Copyright © 2022 Lee Spirit
There’s a lot to think about these days with all that’s happening in the world. It affects our mind-body-spirit, and our relationships too. It’s easy to get stuck in the windy treetops of our minds, and important to remember some grounding techniques so that we can relax our emotions, and that “monkey-mind”. The monkey-mind causes us to get lost in the happenings of the world rather than staying grounded in the present moment. The present moment is what keeps us calm and balanced, so we want to be in this state as often as possible. Worrying about the future, or being sad about the past isn’t helpful for our overall wellbeing. So let’s try some grounding techniques to keep us rooted and stable going forward.
I chose this photo for grounding because just being outside in nature, surrounded by tall Evergreens, and bodies of water can really help us ground our energy, and balance our moods. Nature is a healer in so many ways, and it’s one of the best ways to stay grounded. If you have the chance to take your socks and shoes off and walk barefoot on the earth, or dig your hands into some garden dirt, you will feel amazing benefits! This is a park in the city, so you don’t have to go far! Your backyard, or a nearby park will certainly do!
What Does It Mean to Be Grounded?
Did your parents ever say to you when you were a child, “You’re grounded!” Being grounded was like a form of punishment for doing something wrong, whereby you couldn’t go out and play – You had to stay put in your room until some time had passed. During this time, you would hopefully reflect on your “bad” behaviour, calm your nerves, settle down, and be a good boy or girl again.
Spiritual grounding is a little bit like that, except that it is more healing, and less of a punishment! It’s a way to calm the nervous system when it’s feeling overwhelmed with emotion, stress, and anxiety. Your mind may go “haywire” in stressful times. Grounding can calm the thoughts and our reactions, and bring us back to our heart centre.
Electrical grounding is much the same – When there’s too much electricity, grounding is a safe way to discharge excess electricity. Similarly, we want to be able to manage our energy, feelings, and emotions effectively through grounding techniques so that we are not overly irritable, anxious, or jittery. We also want to balance our energy so that we don’t have too little of it, making us feel tired, lethargic, or depressed.
Grounding Techniques: Where Do I Begin?
Grounding starts with having an awareness of your own energy. Paying attention to how you feel throughout your days is really important. For example, you may feel groggy waking up in the morning and you don’t want to get out of bed. Maybe you feel energetic in the mornings, but after lunch, you want to take a nap. Perhaps being around certain people drains you of energy, while being around others uplifts your spirit.
Note how you feel by writing your feelings down, so you can go back and look for patterns. Once you see the patterns, you can start to adjust things so that you’re feeling energetic more of the time, and drained less of the time, in a good balance.
The Tree Root Visualization
Once you’ve gathered an awareness of your feelings, emotions, and reactions, it’s a great time to root yourself into the earth like a Giant Redwood. You do this by closing your eyes and visualizing yourself as a tree, with roots going down deep into the earth. Next, imagine all your reactive emotions and negative energy sinking through the roots. Give all your troubles to Mother Earth and she will absorb it all for you. Then, imagine your head as the tree-top, and stretch your arms to the sky as branches. Visualize your excess energy shooting up to the heavens above. This is a great way to release pent-up energies.
Click Here To Stay Balanced, Safe, and Grounded From the Root Chakra
Body Scan Grounding Techniques
When you’re uncertain of how you feel, try my Body Scan Meditation. This will bring you to a better awareness of where pain and difficult emotions reside in your body, and how to manage them. Paying attention to how your body feels is an important clue as to where your emotional energy is residing. With this awareness, you can start to move your body in ways that will help release the tension. A great grounding technique I’ve learned in kundalini yoga is to shake! Throw your arms up in the air above your head, and shake, shake shake! This is a great release of excess energy, and restores it to a healthy balance.
Moving the Prana Through Breath Work
“Prana” is the Sanskrit name for “life force energy”. We always want to ground our energy by moving it and balancing it. One way to do this, apart from shaking and lightly bouncing the body, is to work with our breath. Kundalini yoga is great, again, for moving the stagnant energy and breath in our bodies.
When you are feeling stressed out, try sitting upright, with spine straight, yet relaxed so the breath and energy can flow freely from the base of the spine, up and outwards from your head. There are many different ways to move the breath.
Kundalini yoga often uses the “breath of fire”, with equal breaths in and out, drawing the navel inwards. You can also breathe from the chest, the belly, or visualizing the breath exhaling negativity, and inhaling vitality. You can imagine the breath starting at your root, at the base of the spine, and moving up through the navel, heart centre, throat chakra, third eye, and out the crown of your head. Again, notice how the different breathing styles feel. Try inhaling, holding at the top, exhaling, and holding your breath out.
You will discover what breathing style makes you feel most grounded. Then you can work on practising the grounding techniques that work best for you at settling your nerves.
Some Fun Grounding Techniques
Drum Circles
Last night I came home from a gorgeous ski through some very tall Evergreen trees, feeling grounded, spacious, and with a happy heart! I was meant to write this blog post, but instead, I got sidetracked and decided to do a free drum circle mindfulness session online! It involved some mindful body movements to warm up, some deep breaths, and powerful exhalations and vocal sounds to move the breath. This was followed by some fun drumming on a pillow or your lap, if you don’t have a drum!
People from all over the world gathered for this session, and it ended with the classic loving-kindness meditation. This is a great way to ground, and so much fun! Drum circles are very therapeutic. It begins with a simple heart-beat drum, some guided rhythm, and then you can even let loose and get into your own, unique rhythm.
I was attending in-person drum circles before the pandemic but have not done so in a while, so this online session felt like a great, uplifting thing to do! I highly recommend drum circles! You don’t need to own a drum, or even know how to drum! Very affordable too, if not free!
Ecstatic Dance
I haven’t done ecstatic dance for a while either, but it is another fun activity I highly recommend. Again, you don’t need any dance experience, because all you need to do is move your body in whatever way feels natural for you with the music provided. Usually there is a DJ or sound-track playing, and someone will guide you a little bit in some different movements you can do. You dance solo, in your own unique style, so you don’t need a partner! If you want to just stop and stand there, taking in the trance-like sounds, you are welcome to do that too. It’s a great way to shake off excess energy, and to take in the healthy vibrations of the community you dance with. Highly recommend!
Singing and Vocal Work
There are also many health benefits in singing and joining a choir. I really love Coco Love Alcorn’s uplifting music, and she has a zoom choir going called the Wonderland Singers. You are welcome to drop in to try your hand at singing. No experience necessary again, and such a great grounding technique to balance the heart and uplift the spirit!
If you don’t like singing, you can make different sounds vocally. Examples include: Howling at the full moon; A good primal scream; Making a big “Haaaaaa” sound when you yawn; Having a good belly laugh out loud (as practised also in kundalini yoga).
Chanting and mantra are also so beneficial for grounding, rooting, centring, and balancing the mind-body-spirit. These sounds have been made and practised for thousands and thousands of years, and are said to open the energy channels and chakras. It, improves our memory and concentration and we start to vibrate in tune with the natural waves of the universe. So many health benefits!
Art Work
Art therapy is a technique that combines artwork with psychotherapy as a means of self-exploration and understanding. When searching for the right grounding techniques for you, this is a great one to keep in mind. Again, no artistic talent is needed. You just start drawing, painting, or making a collage. Notice what comes up for you, and what you see in your finished work. It can give you great insight to your soul. Drawing, painting, and colouring have some definite health benefits, in calming, grounding, and relaxing your entire being. The increased insight you may receive from your work of art can help you change directions or shift focus where needed.
Playing in Nature
Of course, I must finish off with my favourite grounding technique which is always heading out to enjoy the many benefits of nature. Do this as often as you can for grounding when your mind goes haywire. Just a splash of water from a stream on your face can provide immense grounding benefits. Skiing, hiking, walking, kayaking, rolling in the mud, or running barefoot on a sandy beach can get your energy rooted and balanced. It will help you learn to take deep breaths. You can give your troubles to the vast earth, which is capable of absorbing all your problems. Hugging a tree also feels pretty good, especially during pandemic times when some of us aren’t receiving the hugs we might normally give or receive.
I hope you’ve found this information on grounding techniques to be beneficial. I know all of these methods have become a part of my life at some point, and they are great at balancing mind-body-spirit. Stay grounded out there! All the best!
Lee Spirit is an avid outdoors adventurer with a love for nature, photography, health & fitness, wellness, and spirituality. She helps those who suffer from anxiety & negative thinking to become healthier in mind-body-spirit. Her own personal journey has led her to the study and practice of mindfulness, health, wellness, yoga, spirituality, sound healing, meditation, and personal development for over 20 years. Get mindfulness, meditation, and personal development tips in her Free Natural Mind Healing Report.