I’m in a process where I’m half transcribing/half rewriting my old YouTube videos and some of my podcasts into articles here on my site. The one I’m looking at today is a little anecdotal video I did about too much grounding, which is a very timely video for the moment and I’ll get into later on. But first, let’s talk about grounding.
I talk about grounding a lot with my clients and my friends because it’s really important. Grounding is just reconnecting with physical reality in a metaphysical/energetic sense. It’s the idea that, through our regular daily lives, we tend to get disconnected energetically from our bodies because we focus on things that aren’t body-centric. We think a lot, we feel a lot, and we don’t spend a lot of time thinking about our physical presence. Maybe we think about some insecurities we have about our appearance, but we don’t really spend a lot of time in the moment thinking about what it’s like to be experiencing the physical. Being present. Like mindfulness.
So this results in a disconnection and it pulls us energetically away into the realms of air (thought), fire (creativity), and water (feelings) where we spend most of our time instead. Worrying about what might come to be (the future), what already came to be (the past), things we need to figure out (anxiety). Or we throw ourselves into projects and work (creativity and passions or maybe just problems). Or maybe we spend our time running errands and trying to outrun time in the process, hoping that “now” will never actually catch up to us.
I feel anxious just thinking about it.
It’s so easy to feel disconnected from our bodies and just being in them, and as a result, the rest of our physical environment and the whole planet. So, grounding is here to help us out with this.
In my anecdote, recorded back in November 2020, just before the last election (wow, things do happen in cycles, don’t they? I see you), I talked about how I don’t usually have this issue. I’ve never really been sure why – like I do, my mother also recommended grounding to everyone anytime any spiritual issues came up, and so it was one of the first things I learned, too. But I had to learn to stop. It might be because 80% of my astrology chart is in earth signs, but I’m not an astrologer, so I’m not really sure. It might be because my mother taught me mindfulness and meditation before I was in kindergarten, so I tend to stay in the here and now. I hate to rush and I rebel against it – if you see me hurrying, something is on fire nearby. Maybe it’s because I’m a dancer – I performed for 20 years and taught for 10, so I spend a lot of time being in and appreciating my body, and my practice involves a lot of meditation, physicality, and time in nature. Maybe it’s all the time I spend talking about grounding. Maybe it’s all of these and something else I haven’t even considered.
Regardless, last election (in 2020), I was starting to feel scattered and harried, and so I thought I’d give myself a little boost and I started wearing an anklet (a bracelet, but I have small hands), with jet beads and a couple of hematite highlights. As I wore it, I felt less and less motivated and eventually less and less like getting out of bed. I was so exhausted. I would wake up, scroll on my phone, and be ready for more sleep just a couple hours later – very unusual. I assumed that with all the stress between the election and the holiday season and the usual holiday reading stress that came with it, it was probably a little burnout or depression. And one day I spotted the anklet and it occurred to me – I had done the SAME thing in high school, over 20 years ago. I know that too much grounding turns me into an unmovable stone. I can wear grounding stones occasionally, for a few hours as needed, but not 24/7.
I took off the anklet and the next day I was back to my usual self.
Ironically, I’ve misplaced my Onyx pendant, so I recently bought a new one a couple of weeks ago and have been wearing it, having wholly forgotten about this previous issue until just now. But because this is a necklace, I only wear it a couple of hours a day and only when I need it. I also just started reading online again right before another election – and have you seen this one? YIKES.
To go with it, I’ve also restarted my dance practice (despite the heat) and am increasing the intensity of my meditation practice.
Anyways, so the moral of the story is: You are a unique individual. Grounding may be good for the vast majority of us a vast majority of the time, but you have to test that for yourself. And you have to test different methods to see which, if any, are right for you. And that goes for everything else as well. Just because big mucky mucky teacher says something and everyone else agrees doesn’t make it true for you. Everything anyone recommends needs to be tested against your own truth and your own reality. You will inevitably find something somewhere where you deviate from everyone else, and that’s just being human. Don’t assume you’re wrong or you’re broken.
And hey, I don’t usually ask for participation here, but I’d love to hear some stories. What’s the thing that didn’t work for you? How do you feel about grounding? How are you holding up this year? Or even this ELECTION year?
