Finding your ground.

“Get yourself grounded and you can navigate even the stormiest of roads in peace.” – Steve Goodier

All I need to do to be thrown off center is to turn on the news, open up Instagram or switch on NPR. Chaos and turmoil envelop our world right now. To unplug entirely would be like burying our heads beneath the covers waiting for all of the monsters to go away. It isn’t the answer. Yet, to become entirely consumed, unable to turn away for even a moment, will quickly lead to burnout or extreme compassion fatigue. So how can we stay aware of what is happening out there while also holding space for what is happening in here?

Tuesday – Friday I step into an Elementary classroom and I am asked to give my time, my attention and my energy to little beings. I return home to give my time, my attention and my energy to keeping a house and maintaining close relationships. If I am filling my “down” moments with the consumption of more information, more noise…well then I am slowly depleting myself. I am moving further away from my center, further away from a place where I am actually able to give, to help, to be of service.

I am finding myself feeling disjointed – pulled in so many different directions. My mind bouncing from one worry to the next and then back again. Can you relate? 

What so many of us are in need of right now is a connection to those practices that ground us. Those practices that bring us back to center, to home. 

To be grounded within yourself is simply to have your physical, mental, emotional and energy state in relative balance – reconnecting them. It is rooting into yourself and pulling all of that scattered attention back into a cohesive whole. It is a place of feeling calm enough to see the world through clear eyes. 

When I come home from a difficult day at work, or when I learn of yet another tragedy that has taken place in our world, what is grounding me right now is time spent moving slowly through poses on my yoga mat. As I transition from child’s pose to downward dog and into pigeon, I feel the tension begin to melt from my body – my hips surrender to the magnetic pull of the mat. My breath slows, I drop my head to the earth and I close my eyes. I let go. I let go of all the stories I have created over the course of the day. I let go of the emotions I had yet to work through. I let go of the need to know what comes next. I let go and I come back home. I ground. 

When I arise from my mat 20 or 30 minutes later, I do so with a renewed sense of hope and purpose. I am ready to give a bit more. 

It isn’t always yoga for me. There was a period of my life where it was running, others where it has been journaling and then times where what it took to ground me was simply a hug from someone I love. It doesn’t really matter what the practice is. What matters is that we give ourselves the time and space to engage with that which grounds us each day. 

Amidst the chaos, the noise, the excitement, the despair, what is it that grounds you right now? What is the practice that allows you to regain a sense of balance within, that allows you to feel as though you’re standing on solid ground? Is it that perfect cup of coffee that you sip while looking out the window each morning? Is it taking that extra moment to wipe down the kitchen counters before you turn in for the night? Is it stepping barefoot on to the grass and feeling the cool dew between your toes? 

Take a moment to consider, or journal, upon the following, “A practice that is grounding me right now is…” 

Be sure to give yourself the opportunity to enjoy that practice today.