GETTING GROUNDED
Being ungrounded can cause lots of pain and discomfort. The opposite of self confidence, it can literally cause accidents as well as plenty of emotional distress. It is very handy to 1) recognize when you are ungrounded and 2) know easy tips to ground yourself quickly. The essential element in being ungrounded is that we have in some way lost our connection to the real world. Re-establishing that connection is what grounding is all about.
We are living in rather turbulent times, when humans tend to become highly reactive. Outrage becomes common, even over trivial things. Friends become enemies. Families erupt and lifelong schisms can form. We also live in a work filled society where we are hyper caffeinated during the day while lobotomized by TV at night. We also eat a diet high in processed foods instead of fresh ingredients. And the older we get, the more anxious and worried we become about potential health outcomes or having falls. These elements combine to contribute to living in an ungrounded world. These days everyone needs to learn how to ground themselves but it becomes particularly important for those older because being ungrounded causes so many falls.
We are living in rather turbulent times, when humans tend to become highly reactive. Outrage becomes common, even over trivial things. Friends become enemies. Families erupt and lifelong schisms can form. We also live in a work filled society where we are hyper caffeinated during the day while lobotomized by TV at night. We also eat a diet high in processed foods instead of fresh ingredients. And the older we get, the more anxious and worried we become about potential health outcomes or having falls. These elements combine to contribute to living in an ungrounded world. These days everyone needs to learn how to ground themselves but it becomes particularly important for those older because being ungrounded causes so many falls.
How can you tell if you need grounding?
Here are some symptoms:
Many times our mistakes will send us a signal. Accidents, injuries or falls frequently occur when we become less conscious of our surroundings. These events can be described as natural occurrences that are alarm bells that tell us we need to slow down and re-connect...to the earth, to reality, to our own body. If you suffer from any of the following warning signs, it is a signal that you need to pay more attention to getting grounded:
- Rushing: This is a very clear red flag that we all should pay far more attention to. When we rush, we become less conscience of our environment and we significantly increase the likelihood of having accidents or falls.
- Falls: Having a fall is a wake up call to become more aware. Any attempts at grounding will automatically improve your balance and prevent falls.
- Feeling unsteady: Whenever you feel unsteady, unstable, disoriented, dizzy, spacey or insecure it is a sign that you are ungrounded.
- Depression, fear, anxiety: These emotions are each rooted in the distortion of reality. All 3 of these difficult and often debilitating feelings can be significantly helped through grounding exercise.
- Difficulty concentrating: One trait of being grounded is being focused or centered. Distraction cuts us off from that stability.
- Strong emotion: When we are overwhelmed by emotion we lose our grounding. We become detached from reality and have a hard time anchoring ourselves. Grounding is the solution.
- Overthinking: We become ungrounded when the mind becomes agitated, consumed by guilt or worry. Balance between the mental, physical and emotional is thrown off creating instability.
- Check your knees: Locked knees signal that you are ungrounded. The act of locking the knees reduces circulation in the lower legs, literally cutting yourself off from your feet and therefore the earth.
- Political dialog: Political inflammatory rhetoric is everywhere. Knee jerk confrontation occurs constantly these days in a atmosphere of "rushing to judgement". A classic sign that you are participating in ungrounded communication occurs when the act of listening is missing from the dialog.
- Chronic physical conditions cause problems grounding: For example, neuropathy of the feet makes it extremely difficult to feel a normal connection to the ground. Either our feet are numb or our feet are painful, both causing distorted connection to the ground.
Being chronically ungrounded can cause a number of major problems: Chronic anxiety, fear of falling, accident prone behavior, addiction, victimization. For example, criminals may well target their victims based on "vulnerable" behavior. The ungrounded person who walks down the street, blissfully unaware is far more likely to be victimized than the person who walks confidently, clearly knowing where they are going.
Fear of falling ungrounds us. The fear causes us to restrict our activities and therefore causes weakness and balance deterioration with a resulting increase in fall risk. But the ungrounded aspect of fear of falling is one element we can do something about. Learn to ground yourself when you feel that fear. It can make an incredible difference. One grounding technique works especially well in this situation.
Being ungrounded may have caused the fall to begin with since being unaware of our surroundings is a contributing factor to many falls. But after falling we become even more ungrounded. We distrust our connection to the earth as we question our own abilities. This makes us over-cautious which sets up conditions that actually make it more likely that we fall again.
I know of what I speak. As I prepared this article I had a fall myself. I am familiar with the effects of having a fall. Even though injury may not happen, the shock of the fall is very real and it takes me several weeks before I fully recover from that shock. During that time I am overly anxious about my environment and the possibility of having another fall. I do not trust my body to protect me or at least that is how I feel.
I know of what I speak. As I prepared this article I had a fall myself. I am familiar with the effects of having a fall. Even though injury may not happen, the shock of the fall is very real and it takes me several weeks before I fully recover from that shock. During that time I am overly anxious about my environment and the possibility of having another fall. I do not trust my body to protect me or at least that is how I feel.
This is the perfect time to concentrate on focusing your eyes
because improving eye focus is grounding and stabilizing.
Focusing the eyes connects us to the real world.
because improving eye focus is grounding and stabilizing.
Focusing the eyes connects us to the real world.
As you feel unsteady and untrusting, while you are recovering from that fall, consciously use your eyes to steady yourself. Much of the shock will disappear along with the fear and the result will be to lower your fall risk. Please note that I am not suggesting that you look at the ground as you walk. That is a risky habit that will cause you to fall. Please read Where Should You Look When You Walk to find out more. Instead I am recommending that you use your eye focus to actually see what is around you. Seeing reality will act to ground you.
After suffering a recent fall myself, I discovered an additional reason why the fear of falling a second time is so potent. If you have had a fall and are bruised as a result, having a second fall can be far more debilitating because of the vulnerable position your body is in. The bruising can cause the second fall to result in deeper damage so we are especially fearful. This is a legitimate concern for the first few weeks after a fall, one reason why grounding exercise should be practiced as soon as possible.
If you are concerned about falling, include grounding exercise in your daily routine.
How do you get grounded?
How does it feel to be grounded? When you are grounded, life becomes simpler and more straightforward. We feel our feet on the earth. We become calm. Our breathing is slow and steady. The voice is both softer and deeper. We are more relaxed. It's as if our feet are anchored to the ground and whatever wind or external force that comes along cannot throw us off our anchor.
- Breathe: Once again, the key is the breath. As we breathe more deeply, slowly and easily our center of gravity lowers and steadies. Deep breathing brings immediate rewards.
- Walk barefoot on the ground. Sit on the ground. Get outdoors. Garden. Go for walks on the beach. Any outdoor activity helps to ground us.
- Pay attention to your feet: Do any foot exercises. (See the big toe tapping exercise below.) Get a foot massage. Stimulate the nerve endings on the soles of the feet by rubbing your bare feet on your carpet. Reiki your feet. Stomp. Tap dance.
- Visualization: Powerful mental suggestion provides one of the best and most vivid methods to get grounded. See below for some wonderful grounding visualization exercises.
- Improve your sense of balance through balance exercise. Focusing on the principles of good balance is the ultimate solution for becoming grounded, particularly for those older.
- Focus your eyes: Focus your eyes on a small object in the center of your field of vision to stabilize and ground yourself. Look at the object carefully, at every detail about its line, color and shape. This helps us connect to the real world.
- Diet: Improve your connection to the earth by eating more root vegetables. See the list below.
- Cold water: It is especially useful to submerge your hands and forearms in cold water to reground after hands-on healing work.
- Avoid plastic shoes: If you have chronic problems with being grounded, use other than plastic shoes. Plastic does not conduct energy and is actually a barrier to our ability to feel the earth under our feet.
- Help someone else: This grounds us by getting us outside of ourselves. We can see reality more clearly from that perspective.
Breathing exercise: Inhale for a count of 5, hold for a count of 5, exhale for a count of 7. Do this anytime you feel out of sorts, frustrated, scared or anxious.
Big toe tapping: This simple exercise helps to ground us through coordinated foot use. While sitting, tap your big toes, one at a time in the following progression. Limit the movement to the big toes as much as you can.
8 taps on the right, 8 on the left.
4 right, 4 left, 4 right, 4 left.
2 right, 2 left, 2 right, 2 left, 2 right, 2 left, 2 right, 2 left.
Repeat.
Here are the 13 healthiest root vegetables: Onions, sweet potatoes, turnips, ginger, beets, garlic, radishes, fennel, carrots, turmeric, potatoes, rutabaga. Adding these to your diet helps to improve grounding.
Grounding is effectively practiced through visualization:
The Energy Sciences are quite elaborate on the subject of grounding. There are a number of modalities that focus on the movement of energy, how and why and where it gets blocked and how to remove those blockages to restore free and clear energy while restoring our natural connection to the ground. Reiki is one technique. In Reiki, we seek to activate the energy centers of the body (chakras) to restore balance. Another similar technique called the Doris Breyer Method focuses on passing life force energy through blockages to restore health. And there are plenty of others, most with some connection to Oriental philosophy and science.
Visualization is used extensively throughout the Energy Sciences as a learning tool. It is especially helpful in working with the concept of grounding. Here are some important suggestions and background:
Visualization grounding exercises: There are many visualization exercises you can practice that enhance grounding. This is a sampling.
- 3 points of energy: The center of the pelvic floor and the centers of the soles of each foot are powerful points on the body. (The Root Chakra is located in the center of the pelvic floor. Look below for more information about chakras.) The point on the sole of each foot is located specifically at the base of the ball, right below where the second toe connects. The 3 points are particularly important in the process of grounding.
- Locating the center of the pelvic floor: Sit toward the front of the chair with your lower back upright and your feet under your knees. Shift your weight from side to side, creating a line on the seat of your chair. Now, tilt forward and back keeping your spine straight. This makes a line that crosses the first one at right angles. Where the 2 lines intersect is the center of your pelvic floor.
Visualization grounding exercises: There are many visualization exercises you can practice that enhance grounding. This is a sampling.
- Three Legged Chair: Sit toward the front of your chair with your legs apart, toes pointing outward with your ankles directly under your knees. Sit so that your lower back is straight. Relax in this position focusing on the 3 points of contact. Think of a fishing line with a weight on it that is connected to the center of your pelvic floor. The weight hangs straight down. Think of that line going all the way down into the center of the earth. Anchor yourself there. Anchor your feet similarly. As you sit in this 3 legged position, think of energy draining out of you through those 3 spots and down into the very center of the earth.
- Stand the Ground: Stand with your knees bent and your feet 2-3 feet apart with your toes pointing outward. Keep the lower back upright. Sink by softening your knees. Re-attach the fishing line and weight to the center of your pelvic floor. Anchor from the 3 points deep down into the earth. Place your hands on your lower abdomen. Breathe.
- Tree: Either as you are sitting or as you are standing imagine that all 3 contact spots have roots that go deep down into the ground, anchoring the trunk of your body like a tree trunk. Think of roots growing from your feet down into the earth.
- Feel Your Feet: Sitting or standing, place your awareness on the bottoms of your feet. Pay attention to any sensations.
- Frog Feet: While sitting upright, ankles under your knees, think of your toes being like frog toes that attach with suction cups to the ground with toes splayed.
- Follow Your Breath: Close your eyes and as you inhale, trace the air as it enters your nose and goes into your lungs. Feel the air as it passes through your nostrils. On the exhale, follow the air leaving your lungs and exiting your nose or mouth. Feel the breeze created as it passes out.
- Stimulate Energy Flow: Place your hands on 2 different spots on your body and imagine energy flowing from one hand through the body to the other hand. This is especially useful to do with the feet. While sitting on the floor or on the bed, place one hand on your ankle and the other on the underside of the ball of the same foot. Pass energy from the ankle to the ball. Allow that energy to flow out the sole of the foot and down into the ground.
The Chakras:
A number of grounding techniques are founded on principles established in the Far East. One of the most basic concepts is that of the Chakras, energy centers in the body. There are 7 major chakras which correspond to spots along the spine and head. There are also minor chakras in every joint. Each of these points are energy centers that have natural swirling patterns. One theory is that human illness and misery stems from blockages in these energy centers.
The chakra with particular importance in the process of grounding is the Root Chakra, located physically in the center of the pelvic floor. The Root Chakra represents our foundation and our connection to the real world. From TheLawOfAttraction.com: "If your Root Chakra is blocked you may feel threatened, panicked or anxious. This anxiety can easily infiltrate your thoughts, making everything suddenly feel uncertain. You may also find that you can’t concentrate and that you’re constantly preoccupied with worries about your well-being."
The nervous system in effect houses the chakras. I find the similarities between these 2 concepts particularly helpful in understanding energy.
The chakra with particular importance in the process of grounding is the Root Chakra, located physically in the center of the pelvic floor. The Root Chakra represents our foundation and our connection to the real world. From TheLawOfAttraction.com: "If your Root Chakra is blocked you may feel threatened, panicked or anxious. This anxiety can easily infiltrate your thoughts, making everything suddenly feel uncertain. You may also find that you can’t concentrate and that you’re constantly preoccupied with worries about your well-being."
The nervous system in effect houses the chakras. I find the similarities between these 2 concepts particularly helpful in understanding energy.
The 7 major chakras along with their physical location:
|
Root
Sex/Emotion Power Heart Communication Intellect Crown |
Pelvic Floor
Lower Abdomen Solar Plexus Heart Throat Brain Top of the Head |
Other BALANCE NEWS articles that help us understand:
Published July 18, 2019