Energetic healing work starts with the premise that everything is energy. Your physical body, your thoughts and beliefs, other peoples’ bodies and ideas, the trees you see outside, the birds chirping, the tea you drank this morning, and the computer you use ~ everything is energy. Without energy, nothing would exist.
It might seem strange to comprehend this way of thinking about your body and mind. It was completely foreign to me for many years. By the time I went to college, I was fascinated by the mind-body connection. My life was like a puzzle with pieces strewn all over the place. Working with therapists, I started putting the pieces together and learning why my body and mind worked the way they did; however, it always felt like something was missing for me in this approach.
It wasn’t until I learned about energy and how it affected the totality of my being that I really started seeing the pieces fall into place. It was like I had finally found the dimmer switch to a dim light bulb and turned it up, which allowed me to see more of the puzzle pieces. I was then further able to influence how I refined my thinking, my physical body, and my entire life; I put the pieces of my life together to make a whole, and the secret to energetic healing work was a big part of this.
Very often energy gets stuck, becomes stagnant or leaves an energetic residue and this affects health and wellbeing. Maybe you had a miscarriage or surgery or were in a car accident or natural disaster. Perhaps you were mistreated as a child or lost a love one. These are all examples of types of things that can cause energy to become stuck or stagnant.
Think about your hand as a traumatic event in your life. When it’s clenched tightly, nothing can get in or out. Things are stuck. The good news about energy is that you can harness and direct it to help bring you into wholeness. If you relax your fist, there’s room for energy to move; you can let go of the energetic residue from the traumatic event and utilize the energy for your wellbeing.
One technique I teach my clients to help get energy flowing is grounding. (Some people call this centering.) It’s the secret ingredient for all energetic healing work! Without it, other energy medicine techniques don’t work as well. Grounding is paramount to a good energetic practice.
When you’re grounded you feel calmer, making decisions is easier and life flows more smoothly. It’s much simpler to be in present time. When you’re not grounded, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, hard to think straight, and you can feel powerless. When your electrical devices are ungrounded, you know it’s not safe to use them. Since we are all composed of energy and literally electrical current, the same principals apply. Grounding is the key to feeling safe and secure in your body. It’s the process of removing excess energetic charge by transferring it to the earth.
Here’s one way to ground that I use every day.
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Grounding to the center of the earth.Sit upright in a chair with the soles of your feet on the ground.
- Close your eyes.
- Take a few deep, cleansing breaths. Breathing in and breathing out.
- Visualize, sense or feel dropping a connection from your tailbone area into the center of the earth. It can be anything that appeals to you and helps you feel connected (e.g., sequoia tree, waterfall, ship’s anchor…)
- Sit and feel the connection to the earth.
Practice this daily for at least 2 minutes. Set a timer if it’s helpful.
If your mind wanders (and it will), come back to your breath. If you’re not sure if you’re doing it “right,” keep going. It’s so much about the intention. There’s no one right way to do this exercise. Some people feel a tingly sensation in their feet, legs, or elsewhere in their body when practicing grounding. Others feel a sense of calm. It’s a bit different for everyone.
A few other ways to ground include the following.
- Lie on the grass or floor, breathe deeply, and allow the heaviness of your body to help you feel more grounded.
- Sit in a bathtub with water. Continue sitting in the tub while the water drains out. The pull of the water as it leaves the tub helps some people more fully experience the sensation of grounding.
- Spend time in nature.
- Paint, dance, sing ~ utilize your creative expression.
- Do gentle or restorative yoga or qigong.
It can be useful to find everyday reminders to help you ground, such as every time you sit down in your car. Be creative and find what works for you.
Leave a comment below and let me know your experience with grounding.
Enjoy!
(Blog post adapted from The Energetic Fertility Method™: Tools to create a healthy energetic environment for conception to occur, book in progress)
