These last few weeks I’ve found myself busy with the chaotic, sometimes fun, sometimes exhausting, aspects of life. In between photo shoots and editing for my photography business, my daughter and husband’s birthdays and parties, and wrangling two kids who are hyper about Summer around the corner – I’ve been feeling drained. Sound familiar?
When life gets busy, it’s more important than ever to carve out time for yourself. It’s not always easy or convenient, but I remind myself that if I don’t care for myself, nobody else will do it for me. I find I need at least 30 minutes a day to slow down and meditate or I notice the affects in all areas of my life. By not taking enough time to center and ground myself, I tend to get tired and annoyed more easily. Too much into my human side and not enough into my Divine Self. Like all things, there needs to be balance.
Is the busyness of life getting to you? Or are you lacking motivation?
Are you feeling any of these symptoms of being ungrounded?
-headache or migraine
-feeling of slight dizziness/off balance
-detachment from your body
-shallow breathing
-racing thoughts
-focus on past and future events
I notice I’m “out of my body” and detached when I find I’m taking shallow breaths or even holding my breath at moments throughout the day without being aware of it. This seems a small thing, but the breath is really what keeps us centered and grounded, as well as physically healthy. When you allow yourself to become too consumed with “to do” then you lose your attachment to your body and become ungrounded. The body can react with exhaustion, or illness, in order to force you to slow down.
The chakra most people think of related to grounding is the first chakra, the root chakra, at the base of the spine. However, I’m going to focus on a slightly less familiar one: the 10th chakra, located about 1.5-4 feet under our feet. After starting my journey with mediation and energy work, I found working with this chakra to be very transformative. By focusing, clearing, and working with the 10th chakra, I became more spiritually awakened, centered, and connected to my Divine Self.
The 10th chakra holds energy we bring into the world when we’re born: ancestral energy, past life experiences, genetics, family issues, etc. It provides us with our daily life energy (masculine and feminine), energy cleansing, nurturing, as well as the ability to receive elements of nature – fire, earth, water, and air – into our entire energy system.
In The Complete Book of Chakra Clearing, Cyndi Dale states that “a completely functioning tenth chakra enables us to say that ‘I am feeling, thinking, and lovingly expressing my vision of divine purpose in a timely manner while creating all that I am in a grounded, practical way.’”
Symptoms of a blocked 10th chakra include:
-lack of connection to your higher, spiritual self
-weight issues
-avoidance issues (feeling “out to lunch” and spacey)
-disassociation
-ankle, foot, leg, or knee pain
-lack of motivation
-difficulty manifesting change, growth, and dreams into your everyday life
The 10th chakra is activated in us before we’re even born. This is why so much of our past life, family, and ancestral energy are tied up in it. It is the energy we draw upon to deal with what we experience during this lifetime. This energy shapes our physical body and also ties us to the Earthly plane (so that we aren’t just a ball of spiritual light floating around!)
If you have lingering thoughts of not deserving something in life, lacking direction, feeling airy or detached from your life and/or body, then be sure to work with opening, clearing, and drawing on the energy of your 10th chakra.
This energy is vital in dealing with everyday life, tackling fears, overcoming “victim” energy and most importantly – embracing and living the spiritual side of life that calls to each of us. Not religion necessarily – but spirituality; an awareness and feeling of knowing – that you’re more than your body.
Without awareness and grounding into the 10th chakra, Dale states:
“Instead of drawing upon our tenth chakra’s hidden power and wisdom, we instead stuff it with negative feelings and experiences, closing the channels even further. This can result in repressed memories, dissociation, lack of personal power, low energy, or abusive relationships. We can only be our true selves if we completely open this channel”.
Ground yourself in this vital energy!
This is very simple to do:
- Sit or stand (take it further and stand barefoot in the grass) and envision roots growing out of the bottom of your feet
- Imagine streams/roots of bright light traveling out of your feet, down into your 10th chakra, then further down through all the layers of Earth, until it reaches the very center of the Earth
- Tell yourself and feel yourself grounding your whole body into the Earth
- Now imagine gathering streams of energy from the center of the Earth, which then travel back up through the ground and connect into and clear your 10th chakra below your feet
- Guide the light up into your feet; allow it to continue up your body, up your legs, your spine, and up out the top of your head
- Take a few deep breaths – being aware of your whole body
Remember – your intentions affect your energy. By imagining the above exercise, you’re guiding your energy to clear and ground. It will listen and follow your lead.
By doing a quick grounding visualization like this, I immediately feel more present in my body and full of life energy. I often envision roots coming out of my feet when I’m on a walk or run. I also work with the 10th chakra while doing energy work on others. When working with high vibrational energy either during my own mediation or during a healing on a client, it’s important to ground that energy fully into the body, the 10th chakra, and the center of the Earth. High vibrational energy is transformative and healing, yet you don’t want to feel spacey. You want to draw upon the energy, while being able to use it in productive ways in your everyday life, feeling secure and fully present in your body.
Happy Grounding!
In gratitude,
Nicki
