Many people consider the practice of grounding and centering to be extremely basic – which it can be, if you’ve been doing it for a while.  However, for an individual just starting up on the idea of working with personal energies or meditational exercises – grounding and centering can be a daunting task.

The first time I was ever introduced to the concept, my girlfriend of the time (who was older than I – yes, I have a strong tendency to date older women throughout my life), my first High Priestess and her husband at the time had just returned from shopping at a Pagan bookstore in the downtown Dallas area.  I can’t – offhand – recall the name of the store, but it was located in the Fair Park area.  It had a HUGE crystal ball that we all had admired for a long time.  On the way back, I was quite energetic – more than I usually am (and I can get rather wired when I wish to).  Coming in the door to the house – it was decided that I needed to learn to ground and center.  I had zero idea what all three of these folks were talking about…and so I was taught the following lesson on the spot.

Sit and attempt to be as still as possible.  Close your eyes.  Feel yourself reaching into the ground – going quite deep.  Feel the strength of the earth tugging and embracing your roots that you are growing.  Feel how your excess energy flows from you and into the Earth.  Feel how it dissipates throughout.  Feel yourself grow taller, like branches rising from the trunk of a tree.  Feel how some of your energy flows upward into the leaves at the ends of your branches – how that energy dissipates lightly onto a slow breeze.  With your remaining energy, feel how it moves throughout you – locating spots where it feels measurable equal.  Once that energy stops its flow internally, look throughout yourself and note where and how everything fits together.  Feel how the center of your body retains a strong mass, unmoving, unwavering from your location – like a massive tree tunk.  Able to bend and alter slightly to the forces around it…but you don’t yield completely.  This is your center.  Remember how it feels.  Remember how you put your roots into the Earth.  Remember how the branches above you felt.  Remember how easy the energy flowed from both your roots and branches.

This technique works well for me.  It reminds me that there is a place of clam that I can start from – and is quite useful to utilize when I hit my “freak out” modes.  I’ve utilized this method to get me beyond issues such as test anxiety.

In my next blog posting – I’ll be discussing how the conceptual aspect of Zen Buddhism helps me achieve focus during meditation.