The power of meditation and breath is undeniable. It’s been around for years. There’s a meditation class in every suburb and the power of long slow deep breathing has been proven over and over. But there’s another aspect to calm and centre the body and ground us back down to the earth.
And it’s simply called ‘Earthing’.
Have you ever wondered why something as simple as a walk along the beach feels so good? It’s more than just the sand, the water and ocean air. There’s an undeniable electrical charge.
A great friend of mine gave me the book titled ‘Earthing‘ a few years ago and I’d never heard of the concept before. But now all those relaxing walks on the beach make so much sense. The reason it’s come up for this blog post was after a conversation I had with a girlfriend over lunch today. She’s facing some serious work stress, health stress and life changes are huge for her at the moment. I know she’s barely holding herself together but she’s looking forward to a week at the beach soon.
She was telling me how she’s planning long slow walks on the beach, book reading, the occasional swim and some general chilling out. She had me almost drooling and wishing I could join her and I made the comment ‘great idea, get lots of that good healthy earthing in too’. She said ‘ what’s earthing? I thought walking on the beach was just relaxing, that’s why I’m going to get plenty of walks in’. And I said ‘oh my gosh, it’s so much more than relaxing – it earths you!’.
Here’s some of the lessons from the book ‘Earthing’ by Clinton Ober, Stephen Sinatra MD and Martin Zucker that I’ll share with you here.
It makes so much sense that our earth is a pulsating, energy filled, electric source of natural healing. Why on earth would we not find ways to soak it up? I’ve heard it so many times that we cut off our connection to this source of healing through shoes, multi level living, working in high rise buildings and in air conditioning. When we get the opportunity to soak our feet in the ocean and the wet sand and walk along grass it’s incredible the healing energy we feel.
To give you an example – Every first and second Saturday afternoon at 4pm I run a Yoga Class up at Mt Cootha Gardens here in Brisbane. It can attract up to 40 people sometimes and everyone goes away saying how wonderful it was, how great they feel. For a while I was starting to think my yoga classes are super special – but to be honest I know it’s because they’re getting a chance to earth. They step off the mat and they stretch and feel good on beautifully manicured lawns and go away feeling like they’ve worked but are invigorated and energised. I can guarantee after that kind of special workout you go home and sleep well.
So why is earthing of particular interest to women at midlife?
Women seem to be particularly intune to connecting to Mother Earth by kicking off their shoes and walking on the grass. In the book they discussed the results of tests done with menopausal women who had trouble sleeping, waking up during the night, painful joints, allergies and digestion problems. After the earthing tests this group of women reported back that they felt they had a deeper better quality sleep, their pain had stopped, allergies had lessened and digestion had improved.
There also seems to be a positive heart connection with earthing. After all, our heart has electrical charges and our bodies are moist and mineral loaded. The connection to the earth’s electrical charge seems to be the perfect link – like a mobile phone into it’s power charger.
My recommendation?
When you’re feeling stressed and have that relentless sense of being tired and fatigued – go to a park, garden or beach. Lay in the grass, go for a walk barefoot in the park or take a long walk on the beach. Go soak in the ocean and float around for a while. I know there are also earthing mats, shoes and sheets you can buy that might help if you live in a city apartment and find it too hard to get out to nature. I personally haven’t tested those, but by all reports they help.
My bucket list item.
I want to go and float in the Dead Sea. The sea where you can’t sink and the salts and minerals are so healing so invigorating that people spend time and money to recharge their batteries there.
Happy Earthing!!
