Skip to main content

Grounding

Grounding is a practice that involves direct contact between the feet and the ground, such as walking barefoot on grass, soil, or sand. In the West, it is associated with reducing inflammation, improving sleep, and maintaining the body's electrical balance. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), this connection with the Earth is linked to the flow of Qi (vital energy), the balance of Yin and Yang, and the strengthening of the meridians.

In TCM, Earth is one of the Five Elements and governs the Spleen and Stomach, the organs responsible for digestion, nutrient absorption, and emotional stability. Walking barefoot strengthens this energy, supporting digestive function and mental well-being.

In modern society, excess Yang — caused by stress and a hectic routine — is common. Contact with the ground calms the mind, reduces anxiety, and balances energies by introducing more Yin, which is associated with stillness and coolness.

Another benefit is the reinforcement of Kidney Qi, which is essential for vitality and longevity. The feet contain key points in TCM, such as Yongquan, located on the sole and belonging to the Kidney meridian. Known as the "Bubbling Spring," stimulating this point enhances energy circulation and promotes a sense of grounding.

Grounding also improves blood circulation and Qi flow, benefiting those who experience energetic stagnation — often linked to muscle tension, headaches, and irritability. Additionally, it helps eliminate internal dampness, a pathogenic factor in TCM associated with symptoms such as fatigue, bloating, and mental fog.

Incorporating grounding into daily life is simple: walking barefoot in nature for a few minutes each day, massaging the soles of the feet, practising Qi Gong or Tai Chi outdoors, or using grounding mats to simulate contact with the earth. This ancient habit complements practices like acupuncture, enhancing balance and vitality in alignment with TCM principles.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Anxiety

Anxiety is a very generous word, so generous that it makes a lot more sense in the plural, anxieties. This is because, like a large umbrella, a load of elements can fit under it. However, despite its multitude of disturbances and manifestations, anxiety can be traced back to quite simple and predictable stress triggers. In its origins, it is much more visceral and organic than people imagine. A common trigger, for example, is hunger. You can lose hunger, overeat, stick to a crash diet, all as a neurovegetative expression of stress. Irritability is another trivial trigger. You are more easily irritated, frustrated, and angry over nothing, cultivating an inner anger, sometimes silent, sometimes explosive. Loneliness is also an important trigger. It is a complex feeling that includes inadequacy, weakened belonging, nostalgia for everything that has already happened and for everything that cannot happen. It is a mood that can be thoughtful, rueful, self-defeating, filled with needi...

Delusions

I've attempted to discover a quick way to deal with confrontational scenarios by interpolating empathy with courteous demeanour. While it didn’t interrupt confrontations, nor made them avoidable, it seems that begging to disagree can work, so long as you’ve have first learnt to mirror what is being talked in a different point of view. I like to call those exercises tools for mutual understanding. It took me a while to understand that it is natural for some people to showcase colourful disagreement only to capture a topic by exhaustion. Funnily enough, no words can interpret with precision what a subject matter can bring to a vulnerable person. I say vulnerable not to explicate people who eventually become vulnerable, oh no. We are all vulnerable to small stressors, too many of them, too many times. Triggers, say, of how much sentiment you will drill in a matter of seconds. More than that, it is a delusion to ignore them. That’s righteous okay, I need to add. Subjectivity is always ...

Remaining Attitudes

Sometimes one cannot just let it go. While I can understand why a patient would like to give up, if he is willing to put himself walking inside the hospital, I must comprehend he wants to keep fighting. Tons of medicines, exhaustive hours later and nothing has changed but a frightened soul. Walking in, walking out of his room, the pace seems unfair and unreliable; but then again, the patient remains fighting. Never truly could understand how it happens, whether that is due to faith, love, or some sort of primal instinct, but people fight for their survival more frequently than we can bare to imagine in their shoes. It is too easier and human to surrender, I guess, but it is so surprisingly godly to battle one cell’s battle. Maybe that is what makes us more human: our will, I am not sure. I watch this all, so erratic and alone in my own thoughts, slightly resilient than the day before on my attempts at understanding this effort. I wish I could say for sure to all of them “it will be alr...