Centering and Grounding are the Foundations of Health and Healing. 

Most of us have become so busy and consumed with getting through life that not only have we lost our personal center or inner compass, but awareness of the foundation under our feet—Earth—has lapsed. Even more important, too many have forgotten that they live inside a body! We wake up to a blaring alarm and immediately get ready: make coffee or tea, shower, brush our teeth, dress. Maybe… we leave time to eat. No wonder that by noon we feel frazzled and frustrated. And hungry!

This is not the best way to begin a day.

I do the centering and grounding exercise below as a beginning ritual—every morning as my tea steeps; before a healing ceremony; at the beginning of a class, workshop, or talk; and any time during the day I might feel unsettled. Once I know I am solidly in my body, I add gratitude. I speak out loud to the Great Mystery and verbalize everything I am grateful for in that moment. I begin with my own life, health, abundance, and privilege, and then move on to family, friends, and all beings. The amount of time I spend expressing gratitude changes daily, as does the time it takes me to ground. I often do this when I am out with my dog for his morning walk. If you saw us on the trail, you might notice Apu, the smelling-everything-dog, and me, the crazy lady that is breathing deeply and talking to herself. Centering and grounding are central to my life.

To explore your own grounding practice, try doing an experiment. Do the exercise below at the beginning of your day, and then notice how you feel at noon.

Centering, Grounding, and Gratitude

Find a place where you won’t be disturbed. It could be your bedroom floor, living room couch, patio chair, a patch of dirt in your yard, or even the bathroom. Maybe, like me, while on your morning walk. Wherever it is, choose someplace safe, where you can focus for a few minutes.

Breathe.

Place both hands with your palms flat on the center of your chest. I call this the heart/soul space. Take deep, intentional breaths. With each inhalation, say: “I am centered within my body.” Breathe yourself in. It’s a new day. If you feel disjointed in some way, say: “I call all of myself back home, into my center.” Use your breath and imagination to receive any parts that might have scattered while you slept, especially if you had a restless or dream-filled night.

Once you feel centered, it’s time to ground.

Imagine a cord of energy beginning at your heart/soul space moving down the middle of your body, and then breathe it out through your first chakra, the energy center in-between your legs. Imagine your grounding cord enter, and then grow deep, down into Mother Earth.

Grounding looks and feels different every time we do it. Consider: Does your cord have roots that entwine around a boulder? Is it landing in water?  Does it reach the glowing, red-orange magma in the center of Earth? If you don’t see it, what do you know, feel, or sense about it?

Conversely, is your grounding cord unable to leave your body? Does it feel stuck someplace? If that’s your experience, take a look at what’s in the way. Do you see, feel, sense, or have a knowing about it? Is the blockage a color? An energy? A person?

Use your inner senses to explore. Sometimes an energy in the way of our grounding cord is surprising. Are you holding on to anger?  Maybe it’s a little scary to claim your body. Is someone is in your space you had not realized was there? You don’t have to do anything about the energy; the fact that it came to your awareness is what’s most important. You can explore it later.

At some point you’ll feel complete and ready for the next phase. That’s when you breathe into your center once again, exhale down and out your cord, and state: “I am centered and grounded.” Then begin to express your gratitude. What are you grateful for today? A person? An event? Your health? Being alive? The ability to become aware of previously unknown stuck energy?

After grounding, notice how you feel. I often stretch a bit. Sometimes I shake my body out. The “crazy lady” part of me even does this on the trail; Apu doesn’t care. He’s too busy doing his own thing to even notice.

Apu says, “Make sure to enjoy yourself!”