Grounding Earth Meditation

It's an image you use on your arms and hands, and again on your whole skeleton. You imagine turning a dial that increases gravity, so your limbs and bones feel heavier and heavier. As the heaviness grows, you're invited to relax more and sink toward the earth.

Noticing weight is the simplest way to feel gravity. You attend to your skull, jawbone, the seven cervical vertebrae in your neck, collarbone, ribs, hand bones, pelvis, femur and feet. If you can't feel it, you're told to just imagine you could.

Ruwan says we often hold muscles tight against the earth's pull when we don't need to. Noticing the weight of your jaw or neck lets you see where you're holding on and release it, letting the earth support you instead.

The feet are described as your primary connection point with the ground, and a terminal for your energy. You imagine an energetic opening in the centre of each foot, widening so you can exchange energy with the earth at any time.

Feeling ungrounded is described as too much air energy: thoughts, ideas and attention on things beyond where and when you are. Earth energy simply exists in the present moment. You imagine being the earth, which never has to try, yet everything happens upon it.

The ending gives you the practice: in any situation, give yourself to the feeling of gravity. Exchange overwhelm, chaotic thoughts or excess energy for the calm of the earth. All you have to do is breathe and allow gravity to hold you.