Grounding has been a popular topic for a few years now and the method most often suggested is barefoot walking on the earth. I think children instinctively know about this and stay barefoot if they can; at least that used to be true before TV, video games and texting came along. When we walk or run barefoot on the soil, grass or sand, it opens the feet chakras, allowing earth energy to flow in and up the leg channels into the body. This gives us that satisfying, sturdy sensation. It connects us with our planet.
How does it feel to be ungrounded? It causes many uncomfortable conditions:
- Restlessness
- Vague anxiety
- Uncertainty
- A tendency to fixate on negative expectations
- Difficulty with staying focused on a task or activity
- Susceptibility to erratic moods
- Being easily influenced or controlled by others
Ground From the Base of Your Spine
Grounding can be done with the mind. It doesn’t require you to take off your shoes or be outdoors. Sit comfortably in a chair with your feet flat on the floor. Rest your hands in your lap and close your eyes. Get a fix on your “sitz” bones, the base of your spine, and picture a connection running from that place to the center of the earth. It’s an energy cord and you can give it a color if you like and see it like a rope or elevator shaft or any other vertical structure. Fix it securely in the center of the planet — tie it to a rock or tuck it under one — whatever comes to mind. The base of the spine is the location of our first chakra. Chakras are energy centers and we have seven main ones in the body. The first chakra is concerned with survival energy.
Using Your Grounding Cord
This energy connection is a basic and very useful tool for anyone who does energy work. You can use it like an old-fashioned laundry chute — drop things down it to get them out of your space. If you feel something bothering you like an event, something someone said to you, a bad feeling about something you did or didn’t do, or a memory you want to forget, just let it go down your grounding cord. Letting go is central to spiritual growth and this use of your grounding is great practice for that, besides being an effective way to clear out your space.
Some Pointers on Grounding
- When you drop your grounding cord, don’t go down there with it. Stay in your head and just see it extending to earth’s center.
- If you feel at some point that your grounding cord has evaporated, just drop a new one down.
- Whenever it occurs to you, bring your cord into present time. Refresh it to keep it well functioning.
- Don’t be daunted by thinking of the earth’s center as being an immense distance away, too far to reach. In the energy world, there is no time or space. Postulate that your cord is extending easily to that planet center and stay relaxed.
- Don’t try hard. Avoid using effort because it’s counter-productive in energy work.
- Repetition is good; the more you ground yourself in this way, the stronger your grounding becomes and the better it works for you in removing unwanted energy from your space.
The Other Half of Grounding
When we let go of something unwanted from our space, there’s a gap where it used to be. It’s important to fill that gap so as to prevent some other unwanted bit of energy from filling it. So when you’ve been doing some letting go, finish up by bringing your own energy down into your space. Picture a bright gold sun above your head made of your own personal creative energy and let it shine into your entire space, filling up all empty places. You may have let go of bits of energy without realizing it, without noticing. Your gold sun will fill up those places as well as the ones you were aware of working on.
When our personal space is filled with our own energy, we feel strong and relaxed. Confusion and weakness occur when other people’s energy is running in our energy channels, pre-empting our own energy. Grounding from the first chakra and filling up with our gold sun is a way to release that foreign energy and replace it with our own.
You can read more about grounding and other energy tools in My Cancer Survival Saga and How You Could Star in Yours. It offers five sections on energy work, all work that I’ve been doing as part of my cancer survival.