PART II - HOW TO GROUND!

Yesterday I told you all about the importance of being good and grounded before you give someone a Reiki or any other type of healing session.

Now here is how to do it  - sit comfortably in a chair with your feet firmly planted on the ground (without shoes preferable).  Take some nice long, slow, deep abdominal breaths to center yourself and have your hands, palm up on your thighs.

Have a knowing or visualize and intend that you are sending down energetic cords out of the soles of your feet and the base of our spine, in the form of tree roots into Mother Earth.  You can decide how big you want them to be - 5 " or a foot or more wide, etc.  As they are energetic roots, they can easily and swiftly go down though all the layers of the earth and the thousands of miles beneath your feet, so just imagine or visualize this happening.  After a short time, have a knowing that they reach the core or center of the earth where there is a cave like opening with many very large boulders laying around on the floor of the cave/opening.  Visualize your roots grabbing onto one of the big boulders, like grabbing onto a baseball with your hand, and growing past it about 1/2 mile to a mile to really, really, really get you firmly rooted and grounded into the earth.

Now say, " I am grounded and centered" 3 times. Thank Mother Earth, Gaia, or Pachamama for allowing you to do this, and send her love and gratitude.  When you feel good and grounded, intend that any negative or stagnant energy in your body or energy field starts to flow out of the ends of these roots and into Mother Earth.  She is always happy to take anything that which no longer serves us and transform/transmute it into whatever form of energy she needs. You can visualize a dark, oily substance dripping out of the ends of the roots and from the fine smaller hair like roots that extend from the main ones,  and being absorbed quickly into the earth.

Then have the intention and ask Mother Earth to send back up to you through these roots, healing, grounding and protecting energy when this process is complete, and thank and bless her 3 times for this beautiful service (Thank you and bless you Mother Earth, etc.)

You are now totally grounded. Intend now that you stay grounded throughout the entire session and even beyond, maybe the entire day, no matter how you move or where you go.  

THE IMPORTANCE OF GROUNDING

When I first was attuned to Reiki almost 12 years ago, my teacher did not stress or even mention how important it is for Reiki practitioners to ground themselves. Neither did my second teacher, who taught me how to attune others to Reiki and teach them the in's and out's of Reiki.

For the first several years on my Reiki journey, I still was in the dark about just how important it is to ground when doing Reiki. Then people began to ask me on Reiki social networks if I was grounding and how was I doing it? I was like grounding, what? Why? Apparently they thought it was important but I was clueless. So I started investigating and learned about sending energetic cords down from the soles of your feet and your tail bone into the earth in the form of tree roots.

I am reading a book about the American Indian take on Crystal Healing by Luc Bourgault and here is what he has to say "Next imagine roots of light disappearing from your feet into the ground. This will enable all surplus energy to become rooted. This way, if your patient releases bad or harmful forces during the treatment and your body receives them, they will not remain there. They will pass through your body into the ground, thanks to the roots of light you have created. This way you do not retain anything that could harm you. It is not even necessary to be standing on firm ground to imagine these roots of light. They will be just as effective if you are on the twentieth floor of a building." 

In the world of Reiki, we believe that we are protected from taking on anything from our clients while giving someone Reiki, but I have found that if I ground myself before a session, the session is more powerful and I feel better afterwards. So I am now teaching the importance of grounding to my students, either right before you start a Reiki session, or as soon as you sit down and start giving your client Reiki. Can't hurt!