We live in a day and age where it is easy to feel disconnected from others, the earth, and even from ourselves. With technology all around and a breaking news story every day, our resilience can be tested, especially if we are not grounded.
In order to maintain good health and wellbeing and to withstand the daily grind that life can throw at us, we must be grounded. Like trees, we need to be rooted to the earth to balance our lives and withstand our challenges. Staying grounded affects us physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, and though I have written about it before (Front Porch, May 2017), I feel the need to offer a few more helpful techniques.
Mother Nature provides us with the tools to keep us grounded, and walking barefoot in grass or sand, or sitting with your back against a tree are great ways to feel a connection with the earth and with ourselves when we feel a little lost. Parts of the Eden Energy Medicine Daily Routine can also help us to get and stay grounded.
The Classic Hook-up connects two meridians (energy pathways in the body) which are like our “energetic spine” and can keep us grounded. Simply place one middle finger in your belly button and the other one on your forehead between your eyes. Push in, pull up, and breathe a few times.
The Wayne Cook Posture, which was originally created to help stutterers, can help with unscrambling your mind and help to bring your emotions back in balance by grounding us. Sit in a chair and place your right foot over your left knee. Then place your left hand around your right ankle and wrap your right hand around the bottom of your foot. Breathe in slowly through your nose and raise your body along with your foot on the in-breath and relax as you breathe out. After several breaths, switch sides and do the same pattern again. Lastly, place your fingers together, and put your thumbs right between your eyebrows. Complete the exercise by breathing in and out a few times in that position and then bring your fingers to the middle of your forehead. Push in and pull them across your forehead to your temples.
There is a good reason why this next exercise is included in many of my articles. Connecting Heaven and Earth makes space in the body for energy to move, can help alleviate joint issues, and you guessed it, grounds us. Rub your hands together vigorously and shake them off. Place them on your thighs with your fingers spread and take a deep breath. On the next inhale, circle your arms out and bring them to a prayer position in front of your heart and exhale. On the next inhale, stretch one hand up and one down, stretching as far apart as you can, and hold your breath. Come back to prayer position on the exhale and repeat on the other side. Do this twice on each side and after the last stretch, bend down as far as you can, letting your arms hang in front of you. Take two deep breaths, and then swing back and forth making sideways figure eights all the way up your body.
Our imagination can also be a grounding tool. If I am somewhere where I cannot complete any of these exercises, and know I need to ground, I will imagine roots growing from the bottoms of my feet into the earth. It does wonders to bring me back to the moment.
(Published in Front Porch Magazine- April 2019)
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