Get Grounded - How Holding a Stone Connects us to Momma Earth

In an age of total connectivity, we’re terribly disconnected.

How often do you actually pick up the phone and call your family and "friends"? Oh, you get most of your news scrolling through social media? Your bestie just had a baby? That friend of a friend of a friend is having a meal at Denny's? Do you even know that other guy that just posted the kitten video? Is it even his kitten?

I've taken a bit of a break from social media. Yeah, I use it to post my blogs and my biz news, but when it comes right down to it, I do a quick scan through the pages I most want to keep up on, post what I came to post, and shut it down. Why? It's information overload. A 5 minute visit to Facebook quickly turns into 4 hours of scanning and scrolling, go see the new posts and start all over... Lather, Rinse, Repeat ad nauseum. By the time I realize I've been lost in social media for half my day, I feel overwhelmed, empty, disheartened and more than a little nauseated.

One day, I reflected on just why I felt so crappy after an hour long social media binge. The outcome? I was totally disconnected, though I'd just "connected" to 20 different people on Facebook through short comments, likes and posts. I was so out of my body, out of my mental space, disconnected from my spirit and the spirits of those friends I'd "connected" with that I felt like I was suffocating (and yes, your experience might be entirely different. Mine seems to come from the fact that I've been consciously trying to re-connect my body-mind-spirit pathways and this is out of alignment with that).

We no longer have meaningful conversations. We've kind of stopped seeing each other as humans and fellow journeyers in this life. It's all pixels, Gigs, Kbs and empty chatter.

We’re increasingly sick and tired.

More and more often, you hear about disturbing trends of obesity and chronic illness. Diabetes, heart disease, cancer.. they're running rampant on younger and younger members of our society. Chronic fatigue and adrenal fatigue are on the rise. Auto-immune diseases such as Lupus, RA and MS continue to be diagnosed with alarming frequency.

We move through our day so fast. Schedules are booked tightly from very early rising to very, very late (or early, wee-small hours of the morning depending on how you look at it). We're rushing from one task and activity to the next, literally killing ourselves to get to the next thing. We don't have time to exercise, or we make time to run on a rubber belt in an air-conditioned, loud gym that we pay hundreds of our hard-earned dollars for. We don't have time to cook, so we snag greasy, processed crap from the nearest drive-through on the way to our next activity.

We’re increasingly sedentary.

Sit at the computer. Sit back and half-assed pedal that recumbent bike at the gym. Sit and watch TV. Sit in the car or bus during your commute. Sit and do nothing. Sit and stare. More done with less effort...

We’re decreasingly in touch with nature.

So.. this all paints a pretty grim picture. And really, it was my life until 6 years ago when everything came to a grinding halt because I was so sick I could barely move. I was so tired, I couldn't function. I considered it a good day if I made it out of bed and could remember my name. Remember my address or phone number? Fuggetaboutit. Wasn't happening.

When was the last time you just sat in the grass? Or on the beach? Or just on your porch and enjoyed the rain, the sun, or the breeze? When did you last walk through your neighborhood and notice what was blooming or dying because of the rhythms of nature? Don't have time for it? Hmm...

Like petting your cat, holding a stone can help you connect.

You don't have to take a ton of time to get connected. That's the good news. You don't need to run away to an ashram in rural India to experience a quiet moment that allows you to connect deeply.

Scientists tell us that the simple acts of walking barefoot on the lawn, or petting our animal companions help lower our blood pressure, release valuable hormones that balance our moods and help us feel better in general. So, let me ask you: Can you find 10 minutes to connect?

Are stones alive?

There's this new debate going on in the scientific community about what defines "life." New research suggests that what we previously considered "not alive" or "not sentient" is more alive and sentient than we've always believed. Crystals grow, albeit slowly, and respond to their environment, though changes are extremely subtle and slow to take place. It raises the question, "If something changes due to its environment slower than I can personally observe, is it still responding?" Not being an eminent scientist, I can only sit and ponder this question and come up with my own uneducated conclusions, based on my own observations.

For example: I have a hand-sized amethyst point that loves to work with me during intuition meditations and during third-eye chakra work. It's decidedly feminine in energy, and loves to play. She's out of touch if I start working with heavy stuff... I often think that she likes me to work with one of my other stones for that. I have a white quartz and black agate that like working together when I'm balancing my energies (think Yin and Yang), but trying to use them for anything else is like trying to use mud to make an apple pie - doesn't work. But those are just MY observations with MY stones.

Does it matter?

While scientific proof and empirical evidence are great, to me they only account for so much proof. To me, I think there is far more evidence in the small stories and experiences of the non-scientific. The open mind that can sit back and observe an interaction, response, outcome can tell us far more than the critical scientist that must stick to established protocol and standards of the scientific community. Working with crystal energies has helped me, and thousands of others with a broad spectrum of issues. Some stones work better than others. Some don't work at all. Some work a little too well, and can leave an individual overwhelmed and out of balance for other reasons.

Your pet cat is undoubtedly alive, yes? At least... well, let's just say I'm assuming that the pet you're choosing to connect with through touch is in fact still breathing and you're not working with a taxidermied version of a past beloved pet. Just because it doesn't speak your language, doesn't mean it doesn't communicate. Anyone who's ever awakened in the middle of the night to the sound of two cats hissing and yeowling at each other at 1 a.m. knows that those critters are having quite a conversation:

"This is my turf."
"I was here first."
"Get lost, loser!"
"I'm telling Fluffy that you were with Kiki last night!"

You communicate a good deal through your touch on your pet's fur or skin. Regardless of species, it reads your emotions, your health, your frame of mind and your energy level through your presence and touch.

I'll go out on a ledge here, and say that stones do the same thing. I have a few that call me, or simply beg to be touched when I'm in different states of mind.

The bottom line is, any rock is still part of the larger macro-organism we're a part of, that we've chosen to call "Earth."

How to “plug back into” the Earth.

In all my reading and research, I've come to the conclusion that the Earth, and all it's inhabitants, plant, animal, mineral and human, are one huge organism. We play off each other, and we need each other to survive and thrive. Being such a part of each other's environment makes it rather simple to plug back in when the disconnect gets started.

I'll give you two methods, neither of which will take you more than 5 minutes if you simply can't make more time.

1. Hold a stone in your hand, and sit quietly for 5 minutes. Take 5 minutes to just observe the stone. What color is it? Is it rough or smooth? Does it have stripes or bands or splotches of other color? Is it warm or cool (we always assume a stone is cold, though in my experience, some of my stones are normally warm, or stay cool no matter how warm I am and how warm the day is). Does it feel good to hold it? Is it pleasing to your eyes? When you're done, thank the stone for allowing you to observe it (gratitude is a huge health booster, and why not humor the outlandish idea that stones do in fact feel and think?).
2. Sit quietly with your pet. Just stroke its skin or fur (won't assume that your beloved pet MUST have fur and can't possibly be feathered or cold-blooded. I've met some very perceptive and personable iguanas, after all). Observe its response to you. Does it seem to relish your touch? Find the spots it most likes to have stroked, massaged or tickled. How do you feel petting your companion animal? Do you feel more calm, more relaxed or simply loved for who you are, no matter what your mood is? When you're ready, mentally send gratitude to your pet for allowing you to connect with them, and return to your day.

Any stone will do, but not all stones are created equally.

If you're looking to connect to a particular stone to match a mood or a feeling, I'd suggest any of the great resources on the internet. Hibiscus Moon is one of my absolute favorites, as she takes a scientific approach to crystal energy work and has tons of sparkly personality. She's just fun to listen to! I've listed some other resources below, but really, if you're looking to ground or connect to the Earth, any stone will do. I like to do grounding meditations with a gray agate in my collection that likes to join me on these sessions. I've charged a plain old gray rock for my husband's grounding practice, and it seems to help him focus a bit more, but you don't need to do anything special with yours, other than sit quietly with an open mind and focus on your stone.

Give it a try.

If you've made it this far, I truly appreciate you sticking with me for this wild and probably odd-sounding ride. And reading is great! But you know what's even better? Trying it for yourself. Not every method works for every person, but you won't know if you don't try, right?

Further Reading:

http://www.chopra.com/ccl/the-art-of-grounding

http://www.chopra.com/ccl/what-is-oneness

http://www.wikihow.com/Ground-and-Center

https://www.earthing.com/what-is-earthing/