Finding Your Ground:  Being Here Now 
by Miriam Lelah Moussaioff

Grounding is about being Here.  Now.   Really being here fully, in this moment.  Just as you are.  For most of us, this is no small task and takes practice.  But I can tell you after practicing and teaching grounding for many years that the rewards are well worth the effort. 

Grounding helps you connect with your inner strength; it  helps you plug in so that you can listen to and follow your intuition.  A strong grounding system also helps keep you healthy, balanced, clear and present. 

Grounding is a tool for not getting lost in your thoughts about the future or the past.  When you are ungrounded, your energy can plummet or rev up and spin out of control, like an engine idling too high.  People and events can easily knock you off your feet.   Being ungrounded often makes people feel easily overwhelmed, confused and/or drained.   Sound familiar?

These days when so many of us rush around trying to do 10,000 things at once and stress runs high, grounding can calm you down, help you land and return to sanity. Grounding gets you back on your feet.  Which helps you make better decisions instead of flying by the seat of your pants. 

Like a tree rooting deeply in the earth, strengthening your ground helps plant your feet on earth so you can live life more fully.    The grounding practice I teach is a guided meditation  that, like all forms of meditation, brings awareness to what is happening in the present moment, in your body. 

Here is a little taste:  Take a moment to notice what is happening in your body at this moment.  How do you feel? Is your breathing shallow?   Are you feeling any tension or pain?  Can you feel your feet….your belly….your chest rise and fall as you breathe….?  Try taking a deep breath in and slowly let it go….Do you feel present as you read or is your mind racing all over the place planning, thinking, analyzing or problem-solving?

Everyone has a their own way to ground. You can ground through meditation using imagery, intention or sensation or just by bringing mindfulness or presence to what you are doing each moment.  Some people ground by dancing or singing; others by writing, listening to music or hiking in the woods.  Even washing dishes can be grounding if you practice being present and connected with your body.  

Ultimately, grounding helps you become more present.  As one of my teachers says, “You have to be present to win.”  When you practice grounding you are basically showing up, saying yes to life even in the midst of all the ups and downs.   For me, grounding is the foundation for all energy healing work because it opens the doorway to your real self/true nature/ Spirit.    When you show up, you open to the light of your Being which is always here anyway, only now you get to taste it and feel and know and be that.  

"Our true home is in the present moment.  To live in the present moment is a miracle.  The miracle is not to walk on water.  The miracle is to walk on the green Earth in the present moment, to appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now.  Peace is all around us-in the world and in nature-and within us-in our bodies and our spirits.  Once we learn to touch this peace, we will be healed and transformed.  It is not a matter of faith; it is a matter of practice."   -Thich Nhat Hanh, Touching Peace

P.S.  For those of you who wonder if I practice what I preach:  During the three weeks prior to writing this article, my computer crashed, my loaner computer crashed, my internet lines went down, my refrigerator and new dishwasher stopped running, my watch stopped and one of my kids got sick.  Let’s just say I got plenty of practice returning to my roots, remembering to breathe and most of all, showing up one moment at a time.  Which is all we can do anyway.

A BIGGER TASTE:  Basic Grounding Meditation by Miriam Lelah Moussaioff

The following meditation is one way to slow down and ground.  First, find a comfortable place to sit and close your eyes.   Bring your focus to the bottom of your feet and press them into the floor for 30 seconds (keep your legs uncrossed, which is easier to do if you sit in a chair).  Just let your feet rest.   Keep your focus on your feet, letting them feel heavy and relaxed.    See/sense/feel the earth’s energy moving up through your feet, into your calves, past your knees and into your pelvis.

Now imagine that you have a big taproot extending from the base of your spine deep into the earth as if you were a tree.   Imagine your roots reaching deep in the heart of the earth.   Let yourself be supported by the earth.  Feel the earth’s gravitational pull.  Without it, you would fly off the planet.  Let any tension in your body or mind move down into the earth through your grounding root.   Your grounding root is like a plumbing system that can flush out and release disharmonious or negative energies (to be composted energetically in the earth the same way excess electricity grounds to earth via outlets in our homes).   This grounding practice is  part of what I call “energy hygiene.”   You brush your teeth each day to take care of your teeth.  If you ground each day you will be tending to your body/mind/spirit.