People don’t know what it means to be grounded or how basic and important it is. To expand your potential or get what you want you have to think or act with clarity, force, and direction. To do this you need to get grounded.
Are You Grounded?
Nobody is grounded all the time, but are you generally a grounded person?
Being Grounded
If you are, you can typically set and maintain clear personal and professional boundaries. You feel capable, secure, and confident in yourself and your actions. And because of this, you can comfortably anchor, make a decision, and act even in the face of uncertainty.
Even if this is not case in some instances, but you are aware of your limitations, understand how to best adjust for your shortcomings in the moment, and can plan to overcome them in future chances are you’re grounded person. Being grounded doesn’t make you automatically a powerhouse of a person. Rather, being ungrounded can undermine you and cause you to fail even if you possess all the above facilities yet succumb to distraction, indecision, hesitancy, or insecurity.
Being Ungrounded
As an ungrounded person you’re likely indecisive, fearful, lacking confidence, or easily swayed and distracted. Additionally, you probably consciously or unconsciously let others cross your boundaries.
If this hits home for, learn how to become more grounded.
What Is Grounding
According to Merriam-Webster, grounded means “mentally and emotionally stable as in admirably sensible, realistic, and unpretentious.” Other sources include words such as rooted, sturdy, and stable. I like the word “anchored” because it pulls you back from mental, physical, or spiritual wondering without aim or purpose.
Energetic Grounding
From an energy healer’s perspective, grounding relates primarily to the lower dantian and first chakra or root chakra (Muladhara). Secondarily, it relates to the second or sacral chakra (Svadhisthana). Like these energy centers, grounding engenders the your ability to avail yourself to personal and energetic power, confidence, and stability critical to successfully expanding and managing your personal and spiritual potential.
Strong and adequately concentrated energy in your first and second chakra will help you maintain your boundaries and hold your ground. And, it guides your follow through. This includes personal and professional interactions as well as social media engagement.
In the modern world that is constantly changing and at an ever faster pace, a solid point of reference goes a long way toward enabling you to stay focused on what’s important to you. It also offers a safe and secure anchor against whatever uncertainty arises or is unintended through personal growth and transformation.
Is It Grounding Or Centering?
At this moment, you’re probably wondering what “grounded” means, particularly in a personal growth context. It’s true. Some people use “grounded” and “centered” interchangeably and it can be confusing. Others link the two together suggesting a kind of joint effect as in “grounded and centered.”
In my experience as an energy healer, embodied practitioner, meditator, and life coach I’ve noted some differences as well as some important complementarities. For example, grounding facilitates centering and vice versa. They do naturally go together.
But, put simply, being grounded means you possess the deep roots to anchor and expand your potential as well as steady yourself through change. Being centered, on the other hand, means you have a great navigational system to conquer your life’s challenges and get what you want. Centering gives direction, grounding holds the course.
Consider the classic metaphor of a tree as a helpful illustration. All trees balance what’s above with what’s below the ground. The above-ground structure – the central trunk and wandering boughs – depend upon and mirror its root system. Its roots provide nutrients and a steadfast anchor.
A deep and expansive subterranean living network fosters a tall broad habit and helps the tree withstand the challenge of stormy weather and high winds. Meanwhile, its verdant aboveground mass captures the solar energy necessary to support and grow its root network. They also can orient the direction of root growth given its exposure to light and other atmospheric and, more broadly, environmental conditions. This is how grounding and centering complement each other.
In actuality, you can use either word or both. What’s important is to understand and appreciate what each can contribute to your state of being as a whole, and by extension, your ability to select and create the types of relationships and life experiences you want for yourself.
Benefits of Grounding
The benefits of grounding are significant and often under-appreciated. This is partly because many of the benefits aren’t readily noticeable or measurable. Nevertheless, some key benefits include:
- Awareness of and connection to your body externally and internally
- Stabilization of your mind and restless thoughts
- Confidence and conviction
- Courage and resolve
- Stability and calm under pressure or challenges
- Capacity to raise your vibration, energetic expression, and spiritual connection (e.g., the tree metaphor)
- Promotion of centering and presence (i.e., being in the now)
- Support of creativity and flow
- Sense of safety and security
- Ability to cultivate a mindset of abundance and optimism
The Challenge To Maintaining Grounding
Most people can ground relatively easily. Maintaining the state is another issue. This is because when you’re ungrounded, your inability to focus obstructs your ability to notice your current state and take action. Regularly practicing grounding techniques is a good insurance policy against this reciprocating or circular trap.
Ways to Ground and Expand Your Potential
- Breathing practices with or without accompanying guided meditation that connects you to your root chakra and the earth energy, and/or gathers energy in the lower dantian
- Meditation practices geared to grounding
- Walks outside, particularly in nature and barefoot
- Bathing or wading in a lake, river, ocean, or bathtub
- Energy healing sessions
- Toning the root chakra using its mantra Lam
- Body movement practices such as dance, Tai Chi, Qi-Gong, or yoga
- Diffusion of high-quality essential oils for grounding. Many derive from trees: their roots, rhizomes, bark, needles, and resins
- Work with crystals and rocks appropriate for grounding such as granite, Shiva lingam, tiger’s eye, and petrified wood
Get Grounded With the Help of Centering
No doubt, you recognize at least a few of the above practices. If so, you might already happily partake in a couple. Or, maybe you experimented with and rejected a few others. Most definitely, grounding needs to be maintained and regularly restored.
This is where centering comes in. The clarity and alignment generated through centering practices reduce distraction, the nemesis of grounding.
For Help With Getting Grounded to Expand Your Potential, See:
- Starchaser’s Mind Body Spirit blog-related posts
- Personal Development, Natural Healing, and Wellness workshops
- FREE guided meditation Relax, Ground, and Clear the Mind
Updated April 01, 2024
