Grounding, as a Consciousness Raising Practice
“I’m overwhelmed and I don’t know what to do,” or, “The anxiety I’m feeling has gotten to a point where I’m starting to have panic attacks and I don’t know how to handle it.” These are two of the more common sentiments I hear from clients, especially these days when our lives are so full of stress, and there seems no escape in a world that blasts us from all sides with reasons to feel more anxious.
When we start walking the conscious path, we find ourselves challenged to stay the course when the road gets bumpy. I mean, we get all Zen about life and think we’ve got it figured out, and then a pandemic happens and throws everything off! Extreme cases aside, it could be anything that grabs us by the collar and yanks us off the path; a job that isn’t satisfying, the demands of parenting, financial issues or any number of issues. No matter how much we try to keep our balance, life has a way of challenging us to see how well we have mastered the basics.
So, let’s go back to basics.
Grounding.
Grounding is a term all of us have probably heard and we have a sense of, but what exactly does it mean and do? Think of an electrical ground that sinks deep within the earth. Its job is to release excess electrical energy, and it does it by discharging it into the earth where it is neutralized. Without such a release valve it would overload a system and possibly create a fire. Our bodies produce electrical charges of sorts, in the form of positively charged ions, which left to their own devises cause agitation and distress. Stress is the cause. We know what it feels like when stress is all over us, and it feels like our mind is in a million pieces, going in many different directions. This kind of stress is what feeds anxiety and if not attended leads in no good direction. Undeterred, this kind of stress will eventually cause harm to the body. Like the ground wire though, our bodies can release this positively charged agitation into the earth. THIS is what it means to ground ourselves. Having our bodies make contact with the soil of the earth releases positively charged ions, because the earth’s negatively charged soil is a natural magnet that pulls them right out of us. This is why gardeners will speak of the peacefulness of their hobby or craft, and why a trip to a lake or a sandy beach feels so absolutely relaxing. Those lovely negatively charged ions are doing their good work with our weary, stress filled bodies. This exchange of energy is a gift that most of us underutilize, and our health is poorer because of it.
As a Consciousness Coach, I use a holistic approach to everything, which means that I integrate the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual elements. For me, it’s a layered approach, starting with the physical. If the body is out of balance, it will ripple through all the other layers of our being, so it’s important that our physical body is as balanced as it can be. This lays a foundation on which we can then address other needs. In my work in the field of mental health I would tell people that it is very difficult to address the mental and emotional needs they have if their bodies were crying out for attention. Our body is the vessel in which these other bodies reside, so keeping that vessel secure and strong is just as important as any spiritual work we do. And grounding is a practice that connects us, each time we do it, to the body’s source of energy, the earth.
Don’t wait for the next time you feel yourself ready to throw in the towel because you can’t handle one more stressor in your life. Develop a daily habit of releasing the day’s stress with a walk in nature. Put your hands on the trees, plant your butt on the earth and let nature exchange those agitated stress ions for the calming ions that help bring you back to balance. Done with intention, this practice keeps your body in balance, making your path forward much easier to navigate.