The Why's & How's Of Grounding

Hey everyone,

This is Pasquale,

Dr.

Tracey,

And we are here to talk about grounding,

Or some people call it earthing.

Spiritually what I like to always say is grounding to me is kind of that foundation in just creating a practice where you can begin to let go of energy,

Right?

You want to let go of the stuff that you're carrying,

The thoughts that are like flooding your mind,

That constant movement that's always happened.

Grounding is a great way to just kind of start that process of just letting go.

One of the things that I always like to talk about with grounding is when you think about life as a general rule on the planet,

Right?

Every animal,

Every living being,

Thing,

Right,

In some way connects with the earth at least once in their day,

Right?

Think about birds.

Birds are air animals and they're flying around,

But where do they go when they sleep?

To a tree,

To a nest,

Right?

Where they actually connect to the earth in some form,

Right?

Trees naturally do it with their roots.

Fish,

What do they do?

They're always at the bottom,

Right next to the bottom where the earth is,

Right?

It's a constant thing.

It's a normal thing that all life does is we go back to mother earth and kind of just let go,

Right?

Sleep in that safety of the earth.

And one of the practices that I always teach every single one of my clients is how do you ground?

This three minute practice just allows you to let go.

And I see it as that energy,

Almost that nervous energy coming,

You know,

Psychologically we have,

You know,

There's the over thinkers,

Right?

I know I am,

You are,

You know,

We're in our mind a lot.

There's people that are prone to anxiety,

Intrusive thoughts,

Any sort of trauma,

ADHD,

Like all of that stuff,

Right?

We're like more in our head than we are in our body in a sense.

And it's kind of like,

You know,

We're like up in the air over here and it gets very overwhelming.

And sometimes,

You know,

One thought leads to 10,

Leads to 100 and we don't even know where we started.

And so grounding is,

It really helps us just bring it back.

And it's almost to me,

I see grounding as when I ask people to be present.

You know,

So that I see that as kind of like one in the same and that's another overlap,

Right?

Spiritual psychology.

And so it's,

You know,

It's just being present.

It's like getting out,

Not,

You know,

We're not worrying about the past or worrying about the future.

And it's just right here,

Right at this moment.

And I think it's so important because a lot of times,

Even when something is going wrong,

Even when we're in some sort of pain and there is a current situation that is bothering us,

Like right now at this very moment,

Right?

Like you and I sitting here,

Or you watching or listening.

And right now,

We're okay.

Like right now we are good.

You know,

Even if we're currently dealing with,

You know,

Something very sad or stressful,

Right now we're good.

And that's what gives us like that sense of peace so that we can then be able to think more clearly and problem solve.

Because if we're trying to do that,

If we're trying to problem solve or process in the moment of that,

Those heightened emotions and intrusive thoughts and you know,

All of this kind of stuff and coming from a place of worry and fear,

How are,

What is that problem solving going to look like?

You know,

It's not going to look very rational,

That's for sure.

So we have to go,

We have to learn how to ground and become present and just to have a clear direction,

Like to just calm ourselves in that moment so we can think about what we need to do or go next.

Yeah,

I think that it hits it right on the head for me.

The piece that I would probably add is that I even think that it's people who have a lot of emotion and carry heavy emotion,

Almost depressive.

Like grounding is a great way to kind of just slowly start to let that go,

Right?

It's one of the things is like empaths,

And I know this is a talk for later,

But empaths for me,

Grounding is a great way to kind of release the energy you're taking in,

Right?

And that energy we're taking in is really emotional energy.

It's that energy of what we're carrying that is heavy,

Right?

There's feelings behind it.

And it just allows us that opportunity to say,

You know what,

I'm good right now and I'm going to let that go.

And I'm slowly going to start moving that away.

Yeah,

I love that.

So one of the,

I mean,

Probably most common techniques to ground yourself is to like visualize like that you're a tree,

Right?

And we're going to grow.

So you would go into a meditation,

You'd center yourself just to calm yourself with a couple deep breaths.

And then you can visualize yourself as that tree trunk and where you're growing roots down so that you are strong.

And I always say like,

I am one with the earth.

I am strong.

I am safe.

I am stable.

You know,

Nothing,

No matter what is happening around me,

Nothing is going to be able to like,

You know,

Blow me over in a sense.

Like,

You know,

I can bend,

But I'm not going to break.

Yes.

You know,

One of the things I would add to that is,

Is that as you visualize those roots kind of digging themselves deep,

Every,

Like I always look at it as if you can incorporate breath into it.

Yes.

The breathing helps the releasing,

Right?

And so as you visualize those roots,

Every time those roots move,

It's an exhale.

So inhale,

Exhale,

Inhale,

Exhale until you feel like those roots are so deep and sturdy that you feel like you're connected.

You feel safe.

You feel protected like by the earth.

Yeah.

I always,

I use that analogy to the one that bending not break with,

You know,

From South Florida.

So been through a ton of hurricanes,

Right?

And palm trees,

They are so flexible and a lot of them are really skinny and so tall and you wonder like how,

But it's because they are flexible and that's how we have to be in life.

You know,

We have to be able to bend and change and go with the flow of,

You know,

And,

And be able to bend so we don't break.

Yeah.

And so,

But just knowing that we have that solid ground,

That foundation,

Those roots,

That grounding is what helps us bend without breaking.

And so I'll even say as a mantra,

Sometimes when I'm really,

You know,

Going through something difficult,

I'm like,

Be the palm tree,

Be the palm tree.

And I really take that in because I actually visualize that.

Yeah.

You know,

It even helps me with yoga poses.

Yeah.

You know,

I would suggest saying I am,

Cause when you use the power of I,

Oh,

That's true.

Like man,

Does that power like hit you?

You're right.

So I would start with be the palm tree and then say,

I am the palm tree and feel the power behind it.

I think that's amazing.

The other thing that I always add to it is,

Is like actually visualize yourself letting go of that stuff,

Right?

Whether it's a person,

Whether it's an energy,

A situation,

Whatever it is that you're feeling is that heaviness,

Right?

It could be that anxiety up here.

It could be that depression down here or anything in between.

Right.

So I always like visualize it.

Like if it's a person,

See that person and just like feel it just fall away.

Right.

If it's a situation that's happening,

Just like visualize the situation and go,

You know what?

I'm going to let that go.

I'm going to let that fall into it.

I don't need to carry that energy anymore.

Yeah.

I love that because I was thinking too more of like the,

Like the excess energy in that way and like grounded.

But like once you feel,

And I was also thinking of it as more as like when we,

When we don't feel stable,

It helps stabilize me.

But also,

Um,

Like what I'm hearing from you is like,

Also like take that energy and like put,

Like bring it down and visualize it going through your body and almost like releasing it into the earth.

Yeah.

Would that be?

Let the earth take it.

Right.

And then I love,

There's an analogy that you use with the,

Um,

With lightning that I always love.

So lightning,

If you watch lightning,

Thanks for that.

That's such a nice thing.

Lightning,

Lightning is this big energy,

Right?

And you see it's clashed through,

Right?

And so lightning will hit a tree and you'll see the tree break,

Right?

But nothing happens.

Just breaks,

Right?

You see lightning hit a pool or any body of water.

We all have to leave because the electricity just moves,

Right?

Water will conduct it.

But if you see lightning hit the earth,

What happens?

Nothing.

The earth just takes it.

It absorbs it.

It absorbs that energy and uses it for other energy for other life.

Right.

And so when we let go of that lightning that we're carrying that energy and we ground it into the earth,

We're actually giving her like sustenance to provide life for other things,

Other people,

Other situations.

Yeah.

Um,

There's a also with,

They say wolves are,

They're very like empathic type animals.

Right.

And so,

But they'll,

They will lay,

They'll go somewhere by themselves and lay in the ground and like release energy into the ground.

So I actually use like,

Um,

Wolves in,

In certain empath,

Um,

Releasing negative energy meditations.

So I,

I always love that.

I am.

I'm a firm believer that most life on the planet releases energy into the earth.

And I think that as humans,

We've forgotten that.

Right.

Like I think we're so,

We're so up here.

Exactly.

And like life is happening so fast that we forgot kind of the important things that we probably should remember.

Like you know,

We breathe without anyone telling us.

Right.

Grounding is kind of the same,

Right?

But we don't breathe correctly.

Not all of us.

Agreed.

Agreed.

I will say I don't always breathe correctly either.

So I'm in no way perfect.

Well most of us don't.

That's why it has to be a very conscious,

You know,

A practice effort to be able to do that in the way that we need to just keep like releasing and replenishing and continuing to have that space for more.

Yeah.

A hundred percent.

I think another thing that I always like to throw out is,

Is that grounding doesn't necessarily have to be where you're just sitting.

Right.

You could actually ground and walk.

You can,

You can do that as a regular routine.

Right.

But taking steps forward and visualizing yourself as you step,

Who knows how I couldn't even pronounce visualizing for a second.

Yes.

But taking steps and visualizing yourself,

Let go,

Let go,

Let go.

As you walk,

Make it a very conscious release is a great way to ground without having to sit there with your eyes closed.

Would grounding even be,

You know how we do those exercises when you're like going like this or you're like jumping up and down.

Would that be considered grounding also?

A form of it.

I would say yes.

Cause you're releasing energy,

Right?

It's just when you're jumping up and down,

You're not necessarily giving it out to the earth as much because you're not focusing it on going down.

But you are still releasing.

I don't think it's a bad thing.

I mean,

I'll tell you like with my kids,

One of the things I always teach them is,

Is like before you go into the bed,

Make sure you're standing and then like lift your hands up high and anything that's bothering you from the day out,

You just go like this.

And just feel yourself let it go.

That's a form of grounding and it takes one second for them to do it.

They're super active.

And so like I was like,

Just do that and then go into bed.

But they sleep,

Right?

Because they let go of that energy,

That thing that's bothering them.

Yeah,

That's awesome.

I also like,

I think another,

When I was going through a hard time,

You had said like you need to ground.

That's usually the first thing you say to me when I'm like up in the,

Up in a emotional panic.

And so the first thing he always says is,

Did you ground?

And I'm like,

No,

I'll get right on that.

But one of the more powerful methods for me is to like actually go outside,

Which you don't need to do this all the time,

But if you really need it to make it more powerful is to go outside,

Take off your shoes,

Have your bare feet like in the grass,

In the dirt and just move.

Sometimes I'll even just like,

I'll with my hands,

I'll just like feel the dirt and I,

And then I do like a mindfulness practice where I'm really feeling the texture and the warmth or the coolness and you know,

Things like that.

And then I like smell the,

You know,

Just the nature being outdoors.

Yeah.

Just go through all your senses with that.

And then like,

But again,

Also visualizing like the release into,

Into the earth.

You know,

I love that.

I actually do that anytime that I feel like I have an excess amount of energy.

Yeah.

And I will tell you like one of the things that you don't even just use your feet,

Right?

You can use your hands.

Walk over to a house plant.

Oh I've done snow angels in the dirt.

It all works.

But anytime that you could take a minute and just even your hands,

Putting them into the earth and just breathing out whatever you're holding onto,

Right?

Letting go of that energy instantly,

You'll feel better.

One of the things that I do before I even start my spiritual practice,

Even before I meditate is I always include a grounding in any meditation I do.

And the whole purpose is,

Is like any of that energy that I might be feeling buzzing,

I'm going to let that go first because I know that if I'm buzzing,

I'm not able to focus.

I'm not able to get into the moment.

So I've got to let go of that buzz.

Yeah.

That's,

We need to do a talk on energy.

Yes.

I feel that I'm just now starting to feel that,

Like that buzz and things like that.

So it's a big one.

It's a big one.

It's one of the things like I always ground between clients and that's just by walking.

And people will be like,

Well,

Do you need a minute to like let go?

I'm like,

I've already done that.

Like it's,

It's my,

It's my normal everything thing is I let go after every person just because I know I carry it.

Yeah.

So it's,

It's good.

So some of the takeaways I think are from grounding is,

Is that it's an easy practice.

It's typically a great one to start if you're looking to really get into meditation.

And that it's just about releasing,

Right?

Letting go of that energy that you're holding onto.

That could be thoughts,

It could be people's situations,

Emotions.

And you're going to do that by visualizing all of that energy,

All of that negativity,

Whatever circumstances,

People,

And you're going to visualize yourself just like letting it like fall away and then go into the earth.

Let the earth pull it from you.

Yeah.

And people even say like,

Please release this safely into the earth to be neutralized.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know?

Yeah.

I mean,

It's life for other things,

Right?

So we're,

We're only adding to that circle.

Yeah.

So it's a great thing,

But I recommend everyone trying it.

There are definitely resources out there.

But I would try the grounding.

Let us know how you feel after you try it.

Leave us a comment.

And I look forward to hearing how great this is for you.

All right.

Thank you.

Bye.

Bye.