Grounding and Centering Practice
Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we’re transitioning from summer vacations, long days, outdoor activities, and often the more unstructured time of summer. And many are adjusting to the back-to-school, back-to-work routines, structure, deadlines, and all the demands that come with this. You may even notice more emotions surfacing at the seasonal transition times. I know I do.
I’d like to offer a grounding and centering practice that can assist with this transition.
But, what is grounding exactly? And how do we do it? What does it feel like to be grounded?
Being grounded can feel connected, balanced, stable, and supported. This can feel utterly safe and it can feel absolutely powerful!
What does it feel like to be underground?
We can feel unmoored, or unsupported. We might feel unfocused and scattered.
But we can also feel overgrounded.
We may feel heavy, stuck, burdened and find it just hard to get the wheels in motion for action.
Take a moment and check in with yourself. You might just notice where you are on this spectrum. Centered? Ungrounded? Overground? Not sure? Maybe a mix of all of that? As always, with any new practice, remember to bring in self-compassion. Maybe read my blog Welcome to Wholeness to help with that.
Many people tend to think that being grounded just means having your feet firmly planted. Maybe that feels like being rooted down into the earth. That can feel wonderful, but actually, there’s a little more to it. The secret to truly being grounded is finding the balance between the solidity and support you feel with the ground AND the sense of uprightness that you feel through your spine.
What does it mean to be upright?
You may feel this as being filled from the inside out. You may feel dignified. You might almost imagine a small thread that lifts the top of your head to the sky. Here you aren’t straining to be taller. And you’re not looking up. You aren’t over-efforting to be upright. It’s as if you feel the full length of your spine. You are aligned.
The other tip to finding the balance between groundedness and uprightness is your BREATH. We’re inhaling and exhaling constantly! But the tempo and quality of our breath is often out of our awareness. And as stress increases, we tend to hold our breath or breathe unevenly.
So the practice here is to simply notice your inhale. And as you inhale, notice how this inhalation can uplift and energize you. Breathe in and feel that energy. This is our uprightness! And our exhale is meant to release and relax. So really feel that exhale. Let it go. You may even want to audibly make a sigh of relief. Let your exhale lengthen and release. Let your exhale settle and relax your body more deeply. This is your grounding! Often when I take people through this simple breathing exercise, they start to yawn. This is your body letting off more tension, so let the yawns happen.
After you’ve experimented with this centering and breathing practice, pause again for another check-in. How do you feel? Do you notice anything different from your initial check-in? If you are feeling more centered and grounded, maybe you can try walking from this centered place.
Somatic guidance is tricky in a blog! So I’ve also recorded a short breath and centering meditation that brings in this centering practice. I’ve been taking online qigong practices with Mimi Kuo-Deemer, and have been inspired by her natural breath guidance, which I’ve included as the second half of this meditation, bringing nature inside.
There are many ways to ground. I was amazed to learn that our grounding operates at three primary points in our body…. Not just our feet!
1) our feet and legs
2) our hands and arms
3) our eyes
There are many other grounding and centering micro practices I often introduce to my coaching clients. I also include qigong videos and provide guided meditations.
If any of this has you curious… reach out for a free discovery call. I love supporting people with simple somatic practices to support feeling present and engaged with our work and life. You can learn more about my somatic coaching practice here.