
Breathe out, go back to the heart.
Breathe in, take your awareness down to your gut.
Breathe out, back to the heart.
Just bouncing between the three intelligences, until you feel like you can continue about your day! This is also a beautiful practice for when you feel indecisive, or that you’re maybe not making the right choices.
To reconnect with earth, I’m a water baby at heart. Get me to the beach!!!! I find salt water instantly reminds me of my gratitude for the earth, how good it feels to be here, how lucky I am to be here! Sand is also the best conductor of earth’s energy, so that’s handy. Then there are the waves, constantly shifting frequencies and moving energy.
If I can’t get to the beach, a walk in the bush is the next best thing. And actually consciously making an effort to stop and smell the roses. Getting up close with the fractals of nature, noticing and enjoying every little inch of her beauty!
And if even that is too hard, I can always turn to my pot plants. Again, getting up close, checking out new blooms, nurturing, repositioning, I always feel better for having spent time with my house plants.
All that, that’s just me! I encourage you to explore what works for you, what brings you that feeling of calmness and groundedness. If you take one thing from this post, its the following:
Don’t wait until you feel you “need” to ground, ground on the regular! The more you embed grounding practices into your life, the easier you’ll move through it.