How to use Grounding Techniques to Balance Your Energy
You know that amazing feeling you get after spending a few hours in nature? That calm, relaxed, balanced feeling? Did you know you can use Grounding Techniques to tap into that energy, any time, anywhere?
Nature is the greatest healer, and spending time in green spaces is actually critical to our health and well-being. Obviously we should all try to spend as much time in nature as humanly possible. Especially our local natural areas.
The quickest, easiest and most effective way to ground yourself is to go outside. Put your bare feet on the ground, or sit with your back to a big tree. It takes zero conscious effort, and nature does all the work for you.
Unfortunately this is not always practical though. Even when we consciously slow down our lives and try to reduce our obligations and commitments. There will always be times of busyness, stress, illness, unpleasant weather, etc. When we can’t get outside as much as we’d like to.
When should I use Grounding Techniques?
A perfect example of this was the heatwave and (thankfully comparatively minor) bushfires we had here in Central Victoria when I was first writing this article.
When I started writing this, I was accompanied by frequent emergency alerts on my phone. There was the hair raising sound of the fire station sirens and fire trucks. The deafening roar of the fire fighting helicopters flying low overhead and landing on the local footy oval (about 150m from our backyard) to refuel. There were bushfires and grass fires burning out of control nearby.
We were never in any danger this time, and didn’t need to consider evacuating or anything. But the fire did continue to burn out of control for over 24 hours, luckily in an uninhabited area.
Despite the fact that there was no actual danger, it’s hard not to feel overwhelmed and anxious at times like this! Especially when ‘outside’ and ‘nature’ don’t quite feel safe. In fact, sometimes they can feel downright apocalyptic!
These kinds of situations are where grounding techniques come in really handy. You can easily connect with that natural healing energy and experience the benefits, no matter where you are. You could be lying in bed, sitting on a bus, in class, at the office, in a shopping centre, in a hospital waiting room. Pretty much anywhere!
I’ve even used grounding techniques while sitting in a moving car going 110km/h on the freeway. I wasn’t driving. If you are driving, pull over safely first! Trance states and driving do not mix.
Who might benefit from Grounding Techniques?
Grounding techniques are great for everyone. However, they may be especially helpful for:
People who suffer from anxiety, depression and other “mental illnesses”
Anyone with sensory overload, autism or ADHD
People with chronic illness or pain
Anyone who ever feels overwhelmed, stressed, or unbalanced
Anyone looking to deepen their spiritual practice, work magic, or work with energy
How do grounding techniques work?
These simple techniques give you the power to balance your own energy. Quickly, easily, discreetly, and as often as you like.
Grounding techniques allow you to release excess energy when overwhelmed, or call in extra energy when you feel depleted.
In fact, the more you do this, the more aware you will become of how your energy levels work. You will also start to understand how different things, situations, places and people can affect your energy.
Grounding techniques are especially useful for highly sensitive people who feel overwhelmed and stressed when separated from nature. We tend to struggle most in overstimulating places. These can include cities, shopping centres, big buildings, enclosed, loud or crowded spaces, etc.
We feel the energy of everything and everyone around us. Without access to nature as a release valve, it’s extremely easy for us to become overwhelmed and either meltdown or shutdown entirely.
How to use Grounding Techniques
I am able to ground, centre, and put myself into a trance state instantaneously and at will. I simply start taking a deep, intentional breath, and I’m already there. But I have been doing this a long time. I definitely had to make a conscious effort when I first started!
While there are a lot of different ways to ground yourself more quickly (and I’ll explain some of them later in the post), I recommend learning the following visualisation technique first.
It will give you a more comprehensive understanding of how your energy works and how to use and balance it. The visualisation technique is also invaluable for all kinds of energy work, like healing and protection.
Visualise your energy
Start by taking a few deep, slow breaths.
Now, maintain your breathing while you visualise your energy extending down into the earth (this will take some extra work if you’re not at ground level).
Some people prefer to visualise a silver or gold light radiating out from the soles of their feet, or a connecting cord. Some people identify more with visualising tree roots or mycelium reaching deep into the soil.
If you are sitting on the ground it may make more sense to visualise this energy radiating out from your tailbone. Or it could be a diffuse light all around you, which soaks into the ground.
If you are lying down, you may even visualise your body sinking down and lying deep under the soil. Just a heads up – this one can be pretty intense if you’re not used to working with death/rebirth energy yet.
Whatever technique feels right and makes sense to you, is right. There really isn’t a wrong way to do it. If none of these work for you, try to tune into your intuition and identify how your energy wants to express itself.
Send your energy down into the earth
Continue breathing slowly and deeply as you visualise your energy sinking into the earth.
Allow yourself to feel the deep, slow beats of the earth’s energy, then feel your own heart rate decrease in response, until you are beating as one and your breathing slows down even more.
Feel how safe, calming and supportive it is deep in the earth’s energy field (without all the surface distractions). Feel gratitude that you have access to this healing energy. Stay in this space and continue your breathing.
Balance your energy
At this point, you can do an energy exchange if needed. The earth can recycle any energy we send it, and give us energy when we need it.
If you are feeling very fatigued, flat, depressed, or are chronically ill, you may choose to draw up a small amount of energy to help balance your levels.
If you’re feeling triggered, stressed, anxious, irritated, or agitated, you may choose to send some of that excess nervous energy down into the earth for recycling.
Centre yourself
After you feel like your energy is well balanced and you are ready to disconnect, visualise your energy coming up through the ground and returning to your centre. For me this is my heart, but you may feel it somewhere else in your body.
It’s important to learn how to call your energy back, as so many aspects of the way humans live today are either incredibly energy draining or incredibly stress inducing. Having the ability to balance your own energy, wherever and whenever you need to, is priceless.
You are finished grounding when you feel fully centred.
This calm, balanced, receptive state is known as a meditative state or trance state.
Add Protection if necessary
If you are highly sensitive, another simple yet super effective technique you can also use at this point, is to create a protection bubble.
This is especially good to use before going out in public or interacting with other people.
When you finish grounding and centring yourself, visualise a beautiful shiny unpoppable iridescent bubble surrounding you. This bubble is designed to keep your energy in, and other people’s energy out.
I used this technique a lot as a teenager, when I experienced bullying, social anxiety, isolation and suicidal ideation. I don’t say this lightly, but I think it’s one of the main reasons I even survived those dark years.
What comes next?
If you are just using grounding as a standalone technique, and not as part of a spiritual practice, feel free to go about your day as you normally would.
Magic and energy work
Congratulations! You’re now in the right state of mind for:
Working magic (try my Daily Healing Tea Ritual for a simple bit of intuitive folk magic)
Working with energy
Meditation or prayer (I use this word in a non-religious sense here)
Spirit communication and Shamanic Journeying
Gratitude journaling
Any other spiritual practice you may have
Alternative Grounding Techniques
Trees
Trees are such an easy way to ground yourself. Sitting under a tree or just being able to see a tree, can be really effective. Looking at a picture of a tree, or even thinking about a specific tree, can help you feel calmer.
I’ve always intuitively sought out the company of trees for this very reason. I hate being cooped up inside. Especially if I can’t even see out a window, I’m breathing recirculated air, and the lighting is fluorescent. As a kid, you would almost always find me either in or under a tree.
As someone who doesn’t conform to social constructs and intuitively teaches myself anything I want to know, school was an absolute prison for me, especially high school.
In class I’d always sit in the back row, next to an open window, so I could be as close to the trees outside as possible. And as far away from the fluorescent lights and droning teacher lecturing about tedious irrelevant junk I couldn’t retain, as humanly possible. (No shade on teachers – most of them do their best with the low pay and oppressive framework they’re given – traditional education just doesn’t work for people like me).
Ironically, if they’d just given me the textbook and let me read it alone, outside, lying under a tree, without distractions, I probably would have done a lot better in school!
Pick your favourite tree
My favourite tree is the river red gum on our 4 acre future permaculture homestead block, pictured above. It’s hundreds of years old and it’s nothing short of magestic. I think it would take about three people to reach all the way around the trunk.
It has a hollow where a swarm of bees live, and right next to the trunk is a huge wild rose bush where a wallaby lives. It has the most beautiful, peaceful, protective energy. When we first inspected the block, I immediately made an energetic connection with it. It’s actually one of the main reasons we fell in love with the block and decided to buy it on the spot.
Unfortunately we haven’t been able to start work on the homestead because the construction industry is in such bad shape thanks to covid, so we don’t get to live there yet. Fortunately, even just thinking about this tree makes makes me feel grounded.
Witchy tip
Take a photo of your favourite tree and use it as your phone or laptop wallpaper. It might even remind you to put the damn screen down every now and then!
Land spirits
Trees are a type of land spirit, but there are many other types of land spirits. They are generally associated with bodies of water, mountains or rocky areas, forests, plains, oceans, etc.
Think of your favourite place to go in nature. What do you love most about it? How does going there make you feel? It’s likely that you keep going back there because you’re drawn to the healing energy or spirit of that place.
Our favourite local place to go is Bostock Reservoir, just a few minutes drive from our house. We try to get out there as often as we can. It’s getting a little harder with our dog Matilda getting older though. She can’t tolerate the heat anymore, and cold or wet weather is terrible for her arthritis. She can’t walk very far or see very well either, so we’re limited with when and where we take her these days.
I like to take lots of photos when we go, so I can look at them and feel that energy when we can’t physically be there.
Witchy tip
If it’s safe, legal, and you’re mindful of not harming anything, collect a small token from your favourite place to carry with you wherever you go. It could be a shell from your favourite beach, a small smooth river stone, an acorn or pine needle from the forest, etc.
Crystals and stones
Crystals and natural found stones are another quick and easy way to ground yourself. I actually find most crystals and stones to be grounding, regardless of their “official” listed properties. They did all come from inside the earth, after all.
If you google “best crystals for grounding” you will probably come up with several different lists of crystals. Many will recommend Hematite as the #1 grounding stone, but I’ve never felt drawn to working with it, so I don’t.
Use your Intuition when it comes to crystals
I personally find Labradorite, Rainbow Moonstone and Amethyst to be very grounding and protective, while also allowing my soul to fly. You may prefer something more firmly grounding though, like Black Tourmaline or Obsidian.
Again, there’s no wrong crystal, whichever ones you feel intuively drawn to should help you to feel grounded.
I tend to prefer Labradorite jewellery (the pendant and ring pictured) when I’m around other people. This is because I feel like it does the best job at protecting me from other people’s energy, without feeling heavy or oppressive, as Black Tourmaline can. Although if you know you’re going to be around some seriously bad vibes and need heavy protection, Black Tourmaline is definitely your friend.
I use my Rainbow Moonstone palm stone all the time. It’s great for releasing things which no longer serve you. I tend to grab it when I’m feeling a little overwhelmed or frazzled. I also use it as a massage stone to release tension and trauma held in my body. Sometimes I struggle with strength in my hands due to hypermobility, so holding the stone is easier than using my fingers and thumbs for self massage.
Grounding First Aid
I tend to use Selenite, Satin Spar or Black Tourmaline when fight or flight mode is activated and I need to calm down quickly.
When I was writing this post, and all the sirens were going and the fire fighting choppers were flying overhead and landing to refuel, it felt like being in a disaster movie or a warzone.
It’s very difficult to stop your fight or flight system from becoming activated in situations like this. I’m not ashamed to admit, that day was no exception for me.
For some unknown reason I went out the back to see what was happening. The sensory overload was intense from the noise of the choppers flying so low over the house and landing so close. With all the stinging dust swirling around, in that terrible burning hot wind… It really got to me.
Heart pounding, cold sweat, dry mouth, abdominal pain, shaky muscles, the works.
Even though my brain logically knew I was in no danger, my body responded with intense fear.
Channel your fear and anxiety
I came back inside and intuitively grabbed a stick of Satin Spar and took some slow, deep breaths. I sent all that extra energy (adrenaline) into the Satin Spar. Then I focused on transforming my anxiety into luck, safety and success for the pilots and crew, and the ground crews at the scene. There were over 70 fire trucks and 5 firefighting aircraft responding at this point.
Within a couple of minutes, I felt calm and focused enough to put the Satin Spar down and keep writing. I was able to take my anxiety over the situation and channel it into positive intentions for the fire fighting crews.
Anxiety is such an intense emotion, it’s important to find safe ways to release it, so it doesn’t become stuck in the body.
Selenite and Satin Spar are extremely powerful (and fast) when it comes to removing negative or unhelpful energy, so you can use them as a kind of “rescue remedy” in times of high stress.
Witchy tip
You don’t need every kind of crystal, or huge sparkly display pieces!
In fact, you don’t need any. Any kind of quartz stones or rocks you find lying around in nature are excellent for grounding. Especially if you find them somewhere peaceful.
If you don’t own any crystals, but you feel drawn to working with them, consider just buying two or three different tumbles to work with. They’re smooth and small enough to fit in a pocket, and usually only cost a few bucks a pop. Try to buy from a local store, in person, if possible, and only pick the ones which call to you the loudest.
Don’t forget to cleanse them under cold running water. You can also leave them to charge under a full moon before using, although I don’t find this to be necessary. Crystals are already charged in my opinion, although you can program or enchant them for specific purposes if needed.
Alternatively, Selenite is so powerful that it can actually cleanse and charge itself and other crystals and objects. You can buy flat Selenite charging plates for this purpose (or trinket dishes like my crescent moon dish pictured above), but I find that any kind of selenite works. There’s no hard and fast rule for how long it takes to cleanse and charge a crystal, use your intuition to find out if it needs more time.
Herbs
I find herbs to be excellent for grounding (and pretty much everything else!). Especially the aromatic ones like rosemary, sage, lavender, thyme, chamomile, eucalyptus, etc. I usually have my hammock right next to my main medicinal herb bed, so I can chill out with my herbs whenever I want or need to.
Just rubbing a fresh or dried leaf or flower between my fingertips is instantly grounding to me. Essential oils have a similar effect, just remember they should never be used internally at all, or on skin without a carrier oil.
When you start to develop a relationship with herbal allies (by working with their energies, as opposed to just reading about their properties in books), you can even learn how to connect with their energies when you’re not in the presence of physical plant material.
Witchy tip
If you have a specific herb you feel most drawn to, practice the visualisation grounding technique detailed above to enter a trance state, then try connecting your energy with a fresh or dried piece of the herb.
Hold it in the palm of your hand, visualise your energies connecting, then open your mind and listen to what the herb has to tell you. After listening and receiving your information, thank the herb and disconnect your energy. Now write down any messages or wisdom you received for future reference.
Try keeping a piece of your chosen herb with you and practise connecting with it during the day. Eventually just thinking about it will have a grounding effect on you.
Final thoughts on Grounding Techniques
Grounding is a quick, easy and discreet way to balance your energy, no matter where you are.
It’s an extremely valuable technique for anyone with a spiritual practice. As well as anyone who is highly sensitive or struggles to balance their energy. Due to fatigue, depression, anxiety, sensory overload, shutdown, burnout, chronic illness, etc.
There are so many different ways to ground yourself! I’ve really only scratched the surface by sharing what works for me.
You may find that several of these methods call to you, or you may not identify with any, that’s totally fine! Use your intuition to figure out what makes you feel grounded. Then figure out how to incorporate elements of that into your daily routine or spiritual practice.
I was lucky to find out about these techniques from a book as a teenager, but I wish this was taught to school kids, especially the sensitive ones. If you’re a parent to sensitive kids, I hope you can help them to develop some kind of grounding practice.
Have you tried using grounding techniques? Do you use any of the above, or do you do it differently? Let me know in the comments!
Happy grounding!
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