Here is a question from a student regarding grounding:

“I’ve been doing the grounding meditation in your on-line course, and enjoying it, but for quite a while now I’ve been getting the feeling I am not standing straight on the ground…and it gets worse: I feel I my connection with the earth is knotted up somehow, as though I am leaning forward, and my heels aren’t in contact with the ground. I definitely don’t feel like I’m standing straight, like the trunk of a tree.

There are some days though I feel pretty straight (like I always did for weeks in the beginning when starting with the grounding meditation), but generally it’s getting worse and worse. Sometimes I feel like I am on a roller coaster going into the ground:) I try just to observe it and be with it, but ….do you have any tips here? Is that enough..just observing? I am concerned, because it’s getting worse. But maybe that is ok and something is just coming up and it can get stronger? I just want to check with you that I am not doing anything wrong… “

My reply:

I love the fact that you have been just observing the experience and staying present with it. I think this should always be our first port of call in a situation like this; observing without interfering. There are two reasons for this. First, you need to observe in order to gather as much information as possible before taking action. Second, the energy field is intelligent, and quite often these strange deviations from normal can actually be an instinctive self-correction or transformative process the energy field is undertaking.

You could continue to observe and see where this leads you but is this being too passive? Sometimes your energy field will need your conscious help and direction. We are partners, the conscious mind and the energy field: two intelligences inhabiting the same body and hopefully working together as a cohesive, integrated whole. When I am grounding, it is like a dance or a conversation between my conscious mind and my energy field. I make a suggestion and give that suggestion a little ‘push’ with my will/intent, but then I sit back and listen to how my field responds. Then I modify my suggestions based on these responses.

I’ll ground myself now and talk you through the process so you can understand what I mean. As I go, I may find my grounding system has some answers to your questions. I’ll share these answers in brown-coloured font.

*First, I am remembering what it feels like to be grounded in a good way. I am remembering/recalling past experiences of grounding, and the positive feelings this gives me.

Sometimes our grounding goes out of balance or adjusts itself in response to life events but instead or returning to normal after the event passes, our grounding gets locked in a habitual loop- It has formed a new habit in response to a stressor and while this habit may have been perfect at the time, the habit ceases to be helpful after the stressor has gone. To overcome this habitual pattern, you can return to a previous point of balance by remembering times in the past when your grounding felt really good. Recalling these times in your memory helps your field recall the balanced grounding pattern. Remember how the good grounding made you feel in your mind and body. Remember the good feelings! Welcome them back.

*I am breathing these good memories in on the inhalation and releasing unhelpful grounding patterns or memories on the exhalation.

This is something we have spoken about before- the yin/yang or passive/active balance in healing. Yes we want to hold space for a state, an emotion, or a self to express or work something out for itself etc, but we also want to contribute in a positive way by making positive suggestions about healthier choices. If we become too passive, we are always watching, never contributing, never standing in our power and perhaps to some extent, believing we have no power. Yes, we want to flow, accept, unfold and meditatively accept what is occurring…. but we also want to engage joyfully with life in a creative, responsive manner.

Tying this yin/yang process in with the breath works well: In the space between the in and out breath we simply are- we sit in a neutral, accepting space without judgement or attachment. We bring this acceptance out into the self and the body with the exhalation. With the outwards breath we are accepting and releasing a state that we have been struggling with, whether this is a bad mood or wonky grounding. “I accept you and release you. I set you free with love”, might be the mood we are applying here. There is no fight or struggle. No rejection or judgement.

On the inhalation we switch gears and think about how we would rather feel. We recall and/or imagine positive feelings, thoughts/words, images. We are making a gentle invitation or suggestion to the energy field. We are saying “I love this mood/state. Do you remember this? Can you imagine this? Maybe try it on for size. See how it feels!” We aren’t forcing, we are making a suggestion, an offering, a gift of light. We are extending a hand in friendship to an embattled self, building a bridge or a pathway between one auric state and another.

*Back to my grounding. Now I am noticing my instinct is to move up and down alternatively on my heels as though I am walking without moving, without lifting the balls of my feet off the ground. I’m noticing how this feels in my hips and my pelvis. I feel happy! I feel like I am a tree doing a moonwalk. A tree dancing without losing contact with the ground.

From one moment to another, my grounding is going to take different forms. We want our grounding to be fluid, intelligent and responsive to the moment. In this moment, it is right for my grounding to be a little fluid and loose. Perhaps my base is needing to access energy from my belly- hence the hip movements and movement in general, which is very much a belly chakra quality. In just the same way that we don’t really want fixed boundaries that never change or grow with us, neither do we want rigid grounding. Sometimes we need more grounding, sometimes we need less. Let your body talk to you and tell you what it needs. The guided meditation is a good starting point but don’t let it become a rigid, mechanical step-by-step process. Otherwise you will be imposing on your aura and it will get grumpy/resistant/non-responsive and/or bored. 

When I listen to what your body has expressed and empathically explore this with my own body, this is what I notice: First, I feel like I am being pulled or pushed forwards and I am resisting this (i.e. heels coming up, balls of feet pressing down, and a feeling of falling or rushing forwards in an unstable manner like a roller coaster ride.) 

Do you feel like someone or something is pushing/pulling you forwards? This might feel like encouragement or pressure, depending on the situation! Who or what is pushing you forwards and why? How do you feel about this? Explore these questions from various different angles and address each one. For example, you might decide after some reflection to stop resisting a push you are getting in one part of your life, but to stand your ground and say a very clear ‘no’ to a different push in another part of your life.

Personally, I don’t like to be pushed: it can make me feel stubborn and resistant, even when the push is a positive one! I have learned to really love and respect this stubborn part of myself because it has protected me from harm so many times in the past, especially in my teenage years. Sometimes we really do need to rebel! Keep in mind that your energy field will do the same thing if you are too heavy handed with it. Don’t push too hard. Don’t be bossy with it. When you practise grounding, make a suggestion but don’t push the issue or you will, quite literally, get your energy field all tangled up in knots!

Another common response to being pushed/pulled is fear. Am I afraid to move forward? Am I afraid to let go of the past? Is spirit trying to push me off a mountain and get me to fall, to surrender and let go? Is it time to balance my grounding with some free-falling? 

Perhaps try standing on the edge of a precipice in your imagination and let yourself fall off. Let yourself fall without resisting the fall. Notice what happens in your imagination. Search for the ‘letting go’ feeling inside yourself. Embrace it. Imagine what it would feel like if you could let go without losing your grounding. 

*Tuning back into my own grounding. I am scanning the length of it and noticing some tightness in the fronts of my thighs. I listen and hold space while inviting a release, an opening. Tension relaxes on my right side, and the pelvic area fills with earth energy.

Please keep your grounding embodied. Your grounding, on a really basic level, is all about the flow of energy throughout your base chakra i.e. your buttocks, pelvic area, lower back and pelvis, and the entire length of your legs and feet. The ‘knotting’ sensation you describe makes me think you have some tangled energy lines and tightening in this lower part of your body, or even lower down under your feet. Let your mind scan the length of your grounding. Listen for knots/tightness. When you find them, release, relax, open: you might imagine unknotting a tangle, or putting warm expansive energy into that part of your body/being.

Lastly, I would suggest laying down on the ground on your front. Is your front body being called into contact with the earth? Perhaps try laying on your front and hugging the earth. Notice how it feels. Try grounding yourself via your entire front body (the front of the body). Imagine little roots coming out of you everywhere your front body has contact with the earth. Give the earth a big kiss!

Love and Blessings

Omanisa