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Grounded….an Adjective, a Noun, a Verb…Redefining for Real

Illustration of a child standing in mountain pose with hands at the heart

Can getting grounded bring me back to balanced working order, the way nature intended me to be?

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) defines GROUNDED as
mentally and emotionally stable: admirably sensible, realistic, and unpretentious

grounded [?gra?nd?d]
adj
sensible and down-to-earth; having one’s feet on the ground

I do aim to know where I belong in myself, the earth and in relation to others. I do want to be more mentally and emotionally (as well as physically and spirituality) stable.

I do not aim to be admirably sensible, realistic, and unpretentious.

Ground \Ground\ (ground), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Grounded; p. pr. & vb. n. Grounding.]

1. To lay, set, or run, on the ground.
2. To found; to fix or set, as on a foundation, reason, or principle; to furnish a ground for; to fix firmly.
Being rooted and grounded in love. –Eph. iii. 17.
3. To instruct in elements or first principles.
4. (Elec.) To connect with the ground so as to make the earth a part of an electrical circuit.

I do aim to lay, set or run on the ground. Bare footed on red clay ground in Georgia grounds me.

I do not aim to be fixed firmly into any strand of reason.

I do aim to be rooted and grounded in love and to connect with the ground as part of my electrical circuit.

Here’s one of my actions to ground:

Drawing of a child with spiky red hair, a yellow shirt and red pants in Just Breathe pose, sitting cross-legged with hands resting on the knees and eyes closed.

I tune in.

I align whatever parts of my body are on the Ground. I connect my legs, my nervous system to the earth.

I inspect for any necessary repairs.

I close my eyes, connect with my breath and remember….

We Ground planes in order to protect the flying public, to allow for inspections to occur, to have time to make any necessary repairs and to maintain the planes in safe, working order. We can do the same with our bodies.

Like any receiver I need to plug it in before I can receive the various frequencies. Grounding is the process of plugging ourselves into the earth and the world.

Ground is home. It’s familiar, safe, and secure. It has a power of its own. Like Dorothy in the Wizard of OZ says, “There’s no place like home.”

Drawing of a child with spiky red hair, a yellow shirt and red shorts in Get Up Pose, squatting on the toes with knees wide and fingertips on the floor.

So I click my heels in  Get Up Pose ( from Kundalini’s Frog Pose) and keep them together and lifted while I practice 26, 54, or 108 of these until I feel ready to follow my own yellow brick road.

How do YOU Ground?

More to Explore

  • Yes To Higher Aim…No To Lame

    Say Yes to Brightness,
    To Certainty, To Health
    Say no to dullness,
    To doubt, to filth.
    Say Yes to Careful,
    To Enthusiasm, to Aim
    Say no to Careless,
    To Backsliding, to Lame.
    Say yes to activity,
    To Attention, To humility.
    Say no to Heedless,
    Inertia, Instability.
    How to say NO
    To such 9 Disturbances?
    Create a “no” prop
    To play interference.
    A block will work wonders
    To impede interruptions.
    Place between your hands
    To help with deductions.
    Press your hands in
    To fire your inner shoulders.
    Breathe your arms up
    And become a beholder.
    Keep pressing in
    To activate what’s dull.
    Reach the block up high
    As well as your skull.
    Hold a block in one hand
    Lift up your opposite knee
    Tilt to block side
    Finding freedom is key.
    Place the “no” block
    Right between your thighs.
    I know it is awkward
    May your enthusiasm rise!
    Press your thighs back
    Keep your shins fixed.
    Fold Forward, touch the floor
    Breathe steady while betwixt.
    Step back into Downward Dog,
    Bend your knees a lot.
    Press your block up and back
    Notice your train of thought!
    Shift forward into plank
    Lower down flat like a pancake.
    Keep shins pressing down
    Lift thighs up with a mandate.
    Stretch your belly and heart forward,
    Hips back toward your toes
    Open your shoulders
    Like a polyphonic prose.
    Press back to Down Dog
    Come down to table.
    Remove your block
    Keep hands and shins stable.
    Prepare to find freedom
    With boundaries no less.
    In this grounded pose
    We call “No Table Yes”.
    As you stretch right leg back
    Exhale Yes to Higher Aim.
    As you bring knee to forehead
    Inhale No to Lame.
    Your spine arches and curves
    As you continue 5 times
    Try it fast, Try it slow
    Switch sides
    Cause it’s prime.
    Sit is easy pose
    Tune into your frame.
    Each inhale in
    Think Yes to high aim.
    Each exhale out
    Think No to Lame
    May this help you
    Up your game.

  • You Get What You Need…

    This is the time of applied, intuitive consciousness. This is the time we let our hearts open up. This is the time we need our children to experience reality through the compassion of the heart. This is the time I asked our Fernbank Yoga Club Students~ What do you need to feel more present? This…

  • UP-UP-UP With a Fish!

    At the local Barnes & Noble families joined together for storytime and yoga to celebrate Dr. Suess’s birthday and Read Across America Day.  I was inspired by Dr. Suess’s “The Cat In The Hat” and Co-Founder, Cheryl Crawford’s Grounded Blog Post, “Suess Sutra 1-1: Big Picture Play of Conciousness”. We tuned into our highest Self…

  • OM is a Magic Word

    We chant OM in order to ground our energy in the present moment. When teaching kids who are brand new to yoga, I am determined to invite them into the wondrous world of all that is yoga without pushing them into a place of spooky sounds, weird ways and stuff completely unrelated to anything they’ve ever known. This mantra is a mode of transportation from where we were in our individual lives moments ago to where we are now – together in yoga