The practice of grounding is key to self-regulation. We are living in a time of great change where the injustices of our current system are being called into question and as citizens we are being asked to rise up. Systemic trauma and individual traumas are being triggered daily.
I’ve been largely silent on the current protests as I’ve been trying to process. Anger has always been a scary emotion for me. In childhood, I spent much of my time walking on eggshells and trying to keep the peace as a way to self-regulate. In adulthood, I’ve found myself continuing this pattern and part of healing my story is learning to recognize that healthy anger is safe and needed.
In this situation living in a white body I must listen to my brothers and sisters living in black bodies. And part of this listening is being comfortable with justifiable rage. Their experience isn’t my lived experience so I must listen to begin to understand.
Feeling my feet beneath me and grounding myself is the only way I can quiet my own internal rumblings so I can listen.
The ancient teachings of yoga encourage us to embrace the shadow side, the dark as well as the light. Our shadow work may be our retriggered traumas or silent largely unconscious privileges we’ve taken for granted. Once we begin to notice this shadow we can acknowledge it, work through it and from there the light will return much like the sun rising in the morning. If we don’t embrace the shadow and go into spiritual bypass mode then we will continue the division within ourselves and others.
Grounding ourselves so we can listen, I believe, is the first step.
Energetically when we ground our bodies by feeling our feet and entire bodies in contact with the earth we are able to calm the nervous system and align and open the other chakras or energy systems of the body.
Try this in your own body.
-Close your eyes.
-Either stand or sit with your feet planted firmly on the ground.
-Take a few inhales through the nostrils and exhales through the mouth.
-Let the breath return to normal.
-Notice the natural rhythm of your breath.
-Feel all parts of the body touching the earth and the chair.
-Feel the spine straighten as your push into the earth.
-Stay here as long as you need.
On Thursday June 11th from 12 to 1 I’ll be teaching a yoga practice for grounding through Zoom. I’d love to connect with you and help you learn some grounding poses for self-regulation. Please visit my Event page for more information and feel free to send a message through the website.
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