What is grounding?
When you hear the term “to be grounded” – what is the instant visualization you have? For me, immediately I feel and sense mother earth . . . I see earthy colours, I see nature and I feel a gravitational pull towards the ground.
Grounding is to centre your soul within your body and to connect it with mother earth. It allows us to experience the here and now! It is an acceptance to be! It is to feel secure and free to create our own truth and experience, the things that make us happy and nourish our spirit. Grounding nurtures you from the heart and spirit of mother earth and helps you to manifest all we absorb and receive from our higher self.
Energy needs to flow through us or else it will build up and become stagnant. When we are grounded we connect our human energy field to the Earths energy field. The Earths energy flows through us and any excess energy can be dissipated into the ground, keeping the energy free flowing through us. This makes it easier to heal yourself, by letting go of harmful energies that can have a negative effect on your body.
What does it mean not to be grounded?
It means there is a build up of dense stagnant energy in our human energy field. When this happens some people feel insecure, stressed, anxious and depressed just to name some negative feelings. Ungrounded people do not feel balanced. They do not feel as though they are living, they are barely surviving . . . generally they do not have a very positive outlook on life. That doesn’t mean they are always this way. It may come and go as there are many variables to each individual, but unless there is awareness to what grounding is, these types of people who are receptive to negative energies may eventually become ill.
How is Grounding Going to Help Me?
Grounding really helps you when you are going through hard times in your life in relationships, work, family, friendships and so on. Grounding helps you relax and it gives you the basis to align yourself. It helps you gain insights, inspiration and helps re claim your own energy. Being grounded helps you deal with life in a rational secure manner. It releases all that emotional energy. When walking a spiritual path, grounding is essential, as it makes possible for other techniques and information to be safely taught. Grounding makes things real, makes your body real and makes it possible for you to manifest what it is you want in your life.
How Do I get grounded?
Begin grounding yourself at the start of every day, again before retiring for the evening. A regular grounded meditation practice can actually help you to sleep better at night, which is crucial to any healing. Your body needs this time to rejuvenate, as does your spirit. It makes it possible for you to manifest what it is you want in your life.
Visualise – Imagine your connection to Mother Earth in any way that feels comfortable for you. Often people use the visualization of tree roots growing out from under their feet, through the soil and deep into the centre of the earth.
Breathe – How many of us breathe correctly? We tend to have shallow breathing when we are not grounded. Stop during the day to notice your breathing. Try stretching, walking, and any form of physical activity. Your body needs to move and stretch. Exercise helps you ground.
Eat – What fuel are you putting into your body? What types of food are you attracted to? If your diet consists mainly of empty calories, sugar, caffeine, and fat, you will have a difficult time grounding yourself or feeling well. On the other hand, grounding yourself consciously can help you to become aware of what your body actually wants you to feed it. Listen to what your body needs. Eat earthy foods – root vegetables, organic foods and drink plenty of water.
Appreciate nature – Visualize the “make up” of a tree, or hug a tree as often as possible. Everything you have, including your body, came from the earth. Remember you and the earth are made up of the same elements, you are very much part of the earth. Just being in nature can be a healing and grounding experience. Go for walks, garden and be outdoors. Remember crystals are also part of earth, in fact you couldn’t get any closer. Carry, wear or place them strategically – all practices to assist in grounding.
Trust your gut – If you find yourself surrounded by negativity, whether it be your own or that of others, step away from it. Stay separate from it. If it’s your attitude, replace it with gratitude, joy and happiness. Notice what it is you have created for yourself. Notice the many things you have already let go of including any bad attitudes and habits. Reaffirm yourself on times your trusted in your gut.
Live from your truth – Remember, your truth is not necessarily anyone else’s. You may have forgotten what is truly yours because others demand you live by their truth. On some level, you already know your own truth. Grounding can help you find more of it, and you can also ground into your truth.
Stop blaming others for your problems – This is a game you cannot win. Perhaps someone has done something nasty to you, but if you allow that to stop you from moving on and creating your own life, that is your choice alone. Forgive, let go, free yourself and move on. You’ll be amazed at how much energy this gives you.
Create some happy relationships for yourself – Find others of like mind that you can talk to about what really interests you. Learn something new, step off the beaten path and explore your world. There are loads of interesting and wonderful people who resonate with you. Having fulfilling relationships is validating. This makes it easier to feel real, alive, happy, and grounded in your own life.
An extract from the book “Journey to the Heart” - Daily meditations on the path to freeing your soul.
May 15th
The time for heaviness is past-heaviness of body, mind, spirit and heart. That heaviness many of us felt was part of a time now gone. It’s time to lighten up.
“He was a different person, ”she said. “Cheerful. Happy. Fun to be around. Things that used to bother him no longer did.”The woman was talking about her husband of only three years. She had dated him for a long time. Then after nearly dying of a heart attack, he was changed, transformed. They married and had the best three year of their lives before he died.
Those years were possible because he had learned to enjoy life, learned the value of love.
We don’t have to wait to open our hearts and enjoy life. We don’t have to wait to lighten up. We can do that now. We know that we can trust, that we can journey through each stage of our lives with open hearts, loving and living freely.
Let go of heaviness. Seek that which is the light.
Gravitate toward joy. Your soul and body will lead you, if only you will listen. Walk lightly.
Speak and laugh lightly, as much as possible.
Go lightly along your way.
What can we learn here……..
To take life lightly – you can choose to energetically disperse all negativity in your life.
It is the key to living happy and healthy.
Being grounded, clarifies our own acceptance to receive fulfilment which validates a true responsibility for the development and nurture of our own spirit.
Each day, we walk on this earthy plain, in our earthy reality; we receive many challenges, lessons that come about through various daily experiences. In this extract we are told to let go of the heaviness. Seek the lesson, learn from it and then let it go.
In this story, we are reminded to listen, to walk lightly, speak and laugh lightly, in other word, move through each challenge with an awareness of the energy that is attached to it and without judgement, we remove attachments to our past behaviour, freeing up our energy for new attitudes, utilizing and trusting the power and energy of the light to guide us towards achieving a higher frequency or vibration.
Grounding Meditation
Before we meditate lets start with our breathing awareness and lets set our bodies up for relaxation.
With feet firmly on the ground, become aware of your breathing………….Clench your stomach, tighten your muscles and breathe up high in your chest.
How does that make your feel? Do you feel anxious, tense, panicky? Chest breathing is not deep breathing, and is often an unconscious reaction to stress or trouble.
Relax….. Relax your stomach and let your breath down into your belly.
Imagine it flowing down into your toes as your belly expands.
Do you start to feel different now? Perhaps it feels a little unnatural, but begin to learn it, put our hands on your belly, breathe so that your belly pushes your hand out. With practise it becomes easier and natural.
Lets meditate on grounding..
With your eyes closed, imagine finding or going to a place where you there is a nice earth energy. It may be anywhere in the world….
Feel your breath pushing down through the base of your spine, through your feet – like a tree pushing down its roots. Imagine those roots pushing down through the floor and into the soil below. Imagine they can feel something of the quality of the earth, what grows there, and how healthy it is. Push down through the waters under the soil, down through the bedrock, and down into the centre.
If there is still any tension or fear, let that go through your “roots” .
Some imagine that there is a fire at the center of the Earth and throwing negative feelings into the fire helps to make those feelings dissipate.
Imagine that you can draw some of the fire up…. Feel it as the earth’s living creative energy, and bring it up through the rock and the water and the soil…. Bring it into your legs, and feet, like a tree’s roots would draw up water and nutrients.
Bring it up your spine and imagine your spine growing like a tree trunk, reaching up to the sky. Bring some fire into your heart, into any place inside you that needs healing or extra energy. As you imagine the growth and energy flowing into you, raise and open your posture and re focus on your breath.
Direct the energy up through your arms and out of your hands, up through your neck and throat and out the top of your head. Visualize branches of energy that reach up to the sky, and let them spread around you and reach back down to touch the earth, creating a protective filter around you.
Take a moment, look at the energy web, and notice if there are any places that need to be repaired or strengthened. Send energy in that direction.
Imagine the energy of the sun, shining down on your leaves and branches. Breathe deep; draw the energy in. Breathe it down through your leaves and branches, down through your heart and your belly and your hands. Take it in, feed on it like a tree feeds on sunlight.
Imagine your feet have sticky roots. Let them sink into the earth and then release when you start to move.
Imagine that you walk around a little, feel connected with the ground. Feel the imaginary roots grip and release.
Imagine stretching your arms out to your sides as you move as far as they’ll go, until you can’t see your hands if you look straight ahead. Now wiggle your thumbs and slowly bring your arms in until your thumbs are just visible on the edge of your peripheral vision. Notice how wide your field of vision can be.
As you imagine yourself walking, continue breathing deeply.
Come back to stillness now…. As you are conscious of your breathe, feel where it is in your body this grounded place seems to live, and touch that place. Can you find an image for this grounded state? A word or phrase you can say? When you use these three together – touch, image and phrase you create an anchor to help you ground quickly in any situation.
Tips:
Notice whether you are making eye contact the people you pass. Keep breathing, stay grounded, keep your awareness wide, but now also make eye contact with each person you pass. How does it feel to be in this present situation.
Remember the more you practice grounding, the more automatic it becomes. If you take even a few minutes a day to practices, you’ll not only have better energy in your daily life, you’ll be able to ground quickly and instantly when you’re in a tense situation.
