Practice Grounding to Access the Wisdom Within
What is Grounding?
Grounding isn’t just what our parents did in response to our teenage antics. It is also a process of connecting your physical body to the Earth.
I’ve dedicated much of the last 10 years to studying natural and simple methods of reducing pain, facilitating ease of movement, and enhancing peace of mind. I’ve also been a life-long lover of time in the great outdoors, and as a trained shamanic practitioner I’ve developed a deep reverence for the natural elements that surround us. As such, learning more about grounding has been a revelation.
Grounding is used in an array of spiritual practices, and is becoming more mainstream as science explains its effectiveness. It’s a simple concept with deep roots and profound benefits. If you’ve heard someone talk about earthing, forest bathing, or eco-therapy they’re likely barking up the same tree. If you're looking to connect more deeply to yourself, to the Earth, and to the powerful intuition that you sense is lurking just below your surface, please keep reading.
What Does the Science of Grounding Say?
Scientifically, grounding refers to direct contact of the skin with the surface of the Earth, such as with bare feet or hands, or via grounding technologies. This kind of connection to the Earth was an everyday reality in cultures of the past. Animal skins were used for clothing, footwear and bedding, rarely impeding this connection. Newer lifestyle factors such as insulated footwear, elevated beds, and high-rise buildings have eliminated much of our direct connection with the Earth. This has been to our detriment.
Research has revealed that the electrically conductive contact of the human body with the surface of the Earth produces interesting effects on physiology and health. Connecting the body to the ground enables the free electrons from the Earth to spread into the body, where they have antioxidant effects. Grounding produces measurable differences in the concentrations of white blood cells, cytokines, and other molecules involved in the inflammatory response. This can help to:
Improve sleep
Normalize the day–night cortisol rhythm
Reduce pain
Reduce stress
Shift the autonomic nervous system from sympathetic toward parasympathetic activation
Increase heart rate variability
Speed wound healing
Reduce blood viscosity
Sounds good, right? The science says that the connective tissue that holds you together (your fascia) also transmits the benefits of connection to the Earth through your body.
“Accumulating experiences and research on earthing, or grounding, point to the emergence of a simple, natural, and accessible health strategy against chronic inflammation, warranting the serious attention of clinicians and researchers. The living matrix (or ground regulation or tissue tensegrity-matrix system), the very fabric of the body, appears to serve as one of our primary antioxidant defense systems. As this report explains, it is a system requiring occasional recharging by conductive contact with the Earth’s surface – the “battery” for all planetary life – to be optimally effective.”
When I first read this I was crying (as one often does when reading scientific publications, no?) because I could feel all of my seemingly divergent pursuits of the last decade colliding together into a simple evidence-based statement:
Recharging your fascia via connection to the Earth can reduce pain, facilitate ease of movement and enhance peace of mind.
Boom.
The Hippies Were on to Something
Accessing the benefits of grounding is pretty simple. All you need to do is take your shoes off and head outside. Walk barefoot through a field, stand in the grass, swim in the ocean, or hug a tree. Viola! You’re reaping the scientifically-proven benefits of conductive connection to mother nature herself.
If you’re squeamish about going barefoot, stranded in a high rise, or live in Antarctica where it’s way too cold to lay outdoors on a regular basis, there are other options.
In the research cited above they used conductive systems that were connected to the Earth via a cord inserted into a grounded wall outlet or attached to a ground rod placed in the soil below a window. A quick Google search will generate plenty of products for purchase; mats, pads, socks, shoes, bands, patches, pillow cases and pet gear. Yes, pet gear, because Fido has fascia too. I prefer the free and minimalistic approach of walking outside, but I fully understand that this may not be accessible to everyone.
Grounding for Mental Peace and Clarity
Grounding is important for more than just our physiology, and there are components of being grounded that science cannot measure. At least, not yet.
Getting grounded can help you maintain your sanity in the modern world. It can help you manage the little voice in your head that’s always reminding you of your faults and flaws. It can keep you rooted calmly within your body - able to tune in to the subtle signals it sends. It can support you taking action on what you deeply know instead of what others expect from you. Grounding keeps you connected to the moment, to the earth and to yourself. It gives you access to your true nature.
With unrestricted access to your deepest layers, you are able to balance logical cognition with some serious inner listening. You can tune into your heart, your gut, and the universal wisdom that is your birthright as human being on this Earth.
Our rational brains serve a productive purpose, but we don’t do well when they’re running the show on their own.
When ungrounded you can end up doing things like frantically wasting 20 minutes searching for the glasses on top of your head. Or, you might push through your to-do list on autopilot with no awareness of what’s happening around you. You may find yourself picking fights with family members over silly things that could have otherwise rolled off of your back, or impulsively buying stuff you won’t use in an attempt to fill a need that you don’t completely understand.
When we are ungrounded, we lose contact with the present moment.
Energy follows awareness, and when it’s mostly up in your head you can get caught up in thinking about the shoulds, shouldn’ts, hopes or hope nots of the past and the future. Most of us spend too much of our time in this frazzled, flighty state, often without realizing it. If you want to manage this state of being, then getting grounded is a vital first step.
Preparing to Practice Grounding
A prerequisite for comprehensive grounding is that you’re able to feel fully present and at home within your own skin. It’s theoretically possible that someone could have gone through their entire life thus far without any trauma or hardship. Someone out there may already feel entirely at peace when left alone with the thoughts and sensations of their body and mind...but finding that person in this world would be a bit like finding a unicorn flying over Manhattan. All of us likely have some work to do in order to be prepared for the journey inward that grounding requires, and that’s ok. It’s an ongoing process, not a switch you flip at will.
Step One: Manage Your Thoughts to Practice Grounding
Our inner voice(s) are always running. We can be conscious of them to varying degrees. Sometimes they’re running in the background and we barely notice them. Other times they’re screaming at us so loudly that they’re pretty much all we can hear. The things we tell ourselves can build us up, can break us down, can help us stay focused, or can distract us from our chosen intentions entirely.
When it comes to managing the things you’re telling yourself all day, awareness is key. Our self-talk is often self-critical and frequently something that we don’t recognize as separate from us. When the mind is hollering “You can’t do this, you’re going to fail, you’re not good enough”, we tend to just accept it as fact and internalize the message without really thinking twice. This is toxic, and is totally unfair to do to ourselves.
The goal in managing the chatter in your mind is NOT to become devoid of thoughts entirely. That’s not really a thing. Nor is the goal to shift your thoughts to ONLY positive affirmations and flowery platitudes. These can be helpful when they are meaningful intentions that we remind ourselves of in key moments, but the “just think positive” movement has gone a bit off the rails and it can be downright destructive.
When you’re trying to think only happy thoughts (which is flippin’ impossible btw) and you notice some negative self-talk slip in (which is nearly unavoidable) it can become an excuse to berate yourself further for failing to think of only cheerful things. I can’t even calculate for you how many hours I’ve spent in silent meditation with an affirmation, silently scolding myself for how much I suck at it. Please don’t do this.
Instead just focus on noticing the things you’re thinking, and acknowledging that they’re just thoughts. Our minds churn out thoughts constantly about all sorts of things. Sometimes they’re random thoughts about whether or not turtles have dreams (is that just me?), and sometimes they’re nasty self-disparaging comments. Just notice them and accept them as a part of the unending, and very much separate from you, output from your ever-thinking mind.
Become aware of your thoughts, observe them as such, and let them go.
When we get caught up in the things we’re thinking, interpreting, planning etc, we can slip from accessing our intuition to processing it which can disrupt the flow. When we can observe our thoughts as such we can better manage our reactions to them.
Practice Mindset Management
Try this:
Create a rhythm of breathing in for a count of 4, holding it in for 4, and exhaling for 6 (4-4-6). Breathing in this way can help you relax. Thoughts will arise. Allow yourself to notice them. Remind yourself that they’re fleeting concoctions of your thinking mind. Bring your practice back to your breath.
I find it helpful to think of my consciousness as the vast open sky, and my thoughts as the clouds briefly drifting across it. This may help you practice noticing the things you’re saying to yourself, and dismissing them when your intention is to focus on something else.
If you find that the thoughts coming up are repetitive, overwhelming, or in need of some unpacking I highly recommend that you write down your experience and enlist a professional. My therapist's name is Robin. I’ve been seeing her for over 4 years now and I don’t know where I would be without her. When things get intense, I see her twice weekly. These days I see her as needed, and sometimes go many months between sessions.
I arrive to each session with a jumbled mess of thoughts all tangled together, and Robin helps me sort them out so that when they pop up again I am able to quickly file them away instead of wasting time or emotional resources following them down the rabbit holes of fear or sadness. If sitting in observance of your thoughts feels overwhelming, I highly recommend that you go get yourself a Robin.
Step Two: Feel into Your Body to Practice Grounding
Once you’re comfortable managing the thoughts crop up in moments of quiet, you can shift your focus to the sensations that arise within you. Accessing your intuition requires a deep dive into your embodied existence, and there are two types of self-sensing that can be really helpful here.
The first is proprioception. This is your sense of your body’s position in space. This is easiest to feel when movement is involved. Close your eyes move some part of you. Proprioception is what allows you to know whether you’ve made a fist, extended a knee, or flexed your spine without looking. As your proprioceptive skills improve you’ll likely become more intune with the positions you hold yourself in most often, and the sensations and tensions associated with them.
It’s a good idea, for a lot of reasons to explore new positions and to find ways to flush out the tension that accumulates because of these movement habits. It’s generally good for the physical system to experience novelty (hello, neuroplasticity) and it just feels better to go through our daily lives without holding onto all of that accumulated tension.
Noticing postural habits, and exploring novel movements can help us access our intuition because our body sends us subtle signals through sensations. Feeling an urge to get into or out of a position, or the onset or relief of tension can give you an indication of the wisdom your body is trying to share with you.
Your body thinks in feelings.
The next sense to explore is interoception. This is your sense of all things internal. Can you feel your heart beating? Are you cold? Hungry? Tired? Need to pee? Sensing any of this is an indicator that your interoceptive systems are working well.
Interoception provides a means of communication between our conscious minds and our deepest selves. How many times have you heard the expression “I have gut feeling”? Our guts are capable of feeling quite a bit. In fact, your enteric nervous system, which is embedded in the lining of the gastrointestinal system, contains approximately 100 million neurons within at least 18 functional classes. It has been referred to as “the second brain” because of its size and complexity. Your head is definitely not the only part of you that’s processing and relaying information. Learning to tap into the sensations of your gut and your heart can be profoundly powerful. For now, just practice feeling into these areas and noticing what comes up.
It can be overwhelming to perceive the sensations of our bodies when they’re something that we’ve gotten used to tuning out. It’s helpful to take baby steps. If spending time with your body in stillness is too much, start by turning into your body during movement. Go for a walk, take a yoga class or dance around your living room in your pjs. Get your blood flowing and begin to feel into the parts of yourself that you tend to check-out from during daily life. If you’re feeling ready to get more sensory in moments of stillness, you might take a bath, practice self-massage with oil or a set of therapy balls. Notice which areas seem easy to access with your felt sense, and which parts seem more challenging to tap into.
Practice Self-Sensing
Try this:
Find a comfortable position. Return to your 4-4-6 breathing practice. Use your awareness to scan through each segment of your body. You might choose to start at the head. This tends to be a safe space to mindfully embody. From there you can slowly make your way from the periphery (hands, feet, arms, and legs) towards your center. Notice areas with minimal sensation and see if you can bring some awareness there. Notice areas of tension and try to consciously relax them.
As you go within, allow yourself to feel the feelings that are there to be found.
The torso tends to be the place where things get complicated. It’s fairly easy to tune out of our sensation from this area, and we tend to store a lot of memory and emotion in those quiet places.
When I first tuned in enough to sense the beating of my own heart in a yoga class it triggered a wave of anxiety that left me crying in the hallway until class ended. It took me years to tap into sensation from anywhere within my core. When I finally did it came along with waves of flashbacks from childhood trauma.
If you find yourself overwhelmed as you begin to journey inward, please know that you’re not alone. I found movement and journaling very helpful, and I wouldn’t have gotten through it without Robin. I highly recommend putting a support system in place before you get started on this work, particularly if you have a history of body-based trauma.
Step Three: Create a Grounding Space Indoors
I have kids, a job, a life, and I get it - clutter happens. I’m not here to shame you for the piles of mail, mountains of laundry, or a tetris-stacked closet full of things you’ll “get around to”. I am here, however, to remind you that it is very difficult to keep your energy focused in your body when your eyes scan your environment and only see a bunch of stuff you have to get to.
Many of us live in a culture that doesn’t value taking time for stillness. Attempting to ground surrounded by visual chaos can trigger an onslaught of worry about your “to-do” list. It can also generate all sorts of probably inaccurate thoughts around what it means about you as a person that these things haven’t been done yet.
I’m not saying you need to clean your space from top to bottom before you can practice grounding. If that was required I’d only get to practice like twice a year. Instead, pick one dedicated space to practice, and clear out the clutter there.
We are masters of self-distraction. A visual focal point can help us manage this.
Your grounding space can be anywhere. All you need is a point of focus; so a dresser in your bedroom, shelf in your kitchen, or cabinet in your bathroom will do just fine. Once you have a clutter-free space, try minimizing other distractions as well. Silence your cell phone, take care of the pets, and let the humans around you know that you need ten minutes to yourself. Alternatively, you can get a set of noise cancelling headphones, lock the door, and trust that the world will keep spinning until you’re finished.
Once the space is clear of incidental clutter, you can fill it with intentional items that can help you focus on your intention to ground your energy and connect to your intuition. In most practices this type of intentional focal point is called an altar. It is a physical representation of the fundamental aspects of your spiritual experience.
Folks living in western culture at this time have many generations of spiritual repression informing our subconscious. Most intuitive practices are stigmatized. Even though these practices are part of our fundamental birthright as human beings, many people feel ashamed in the beginning. When I first started to walk this path, I was embarrassed to create an altar in a space others would see. Instead, I had a tiny shelf in my closet where I kept just a few stones.
It wasn’t until much later, when I began my shamanic apprenticeship and felt the true power of this work that I finally felt brave enough to move my altar, and my intuitive self out of the closet. My current altar is massive, and it’s gotten quite elaborate over the years. I enjoy that, but if yours needs to start as a tiny shelf in the closet, that’s just fine too.
There’s no wrong way to set up an altar.
You might lay down a piece of cloth to help define your altar space. Add a candle, a picture of your favorite place in nature, something that helps you feel into the future you want for yourself, or a stone that you find beautiful. Many shamanic traditions will represent the 4 directions (N,E,S,W) as well as the elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water on the altar. You can add and remove pieces when you feel called to, or according to the intentions you’re holding. Elaborate can be fun, but simple will suffice.
Practice Using a Visual Focal Point
Try this:
Get comfortable and return to your 4-4-6 breathing. Let your gaze rest gently on the altar you’ve created within your quiet space. Spend some time embodying the feelings and sensations that you associate with the object you’ve selected. If a wave of calm washes over you, and a smile forms on your face, you’re definitely doing it right. If you’re being inundated with thoughts about doing it wrong, or you’re feeling tension building in your body, go back and review the previous two practices. Remember, it’s a process.
Grounding Practices to Access Intuition
My favorite way to ensure that I am regularly grounded is through a particular type of gardening. I won’t go into detail here but please reach out if you’d like to geek-out together about methods of regenerative agriculture. I like to install hugelkultur (a particular permaculture technique) wherever I’m allowed to, invited to, or able to do so unnoticed. I do this because it accomplishes many things at once. It:
Engages me and entertains me far more than just standing barefoot outside.
Offers me abundant time in the fresh air with my hands and feet in the dirt.
Provides my community with abundant foods that are cruelty-free and nutrient dense.
Grants me the opportunity to explore a variety of novel movements and sensations in my body without setting aside dedicated time for exercise.
Allows me to give back to the ecosystems that sustain me by creating rich soil and pulling carbon out of the atmosphere.
Grounding by connecting your physical body to the Earth offers many scientifically proven benefits. If your goal is to deepen your intuitive senses, practicing grounding through visualization is important as well. Visualization is a key component of connecting to the wisdom within you.
If it is new to you, you’ll likely need to spend some time practicing. Close your eyes and picture a friend’s face, what you’ll have for lunch, or your favorite place outdoors. It may be difficult in the beginning. I promise that with time it will begin to flow with greater ease. If you’re struggling to visualize the whole picture at once, that just choose a single piece to focus on and add more detail over time. Monitor your self-talk as you practice. Don’t allow this to become a reason to badger yourself with unhelpful inner chatter.
Practice a Grounding Visualization
Find a comfortable position. Close your eyes and feel deeply into your body. Set your intention. This is a phrase that helps to remind you and the universe what it is you’re up to. Something as simple as “I’m going to ground my energy” will do just fine. Speak it silently to yourself, or out loud if you’d like. Thoughts will arise. Let them go.
Picture yourself as a tree. Find your 4-4-6 breath. On each exhale, think “down”. You can focus on a downward movement of the energy and awareness within your body, or the sensation of your physical body softening down towards the Earth beneath you.
Visualize roots growing down from the bottoms of your feet, or the base of your spine. Allow your roots descend through the floor into the Earth below. Keep sending them down on each exhale. Eventually, your roots may begin to intertwine with the roots of any other plants or trees growing nearby. Picture your energy as light following your roots down into the Earth. Let your body feel heavy. Keep this up for a few minutes. When you’re finished allow your breathing to return to normal and open your eyes.
That Does it, You’re Grounded!
As you work your way through these practices let me know how it goes, what comes up, how you feel, and if you have questions. Please pass this article along to friends or family that you think might benefit from a grounding practice. You can visit my website blog for more supportive practices to connect to your intuition. Thank you for taking the time to connect more deeply to the earth and to yourself.
"The effects of grounding (earthing) on inflammation ... - NCBI." 24 Mar. 2015, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4378297/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2020.