You may find that you start to feel a little disassociated and maybe even dissatisfied with everyday life. Maybe your head becomes full of everything you are learning and in the end you start to feel as if you are living in your head, maybe even becoming spaced out or 'away with the fairies'. What can happen so easily, is that the physical body gets neglected, forgotten about and in terms of chakras the upper chakras (spiritual - crown, 3^rd eye centre and throat) are being fed and nourished while the lower ones (physical- solar plexus, sacral and root) are not.

This can affect any of us at any time no matter how experienced we are, as there is always the tendency to get so caught up with what we are doing we forget that it is important to balance the whole of our being the spiritual and the physical. So while all of this is quiet natural it is neither the most practical nor healthy way of living and can if continued cause ill health or other problems.

Our bodies are vital for without them there is nowhere for our spirit or soul to reside.   If we do not care our bodies and nourish them then they can let us down often when we feel we need them most. We can take care of and nourish our bodies in many ways, for example through our diet or daily exercise, but if we are looking at how we do this while working with energy then one of the most important things that we can do is to remember to ground ourselves using Earth energy.

It is Earth energy that feeds and nourishes our physical bodies, keeps us grounded, in touch with our bodies and which helps us heal our physical self as we are healing and opening up spiritually.

So how do we ground ourselves? There is no one way that works for everyone so the best way is to experiment and find what works for you.

The following are some of the ways that I use myself and with my students. If you find it difficult to do these while you are reading you might like to get a friend to read them to you while you try them out or even record yourself in some way so you can listen and follow the steps.

 Grounding Exercise 1

1. Go outside and find a quiet space with some grass, where you will be undisturbed.
2. Take your shoes off and walk barefoot on the grass.
3. With every step be aware of your foot and its connection with the grass and the Earth.
4. As you walk, breath in deeply as you place each foot on the Earth.
5. Focus only on your breathing, the feel of the grass and the Earth energy as it flows into you.

Grounding Exercise 2

1. Sit quietly with your feet flat on the floor, without shoes is best, and make sure your spine is straight.
2. Close your eyes and imagine, sense or visualise, roots flowing from the soles of your feet into the Earth (Don't worry if you are not on the ground floor this will still work).
3. Send the roots flowing down, spreading out beneath your feet, anchoring firmly into the Earth.
4. Now breathe in deeply imagining the breath coming up from the Earth into the soles of your feet, up your legs and into your body.
5. Continue this for a few minutes at least and with every breath feel the connection between the soles of your feet and the Earth becoming stronger as if a magnet is pulling you.

This is also a good way of connecting with the energy of the place you are in or maybe somewhere you are visiting. It can also help to do this to ground yourself if you are visiting somewhere at altitude e.g. parts of South America.

Grounding Exercise 3

1. Sit quietly with your feet flat on the floor, without shoes is best, and make sure your spine is straight.
2. Close your eyes and imagine, sense or visualise, a Lotus Flower opened out beneath you and yourself sat upon it.
3. Imagine, visualise, sense or simply know that the roots of the Lotus Flower flow deep into the Earth beneath you.
4. Now breathe in deeply imagining the breath coming up from the Earth into the base of your spine and into your body.

5. Continue this for a for as long as you wish and with every breath feel the Earth energy flowing up into your body, breathing the energy up into you as far as feels comfortable for you.

   
   

 Grounding Exercise 4

1. Sit comfortably, your spine should be straight and your feet flat on the ground
2. Place your hands in your lap and relax
3. Take a few deep breaths and release anything on your mind
4. If you find thoughts coming into your mind, just let them go like passing clouds, don't attach yourself to them
5. Now bring your awareness to your feet and feel their connection with the earth
6. Breathe in deeply this time breathing in through the soles of your feet
7. Feel yourself connecting even more strongly with the earth.
8. You might like to sink some roots into the earth so that you are really anchored
9. Take a few more breaths through your feet and draw the energy as far up into your body as is comfortable for you
10. Now bring your awareness the base of your spine and imagine or visualise a thick taproot going from your spine into the Earth
11. Let the taproot flow down deep into the Earth connecting you even more strongly
12. Breathe in again knowing that you are breathing in all the nurturing energy of the Earth
13. Continue to breathe the Earth energy up into your body, up through your belly and up into your diaphragm under your ribs if it feels comfortable for you to do so.
14. Just sit for a few minutes in this beautiful nurturing energy……………….

15. If you have drifted away bring your awareness back into your body again, you might need to wriggle your toes, or fingers and stretch a little 

    
    

Munay-Ki Rites

If you have received the Munay-Ki Rite, the Bands of Power then don't forget that you can use the black band of Earth to ground yourself. Just connect with the band, breathe into it and visualise it flowing down from your belly deep into the Earth. Remember also to feed this band when you are out walking in nature.

Click here for more information about the Munay-Ki Rites.

Drumming

Drumming is the sound closest to our own heartbeat and in itself can be very healing. It can also be a great tool to ground you if you are feeling ungrounded.