How To Reduce Stress in 5 minutes! Get Grounded!

One quick, amazing way to release stress is to practice grounding yourself.
You may have heard of this idea before.
But how often do you actually do it?

It is a great tool for dealing with stress and only needs to take up 5 minutes of your time. When undertaken regularly it can really make a difference to your emotional and mental state of being. It can reduce the stress that may be causing your head to spin and also allow you to connect with your body. Many people spend most of their day detached & disconnected from their physical body. They are too busy “doing”, too busy thinking about what they need to next or too busy thinking about what a certain person said or did to them. By grounding yourself you will reconnect with your body and this has numerous great benefits.

• It will help you to take a breather and become aware of the constant dialogue going on in your mind.
• It will have a calming; soothing effect on your emotions.
• It will help to strengthen your immune system
• You will breath more deeply and this will have a more energizing effect on your body.
• By doing this you will be practicing the art of being present. This is a wonderful gift to give yourself. Being fully conscious in the present moment allows us to really stop and take stock of our lives and what is going on for us. It also helps to be more appreciative of everything we have, our environment and other people in our lives.
• It helps to reduce anxiety by taking your attention away from the thing you are worrying about.

As a Yoga & Meditation Teacher I often ask my students to ground themselves in the following way:

1. Sit or stand with a nice straight back. Start to notice where your body is in contact with the ground. Notice the soles of your feet or your buttocks. Really try to place all your attention and focus into any area of your body that is touching the floor.
2. Each time your mind wanders (it will do, and that is perfectly normal!) just bring it back to your focus – the parts of your body in contact with the ground.
3. Now imagine that you have roots growing downwards from your body into the ground. Imagine them growing and spreading all the way down into the centre of the earth.
4. Take a deep breath in and imagine yourself breathing in all the positive energy & life force from the earth.
5. As you exhale deeply, imagine releasing all of your unwanted stress and tension, anything unwanted. Any negativity is released into the earth and transmuted.
6. Keep noticing your feet/buttocks and where they are in contact with the ground.
7. Repeat for as long as it feels great!

When you first start to introduce the practice of grounding into your life you may find that you come up against a certain amount of mental resistance. Your mind will be keen to tell you that you need to keep working. Just be aware of this, be prepared for it. By doing this you will be better equipped to push through it and the benefits will be well worth it.

Also watch out for your mind’s cunning attempt to convince you that 5 minutes of grounding will not make a difference and so what’s the point!? People often complain that they don’t have enough time to take time out to look after themselves. This is often because they think it must involve an hour or more of their time. But if we can realize that reducing our stress levels only needs to take 5 minutes and that it is the small regular habits, which make all the difference to our health & well-being, then we have at our hands a great tool for achieving a greater sense of balance and harmony in our life.