5 ways to get grounded

Being grounded is crucial to accurate muscle testing and to being able to fall asleep easily at night. Whenever your brain seems to be going into overdrive, it's a good idea to ground. Grounding helps you feel calm, centered, and competent. The more grounded you are, the better able you are to handle the stressful stuff that comes up in life every day.

So how do you do get grounded?

Grounding basically is the art of reconnecting your body's energy to the earth's energy. So one easy way to do this is to go interact with nature.

But if you're not able to go hug a tree or take a walk, there are other ways to ground.

1. Eagle Pose 

In Eagle Pose, you cross your legs and ankles and arms and hands. This gets the right and left sides of the brain working together.

This fancy picture I found is good, but for our purposes you don't need to do it exactly the way described. No squeezing legs or ribs sucked in. Just crossing the arms and legs. You can do it sitting. Sometimes I do it in bed, lying down.

Do it one way, then uncross and do it the other way, 20 seconds on each side, with deep breaths. Keep muscle testing for if you are grounded in between. Usually a few cycles of this will ground you well.

2. Visualize roots. 

One thing I often do is visualize myself growing roots into the earth. Okay, I am not a very visual person, actually. How it really works for me is, I close my eyes and decide that I am now growing roots into the earth, and then I attempt to picture something like this:

From someone's pinterest.

You don't have to be sitting, though. Sometimes while standing I imagine roots growing out of my feet into the floor. It works!

3. Cocoon in the earth. 

I just started doing this in the past week, but I already love it! It's perfect for when you're trying to sleep but just can't. I imagine my energy wrapping around me like a cocoon, and then I imagine me in my cocoon, in the middle of the earth, underground. It's very calming. If I were a better artist I'd draw you a picture of what I envision. It's beautiful.

4. Command yourself to ground.

Sometimes I just say out loud, with intention: "I command myself to be grounded now." Say it three times and re-test. Sometimes this works.

5. Do something that reconnects your body to your mind.

For example, I've read of people who ground by mindfully putting on lotion, or taking a bath. It all comes down to connecting your body and mind to each other and to the earth. So living more mindfully will help you spend more of your time grounded.

Next time you muscle test, go ahead and ask if you're grounded. If you're not, try out one of these techniques! Find what works for you. It's a good thing!