Connection With The Earth

Connection With The Earth

After 2 months in quarantine, I’ve found myself under panic attacks with no way out. States are disagreeing on what to do and it feels like no one knows what to do best. In times like this, it seems my nervous system is more affected than ever.

Constant anxiety seems to be my new default, while at the same time – I’m completely disconnected from anything in my body that feels familiar. Not to mention, the zoom calls with friends don’t make up the lack of in-person communication and physical touch that are my personal love languages.

However, the two things I discovered that started to help me cope – I found by accident – and I want to share them with you – maybe you’ll find it useful.

The first – I took my yoga practice outside – away from other people and started to do it without a mat. Just me, barefoot in the grass – moving through my practice, touching the earth.

As soon as I took my shoes off, I realized what I’ve been missing for 2 months – connection with the earth.

Call it magic, or whatever you want – but I immediately felt a sense of calm wave over me as I did my stretches. Ever since I’ve been going out every day to ground myself on the grass and bring myself and my spirit down to earth. And every time, it’s an instant surge of calm that surges over me. I forgot, but I’ve missed it so much over the last 2 weeks that I actually wept.

The second – writing – but only in a focused position with my feet secured on the ground.

On a challenge from a friend, I started a blog and forced myself to write. What started as a challenge, turned into a way for me to channel the words in my head and the anxiety spinning through my body into words on the page and insight (hopefully) designed to help others.

This brings together a random insight, but when my feet are connected to the ground, my head is freed up and brought back from the cosmos and my anxiety seems to disappear. Connecting with the earth lets me connect with myself even easier.

All of these, combined with my breathwork practice reminds me that it’s not about where we are or what we’re doing, but who and what we’re connecting with. It can be easy to get caught up in the ideas of what’s going on and what’s happening next that we forget about where we are. By planting our feet – barefoot whenever possible – on the earth and on the ground, we can better ground ourselves and free up our mind – our worries – and our fears – so we can do our best work and show up in authentic ways for the people that matter.

These seem like basic life lessons, that I feel silly learning at over 40 years old, but the one thing the pandemic is truly teaching me is that it’s never too late to learn something new.