Fall is here! Did you find yourself questing in nature, working too hard or exploring new lands this summer? Often times summer is a season of exploration and movement. The heat feels good on our muscles and it feels nice to get outdoors, to be active and to socialize.
As fall sweeps in, it's effect impacts our bodies and minds. With all of the travel and movement of summer, our spirit may be left behind yearning for adventure and dwelling in past memories. With this transition, it is normal to feel sad and it is normal to feel a sense of yearning. It's normal to feel anxious with the changing of the fall winds.
Do you ever feel disconnected, like you're not quite present in your body? Like maybe your mind is remembering distant memories or is calculating the future? Or maybe it's a numbness, as if you don't feel emotion doing your day to day routines? Or maybe you feel like you're watching everything happen and are not an active participant?
If you ever feel this way, you need to ground. What does it really mean to ground? It's become a buzzword amongst yoga teachers and spiritual groups, but I don't often hear people explain what it means.
To ground is to come home to your body. It's finding a sense of home in the foundation of yourself. It's being familiar with the body that you dwell in: knowing its aches and pains, the foods that it likes, the activities that it needs. It's nourishing the body so that we feel a sense of wholeness.
Grounding is connecting to your Mamma Earth. It means feeling either rooted or connected to the centre of the earth and her beat. It means feeling supported and safe by the universe. It is a knowingness that you can surrender and allow yourself to be cared for. Being grounded is to be present and embodied.
We all find this sense of grounding in different ways. And it can be really hard to find this sense of surrender and connection.
You know best what it is that soothes your soul. You know what helps you melt with satisfaction. Brainstorm what helps you feel nurtured and happy and allow yourself to do those things today and this week.
Here are three quick tips to feel grounded in the moment when you find yourself drifting into space and feeling anxious:
1.) Stand in mountain pose. Feel the bottoms of your feet solid as a rock as it pushes into soil. Know that your feet, your legs, and your core are your foundation. Your foundation is strong and sturdy. Feel an ease in your heart as you reach the crown of your head to the sky. Mountain connects sky to earth. Allow yourself to ground. Allow yourself to feel the strength of your body.
2.) Tap your forehead, scalp and cheeks. Give your head and neck a quick massage and remind yourself that you are awake.
3.) Tell yourself: "I am here, now. I am safe. I am home."
If you need a longer session to focus on grounding, this is a 45 minute yoga Nidra session, dedicated to the root chakra:
https://www.meghanlockhart.com/recordings
Many blessings! I wish you warmth and nourishment on this fine fall day.