A Guest Blog by Mary Mullally for our ‘Women Empowering Women Series’.
I met Mary about sixteen years ago at an Irish Massage Therapists Association meeting. We got chatting and it took off from there.
She was the general secretary on that association for years and I served on the reflexology board, so we exchanged notes about lots of things.
We kept in touch over the years especially when she became the distributor for PurePro products.
We share a love of all things energetic!
I came across this saying recently and was immediately struck by how true it is. The analogy to our own bodies, and lives, and how to take care of them is also scarily true.
Grounding, or establishing our own strong root, is so important for our health and well-being on all levels of our existence, not only physical, but also for our mental, emotional, spiritual and energetic bodies. It also helps to anchor us in the present moment. Who hasn’t been guilty of worrying about a future event, or agonizing over something we did or didn’t do in the past? When we are not “in the present moment” we cannot be fully aware of what is really going on around us i.e. we are not grounded.
Grounding helps to stabilise our nervous system so we feel more settled, secure and safe.
Let’s go back and think about our tree for a moment. If a tree has deep, strong and healthy roots, it is in a much better position to withstand and weather what nature throws at it. Yes, it may be rattled and shaken to its core during a bad storm, but, it will more than likely survive. With strong, deep roots and an equal distribution of growth, both above and below ground, our tree stands a much better chance of survival and sustainable growth into the future.
The key point here is that our tree will send its roots downward first into the earth to root and stabilise itself. Only when it is well rooted with the nourishment it needs to grow and mature will its growth above the earth flourish.
If our tree is not sufficiently counterbalanced with growth above and below the earth it becomes extremely vulnerable to the changing weather patterns of nature. The everyday storms of life affect us humans in much the same way. If we spend too much time up in our heads – thinking, over- thinking, worrying, analysing etc., we direct too much energy up to the brain or mental level and can become top heavy. We are therefore easily unbalanced when we hit a rough or stressful patch, which so often happens in our frenetic, fast-paced modern world.
This is a definitely not a good distribution of our energetic resources. It may even result in the neglect or under development of our other levels mentioned above (our physical, emotional and spiritual bodies). The best way to make sure that this does not happen to us is to be like our tree rooting and grounding ourselves on a regular basis – daily would be ideal.
Here are some suggestions to ground your root – just like the tree
1) Carving out some quiet time for ourselves every day
2) Slow, deep, rhythmic breathing
3) Listening to a guided meditation
4) Listening to a body scan/yoga nidra
5) Walking in nature
6) Joining a yoga or pilates class
7) Taking up T’ai Chi or Chi Gong
All of these suggestions you can easily organise for yourself. However, there is one other exercise that I highly recommend and do almost daily myself. It’s called the “Golden Ball” and deep rooting your energies into the earth. I just love it and find it the best way to nourish my own root. Give it a try and, with practice you respond to any situation, or storm, that life may throw up at you in a calm way. Just like our well-rooted and nourished tree you will be strong in the face of adversity – big or small.
Check out the next blog + video to find out how!
Mary Mullally