Get Rooted

What do you feel happening in your body when you look at this uprooted plant?

I notice myself slightly lifting out of my bones and feeling a bit less grounded. My shoulders start to armor themselves with muscle tension, perhaps in preparation for being yanked out of the earth.

That response might seem dramatic, coming just from looking at a photo, but if we stop to notice, we do have bodily felt responses to what we see, even when what we see isn’t happening to us.

Whether it’s the feel of this photo or our responses to events in our inner and outer worlds, we can come ungrounded. Bringing our attention back to our bodies can help us feel our tether to the earth.

Try this:

If you’re in a chair, put your feet on the ground. if you’re able to stand, please do.

Really bring your attention to those feet.

Let different parts of your feet make contact with the ground. The soles of the feet. The toe mounds. The heels. These are your human roots to the earth. It’s not just a figure of speech to say our feet are “planted” on the ground.

Feel their connection to the surface they’re currently standing on. The carpet, or the tile, or the grass. Feel all the sensations that arise in your feet.

As you get up and walk away or just return to the way you were sitting normally, do you feel different? Do you feel just a tiny bit more connected to the earth? Maybe you’re more in contact with your presence. Perhaps you have more of a sense of being in this moment.

With continued practice, in times when you start to feel yourself coming unrooted, you can immediately connect with your feet to bring yourself back into your body. It’s a simple thing to do but offers real and rapid results.

Enjoy!

Be gentle and good to your sweet self,