Week of Tips: Ground Yourself: Meditation

Today continues a a week of tips on how to ground ourselves for the fall.  See the past two days' posts on Fall Cleaning and Fall Eating.

Grounding our physical home and  our physical body is just as important as grounding our mind.  Symptoms of an ungrounded mind include being spacey, having erratic emotions, frenetic energy, stress "freakouts" and other high energy, irrational behavior (vs. low energy irrational behavior like being depressed).  A practice that can help with "getting out of your head" and grounding yourself is meditation.  I've spoken about meditation a couple of times before but not in the context of grounding.

People of all ages can benefit from meditation! (source)

The purpose of a grounding meditation is to bring you back down to earth.  When you have less energy in your mind, you will experience a calmer energy and be more level-headed.  I know that I can always use more calm energy in my life.

Meditation does not have to entail sitting in lotus position for hours.  Here are several simple ways to ground yourself through meditation.

Seated meditation #1: Meditation can take place in many seated forms.  You can be regular cross-legged, in full or half lotus position, or on your knees and sitting on your heels.  The best of these to practice a grounding meditation is touching the ground with your backside.  This gives your body a concrete connection with the earth.  As you meditate, you can picture rooting yourself to the ground and allowing the activity in your head to dissipate back into the earth and simultaneously, bringing up that calm earth energy into your head.

Seated meditation #2: A meditation while seated in a chair can be as effective as one seated on the ground.  Sit comfortably in a chair with both of your feet flat on the ground.  Close your eyes and relax each part of your body.  Next picture yourself as a tree with roots.  Imagine that those roots are holding you firmly into the ground and at the same time bringing you the life energy from the center of earth.  Envision the transfer of energy revitalizing you and rooting you into the ground.

Walking meditation: You don't have to be seated and close your eyes in order to meditate. Meditation is about bringing awareness and being present all the time.  A great way to integrate a grounding practice into your day is to pay attention when you walk.  Focus on the connection between your feet and the ground.  Don't do anything else while you walk.  Don't talk or play on your phone or think about your grocery list. Simply walk and concentrate on each step allowing you to develop a more intimate relationship with the earth.

Have you tried a grounding meditation before?  Any tips for me and other readers?  If you haven't tried any, what do you think you'd like to tackle this week?  I'd love to know!