A common trait of highly sensitive people (HSP) is that they can become fearful of and overwhelmed by strong emotions. Energetic grounding is an embodied process that allows a sensitive individual to experience and process emotions without fear.
We live in a culture where ‘thinking’ is prized and rewarded over ‘feeling’. This is unfortunate because being aware of and connected to feelings is one of the primary ways that our nervous system regulates our emotional, mental, and physical health.
This lack of felt awareness, or ‘interoception’ as the researchers call it, contributes to a lack of biological self-regulation and an increase in chronic health concerns. A lack of being grounded in the body is another way to describe this head-centric orientation.
What is Energetic Grounding?
In Chinese Medicine and acupuncture we speak of Qi as an energy or life force that when balanced fuels health and wellness. On the other hand, when it’s not flowing in a balanced way it fuels symptoms.
Many people turn to techniques like acupuncture to support balancing this life energy to enhance their health and wellness. While Qi or life energy is influenced by acupuncture needles and other techniques, it’s also influenced when conscious attention is placed on it.
Qi is experienced in the body as sensations, vibrations, and emotional feelings, as well as other ways. So when we connect with feelings, or engage the process of ‘interoception’, we’re also balancing our own Qi, or life force, while in the process of becoming more grounded.
Energetic grounding is the process of learning to be in your body, or embodied, and safely connected to your emotional life energy so that it’s free to flow. Grounding is the process of coming out of our heads and reconnecting with the body and learning that emotional feelings can be experienced directly without fear.
The value of energetic grounding for the HSP is that it allows them to learn to experience emotions without fear and without being overwhelmed. This allows the HSP to become more emotionally stable and resilient.
The Secret Key to Effective Grounding
A Google search will present you with many approaches and techniques for grounding. I’ve found that the experience of safety, of feeling safe in your body, is a dependable shortcut to the grounding experience.
A wealth of research and my personal experience suggest that traumatic experiences (often beginning in the womb) contribute to our fear of embodiment and feelings, making the experience of safety an indispensable part of our return to felt experience in the body.
An Energetic Grounding Exercise … Safety First
Another way to think of grounding exercises is to think that we’re laying a foundation to safely return to the body, in the here and now. With practice, we can learn to be more embodied, present, and resilient.
Here’s an example of how we can use our heart to create a safe experience of energetic grounding.
Sit comfortably and close your eyes. If closing your eyes is too uncomfortable for any reason keep them open.
Notice your body resting, settled into your chair. Notice your tush in terms of sensations, pressure, or tension …. just notice with no need to fix, change, or understand anything. Just notice curiously.
If your mind is busy that’s okay. Acknowledge your busy mind and gently return to noticing your body directly (interoception).
Allow your breathing to slow down, while you ideally breathe through your nose and into a relaxed belly. Just slow, gentle breathing.
Here’s where we add a significant dose of safety. Lay one or two hands over your heart … especially the energetic heart in the middle of your chest. This is where we tend to feel heartfelt feelings.
Continue with the slow breathing while you feel into your heart, under your hands. Just noticing.
(Awareness of your heart activates neurological circuitry that reflects the essence of who you are at your core, rather than how you’ve been conditioned by your life experience. This is your real Self. It’s safe, fearless, creative, caring, loving, and calm.)
Let’s add more energy to the heart circuitry by bringing to mind something that warms your heart. Bring to mind something for which you are grateful or that you appreciate. Bring to mind someone or something you love or your favorite place in nature.
Then spend time savoring that heartfelt experience whether the experience is subtle or profound. The key is to feel this experience in your body, under your hands, in your heart, while you’re breathing slowly. Savor the experience.
These heart connected regenerative feelings activate safety circuits. The more we practice the stronger and more accessible the circuits become.
For another minute or so allow yourself to enjoy the experience of the heartfelt feeling.
You can always extend the time of this practice or briefly connect with your heart and body this way for brief periods throughout the day.
Practice will build the circuitry you need to experience emotions in your body as a variety of sensations, or vibrations, or energy, but uncoupled from the fear that has previously made processing emotional experience so difficult.
Steve is a retired Doctor of Oriental Medicine, Acupuncture Physician, and HeartMath Trauma-Sensitive Certified Practitioner with over 35 years of clinical experience in Energy Medicine, Energy Psychology, and Biofeedback.