Grounding

Modern life is so complex and busy that it is common for people to feel overly mental, caught up in too much thinking, "revved up," worried, spacey, or even "disembodied." Under such conditions, the world begins to seem flat, two dimensional, lifeless, adversarial, and even painful. 

Grounding is allowing awareness to be present throughout the body & senses. Allowing awareness is naturally, presence. The presence of, awareness.

The body, the senses, and the present - are the keys to calmness and equanimity, as well as reigniting creativity, passion, love, connection, peace, and wellbeing. Grounding is also effortless.

1. Sit comfortably & still, and connect with your body and your senses. Ideally, your back should be straight and your body relaxed. 

- Sit still, and ‘sink’ into gravity, feeling the subtle relaxing ‘pull’.

- Allow all muscles throughout the body to fully relax & un-contract, from the crown of your head to the bottoms of your feet.

- Allow any inward clenching or tensions to relax naturally into the comforting of gravity.

2. Close your eyes, and take ten slow, deep, full breaths.

- With each inhale, imagine that you are breathing in peacefulness.

- With each exhale, imagine that you are breathing out all your worries and cares. 

3. Continuing to breathe deeply, and concentrate on feeling your feet. Feel the sensation present in the bottoms of your feet.

4. Now feel the sensation present in your hands. Feel the ‘tingling’ nature of the presence of sensation.

5. Keep breathing deeply. Continue to feel the sensation in your hands and feet. Do this for ten slow breaths. 

6. Now feel the presence of sensation throughout your whole body. Allow the presence of awareness through your entire body. Feel yourself breathing. Feel your back & bottom touching the chair. Do this for ten more breaths.

7. Continue this for as long as you like, or at least 5 minutes. 

This grounding exercise is a combination of many similar exercises. It is a quick, basic mindfulness practice that will get you in touch with your sensory experience of the present moment.