Grounding Techniques for Healers, Intuitives, & Highly Sensitive People

In the early days of my spiritual journey I remember going to an energy healer. I was still quite skeptical about all things woo and had a lot of resistance to the concept. During our first session, as she moved her hands over my body and checked my energetic systems, I remember staring at a wire tree hung with colored glass prisms thinking, "what on earth is going on right now?"

At the end of the session, however, she said something that profoundly changed my outlook and stated me on a rewarding exploration into energy work. And it was pretty strange. She said, "You're completely cut off from your legs. It's like they're not even there."

In all my questioning and skepticism I had to admit she had a point. I never thought about my legs. I felt like they were an immobile pedestal upon which my actual self was perched. I was taken aback. "What, those things down there?" I honestly started my concept of myself from the hips upwards. 

This started me off on a journey of reconnecting to my sense of groundedness. As someone who spends a lot of time thinking, I was clearly comfortable living in my head. But this got me into trouble. I was easily swept away by other people's ideas, feelings, and words. It was easy for me to lose myself since I had no connection to earth - my sense of actually, physically, being here.

For those of us who are drawn to all things intellectual, spiritual, and intuitive, grounding is an essential practice to add to our toolkit. It's an excellent form of self-care and, for those who work in healing professions, it's priceless when it comes to maintaining boundaries and doing our best work. 

Below are some of my favorite techniques for grounding that I've used over the years. I highly recommend them for anyone who finds themselves overwhelmed with emotions, energy, and sensory stimuli and wants to connect to their calm center.

My favorite grounding techniques for tarot and beyond:

1. Use Water

Engaging with water is a quick way to return your awareness to your body. In a stressful or stimulating moment, take a deep drink of water and notice how it feels running down your throat. Imagine it slowly percolating all the way down to your toes, cleansing you and returning you to the present. I like to keep a glass of water next to me during all my sessions so I can reset as needed and deepen my awareness. Added bonus? You'll be wonderfully hydrated.

Water can also be used after a healing session, difficult conversation, or stimulating event. This can be via a cleansing shower or bath or, more simply, washing your hands. At the end of each tarot session I like to wash my hands deliberately, picturing all the energies I've experienced being rinsed away.

I finish by making the shape of a triangle with my hands, joining the thumbs and pointer fingers of each hand around the stream of water from the faucet. I picture the water rushing up through the space around me. Whether you think of this as your aura, energetic field, or simply the air surrounding you makes no difference. It's a uniquely energizing way to clear and ground yourself before jumping back into the world. 

2. Touch some dirt!

You can ground yourself by touching the ground? Who would've thought! 

Interacting with the earth is a classic technique for a reason. It reconnects us with our physical being and the solidity of the world we inhabit. Simply make some time to walk around outside barefoot, preferably on some soft grass. Spend time gardening or tending to plants, allowing your stress to fall into the background and dissipate. 

Rocks and crystals are also excellent ways to get in touch with the ground. Carry one with you and hold it when you feel overwhelmed, overstimulated, or as if you're drifting away from your center. Imagine the stone absorbing all this energy. Afterwards you can recharge the stone by placing it outside in the sunlight or moonlight or simply on top of the ground itself. 

3. Visualize

There are many methods of using visualization to become grounded ranging from meditation to spellwork. Have fun researching them and asking around. Almost everyone has special tricks up their sleeves.

My favorite method is to visualize a stream of water exiting at the base of my spine. I picture all the energies I'm experiencing flow through me and then exit through the stream.  We often "hold our breath" energetically, allowing emotions, thoughts, and more to accumulate and build pressure. Simply turning on the tap is a surprisingly powerful way to keep yourself present and free of stress or buildup.

4. Focus on the Feet!

...and legs, and pelvis, and tailbone. You get the gist. Bringing awareness to our lower bodies is amazingly effective (take this from someone who avoided doing so for most of their early life!) 

If you find yourself drifting off, becoming stressed, or too deeply entrenched in another person's energy, think about your feet. Flex your toes, activate the muscles in your legs, and notice the points of your behind touching the chair if you're seated. I even like to kick off my shoes when I give readings.

Like the example above, it can be helpful to visualize energy entering and leaving your body from the soles of your feet. Think of the energy flowing with your breath and expand into all the corners of your body.

5. Get Moving

Think of it like shaking off excess energy. Go for a quick walk, do a little dance, or simply wave your arms and hands around as if flicking off something. 

Squats are an especially effective way to ground oneself, awakening our entire lower body and giving a satisfying sense of truly being here. And don't worry if you're unable or unwilling to do something epic. A quick gesture can be powerful as well. Imagine throwing off the energy, angst, or stress with whichever movement you choose. 

What about you? What techniques do you use to ground yourself? How have you found it useful? Please share in the comments below!

A Tarot Spread for Cheering Yourself Up

Just added to the tarot spread collection!

I've been having so much fun making these spreads for you all. This one comes from a stretch of time when I've needed a little extra tenderness from myself. It's easy to get lost in self-criticism and prickly feelings. Luckily, tarot doesn't just have to be about the future or even concrete action. It's a lovely tool for self-love, connection, and calming.

I hope you enjoy this spread when things get a little tough and find that it directs you back to all the wonderful things about yourself. Click on the photo above for the full rundown.

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Notes from a Tarot Reader: On Balance and Harmony

I have a fantasy schedule for my balanced life. It involves me waking up every morning at 5:30. After a mindful and luxurious shower I go downstairs to meditate peacefully for half an hour. After that, it's a cup of herbal tea and a stroll around my garden. Next I take a brisk walk with my dogs, perferably by the lake near my house. When I return, it's a healthy breakfast, some light stretching and into the studio for work. That's just the morning.

In the afternoon I'll take two hours for undistracted writing followed by some stretching and then some office work. A quick lunch breaks the day in half, after which I'll dive into the tarot realm until 5:30. Time for a yoga class, art, a home cooked meal, and some light socializing. Oh, an time with my partner, gardening, maybe some reading. Err... it's looking a little crowded already. That's not accounting for the less glamorous tasks - meetings, chores, and anything unexpected. It must still be doable, right?

This scheudle haunts me.

I've written it down (and others like it) before, and that's usually where it stays - on paper. It then floats around in my head, taunting me while my day goes in complely different directions. Isn't balance all about precision? Carefully metering out time so that we can get it all done? Why, then, does making lists and schedules fill me with dread and pressure?

I've been thinking a lot lately about how we embrace the idea of balance, wrapping it in gauzy platitudes and inspirational quotes, while setting off to obtain it like ruthless (and organized) businessmen. It doesn't quite add up, does it?

There's a whole industry built up around it our idea of balance. Planners, productivity apps, books on self-care, and schmancy yoga pants... They all lure me in with their siren songs of "once you get this, all the effort of achieving a balanced life will fall away!" How could I have known I needed a special motivational date book with hand lettered quotes to unlock my true potential?

And yet even after I get the new meditation app, the eco-friendly glass water bottle, the pass to the yoga studio down the street... I still have to use it. Consistently. Day after day. I have to do the work to squeeze it in somewhere, to make the time. 

This is why I have an issue with the way we fetishize balance. Often it's at the expense of its complexity. We gravitate towards the list making and measuring, forgetting that balance is a process and not an end goal. It's not the idea itself that's problematic, but how we use it.

So while my aims are pure when I set out to create my ideal schedule, my ego hijacks the whole process, boiling everything down into success or failue. This way, when something sets my schedule off course (which, surprise, happens frequnetly) I get a sinking feeling of anxiety. How could I mess us something so simple as a 6am yoga session?! I'm not on track anymore and my self worth takes a hit.

And just where is my "self" when I get sucked into the rat race of fake balance? Instead of focusing my scheudle around myself - what I want, how I feel, what brings joy and value to my life - I focus it on externals. It's almost as if someone is watching me, patting me on the back when I complete a task or judging me when I go off the rails. 

Maybe there's something about the measureable nature of balance that makes it prone to our desire for control. If we can just get the timing down right, if we can just fit everything in it'll all be okay. We'll be okay. 

Maybe this is why whenever I try to live out my idea of a balanced life I get a feeling of dread. It's just a lot of pressure. And, to be frank, I'm not the kind of person who likes to live in a strictly regimented way. To me it stifles the zany spontenaeity I need to feel alive and inspired. I get bored and put off doing what I actually care about. Walking the dogs seems like a chore, writing even more so, and even a self-care ritual can seem daunting and overly elaborate. That's no way to live!

What's the alternative then? Do we scrap balance and move on? I'm realizing that in theory I love the idea of balance, but in practice my mind latches onto it in a very unhealthy way. 

Instead, I'm trying to focus on harmony as my guiding principal. Like balance, harmony is constantly shifting, but unlike balance it focuses on multiple parts working beautifully in conjunction with each other, a chorus of different thoughts, actions, and feelings adding up to something more than the sum of its parts. 

For me a harmonious life depends on adapting my goals to what mood I'm in or whatever needs to be done most on any given day. If I'm sad, no big deal, maybe I need to sleep in a little later than usual, do some gentle yoga and cathartic journalling. I can keep social appointments to a minimum, and use the time to do more solitary office work.

Being in harmony with myself forces me to be mindful at all times. I have to know how I'm feeling or what's interesting me to direct myself where i need to go. 

In this model, I don't have to love everything I do, just be aware that I'm making the choice to do them because they add up to something important. I find it much more empowering than setting up a list as if I'm giving myself homework.

I get to be an intrepid and dedicated adventurer instead of a scrambling worker and it feels so much more freeing and organic. Now that's the way I want to live and be in the world. 

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