Decrease or entirely eliminate inflammation and chronic pain, improve sleep, increase energy and bring balance to hormone levels and the body’s other biological systems—for free. How? Simple: ground yourself, literally.
Returning your body to its balanced, harmonic-with-nature design could be as easy as sliding off your shoes. Being barefoot easily conjures the feelings of freedom, peace and simplicity. What is often the norm for young children playing outside sadly dissipates in most of us as we age. Wouldn’t being barefoot on the Earth—each day, every day—be worth another ‘go’ if we were aware of its myriad (and powerful) health benefits?
I’ve always enjoyed being barefoot outdoors. During my college years, roommates and friends would lightly tease about me sliding off my shoes the second class was over and my feet hit ground. Walking home barefoot was a true delight; one that I felt intuitively connected to and instantly at ease with then, but wouldn’t completely understand, or be able to fully transmit into words until later. Fast forward a few years, load up on more responsibilities and ‘load down’ on time spent outdoors sans shoes. For those who are energetically sensitive, this combination can feel frenetic, if not, at times, near disastrous.
I began thinking about the differences in the energetic frequencies outside, emanating directly from the Earth, versus the frequencies inside, emanating from a typical home’s mob of techno-gadgetry, many years before I became motivated and serious enough to dig deeper into the energetic on-goings. The second I did, however, doors began opening (as is the norm when the Universe is nudging you in a certain direction) and information became available that I immediately resonated with, embraced and incorporated into my life.
What is ‘grounding’?
In the same way that modern buildings and appliances are ‘grounded,’ placing your bare skin directly on the Earth physically ‘grounds’ you. This grounding prevents a build-up of electricity and any potential interference that may occur as a result of that electrical buildup.
While the practice of ‘grounding’ is standard in the care and maintenance of current construction, somehow, we’ve glossed over applying this understanding to our own bodies.
We have, faithfully, been blocking the current from the Earth for years; the precise current, or flow, that we’re designed to be connected to 24 hours a day. Wearing shoes, with rubber soles, completely disconnects the Earth’s flow into our body. Most people are physically lodged in a house or office all day, walking on asphalt, all while wearing shoes. This means that many of us are gliding through each day never discharging the build-up of free radicals imperceptibly reverberating around us.
Negative ions and health
The Earth is a limitless source of free electrons that stream into the body only when it is grounded. This infusion of negative ions from the Earth into the body, and the discharge of destructive positive ions, is essential for wellbeing. Excess positive ions in the body are associated with disease and degeneration. Negative ions are associated with vitality, good health and healing. The more time you spend grounded, the less inflammation you are likely to experience, resulting in improved overall health, a sense of calmness, clarity and vitality.
Jumping into a body of water or simply touching the Earth with bare feet starts the process of these negative ions cascading up through your body clearing out positive ions, restoring balance and a rich overtone of tranquility to your entire system—your muscles, tissues, bones and brain pathways. The benefits are almost so easy that they can be readily dismissed by those looking for a more complex path to a more balanced state of health and wholeness.
Grounding and inflammation
There’s an abundance of research now underway showing that the process of grounding yourself, or connecting with the Earth, holds collective and diverse benefits for both the physical body as well as mental and emotional harmony. Anybody can easily pull up a variety of studies online regarding the impact that connecting with our planet’s energy has on a variety of health conditions.
As is often said, a picture is worth a thousand words and my favorite ‘pictures’ wrapped around this subject emerged from several case studies using thermography imaging during 2004 and 2005. Most people are familiar with thermography as it is now widely offered in clinics as a more in-depth way to detect conditions such as breast cancer.
Using a camera or other device that is sensitive to electromagnetic radiation, thermography is a non-invasive technique that measures and analyzes skin surface temperatures, translating this data into color-coded images. Dr. William Amalu (the president of the International Academy of Clinical Thermography) took 20 patients, with a variety of physical concerns, and ‘grounded’ them using conductive electrode patches or conductive bed pads. The resulting images (which can be pulled up and viewed online) are dramatic and beautiful. Reading down through the case studies, I immediately noticed that many of these 20 people experienced significant shifts in their inflammation and pain within days, some of them within minutes.
The idea that chronic inflammation can be a root, across-the-board cause of disease is not new. Inflammation, a protective tissue response to injury or destruction of tissues, sports a known, fundamental connection with many conditions and states of illness; including allergies, arthritis, autism, cardiovascular disease and intestinal disorders.
Connecting our body to the Earth enables the naturally conductive tissues of the body to become saturated with Earth’s free electrons. As the body equalizes with and maintains the natural electrical potential of the Earth, excess free radicals are neutralized. The upshot? Over and over again, this reconnection results in an increase in recovery speeds and a decrease in chronic inflammation.
Time to connect
The most direct and fun way to ground is to simply take off your shoes and socks and walk barefoot outside. We are ‘grounded’ when we are touching the ground, yet there has to be an electrical connection to the Earth. Whatever is in contact needs to be conductive, and not every material conducts electricity. Rubber, for example, is a barrier to electrical impulses coming up through the Earth. The soles on shoes, then, pose a concern, as most of us wear them all day long without a break. While there are special ‘grounding’ shoes, which insert conductive material into the soles of the shoe and grounding sheets and bed pads that are now available which plug in to the grounding system of a house for a constant connection, the most effective and appreciably relaxing way of connecting, in my experience, is to directly touch the Earth.
When we walk barefoot on the soil or on the beach, we’re grounded. When we’re swimming, we’re grounded. Splashing through a puddle barefoot: grounded. Touching a tree: grounded. Seawater is a great conductor; so walking along the beach or swimming are excellent choices for a strong connection.
The conductive choices slim down for those who live in the city, surrounded by asphalt and concrete, yet, are still available. Some newer cement may contain polymers that act as an insulator or may be sealed, cutting off its conductive abilities; most cement, especially older concrete, is grounded. Asphalt, due to its petrochemical content, is not conductive. Even in the city, however, there are patches of grass, gardens and parks that provide a space to slip off one’s shoes and make a connection with the Earth.
Spending time in direct connection with the Earth each day may be as fundamental as clean air, water, sunlight and nutrients. It thrills me that this healing Earth energy is always available to us without costly equipment, supplements or cold, clinical office visits. All it really takes on our part is to make both the choice and the time to weave a little foot-to-Earth action into our daily lives—the more time we spend grounded, the better.
This summer (spring, fall…and, if you’re daring, maybe even winter,) get your feet and hands dirty: feel the grass between your toes as you read, hang your legs into a river or stream, jump into a lake, breathe deeply, and experience for yourself, in the most intimate and devoted of ways, the healing nature of our planet.
Reflecting back to the boundless energy, serene qualities and the quick-healing nature of childhood holds vast insight. Say cheers to never outgrowing foot-to-Earth play.
(om yoga & lifestyle; may issue; 2013)
(original, much shorter version; organic lifestyle, 2011)