What is grounding?
Grounding is the ancient practice of reconnecting with the earth, in simple terms. Grounding helps you restore the balance in yourself. It has many health benefits which we will discuss later on in the article. Grounding or earthing means that you transfer your energy to the earth which helps you lead a more balanced life. Do you remember how you walked on the beach on a good day and felt really calm and at peace all of a sudden? That is one way of grounding yourself.
Historical origins:
It is said that the human energy (qi) comes from heavenly qi and earth qi. Our energies are drawn from these two sources The heavenly qi refers to the energies of the sun and cosmos. The earth qi refers to the energies of the earth. . Which implies that Human bodies are also entities of energies. The life force (prana) is flowing in the body and outside it. Any hindrance to it can cause disturbances in a person’s life.
Scientific Explanation:
The research findings have supported the hypothesis that Earthing facilitates a significant transfer of free electrons into the body, a transfer resulting in rapid, physiological changes. Earthing restores and maintains a natural internal electrical environment.
What does it mean?
Free radicals are positively charged molecules in our body. Earthing permits huge numbers of free electrons (negatively charged subatomic particles) to enter the body. When this happens, the free electrons (-) neutralize free radicals (+). The influx of free electrons absorbed into the body serves as a powerful anti-inflammatory reinforcement for the immune system. Earthing typically reverses both acute and chronic inflammation, and does so rapidly.
The importance of grounding
We have lost touch with nature. Ever since we have moved on to the digital lifestyle, we have seen an increase in health risks and concerns. In times like these, we have to turn back to Earth. As we use more technology, we are exposed to radiation which causes an imbalance in our energies.
Grounding is essential because it calms us and helps us center our thoughts and ideas. It reconnects us to ourselves, our goals and nature. Research supports this. Here are a few examples:
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Grounding improves your mood.
This research proves that grounding has positive impact on mood. Your mood significantly gets better. You become much more stable after one hour of grounding.
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Grounding reduces pain.
It affects various circulating chemical factors related to inflammation. In this research, it was found that grounding helps produce measurable differences in the concentrations of molecules involved in the inflammatory response.
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Causes better blood flow.
It was found that grounding causes better blood flow in the system.
This is the x-ray of a woman proves improved blood circulation only after 20 minutes of grounding. Isn’t that cool? Red indicates highest blood circulation and blue denotes lowest circulation.
Just before Earthing (left) and just after Earthing for one hour (right).
The hottest colors are white, red and orange. Yellow and green are middle colors. The coldest is black and then purple and blue. The image on the left shows a hot neck area, indicating congestion of blood and lymph. The post-Earthing image shows less red, a decrease of congestion. -
Has a calming and balancing affect on the nervous system.
Earthing is the oldest and most basic form of natural bioelectric potential that supports physiological and electrophysiological changes in the body. In this study of 27 final participants, grounded subjects had improvements in Heart Rate Variability that go beyond basic relaxation.
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Health Implications of Grounding
This research proves that grounding has an overall impact on your health. Your health increasingly gets better and shows improvement after regular grounding.
Now that we know the implications of grounding, let’s discuss the various ways you can incorporate it in your daily life.
- Use your senses to ground you:
This is a great way to ground yourself. Start counting backwards. And then list out things using each sense. List out 5 things you can see; 4 things you can feel, 3 things you hear, 2 things you can smell and one thing you can taste. You can change the order according to your preference. But the idea is to engage our senses which helps us restore balance.
- Meditation
Meditation has a lot of benefits and is a great way to ground ourselves. This helps us reconnect to ourselves and be calm to everything that is happening. We have our own free online meditation on SoundCloud! This is great playlist to help you meditate.
- Breathing Exercise:Use a technique called boxed breathing whenever you feel out-of-balance. Take in a breath for 4 seconds. Hold it for 4 seconds. Then exhale for 4 seconds. This helps one calm down and gain some stability after a particularly disturbing event.
Image sourced from Google
- Walk barefoot:Possibly the best technique is to walk on the ground/soil/grass barefoot. This has scientific roots like previously discussed. Walk or feel the ground for 10-20 minutes everyday and see a difference yourself!
Grounding can have a lot of health benefits and it is essential that we add this in our daily routine. With the anxiety going around in these times, grounding is a great way to maintain our cool. It is essential and is slowly gaining more importance from people around the world. Apart from the health benefits, grounding can provide a way for us to slow down in general. And really notice the world in a way we had not before.
Hopefully, this encourages you to start your own grounding practices! Let us know on Twitter or Instagram if you have started it or have questions about grounding.
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Omaiha Walajahi
Writer
Pause for Perspective