Grounding

The earth below her feet was solid and deep and still, but she couldn't feel it, she was scattered above to the four corners of the compass, dancing a tango in the east and a salsa in the west, exhausted and out of step for who can dance without a body. Only a thin invisible silk tie held her to her center, a stillness waiting for her to return. And how she wanted to, she reached for it, hand out stretched, grasping, almost clawing and then an updraft caught her and she was gone.

What does it mean to be ungrounded? The experience is different for everyone but for me when I feel ungrounded I feel scattered and disconnected to my body. I also feel a real loss of centeredness and stillness. Being grounded does not mean no chaos, no juggling of life but rather  a stillness or center within all the whirling chaos. A wise woman friend used the image of a dried up leaf blowing aimlessly in the wind recently, and this image became the clue to my path back to feeling centered. Could it be as simple as staying hydrated? A tree needs established roots reaching deep into the ground, and those roots need to be fully hydrated to allow those far reaching leaves to dance along with the passing breeze without being scattered away. A simple exercise of hydrating, intentionally hydrating, has made me feel so much more grounded and centered and it is no wonder when our planet is the water planet, that to feel grounded to this earth requires water. So now when I drink, I drink deeply and I imagine the water reach right down to my roots and into the earth and this holds me to the earth and to the stillness at my center.

Some other ideas for grounding:
Eating root vegetables, and for me this means ginger, lots of ginger, and dandelion tea. Black tourmaline, "being" in nature, breathing, intentional breathing with my hand on that center where I feel that stillness, use your body with intention- yoga, Qigong, pottery, make something, garden. Intention is the key, connecting the body and the action to the center.

And atop a cloud she found a pond, clear and crystal, her face reflected unmoving as she danced above. Lured within she slipped deeply falling back to her center where she was once again able to dance in sync with the flow of the earths waters, still and calm within the movement.