We have commenced our daily habit-building Live Online Meditation program. This is a wonderful opportunity to cultivate 15-45 minutes of meditation practice in our everyday life! To read more about this unique offering and to enrol click here.
Our meditation program brings up so many questions for everyone! That next question we are answering is what do we do when we are utterly distracted or completely lost in our thoughts? Read our Expert and Chief Mentor Selvan’s article explaining the same
Let me first explain Grounding. Grounding is a tool to assist in coming back to being present and to help in remaining present. For a detailed explanation of what is “being present” please read my blog Grounding is a process or an exercise and Grounding is also a state of being. Being grounded is the same as being centered or balanced or anchored or present or stable.
This process is very similar to the one used by ships, boats or any other sailing vessel to anchor; When a ship drops anchor in mid sea, although the surface of the ocean or sea is choppy and disturbed, the ship holds its place and manages to be stable.
I will explain one of the various grounding process here with a suggestion to practically do it and experience how it feels. Place both feet flat on the floor and your body evenly balanced on both feet. You can stand erect or sit with back erect. Press the ground slightly with your heels and also with each of your toes. Now with eyes closed or open, imagine that your spine is extending downward in a straight line penetrating the ground below you, extending all the way to the core of the earth. Now notice your breathing and remain in this position for a few breaths. Read the rest of this blog after doing this exercise.
Being present or grounded is a momentary thing. You can be grounded one moment and ungrounded the next without an awareness of either of the states. In this blog, I seek to bring this process into awareness and help you in forming a habit of being grounded. With regular practice of the process of grounding you can make being grounded as your default state of being, which will reflect in transforming you into a super cool and confident person.
Our mind may think that “I am grounded and present” but our body actually knows if we are present or not. Some of the hints both by the body and mind indicating lack of groundedness are listed here.
- When you bump into things, trip or fall.
- When someone else or something else bumps into you.
- When your hands are restlessly drumming or playing with something.
- When your legs are moving or shaking or tapping restlessly.
- When you are feeling bored.
- When you are indecisive or cannot think straight.
- When you are hyperactive and cannot sit still.
- When you are feeling terribly scared or when you are frozen with fear.
- When you feel the need to lean or take support of the wall, furniture, others.
- When you grind your teeth or clench your jaw or neck or calf muscles.
- When a baby in your care is crying incessantly or a child in your care is very restless and uncontrollable.
- When you feel unbearable hunger.
- When you feel anxiety, panic, palpitations, fast heartbeat, etc.
- When you are focused on finishing what you are doing rather then just focused in the process.
- When your mind is in the next thing to do all the time and not fully in what you are now doing.
Use all these as tips to remind you to simply go through the process of grounding explained above and you will experience relief. Accidents do not happen to me when I am grounded, irrespective of others around me.
In the first module of “Awareness Journey” course, I teach several different powerful ways to come back to your state of grounding and make this a deeply rooted habit for you.
One important thing to remember is that our mind acts as a great deceiver in fooling us and keeping us trapped in unhelpful habits or remaining ungrounded. Frequently noticing for all the tips and cues listed above that our body is giving us, acknowledging that we have lost our state of being grounded, doing one of the processes of grounding and coming back to the state of being grounded – This will completely change the track of your life to a richer, fulfilling and joyous experience.