Many people have heard the term “grounding”, and perhaps have even experienced some grounding practices in various kinds of meditation and spiritual training.
But what does grounding really mean, and why is it important as we cultivate our abilities to communicate with animals and all life?
In this post, I’ll share what I mean when I use the word grounding, and I’ll share some practical and simple tools that anyone can use to support grounding in our daily lives.
Grounding, as I use the word, is a state of presence, balance, and connection–in the body, mind, nervous system, and spirit.
It’s a state of being where we are fully awake, centered, present and connected with our own bodies in relationship with the Earth.
Grounding is our sense of being HOME: in our own experience, our own bodies, and our environment. It’s an awareness of our ongoing connection to and with the Earth that allows us to feel strong, connected, and balanced.
As humans, we often struggle with this. Our dominant cultures generally don’t support this way of being, and our lives as modern humans are filled with stress, speed, noise, and it’s easy to become ungrounded, disconnected, and unbalanced. Our ubiquitous devices aid us in our disconnection from our bodies, the present, and the Earth.
Grounding is not something special that we do only at special or formal times. It’s actually our innate, natural way of being–much like telepathic communication–and it’s accessible to us always if we remember to bring our attention to it. Sometimes we need to practice to remind ourselves…but all of us are designed to live this way as a natural state of being.
We are a traumatized species, and one of the ways that this often expresses is ungroundedness and disembodiment: heady, thinking, moving through the world in a kind of trance or haze, disconnected, dissociated, and unbalanced.
So, how can we become more grounded, and integrate grounding into our daily lives in ways that it becomes more natural and conscious?
Here are a few tips and ideas. This is by no means a complete list; if you have others, please use them!
Tips for Grounding:
1. Breathe.
A simple practice of noticing our breath, and whether or not we are breathing well, or breathing shallowly, can help to bring our awareness to our connection with our bodies and the Earth. Try a simple practice of three conscious breaths: stop when you notice a feeling of disconnection, and do nothing but pay attention to your inhalation and exhalation for 3 breath cycles. That’s it.
You’ll be surprised how quickly this can help you to regain a sense of balance and connection. Some people like to set reminders to do this throughout the day, or use common signals like a phone alert, pausing to focus on the breath when moving from sitting to standing, or other common actions or cues, as a reminder to take three conscious breaths.
2. Feel your feet.
This is a practice we return to over and over again in animal communication training classes. Many animals of all species consistently recommend this practice for humans as a way of helping us to remind ourselves of our ongoing connection to our own bodies and the Earth. Simply place your feet flat on the floor or the ground, and bring your awareness to them for a few moments. If you like, you can also do this while taking three conscious breaths.
3. Mimic Trees.
Trees are wonderful teachers for grounding. As they are also upright beings, like we are as two-leggeds, it’s helpful for us to learn from them and their experience of constant and ongoing connection with the Earth.
Imagine your legs and feet growing roots down into the Earth. Imagine the trunk of your body as the trunk of a tree. Imagine your upper body, arms, shoulders, head as branches swaying in the breeze.
Take a few breaths to feel your connection. Another option is to sit with your back against a tree. It will immediately help you to feel more grounded.
4. Lie on the Earth.
Simply lying on the earth for a few moments is profoundly connecting and grounding. You can do this for a few minutes, or longer, depending on your situation.
5. Drink pure water, & eat nourishing food.
This may seem obvious, but many of us forget to do this in our daily lives. Certain foods can be especially helpful with grounding–think of those that grow in the earth, like root vegetables, or foods that are more dense. But any healthy food can help us to ground, especially if we are present and aware as we are eating.
Same with water–dehydration will leave us feeling unbalanced, unconnected, ungrounded; being well-hydrated will support our bodies, minds, and spirits in feeling whole, connected, and balanced.
Why is Grounding Important for Interspecies Communication?
In order to really connect with another being, and to be able to hear and receive their communication clearly and accurately, without our own filters and perspectives, we first need to be aware of our own bodies, emotions, and experiences.
If we are ungrounded and disconnected, we will find it much more challenging to connect with any other being and to access a state of presence and open-heartedness to really be able to take in and receive their experience and communication.
To put it simply, when we are grounded, we are present, open, and receptive. When we are ungrounded, we are not present, have a harder time being open, and not very receptive as we are lost in our own disconnection.
When we come home to ourselves and remember our innate and ongoing connection with our bodies, the Earth, and all life, we access the ways of knowing that we may have forgotten, or have become disconnected from, but that are always available to us.
Grounding is a simple practice that reminds us of this way of being, and the more we consciously practice it, the more natural it becomes as a way of daily life. Then, we can expand our practices and awareness to include other beings of all species, and to connect more deeply, naturally, and easily with all life.
If you’d like to learn more and to explore practices like this in more depth, with the support of like-hearted individuals, you may be interested in our membership circle, The POD. The POD Membership Circle includes recorded guided meditations, supportive resources, and a vibrant, growing community of humans who are cultivating deeper interspecies partnerships of all kinds. We’d love to have you join us!
