Grounding
Walking in nature connects us more deeply to Mother Earth. As we make our way along the trail, our body naturally attunes to her solid, stable, supportive energy. The movement dislodges whatever heavy energy we’ve been carrying, leaving a lighter feeling in its wake.
This connection to Mother Earth comes about through our grounding cord. This cord, which often looks like tree roots or sometimes a taproot, extends from the base of our tailbone and runs straight down to the core of Mother Earth. It keeps us connected to the secure, safe, loving energy of Mother Earth, and it serves as a release valve for any excess or unwanted energy.
This explains why we feel better after a walk. The anger, pain, fear, grief, or pent-up energy that was with us at the beginning of the walk releases to Mother Earth through our grounding cord.
We can purposely work with our grounding cord to release heavy energy at any time, even if we’re not able to get out for a walk. To establish your grounding cord, breathe mindfully into the belly and then exhale down the legs and out the feet to Mother Earth. Once you feel the connection, breathe and release any excess energy down the grounding cords back to Mother Earth for recycling. Doing even five minutes of breathing can make a big difference.
There is no need to be concerned about harming Mother Earth with our heavy energy. Our suffering, doubt, or despair does not harm her. The energetic field of Mother Earth is much larger than any one person – and even all the people living on the planet. She transforms the heaviness we release back into divine, universal life force energy.
Signs of being out of your body
- feeling light headed, numb, and tingly
- a sense of hovering above your body, looking down at yourself
- a feeling of a rush or a “swoosh” as you leave your body
- a higher than normal tolerance for pain
- a sense of being disconnected
- sounds and sensations may seem muffled
- clumsy, awkward, accident prone
- losing time and having faulty memory or recall
Benefits of being grounded and in your body
- heightened body awareness and ability to receive messages from the body
- heightened recall – if you have been in your body and fully taken something in, you can recall it more completely
- healthier energetic boundaries, including a decreased likelihood of taking on energy that doesn’t belong to you
- time slows down, and you can fully experience everything going on around you
- providing for your physical being in a healthy way
- choosing your reactions from a place of centeredness
- taking up all of your space leaves less room for intrusive energy to enter
- healing work you do for yourself has a higher likelihood of “sticking” when you’re in your body
- receiving support to speak your truth and stand up for yourself
- providing care, love, and nurturing for yourself
Causes of being ungrounded
- childhood patterning, often starting as a defense mechanism or protection
- having a hectic, busy lifestyle
- external stimuli such as noise, heavy traffic, crowds
- soul loss
- being empathic or sensitive to energy
- obstructions, cords, or energetic intrusions in your root chakra
- unhealed wounds and unfinished business from earlier in this lifetime or from past lives can pull you out of your body
- illness, disease, physical pain
- lack of sleep
- triggers from childhood such as conflict, anger
Techniques for working with Mother Earth on being grounded
- send grounding cords from your root chakra to the core of Mother Earth
- lie outside on the ground and ask Mother Earth to hold you
- ask Mother Earth to pull your feet down into the ground
- do gardening, dig in the earth, put your hands in dirt
- walk barefoot on the grass
- sit with your back against a tree
- spend time in nature
- go for a walk, open up your grounding cord, and dump to Mother Earth
- ask Mother Earth to do a clearing for you
- work with stones such as hematite, pyrite, galena, jet, and black tourmaline to ground yourself
Additional techniques to help be grounded in your body
- call yourself into your body each morning before you get out of bed – then go to the mirror, look deeply into your eyes and acknowledge your soul
- practice a grounding meditation
- work with the power of intention – if you feel yourself leaving your body, set the intention to stay, and call yourself home
- exercise, dance, move
- choose spiritual practices that bring you down and in (not up and out)
- pause for a moment and take a few deep breaths
- slow down in your life and welcome balance
- listen to your body and care for it
- comfort yourself if you feel frightened or worried
- practice healthy boundaries – if you find yourself taking on someone else’s energy, remind yourself where you start and they begin
- work on acknowledging emotions and releasing them from where they are stored in the body
Several techniques for grounding are taught in Module 1 of the “Energy Essentials for Empaths“ series. Ready to enroll?