Water Your Roots: A Grounding Exercise

Things to Remember When Grounding

Take your time and be patient with yourself.  If you are new to using visualizations, it may seem to be strange and perhaps a little difficult to picture energy flowing through your body.  Take your time, be kind to yourself, and go at your own pace.

To Begin

Find a comfortable and quiet place to sit, where you will not be interrupted by people or pets.  Feel free to put on some calming music, chants or nature sounds, whatever it is that helps you to relax and focus.

• Start in a comfortable sitting position with the bottom of your feet touching the ground.
• Close your eyes and breathe slowly.  In through your nose and out through your mouth, breathing in to a count of 6 and then out to a count of 6.
• When your breathing is balanced and even and slow (this may take a bit to achieve, so be patient), begin working on relaxing your body.

Relaxing Your Muscles and Body

This part you may have to go through and do more than once, depending on how easily you find you are able to relax.  Most days I only need to go through this once, but there are days that I find I have a tougher time at relaxing due to other things going on in my life.  So again, be patient with yourself.

• First, picture the energy that's above your head flowing down through the crown of your head, like a bucket of light being poured onto you.
• Tense your facial muscles for a few seconds and then relax them.  As you relax your muscles, picture the energy flow from a space above your head, down through your head to your neck, as though water was falling from above you rinsing the energy down and through your body
• Now tense your neck and shoulders for a few seconds, and then relax them. Let the energy flow through you, from your head, neck and shoulders, down into your arms.
• Next tense your arms and hands, when you relax them allow the energy to continue to flow through your arms, down and out of your fingers, and then down into the ground.
• Next you are going to tense your torso and back, and again release your muscles and let the energy begin to flow from your head and neck down your torso and back.
• Next tense your legs for a few second and then relax the muscles, and feel the energy run down from your head and neck, then down your back and torso and then down your legs.
• Lastly, tense your feet and then release the muscles there, and allow the energy from your entire body to flow down and through your legs and feet.

Releasing the Energy Into the Earth

For the next part of the visualization, you need to release the energy that is flowing down to your feet into the ground and into the Earth.

• Picture all the energy you have collected through the tensing and relaxing of your muscles, flowing down from above your head, down your neck shoulders and arms, and down your torso and legs through your feet to the ground, like a slow waterfall flowing through you.
• Picture your feet and toes to be like the roots of a tree.  Visualize them reaching down into the earth stretching as far into the earth as they possibly can.
• Once your feet/roots have gone as far down into the earth as they can, picture the energy flowing through your entire body and into the earth, like a heavy rain falling down from above to below.
• Allow the earth to gather the energy flowing through your body to soak into the ground, allowing the Earth to absorb all the energy you are giving it.

Bringing Balanced and Calming Energy Back Into Your Body

Now, as we all know, roots bring nutrients and water into plants and trees.  So for this part you are going to picture the clean and fresh and balanced energy coming from the earth and flowing back into your feet, up and into your own energy, balancing and grounding your energy as it absorbs into your body.

• First visualize the energy in the earth around your feet/roots, feel how balanced, steady and clean it is.
• Picture the energy being pulled in through your feet/roots, flowing up through your feet into your legs, then into your torso, and down your arms. 
• Next, feel the energy flow from your torso up through your head and above it into the area above you.
• Picture how grounding, clean, balanced and full of nutrients the earth and soil is, and allow only these things to enter your energy.
• Allow yourself to feel the energy now flowing in and out of your body, through your feet/roots all the way up to the place above your head and down again.  Like a flowing river moving up and down your body, moving your energy as it is naturally meant to flow.
• Feel the energy in your body flow smoothly and calmly as you breathe.
• Take a few deep breaths, in through your nose and out through your mouth, slowly and in a relaxed manner.
• Feel the balanced and grounded energy flowing uninterrupted throughout your body.
• To end the exercise, slowly open your eyes and calmly focus on the area around you.