We’ve all felt the relief of connecting with nature after a busy day in the city, whether it’s breathing in fresh air, taking in a beautiful sunset or sunrise, jumping into the sea or lake, or walking barefoot, feeling free and at peace. There’s more going on in our bodies than just feelings. When we connect to mother earth, we literally recalibrate our systems to their most natural state, zero. Here’s a guide to earthing and ideas for how to get grounded.
We are bio-electrical beings, our body functions thanks to positive and negative charges interacting, and like with most things, too much of one or the other, creates an imbalance.
Zero charge means that we neutralise excess positive charges we pick up from the electrified environments we live in by getting in touch with negative electrons residing in the earth. Hey presto! we are balanced and feel good. In a nutshell, to ground our body we have to get our skin in touch with what allows conduction to the earth so electrons can flow.
The first earthing technique you should try is walking barefoot, followed by taking a swim in the sea, or hugging a tree! Another great way to ground yourself is by doing a spot of gardening, allowing your hands to be in touch with the moist earth.
Conductivity is a very important factor here. There is no point walking around on rubber flooring, so barefoot yoga in your gym, won’t cut it unless it has stone, or marble stone, floors.
Whilst on the bare earth, grass, in the woods, desert and even on concrete, would do the trick. But sand and concrete are less conductive than moist earth, so you would want to spend a little more time there. A note on sand and water, they need to be ionised i.e. salty to be conductive. So your sandy beach would work better than the desert in most cases.
But even then, you would have to do it without your rubber mat, or get one that is earthed – they are around! Wooden or ceramic flooring, asphalt roads, are not conductive, unless they are wet.
“Earth’s crammed with heaven…but only she who sees, takes off her shoes.”
Metals, especially when cold, are very good conductors, so when your body is very charged you get an electric shock by simply touching a metal object. Glass isn’t conductive either, unless hot, but that certainly doesn’t sound like a fun way to earth yourself.
Although the earthing effect happens pretty much in an instant, spending 30 minutes to an hour would be a good idea, depending on where you ground yourself. Taking into account also that our body will charge up again as we go about our daily lives, the more often we can earth ourselves the better.
To help us with our earthing endeavour, there are plenty of earthing products out there, from stationary mats and bed sheets, to earthing on the go – shoes, so we can stay grounded more of the time.
How do these work? Mats and the likes, usually ground via your electricity socket, whilst sandals and shoes use copper pieces, or other conductive technology, to ground the otherwise rubber non-conductive sole.
Happy earthing everyone!
Words by Nicole Walter | Photography by Taisiia Stupak
