Grounding Through the Feet
How do you decharge? This came up last night in the pub for my friend Megan’s birthday last night (funny enough) and got me thinking. We live in very, very stimulating times. All day everyday we’re bombarded with information and if you work in highly charged interpersonal situations on top of that it can be overwhelming. For a lot of us it’s a smoke or a coffee (me) or food (also me) or phones (also, also me) that we use as a tool to get back to ourselves and calm in the course of a hectic day. But actually what that’s replacing is connection to ourselves, our bodies, our breath, the world around us.
When I was really bet down with this problem a friend gave me a tip that anyone can use, take your shoes off and go stand on a natural surface and just feel your feet on the surface, once a week, once a day, whenever you get the chance. It will calm you, decharge negative feelings from yourself and others and even take static out of your hair. It’s referred to as Earthing or Grounding and you can read about how it works from various different sources. Without going into a big explanation electrical charges and energy, I can say I have experienced it working for myself and know lots of people who do it too. When I was working full time in RTE I used to be so frazzled my hair was standing up off my head, I was dehydrated all the time and I couldn’t sleep even with my yoga practice, I was physically and emotionally overstimulated. So… I’d get in to the sea up to my knees after work every day and as mad as I seemed (in November…) it honestly worked! The dehydration passed, my body and sleeping patterns recouped noticeably and my yoga and meditation practice were able to do their work again.
. “Walk as if you are kissing the earth with your feet.” – Thich Nhat Hanh.
I recommend trying it for 10 days and seeing if you notice a difference!
Another amazing thing you can do for yourself on this theme is walking meditation, in the style of the great Buddhist Monk, Thich Nhat Hanh. You can read some beautiful words here to bring into your daily walk to work, around the office or out in nature. But really it boils down to walking slow enough to feel each step and light enough to show love and respect to the support of the ground beneath you.
May 28, 2017