CHAPTER 1 / PART 1: EARTH

AGE: 4.53 billion
TIME: noon
VIBRATION: 7.83 hertz
RELATIONSHIP: bones, muscles, stomach, spleen

In the UK, February is predominantly cold, wet and quiet. In other parts of the world that’s not at all how it is of course. I know my brother is currently sweltering in Brisbane in 40 degree heat. One thing’s for certain though, wherever you are right now, you’re on Earth. How beautiful is that?

This week’s invitation is about literally reconnecting with earth. It’s about being ‘grounded’, in the physical sense. Why is it important? Is there any science (and does that matter)? What’s it got to do with pain?

Why could grounding be important for your wellbeing?

You know when something is obvious but we still want enough of the right people to raise enough money to be able to do enough research to publish enough peer-reviewed articles etc etc…? But answer me this: have you ever been camping? Or spent a few hours lying quietly in tall grass, or running along a beach? Ever run down a dirt road on a hot day during a sudden rainfall? There are some things that just make you feel so alive you want to cry and laugh at once. As the most Earth-loving of monks, Thich Nhat Hanh put it:

"Heaven is here on Earth. The ‘Kingdom of God’ is here and now. I don't need to die to be in the Kingdom of God. In fact, I need to be very much alive.”

Being in direct contact with the earth makes us feel very much alive.

Ok, but what’s the science?

Although a relatively new area of interest for mainstream science, there’s more and more of it all the time.

From the Journal of Environmental and Public Health: “Grounding appears to improve sleep, normalise the day–night cortisol rhythm, reduce pain, reduce stress, shift the autonomic nervous system from sympathetic toward parasympathetic activation, increase heart rate variability, speed wound healing, and reduce blood viscosity.”

and the Journal of Inflammation Research: “Accumulating  experiences  and  research  on  earthing,  or grounding, point to the emergence of a simple, natural, and accessible health strategy against chronic inflammation, warranting the serious attention of clinicians and researchers. The living matrix (or ground regulation or tissue tensegrity-matrix system), the very fabric of the body, appears to serve as one of our primary antioxidant defense systems…It is a system  requiring occasional recharging by conductive contact with the Earth’s surface – the “battery” for all planetary life – to be optimally effective.”

READ MORE & RESEARCH

This week’s challenge, step 1 in our journey:

  1. Spend at least 15-30 minutes a day with your feet, or your hands even, on the ground. I know, I know, it’s freezing in some places - couldn’t we have done this in the spring? But bear with me, there is something exhilarating about this challenge, I promise you. And I’d love to hear about your experience towards the end of the week.

  2. Get someone else involved. A child, a partner, an elderly loved one, a colleague, a random stranger on the street… spread the grounding earth vibe frequency.

  3. When you finish your grounding, whisper a little thank you to the earth below you and the sky above you for plugging you in and charging you up even in the depths of winter, what a wonder.

'Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.’ Thich Nhat Hanh

Feeling the ground firm beneath you, I wish you bodacious courage in everything you do this week, wherever on Earth you are.