by Mary Lou |
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Grounding, or Earthing, refers to placing your body in direct contact with the Earth. This is done by walking barefoot on soil or grass, wading in natural bodies of water, or even using artificial tools like grounding mats to dispel the body’s positive charge and bring it back to a balanced neutral state.
The Science of Grounding Explained
The science leading to the understanding of grounding is infinitely compelling and intriguing. Here are some of the main points.
The Earth has a pulse — a frequency of 7.83 Hertz
Did you know that the planet we live in has a pulse just like a human being? In 1952, physicist Winifred Otto Schumann mathematically predicted what we now call the Schumann Resonances.
To understand the Schumann Resonances, you must first be aware that, as described by NASA, “At any given moment about 2,000 thunderstorms roll over Earth, producing some 50 flashes of lightning every second. Each lightning burst creates electromagnetic waves that begin to circle around Earth captured between Earth’s surface and a boundary about 60 miles up. Some of the waves – if they have just the right wavelength – combine, increasing in strength, to create a repeating atmospheric heartbeat known as Schumann resonance.”
This “cavity” between the surface of the planet and the ionosphere resonates with electromagnetic waves in extremely low frequencies ranging from 7.83 to 8 HZ. And that is how 7.83 HZ was discovered as the ‘heartbeat’ of the Earth.
The human’s brain wave frequency is IDENTICAL to the Earth’s pulse
Going back a few years earlier, 1924 saw German psychiatrist Hans Berger invent the first ever EEG machine. With this he made the first ever recording of the electrical impulses of the human brain. Berger dubbed it the “Alpha Wave”.
The fascinating thing about it? The frequency of the Alpha Wave – the brain waves that control our emotions, thoughts, creativity, and even our immune system – is exactly identical to the Earth’s pulse – 7.83 HZ.
As one writer poetically puts it, “The pulse of the earth is the pulse of life itself”.
We feel good when we are in sync with the planet’s pulse
So how exactly does A relate to B? What does the pulse of the Earth have to do with our own brain wave’s frequencies? Here’s one last fascinating experiment that ties everything together.
In the early Sixties, scientist Rutger Wever from the Max Planck Institute in Germany studied human circadian rhythms. He built a huge underground bunker and built it with shielding so that the earth’s natural resonances could not penetrate the walls of the shelter. For 30 long years, the scientist experimented on healthy young college student volunteers. He subjected them to weeks without the Schumann Resonance and then later exposed them to it using a magnetic pulse generator.
The results were conclusive. In the absence of natural resonance, the students’ physical conditions deteriorated. They got sick, had headaches, and had upset sleeping patterns. When the pulse generator was turned on, the subjects’s conditions improved and their symptoms stopped. To confirm the results, Wever secretly turned the transmitter on and off. Still, the results stayed the same.
When our bodies are attuned to the Earth’s natural frequency, we experience wellbeing. When we are not, we experience ill health.
Why We Need Grounding
Keeping our bodies in regular contact with the Earth should be easy, right? Wrong! Especially not in today’s modern times.
Everyday, indoors and outdoors, we wear rubber-soled footwear. Many of us live in high rise condominiums or else have concrete gardents. We get from place to place via cars and paved sidewalks. We work in huge office buildings.
In the midst of it all, we are exposed to both high and low frequencies from so many machines and bluetooth devices on a daily basis resulting in electro smog. Many suffer from stress, anxiety, and insomnia in the face of pressure from work and living in society.
And yet, when we take a vacation and stand beside a waterfall, or soak in the sea, or bury our feet in fresh grass, we feel a sense of rejuvenation. If you look back on these moments, you’ll realize that a lot of these moments were of you getting back in contact with the Earth.
How To Do Grounding
Grounding is ridiculously easy. Here are some simple ways on how to do earthing or grounding:
- Walk barefoot in clean grass or soil
- Lie down in a park or in a field
- Hug a tree
- Wade in natural bodies of water like a stream or in the ocean
- Stand beside a waterfall
- Bury your feet in a sandy beach
- Buy a grounding mat to use at home
For the last point, we like this model available on Amazon: Earthing Universal Mat
There are many different ways that you can do grounding. The basic principle is to get your body in contact with the Earth. As we go about our lives, we build up too much free radicals and positive charge. Grounding dispels this and brings back the body to equilibrium as it syncs back to the pulse of the Earth and the human body.
Photo Credit: Reset.me
But what’s a grounding mat doing in my list above? In my case, we have a city park a few blocks away from our high rise condominium but I won’t be caught dead barefoot on there because of the urban filth on the ground. I’d have to drive an hour away to my old university grounds before I’d trust myself to walk barefoot anywhere.
Hence the grounding mat. I have one for under my keyboard when I work while other people (especially those with insomnia), put one under their sheets and sleep on it.
Benefits of Grounding
These include:
- Brings down inflammation
- Reduces pain, especially for chronic pain sufferers
- Dispels insomnia
- Increases heart rate
- Reduces blood viscosity
- Improves the quality of sleep
- Boosts energy
- Calms the mind
- Rejuvenates the spirit
- Relieves stress and calms stress hormones
- Improves blood pressure levels
- Accelerates healing
- Dispels electro-smog and other effects of EMFs
- Relieves migraines and headaches
- Helps with adrenal health
Who Should Avoid Grounding
I was perplexed when I first heard that there are actual instances when we should avoid grounding. But apparently, you should avoid grounding if you:
- Live in a place where ground current is strong.
- Live in big cities and the area where you want to ground in has wires running in the ground.
Sadly, this is the situation for many of us but fortunately, there are exceptions even in urban jungles like big university grounds which have miles of open ground or eco-parks maintained by the city. Or, again, there’s grounding mats like the one we mentioned above.
Wrapping Up
And that’s about it. Grounding is very simple yet it has so many benefits for our health. Whenever I feel wearied, numbed, and just all-out fatigued by the pressures of surviving and living everyday, I escape to nature and immerse my whole being in it.
And as I take a moment to center myself and soak in an awareness of my body and the nature in my surroundings, I can feel the stress melt away from me like skin peeling off an insect.
But don’t take my word for it. Test it out yourself and check back in if you see any noticeable results. As they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
Happy Grounding!
Author: Mary Lou
In the Before Times, Maru spent vacations traveling and making stops at showrooms to test the latest massage chair models. Nowadays, she’s hunkered down in her small sunlit home dotted with her ever-growing collection of fiddle fig trees, indoor plants, and Himalayan salt lamps. Find her at LinkedIn.