Grounding

Stand or sit comfortably on the floor or ground. Visualize roots slowly extending from your feet (and other body parts touching the surface). Slowly they travel down, down, until they meet the soil. This is easy if you are outside. If you are inside, imagine them traveling down throughout the layers of the building, down through the foundation and eventually into the soil. Imagine the feel of the cool, secure soil all around your roots, keeping you safe, taking away all impurities.

Smell the fresh, wholesome earth, as if you were turning over dirt to plant the first seed of spring.

Imagine that you are a giant, primeval redwood (or some other tree of your choosing). You are sturdy and confident. You are part of the earth, yet distinct from it.

Your roots go down deep into the earth and all excess nervous energy, tension, and stress flow down your roots and seep harmlessly into the earth, where the loving earth accepts and neutralizes it. In return, the earth sends back calming nutrients, stability, and ancient serenity.

You are an ancient tree; your roots go deep into the ground. You were here before humans walked this place, you have seen so much. As you stand there, you think about the rings within your mighty trunk. The ones just inside your bark remind you of last spring's rain. Continue to work inward until you reach the center rings, those rings of dark wood at your core that represent the inner you, your heart, your oldest part.

Breathe from that part. Suck the air in through all the rings to that central core. Feel your life force gather and recharge in your center. Pull it back from the outermost limbs where the growth may be unbalanced. Feel the sap brimming in your core. Once you feel completely charged, let it go and it will course through you, back out energizing you, but at your center is still the central heart of your energy, calm, full, and ready for anything.