Ideas for Your Spiritual Grounding Practice

Why Spiritual Grounding?

In my work with human design clients, I’ve noticed that many people are unaware of the significance of a spiritual grounding practice.

A spiritual grounding practice can help you release stressful and overstimulating energy you’ve taken in from your outer world. It can also help you manage the intensity of the energy you feel in your inner world. Spiritual grounding can help you regulate your nervous system, which is important if you’re on the neurodiversity spectrum. From a Human Design perspective, having a spiritual grounding practice will support your ability to follow your Human Design strategy, and make supportive, affirming decisions for your daily life. Your practice will also support the development of your intuitive, empathic and psychic gifts.

No One-Size-Fits-All Approach

Let’s be real, though—there’s no one right way to do spiritual grounding. There’s also no need to be a perfectionist or compete with others. That’s why it’s called a “practice.” You get to design and modify your own version of a spiritual grounding practice based on what works with your lifestyle and desires. Below, I’ll offer you ideas, and you can mix, match, or create your own version. Find what resonates with you.

Ideas for Your Spiritual Grounding Practice

Body Movement and Breath Work

Many of the most tried-and-true methods of spiritual grounding combine an element of moving your body while also quieting your mind.

These classic ideas include:

• Yoga
• Deep breathing / Breath work
• Hiking, walking or sitting in nature
• Singing
• Dancing
• Meditative exercise
• Crafting or creating art
• Sexual intimacy and relaxation
• Somatic Therapy

See where you can incorporate joy, playfulness and creative self-expression into these general ideas if that resonates with you.

Meditation

Meditation might seem challenging or intimidating, but there’s more than one way to do it. You can start by simply sitting or lying down in a quiet place and focusing on breathing in and out.

One of my favorite things to do during a stressful day is to lay down on the floor with next to no stimulation from light or sound, and just let my body connect to the floor for a few minutes. I’ve found that it helps reduce the stimulation I feel in my nervous system.

You can also try guided meditations which can help you visualize something descriptive, or incorporate body scanning techniques for intentional muscle relaxation. My favorite resource for beginners’ guided meditation is the Chani App*.

You can also try meditation followed by journaling whatever comes to mind. It can be a brain dump or stream of consciousness that helps clear your mind.

If meditation resonates with you, start small with a few minutes per day and grow from there. It’s okay if your mind doesn’t go completely blank; it’s about noticing your thoughts and then coming back to the meditation to focus on your breath.

Connecting with Nature

Don’t underestimate the power of nature. It’s not a coincidence that the phrase “Touch grass” is popular these days. Standing outside barefoot in the grass can ground you easily and quickly. If the weather or seasons don’t let you touch grass, spend some time with your house plants or visit a garden.

Again, hiking, walking or sitting outside can be very beneficial, especially if you’re actively listening to the wind in the trees and noises from animals.

Spiritual Bathing

Taking a bath with sea salt, or a shower with a salt scrub can be very beneficial. Salt has cleansing and protection properties, both physically and metaphysically. The art of the spiritual bath can become very advanced with essential oils, crystals, candles and music, but those items are not required. Work with what you got!

You can simply add kitchen sea salt or Epsom salt to your bath and soak with the intention of releasing energy and cleansing your spirit. If showers are more your thing, you can mix kitchen sea salt with olive oil and use it as a body scrub.

It’s the intention you put into your bathing that can make it an extra special grounding practice.

At the very least, washing your hands and face can offer a quick spiritual reset.

And never underestimate the power of drinking water.  It will cleanse you from the inside out by flushing out toxins.

Cleansing Your Space

Negative energy can also linger in your environment, and that includes your home and workspace. Clearing your space of negative energy can also ground you. Why do you think the item most commonly associated with witches is the broom?

Never underestimate the power of a broom, a mop and an open window to let in some fresh air. Beyond that, you can cleanse your space with the following items:

• Decluttering and tidying up
• Setting time and content limits on screens and media consumption
• Removing items associated with negative memories
• Incense
• Smoke smudges, such as rosemary, palo santo or sage (some plants and herbs are sacred and reserved only for people who are indigenous to the land that the plants come from. Decolonize your practice.)
• Florida water or room spray versions of smudges
• Spiritual floor washes
• Protective crystals like black tourmaline, obsidian, labradorite, amethyst or clear quartz

Remember to use what you have on hand. There’s no need to go on a spiritual tools shopping spree if that’s not in your spending plan. When it comes to tools for spiritual grounding, the power is in your and your intentions and not in the tools.

Work with Your Human Design

You experience a variety of energy every day, including physical, mental, emotional and instinctual. Your Human Design chart can give you specific guidance for how to manage your various energies, as well as tips for how to create healthy boundaries for your environment and interpersonal relationships. Get your Personalized Human Design Guide for a detailed introduction into your chart and how it can help you navigate the stresses and challenges of life.

Conclusion

We live in a world that is fast-paced and demanding of our time, attention and energy. That’s not a coincidence. Modern society (especially Western capitalist systems) are designed to keep us exhausted, disconnected from our bodies, and stuck in cycles of hyper productivity. When we are stuck in these cycles, we can be too drained to embody the power, self-agency and spiritual gifts within us.

As you embark on your spiritual journey, it will be essential for you to reclaim your time, your thoughts and the relationship you have with your body. Doing so is not only part of your spiritual journey, it is an act of resistance to oppression. When you incorporate a spiritual grounding practice into your life, your grounded energy will radiate out into the collective energy for the betterment of everyone.

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