By Laura Gordon
Ever have a day or part of a day when you felt loosely wrapped, out of step with things….discombobulated? We all experience something like that at one time or another. It creeps up on us, but it doesn’t take long to recognize it once we’re in the middle of it.
Or perhaps we simply need to take a moment to refocus ourselves and sweep away any fuzziness or blocks we might have so that we can take that test, go into that important meeting, and, for us Massage Therapists, prepare for that next massage.
Grounding:
People do this in many ways. What I’m about to share with you is a wonderful, as well as powerful, practice, and well worth your time to develop.
Grounding yourself brings your attention into the present moment and sanctifies it in a quiet and subtitle way. As you bring your mind, body, and spirit into alignment with “the now” you are preparing space for others, specifically your client, to enter into an atmosphere of enfoldment and healing.
There are numerous grounding exercises. Here is one that I like to use:
Find a wall with no obstacles so you to stand with your heels, back, and head to it. If you cannot find a 
wall, sit in a chair with your back straight; head up with ears over the shoulder; hands in your lap; and both of your feet on the floor. Either one is best done without shoes, if possible.
Close your eyes and imagine energy in your feet going down directly below you into the earth.
Now add some visualization. This will engage your imagination. Take a deep breath in and imagine a luminescent beam of light from above flowing down into the crown 
of your head and out through your feet like a river flowing deep into the earth’s core.
Hold the breath for few seconds then as you release the breath imagine the earth’s response coming up through your feet, though the crown of your head, and being released into the universe above the earth’s atmosphere.
Hold the out breath for several seconds.
Feel the void or stillness in the out breath.
Do this several times until you sense balance and completion. It is now time to move on into the next moment in your preparation for the day. But now you are better prepared for life and its challenges.
Alternative:
An alternative would be to run home to take an Epson salt bath. Salt is a wonderful restorative grounding elixir.
Comments:Please take time to practice this exercise and describe your experience to us.
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This is a fantastic yet very simple way to refocus yourself and even calm yourself down. I love how the little things we do can have such an impact on our bodies. I am definatly going to start taking a minute or two out of my day to ground myself.
It is amazing how we can recenter ourselves if we just take a few minutes to breath in and breath out and the calmness that comes over us. Everyone should do this.
This reminds me of what Maya Angelou says,”Be present in all things and thankful for all things.” I think it’s a good practice to be present and thankful in all things. It seems easier to do for some than others. I can have a tendency to daydream and have to consciously make an effort to be present in the moment! People have too much of a propensity to either live in the past or the future and miss the simple joys of that day and moment. When I think of grounding, I think of walking in cool grass barefoot or lying in the grass on an incline either watching a sunset or the stars at night-love it!
taking five minutes to relax keeps me from slapping everyone. most of the time. the only way i get my brain to stop going nonstop is to focus on my feet.
These are great exercises for balancing your mind. Lots of times we are so busy and thinking about a million different things that we can’t calm down and relax. This will help us clear our minds and get ready for whatever we are about to do.
I always need grounding! I spent too much time in the clouds. I am going to try the epsom salt bath. I was not aware that it is good for grounding.
While i’m grounding myself I enjoy closing my eyes and imagine that i’m at the Tallest Mountain in Oklahoma… ( That was a Joke )
There’s always so many things that are going through my brain, I wish I could learn how to restart my brain and start fresh. I will definitely try this. Thank you for a great blog.
I’ve never thought about grounding myself for a better sense of balance. minor things like that tend to slip alot of peoples minds or they didn’t know anything about this, this is a great article to share with others!
I like to do this at the end of my day to wind down before I go to sleep. I don’t hit the wall until the very end when my auto pilot runs out. If I don’t recenter myself before bed I have a REALLY hard time falling asleep.
I try very hard to do this from time to time. I need to get more diligent about doing this more often. Great artical.
I believe we all need to try this, take a time out of our day breath and relax and just have time to our self’s.
Grounding is always great to do anytime you get feeling flustered or confused; if you are doing paperwork or computer work and feel this, it is always good to take a short break and do some grounding to clear the mind and energy. It allows for better focus in a calmer state of mind.
This is such a simple and great way to reconnect, I really like this.
i think this is some good reading and today i think i am having these symptoms so i may be doing this today at some point thanks for the information it was really interesting to read about this and grounding to be honest i stair off in to space almost all the time or i day dream alot so i dont think ill be doing this every day nothing wrong with a little day dreaming
I agree there a lot of ways to ground yourself and and these are very helpful!
I usually try to start out my day in prayer for at least 20 minutes of silence before doing anything else. Naturally there are day that i am unable to start this way and I like this grounding technique because it gives me an alternative and only takes a few moments. I actually plan on using this in my future.
It is amazing how much of a diffrence it makes in your day even your life just to take a few moments to connect with your inner self. This just gave me so much peace and relaxation. Needs to be part of every day life. Namaste !
It is crazy how taking 5 mins just to breathe can determine how your day/night is going to be.
I try to take a deep breath and close my eyes for a few seconds. It helps sometimes. I also find that salt bathes are great for sore muscles and stress.
This great for anything you need to get focus again whether is at work school or just making dinner sometimes we have to much going on that we overwhelmed our self with it. Whether is is one hour to a few minutes its good to center yourself
It’s crazy how if we just take a few minutes to breathe, we can recenter ourselves…
I know this works well. Breathing helps you get center. I like this because always make me fill better anything from felling from filling sad, to any kind of sickness this make me fill better.
I tried this using the sitting technique and found it to be quite effective. With so much homework and a wedding to plan, I’m a little stressed, but just two minutes of this and I was right back in the moment. I’ll be sharing this method with family, friends and ultimately, clients.
This is a great technique and often times I use this at home when I just need to relax. There have been times when I was sitting in the chair that I actually have fallen asleep so I now do it with the wall.
I agree I have been through and it and sucks makes you feel like not wanting to be around others and definantly grounding ones self works from exsperience.
I personally struggle with this daily. I have a million things going on in my head at any given time, and it is so hard for me to focus on one thing at a time, and to be present in the moment. I think that’s why I struggle to get things accomplished. I can’t wait to try these exercises on my next final day. Thanks for the tip!