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Spiritual Practice: Staying Grounded
When we are heavily engaged in spiritual practice, staying grounded can be challenging. We can divert a little too much of our energy towards the spiritual plane. We begin disconnecting from our physical reality. We may be floating around on a cloud after a great workshop, or feel particularly blissed out after a long meditation session. This “spiritual high” is wonderful - up to a point. We have to remember that we exist here in the physical plane for good reason. Grounding the energy that arises from spiritual practice assists us in utilizing that energy in a practical way. It also prevents the inevitable “crash and burn” that follows prolonged spiritual highs!
Before we get into tips and techniques on becoming and staying grounded, here are some signs that you may be too disconnected from the physical plane:
- You feel as if you are walking around in a spacey haze.
- You are scattered and forgetful.
- You are having trouble connecting to others. Your attention keeps drifting while you are in conversation. You may forget what you were about to say, or lose track in mid-sentence.
- You avoid practical, necessary tasks such as paying your bills or doing your taxes. You feel resentful at having to bother with these mundane matters.
- You forget to eat or drink.
- Taking care of your physical body - showering, shaving, putting on make-up and so forth - seems tedious.
- In the extreme, you feel out of control, as if the practical aspects of your life have suddenly become unmanageable.
- Meditating is more interesting than a new episode of “Gray’s Anatomy.” Wait, maybe that’s just me …
Connection to the spiritual plane is a wonderful thing. However, we must not be fooled into thinking that we must lose our connection to our physical existence in order to connect deeply to Spirit. The two are not separate - we must live in both equally!
Becoming and staying grounded is incredibly important if our spiritual evolution is to have an effect on our physical existence. Here are some specific ways you can bring an appropriate amount of your energy back to the physical plane.
- Work up a sweat. Hard exercise brings your attention back to your physical body. A mere walk will not create the same results. The point is to vigorously engage your body. It’s hard to ignore your physicality when your heart is pounding and your muscles are aching pleasantly.
- Spend time in nature. Put your feet on bare rock, or walk on some cool, soft grass. Dig your toes into Mother Earth. Hug a tree. Lie on the ground and soak up some sunlight.
- Bake bread. There is something about kneading dough by hand - touching earthy grains and the rhythm of working the dough - that is profoundly anchoring. Baking bread is an ancient ritual that connects us to the need for physical nurture.
- Do some gardening - without gloves on. Touch Mother Earth and get some dirt under your fingernails.
- Take a pottery class. Nothing is more grounding and centering than throwing clay. If you do professional intuitive work or have a strong meditation practice, this is one of the most balancing hobbies you can take up.
- If you practice yoga, focus on balancing poses such as Tree Pose. Standing on one leg forces us to become more deeply rooted into the ground.
- Carry around pieces of hematite or onyx. Both stones have grounding qualities.
- Drink hibiscus tea. Hibiscus stimulates the lower two chakras.
- Try rubbing grounding essential oils such as patchouli or cedarwood on your ankles.
- Wear red or eat red foods. Red is the color of the root chakra.
- Eat root vegetables, such as carrots, parsnips, beets, turnips, sweet potatoes and regular potatoes. Leafy greens such as kale and dandelion are also very grounding.
Staying grounded in our physical reality by no means hinders our connection to the spiritual plane. By staying balanced within both, we can manifest the results of our spiritual practice more powerfully at the physical level of our lives.
What is your favorite grounding practice? Leave a comment and share!
Blessings,
Andrea
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May 6th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Nice article as usual.
I drink a glass of red wine.
Cheers
May 6th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Andrea, Thank You again for our work together and for this article. I feel my best grounding is walking on sand at the beach, second is walking through the yard barefoot and touching and talking to the plants. Third, a hot bath with essential oils. I sweat, soak in the oils, and while grounding, still float. Recently I have begun chakra grounding excercises. Stomp Dancing, I call it, for the root chakra. Although, with all these tools available, I do tend to desire the floating feeling of a good spirit high more…..Often have to remind myself to ground……seems so silly sometimes when the other feels so good, yet, foggy muddled thinking is no way to be when driving!!
May 6th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Andrea,
Are you writing this for me? Spiritual High will crash??
I’ve been feeling gleeful for no apparent reason for some time — just grinning in the traffic — and was thinking maybe I can just directly ascend. . . (half joking)
Grounding work — what can I do? I live on the third floor apartment. I used to make potteries back in Japan — maybe I’ll look if a class is available. Wear red? Will pink do? Cooking is the easiest for me. . .
May 6th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Tuan - Interesting that you bring up a glass of red wine. I always feel as if alcohol certainly diffuses energy and creates a mellow-ness … I’m not sure if it’s truly grounding, though. Anyone else have any experiences with this?
Victoria - The best part of all of this is that we can experience the floating feeling of a good spirit high AND be grounded at the same time. It’s not necessarily one or the other. Ideally, we are really “high” energetically and also very clearly centered in the physical world (and driving safely :-)). Love the idea of a hot bath in essential oils - truly best of both worlds!
Akemi - Well, no - if you’re grounded at the same time, there’s no reason to crash! We can be ridiculously joyful (hurray for you) and still be grounded. By the way, this is an energetic connection to the physical plane. It doesn’t matter what floor you live on!
Blessings,
Andrea
May 7th, 2008 at 2:47 am
Hmmm, now I now why I like potatoes so much! I also love petting my cat (and pretty much any animal that will let me!) - rhythmically stroking her soft fur is very centering for me.
May 7th, 2008 at 8:34 am
Hi Andrea,
I have to admit I’ve never been so blissed out that I forget to eat or drink or take care of my physical body. I’ve always imagined that being in touch with the spiritual realm would mean being totally aware of the present moment and everything, physical and energetic. I see the two realms being as one. Thank you for your thoughts.
Anita
May 7th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Once again your timing is right on. Just yesterday I had an experience that threw me for a loop. I did something spacey that cost me. It instantly caused great pain and suffering to the point where I became physically over heated. After I got the ego back in check and got out of self judgement I decided to get to surrender with the feelings the incident brought up and wait for the lesson to present itself. And here it is. Thank you again, Andrea.
I live near a park with a wooded area with a stream running through it. I found a spot with a huge fir tree near the stream. I love to sit with my back against that tree and listen to the stream. Guess it’s time to visit my old fir tree friend.
Victoria, I love the bath idea too. I have always loved patchouli oil. Tuan, maybe a glass of red wine along with the bath; a couple candles. He did say red wine Andrea
May 7th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
I look to the Elements and balance corresponding activities with whatever elemental energies are un(der)utilized.
For instance, my daily working life tends to be saturated in Water (intuition/emotion), the Astral (spiritual), as well as the Air elements (technology/internet/writing/communication), with Fire and Earth requiring the most supplementing.
I just returned from a spiritual retreat and a week of camping — totally 100% off the Grid. I’ve been known to go on as many as 12 overnight hiking/camping trips in a single year. These days, it’s only one or two per year, but it’s always a serious reboot, enough to last me for months.
On a daily basis, during Spring, Summer, and Fall, I do landscaping and gardening. The Earth energies being obvious, the strenuous physical aspects burn off excess chi.
I try to spend at least one hour outside every day.
May 7th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Great as usual, Andrea.
There is a false stereotype of a spiritual person being a fluffy airhead. But meditation should make us more aware, more awake, both in the other world and in this. And many people try to embody this unfocused “wow, man!” stoned out condition as the ideal of spirituality.
In the early 70’s there was a spiritual teacher in Canada named Ella Fern who had some small following. She acted the embodiment of the “I’m so blissed out, I can’t function in this world” mentality. An acquaintance of mine was once leading her carefully to a car when she was seemingly immersed in “the other world”, when suddenly, in a stern but under-the-breath warning said, “Look out for the curb, kid.” Her floating in the ethers was a sham, purely for effect!
So if we find ourselves in neither this world or that, we should question whether we are practicing our meditation and other spiritual practices correctly. They should enable us to function better, not worse, in this world.
May 7th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Mags - Yup, connecting with animals is another way to connect to Earth and nature. Potatoes, huh? I’m a fan of those, too. Don’t even get me started on the joys of bread …
Anita - Do you find yourself “coming down” from those high’s gracefully? I find that if I get all floaty, I have to ground myself in a hurry, or come crashing down eventually in a rather jarring, painful way. I agree that the bliss is available in our physical lives, all the time!
David - Well, I’m sorry there was a painful learning experience there - but I’m sure your tree friend will be happy to have you back! Sounds lovely … your own little sacred space in nature. Okay - I’m still not sure about the wine. And I like wine! I wonder what ReddyK thinks?
Slade - Ooooh, as usual I just love your perspective. Putting it into the elemental frame of reference makes a lot of sense. Like you, I spend most of my time in the ether or in the mental realms all day, and need to nurture the physical side. If I don’t exercise during my work week, I am out of balance by Friday! And yoga is a must on a daily basis. Welcome back!
ReddyK - Don’t you think there is sometimes an element of escapism in that desire to be too blissed out for practical living? I sometimes get the impression that spiritual seekers want to leave behind or transcend the physical world, rather than accepting it as a vehicle for spiritual growth.
I agree with you completely - our spiritual growth must be reflected in the physical world.
Blessings,
Andrea
May 8th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
I don’t necessarily think that it’s such a bad thing to be a little disconnected from the physical world. It seems to me that modern life is what pulls most people away from spirituality to begin with, so putting forth an effort to remain there seems a little counter productive. But that’s just me; escaping the game we ‘live’ in is a major tenant of my beliefs.
May 8th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
Dunlap - You bring up an interesting point. I think people can certainly get so involved with life at the physical plane that it’s ALL they see. That would be the other side of the imbalance! Certainly there are a lot of illusions within the physical world that people collectively buy into. So a little detachment is definitely not a bad thing. But the physical world is still a powerful path to our spiritual evolution - or we wouldn’t have chosen to come here.
Blessings,
Andrea
May 8th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
This is extremely useful!
Sometimes I float a bit too much after workshops, and I let go off all responsibilities and it gets dangerous. My mom always tells me to eat “peanut butter” when I feel a little bit too high spiritually. Also meats and stuff.
May 9th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
I related to your article and you give good advice. We all have our individual spiritual needs, and while I don’t meditate, I go through periods of intense spiritual seeking, praying and separating from the material world. All I desire is Jesus Christ. While I am rewarded through bonding with Him, which enriches me, it also harms me because I can completely shun taking care of my physical body, loathing eating, showering or even changing clothes. Yuck. I am ordinarily a very groomed and fanatically clean person, so, I can’t understand why I fall into this state. I worried that it was symptom of some form of depression, but, now can see it being part of choosing the spirit over the flesh. The flesh is the temple of the Holy Spirit and still needs care so, thanks for this insight.
May 10th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
Although I didn’t do this as a spiritual practice, having a 7 year old son is very grounding. He always brings me back to earth. I don’t recommend that everyone have a kid to stay grounded, but it works!