How Grounded Are You?

Guest blog by Amanda Adey, a Melbourne-based kinesiologist with 12 years experience as a practitioner and, more recently, as a kinesiology teacher.

I want to talk about the concept of being grounded or grounding.

This is not the unconscious act of a naughty teenager, ‘grounded’ in a type of punishment ritual for inappropriate behavior, but a conscious behaviour to stop, reflect and breathe.

To collect your thoughts and energy and come back to your inner self (yin) from the outer world of (yang) noise and chaos. To be wise, solid, connected and anchored into your own physical body.

This can be hard, especially when we are in emotional, mental, spiritual pain or trauma of some sort. We don’t want to ‘sit with our pain’. We don’t want to feel our emotions. We want to disconnect. It’s an avoidance and denial tactic that we think makes us feel safe.

When we’re NOT grounded, we typically disconnect or ‘numb out’ with the help of alcohol, drugs, sex, food, shopping, painkillers, being too involved in everyone’s drama, social media, video games, mindlessly watching TV… and the list goes on!

It’s like being in ‘crazy town’

What does it feel like when you’re not grounded? Well, I have a client who refers to this concept as ‘being in crazy town’. She’s said, ‘I’m not sure of where I am or who I am. I’m lost in others peoples stuff’. I understand what she means, as the concept of losing ourselves can be hard to explain, but very real when it’s happening to you.

It’s also much more damaging: not only are you out of ‘sync’ with your self-awareness, but you’re also vulnerable to being bombarded everyone else’s energy – good or bad. If you’re sensitive or empathic, this is a cocktail for disaster when it comes to your own health and wellbeing.

What can being ungrounded lead to?

In short – anxiety, depression and being reactive. If you’re not in the present, anchored and grounded, you’re in the PAST, which creates depression because you may be looking back, thinking about the past. Or, you’re in the FUTURE, which creates anxiety – over the anticipation of what might happen, trying to work out stuff, trying to control.

Where do you want to be? Ideally, in the NOW – which literally means to be present: with your self, right now. To have your consciousness and your physical body seamlessly engaged. To get your feet back on the ground.

What happens when you learn to be ‘grounded’?

Well, it’s pretty simple. You’ll stop disconnecting so much. You won’t want to numb your pain with drugs or booze or online shopping or scrolling Instagram for hours a day.

You’ll want to plug into the present. You’ll be aware of who you are. Of your potential.

Don’t get me wrong, this takes courage in tough times. Because it involves feeling EVERYTHING: the good and bad. The joy with the grief. Disconnecting from tricky or painful feelings means we’re not connected to the joy either – or able to make good decisions.

Pop Quiz: How grounded are you?

Do you have self-awareness? Do you control and master your own energy? Or do you often find yourself falling down the rabbit hole of numbness and disconnect? Only you can answer this. See how many apply to you on the blue checklist, above.

When you are grounded, you’ll feel a lot of the things on the green checklist, right.

How can you ground yourself?

• Bare feet on the grass, time spent in nature
• Back to basics – stop, breath, sleep, rest, and eat well
• Exercise
• Clean the house
• Cook
• Hug a tree
• Go hiking and walking
• Lie on the beach
• Swim in the lake and ocean
• Have a bath
• Just be – don’t do
• Practice meditation
• Visualize your ideal life
• Hold grounding acupuncture points (found in my Skills 4 daily life course below)
• Smell essential oils
• Have a body therapy session i.e. kinesiology, massage
• Practicing being intuitive
• Daily rituals
• Pick an emotion card and reflect on how you feel

If you are suffering a lot from the ungrounded symptoms on the list, it’s time to book a session – or do some of the ideas above to ground yourself.

Amanda Adey, is a Melbourne-based kinesiologist with 14 years experience as a practitioner and, more recently, as a kinesiology teacher. She works with women, men and children of all ages to diffuse any stress imbalances in the body, mind and spirit by using a range of techniques. Her ultimate outcome for you is vitality, wellness, truth, integrity and connection of who you are and how to reach your full potential of happiness and wellness. She helps you get back into Rhythm with yourself. She mainly works one-on-one with clients, but she’s also available for couple sessions and proxy/distance sessions. She also run workshops teaching practitioners and clients stress management and other tools for a healthier, happier life. On a personal level, she’ve used kinesiology to defuse negative beliefs systems, rise above fears, make major career changes, cope with stress and fix relationship issues. On a physical level, kinesiology has helped her overcome a chronic thyroid imbalance, which to her was nothing short of miraculous. As a modality, she finds kinesiology a fascinating and extremely powerful healing tool, and feels blessed that she has helped and continue to help so many others using the skills she’ve developed and training she has undergone since 2001. Amanda uses kinesiology to maintain her well-being in all areas of her health and she would highly recommend everyone do the same. Like a car needs a regular service, so does our body and mind!