Grounding. Earthing. Healing.
Being grounded allows us access to our full spectrum of emotions, thoughts, actions and ideas without judgment or add-ons.
What a surreal month+ it has been.
As I write this post, it’s as if someone flipped a switch on masks mandates everywhere in the US and everyone is walking around naked-faced. The weather has spanned 40 degrees within days this week in NYC and is currently snowing again as I write. Racist attacks continue to rack up daily in our country. There is a war that has been senselessly raging in Ukraine for the past 2+ weeks. Inflation.
Phew, I could go on, but I probably already triggered someone reading this so I’ll stop here as I think the point has been made. Please pause and take a few deep breaths in support of your nervous system before continuing on ❤️
Are you feeling alright? If not, take a few more intentional deep breaths before reading or bookmark this blog for a sunny day.
My point is, the world moves fast and there is A LOT going on globally, on top of our own personal lives, each day. Becoming centered and grounded can be a real challenge that we face almost on a minute to minute basis every day.
Human existence is fragile and vulnerable with nuance and delicate, yet powerful, energy. I have been reminded of this even more in my own personal life recently, as nothing screams human vulnerability like a health crisis. Not being able to function like your usual self can certainly feel like the rug got pulled out from under your feet without warning. It will most definitely create a sense of groundlessness and heightened emotions (usually categorized as negative) such as anxiety, stress, nervousness, fear, shame, depression, etc.
The game of deciphering pain.
Many months ago, out of the blue, I started losing strength and mobility in my dominant shoulder and arm. While I have always been troubled by a weaker non-dominant shoulder and wrist since breaking both my wrists as a young kid, I never experienced issues with my “good arm”. Until now. After doing my due diligence with my doctor and the song and dance with our (broken) healthcare system, I started PT to treat an intense case of biceps tendonitis. (I love PT and just want to shout out all the amazing PT’s I’ve known and worked with - my body is smarter because of you!)
Fast forward to the day I wrote about in my last blog post - the big TIME OUT signal from my body. As it turned out, all the issues with my shoulder were early signals of the bigger issue in my cervical spine and vertebral discs. Without going into too much detail, in what seemed like split seconds, I lost the ability to move my head and neck, feel sensation in my shoulders and use of my “good arm” deteriorated quickly. I couldn’t hold onto any objects with my hand or feel half of my fingers. The constant bolts of pain shooting down my arm coupled with deep throbbing from my head down my back kept me awake when I never had issues with sleep before. If this has ever happened to you, you know it can feel quite scary.
Growing up a child of 2 parents in the medical field, I’m definitely not a hypochondriac. And as someone who’s dealt with previous spinal disc issues, a plethora of physical injuries and a laundry list of long term illness and ailments since childhood, constant debilitating pain is (unfortunately) not something that’s new to me. But, loss of use of a critical limb is. I was confused, worried and unable to think (or write) clearly, mostly due to the constant pain.
“Pain brain”
“Pain brain” is not a term I really heard of until I was a young adult and I hear it a lot more now. I personally don’t love catch phrase terminology because they’re usually rooted in some kind of marketing antics in our modern culture. But, I understand the need for identifying language, dug into this over the years and it’s a real thing that affects people in wide, varied ways.
In a short and sweet explanation: as pain is on-going or becomes chronic, our brain changes in order to tolerate it. Another way of saying this is: our sensitivity to pain shifts our neural-connections over time so that we can deal. We can become more protective in the way it responds to triggers and detects dangers and how we tackle these messages. Over time, constantly managing pain can impact not only ourselves, but other areas of our lives such as our mental health, identity, relationships, work and beyond.
Why being grounded matters.
When we are grounded, we have access to the entire spectrum of thoughts, feelings and actions that already exist within us. When we are in heightened emotional states, our ability to function quickly narrows and we can become reactive. If we can guide ourselves back to a centered safe place, we widen the availability of choices to us at any given moment or situation and remember our innate wellness and abilities.
We’ve come to think of being grounded as a state of mind. However, we can feel supported from recognizing our connection with the physicality around us (most importantly, the earth). We are earth beings with spirit essence. It’s crucial for us to land safely before we can tap into the wide variety of emotions, responses and ideas that live within us (without continuing to trigger ourselves). We practice yoga and meditation to hone this ability to find our grounding when the world yanks the rug from under us.
When I was stopped dead in my tracks by the unrelenting pain, I could hardly take a breath. The anxiety of potentially feeling worse kept me in a loop of constant fear. The “what if’s” froze my coherent thoughts. I lived in the ethers and dissociated because the reality of pain was too much. It was hard to be still, much less relax. As my restorative teacher says,
“Rest is a prerequisite for healing.”
We need rest and relaxation so that the Sympathetic Nervous System (fight, flight or freeze system) can subside and our long term health function systems then kick back in (that’s the Parasympathetic Nervous System of rest and digest tuning up). This is when healing can start happening as our bodies have space and availability to look at the bigger picture of our health and act accordingly. Once my pain management therapies finally settled into my system, I was able to start releasing my protective tension and begin to reset myself with the grounding tools from my wellness toolbox.
I took the “bottom up” approach this time since my brain was already overloaded and there was no way of convincing myself that feeling grounded was going to start with a state of mind after all the anguish I endured. I created safety around me physically (in my home and out in nature) and allowed myself to connect with the pain instead of trying to fight it off. I let my body guide me in re-learning how to relax so that a sense of groundedness (both internal and external) gradually came back over time. From my tension easing, I regained more bandwidth to understand my next steps on this journey before I regained my grip strength.
While taking an unplanned +month off comes with its own set of worries and negative thoughts, it was a non-negotiable for me. There was no question I needed to dedicate time and space for healing properly. Since I do my best to hold myself accountable for the things I share with my clients and students, I stepped back from all things work to refill my own cup first. (I know it’s an extreme privilege to be able to take this path of healing and not end up homeless on the streets. I feel conflicted and struggle with the fact that our social systems do not allow some people to be as lucky as me. But, I don’t want to get too off-topic and perhaps that’s another blog post for another time).
I continued my grounding practices and tapped hugely into the idea of earthing. If you’re not familiar with it, earthing is the idea of reconnecting with our planet's energy and vibrations and drawing upon them the similar connections that we embody as humans. Remember, we are earth beings with spirit essence.
Nature knows how to heal itself when given the chance, just like we humans do. As we remember our own abilities and wellness, it becomes easier and easier to reconnect with. The cycle of healing and understanding can continue steadily if we stay steady. (I wanted to add that sometimes humans need a little help from modern medicine, which shouldn’t be seen as weak or any less than holistic healing. I’m a huge advocate for science and medicine, as well. As mentioned earlier, I took my pain management therapies and got scans because they are tools in our wellness toolbox as well.)
We underestimate the need to be relaxed and grounded.
We often think of relaxing as something we do on vacation or on the weekends, away from work and our daily grind. In my practice and studies, I’ve come back to the understanding that relaxation and groundedness must happen in tandem with everyday life. Meaning, how can we incorporate this idea of noticing when we hold ourselves in service of protection while in a meeting with our boss, riding the subway or sitting in a traffic jam? Our protective tendencies are biologically built in for good reasons, but how can we adjust this to service our modern lives and circumstances more cohesively?
Our time on the mat shows us how to hold opposing concepts concurrently within us and be less conflicted, stressed and agitated while doing so. Think about the last time you were asked to keep a steady breath pattern while holding a particularly challenging asana. You probably said some not so nice things in your head while you continued your steady Ujjayi breath, right?
Our yoga and meditation practice is the perfect lab for discovering ourselves and why we are who we are and do as we do. As questions about ourselves and our lives come up, how do we approach answering them? By reflexively doing what has always worked or being open to what things are like now? And as we all know, the now is ever changing and evolving. We must be flexible in our ways and our whys.
As I returned to my physical asana practice, one of the first things I brought back is the idea of grounding in the moment. Foundations are key when returning to anything, no matter how long you’ve been doing that thing. Time on the mat will always invite you to be curious about who you are in this present moment and how you become centered, not only in the physical, but also the energetic body.
Healing is a continuum and we do it in community.
I am far from healed. To say that in past tense implies that it’s done and dusted and that it will never show up again. As my yin teacher says, “Always is always wrong, never is never right.” I don’t know if this pain will never show up again (nobody does) so I’ll steadily be on the right healing continuum for myself now and possibly for the rest of my life.
My ability to feel and get better was mirrored to me by my healers, PT’s, doctors, teachers and loved ones. I didn’t get on this path alone; there was no way I could have. The cohesive energy of wanting me to get better was not lost on me. It made me reflect back to the yoga practice again and why we practice together. Yes, we can certainly hone our practice alone in the comfort of our pj’s and homes. But, there’s nothing like the undeniable energy you feel when you’re in sync on breath and movement with others, even if the company is online. Connection transcends time and space and let’s not forget that we are always stronger together.
There is a lot going on daily, in our own existences, as well as in the entire globe. Stay grounded in your own ways as we shift into new seasons, changes and world happenings and tap into your earth body, as well as your spirit essence, to guide you on your path. Trust that we are integrated beings and these parts of us live in tandem and work best together, not separately. To be whole means to accept and be able to access the entire rainbow of emotions, thoughts, ideas and actions already within us and choose what serves us at present, without judgment or stories.