Need help to manage your stress?

                           Here are 9 EASY GROUNDING TECHNIQUES, that might help!
Are you feeling any extra stress by chance from the holidays?  Feeling unmotivated, grumpy, irritated, overwhelmed, anxious?  Well, you just might need to "ground" yourself. No, not for being bad.  Although a time out might do you some good.  But, I mean, you might need to use some of these techniques in this article to bring you back down to earth, to help you be more focused and make more clear decisions and.... to relax you!
Here is some information on what this is all about.  

What is grounding?
 It’s the process by which we maintain an appropriate energy charge by releasing any energy which would constitute an excessive charge within the systems of the body, emotions, mind, etc. (Our home's electrical circuits are grounded to dismiss the extra electricity.) Grounding is a necessary outflow, in contrast to the many inflows of energy into our systems -- from other people, from our digestion of food, from our breathing of fresh air, from sunlight, from the impact of spirit upon our material substance, etc.


What are the benefits of grounding?
We are relaxed, mentally and emotionally.

• In an ungrounded state, we might experience nervousness, restlessness, stress, emotional irritability, frenzied euphoria, anxiety, and insomnia.

We are relaxed, physically.

• In an ungrounded state, we might experience headaches, temperature extremes (e.g., cold skin or hot skin), muscle spasms and trembling, excessive perspiration, difficulties in breathing or digestion, stinging sensations, and abnormal heart rhythms.

We are alert.

• In an ungrounded state, we might experience dreaminess, and a continual semi-trance condition. 

We can concentrate mentally.

•  In an ungrounded state, we might experience "spaciness," and an inability to focus our attention.  

We feel a warm association with our physical body.

• In an ungrounded state, we might experience cold skin, awkward movements, a strange unfamiliarity with our body, a sensation that we are floating outside of our body, and the disassociation which is characteristic of the schizoid or schizophrenic condition

We feel a secure connection to the physical world.

• In an ungrounded state, we might experience sensory distortions, e.g., muffled hearing, a numb sense of touch, and a dream-like sense of vision.

We sense a comfortable connection to other people.

• In an ungrounded state, we might experience paranoia, hypersensitivity to the presence of other people, an "energy drain" when we are in public, a generally dysfunctional personality, and a belief that we are profoundly different from other people or even that we are inhuman.

What Are Some Easy Techniques for Grounding?
Grounding is a natural part of life; it occurs in the give-and-take of our daily activities. But we might need to use specific techniques to ground ourselves if we have become over-charged with the energy of intense emotions, or a stressful degree of inactivity (which does not provide opportunities for the discharge of energy), or religious practices (including some meditation methods). The grounding techniques are meant to be remedies for a temporary condition of imbalance; if we need them to use them regularly, we might want to examine (and change) the lifestyle which repeatedly causes us to become over-charged.

1. We can manage our thoughts etc.  Thoughts, images, energy tones, and actions can permit the free flow of spiritual substance from one soul to another, through the material interface which we call our human life. If we block this flow (through damming/damning thoughts, images, energy tones, and actions), we also block the energy which would pass from our material self into our material environment; i.e., we do not ground the energy. Instead, the energy becomes trapped in our energy fields, our body, and our psyche -- in various forms, including tension, stress, and the charge of the specific a-field elements which become the basis of our karma.
   • Self-talk. For example: "My body feels warm and comfortable." "I am relaxed." "I enjoy being alive." "I enjoy expressing myself in my physical life." "I am calm." "I like to be physically active."
   • Directed imagination. We can visualize ourselves in various situations where we are fully engaged with a physical life which is pleasant and rewarding.
   • Energy toning. We can express the energy tones of warmth, vitality, physical vigor, enthusiasm, etc.
   • The "as if" principle.  We can act as if we are a part of regular human life and society, even if you don't feel like you are.
2. We can be physically active.   During these activities, we breathe deeply, and we let our body bend and stretch, and we engage all of our physical senses vigorously and pleasurably. The physical activities can include:
   • Regular daily activities.
   • Walk around your neighborhood.
   • Go out for a bagel.
   • Exercise with an aerobics video.
   • Wash your car.
   • Play some old popular songs on your guitar.
   •  Do your laundry.
   • "Moving meditation." Example: med while you walk, (get a guided walking med. app)
3. We can have physical contact with the world around us.  During our daily routines, we are always in contact with physical objects -- touching, holding, grabbing, stroking, or merely sitting.
   • For grounding, we can strive to have a "feeling" contact with these objects; we sense the warm energy which flows from our hands into the objects, and we allow our hands to hold the objects (and "savor" them) until we feel we have discharged the energy which was meant to pass into the objects.
   • We might feel even more of this discharge if we lie outside on grass or dirt (or if we handle the dirt, as we do when we are gardening); our excess energy will flow naturally into the earth.
   • Our surplus energy can discharge through our feet, too, so its good to have our feet flat on the floor when sitting.
4. We can have some social contact.
   • Go shopping with a friend who is fun and down to earth; talk about sports, movies, and other down-to-earth matters. Be expressive and animated in your conversations, facial expressions, and gestures.
   • To increase the grounding, we can have physical contact with a friend or loved one-- holding hands, or receiving a massage (or giving one), or slow-dancing, or making love.
5. We can relax our body.  We discharge excess energy when we:
   • Sleep.  
   • Do a relaxation routine (or hatha yoga)
   • Take a warm bath
   • Daily Energy Routine (more on this in a later article)
6. We can change our diet.
   • We can become more aware of food's effect upon our energy and our grounding.
   • For example, we might lose our grounding if our diet consists of over-stimulating foods (e.g., coffee, sugar-filled items), or a strictly vegetarian regimen.
   • To ground ourselves, we might need to eat more meat, particularly lean beef. If you have a friend or practitioner that muscle tests, you can be muscle tested to find out what dietary needs you have. 
7. We can visualize a cord.
   • Visualize a cord with a hook, from your spine going down into the earth and connecting to the core of the earth.  Grounding and stabilizing you.
8. We can spoon.

(No, not that kind of spoon.  Dirty minds....At least not in this section)

           1. Rub a stainless steel spoon over the bottom of your feet. The metal draws excess energies down and off the feet.  This has a subtle centering effect on your nervous system, and is very grounding.​ 

9.     We can serve.
           1.  We can "give." Our over-charge of energy might have occurred because our inflow was excessive, or because our outflow was insufficient; i.e., we did not "give" enough energy in our daily life. To discharge that energy, we can give via volunteer work, or donations of money and goods to charity. However, the giving must be done with warmth, because it is the warmth which carries the energy from us to other people.