Part of what I teach in most workshops and classes involve grounding or consciously connecting to the earths energy.  I was taught this work by Warren Grossman, who's Monday quote was subject of my last blog.  Warren wrote a wonderful book “to be healed by the earth”.  Yet most of what I'm about to share, you knew intuitively as a child.  Part of my life's work is to remind people of this (hence my title Earth Mentor), and teach them basic techniques they can use anywhere to reconnect  to the earth and deepen the experience.  And it's all free!

This work is what supported my transition from banker to nothing.  I literally crawled into Mother Earth every day and allowed transformation to occur over a year.  This Mother supports us and love us unconditionally, and by doing this work  we literally support her.  There is a natural exchange of energy that is to occur, that we resist.  I will now cover some basic ways to not only improve your health and energy flow, have more peace in your life and open your heart, but feel your connection to all things.  And a one year old is a master at this (especially if allowed to be shoeless and directly contact the earth).

First I would recommend you avoid wearing shoes and socks as much as possible.  Most shoes constrict the natural shape of our foot, and therefore constrict our connection to Earth.  Some shoes are better than others, Keens as an example, but I would still recommend being barefoot as much as you can.  And if you feel up to it, give yourself a vigorous foot massage once a day  (and doing this while sitting in front of the tv is great use of time).

As for grounding, I would recommend it as you wake up and before you go to bed, for transitions times (say between work and home), and before and after eating. You can not ground too much, unless you think you can have too much peace and love.  To ground standing, either directly on the earth or on a floor (hopefully with bare feet), allow yourself to take three deep gentle breaths and sink into your body.  We spend so much time in our head or even out of our body, we need to first connect to our body.

Then soften your knees and pay attention to your feet against the earth.  Notice the coolness, moisture, texture of the surface…whatever come to you.  Warren teaches to stomp your feet to create sensation in your feet, so you can focus on the sensations.  Use whatever helps you to move your attention to your feet and the point where they touch the Earth.  Imagination allows us to access a different part of our brain then does rational, linear thought, and perhaps even allows us to tap into deeper aspects of soul (irony of sole and soul eh?).  I use a number of different visualizations to connect to the Earth, but my favorite is a tree.  We do have a trunk and limbs don't we?  And a crown of the head.  But we forget our roots.

Visualize roots moving down into the earth.  See it moving into the rich soil, through or around rocks and water, and go as deep down into the Earth as you wish.  For some this may be a very fast trip, for others this may be slow.  When your roots are fully in the Earth, breath three times again and just allow the energy of the earth to flow up your roots.  It's a funny thing, receptivity seems to be the key concept we forget as humans.  All we have to do with the Earth is make the connection and allow the energy to move up into us.  Now some people feel an electricity, others a warmth, some see it as a light.  However you perceive energy is perfect.  And some, like my wife, have limited sensitivity to this energy so she does it on faith, and then pays attention to results.

See in your minds eye, and feel this energy move up your feet into your ankles, knees, hips and the bottom of your torso.  Move as slow or fast as feels right for you.  Know that this energy is opening all your energy channels, moving out waste energy and healing and energizing any part of the body that needs it.  Breath into your belly as this energy fills up even more of your torso, moving through the diaphragm and into the lungs and heart.  Allow it to flow through your shoulders and down your arms and out your fingertips.  Spread your fingers some and allow the energy to move back to the earth, taking anything you no longer need.  This feeds the earth, and cleans you out.

Feel the energy move up into your neck and into your head, swirling around and removing all thoughts of yesterday and tomorrow.  Allow the gift of the present to appear.  See this energy move through the top of your head and out into a fountain of energy around you.  You are completely in flow, supported, nourished and because you are filled with this energy you will not take on other energies from the outside.  This becomes a very good technique for dealing with stress and upset people.  Ground, breath and smile and it not only affects you but everything around you.

Trees do this process all the time.  They are the energetic whales of land energy, and if you face a tree (with in 10 feet), and ground you will have the tree support the process.  Your body will start to mirror the healthier, stronger energy flow ot the tree.  If you feel the need to clean more things out of your body, you can lean your back against the tree and focus on the connection point of your body and the tree, and the tree will literally take the waste energy out of your body if you allow it.  Doing your chakras is always powerful.  This exchange of energy is very similar to how we breath out carbon dioxide and the trees use that and “breath out” oxygen.  Ground before and after connecting with the tree, and play with various trees.  The energies of different trees can be  vary dramatically.

Finally, by laying on the Earth on your back you can experience this same exchange of energy, but I find there is a deeper peace component.  If you lay on the Earth, with your head near the tree trunk, it will ease your mind.  If you lay on the Earth, with your feet near the tree trunk, you will feel more grounded.  Flip over and lay on your stomach to fill up again.  Allow for an effect of feeling 10 degrees cooler than standing by being on the earth, and feel free to use mats, blankets, pillows, etc to make this comfortable.  Than exercise of any sort after is very positive.

You can also ground sitting through the bottom of your torso, so it's perfect for sitting at a red light, at work, or even on a plane.  Putting both hands over the middle of your chest helps fill your heart with energy as you ground.  Please comment on this blog with questions and also any experiences you have if you try this.  Within a week you may find pretty powerful results.  Blessings!