Exploring our Inner Ecology – Chapter 1 : Taking care of our Earth, Anchoring and Security
Earth, Water, Fire, Air or Ether, each month we will meet to explore one of the elements of our inner world, how to identify it, understand it, take care of it with some advice and gentle rituals.
Chapter 1 – Taking care of our Earth, Anchoring and Security
To you, our Mother Earth, nurturing, hospitable and sacred,
To you who support me, make me feel secure, root me in LIFE.
You are my base, my pedestal, my anchor,
With you I am calm, stable and fully in the moment.
I join you this month to reconnect us to the element “Earth”, the one which surrounds us, but also our “Inner Earth”.
Taking care of our inner Earth is essential because it represents the foundation of our body and our personal fulfillment. A rich Earth will preserve your health and vitality, will strengthen your anchoring and your sense of security. By anchoring yourself you find stability in the motion of life, you find balance and strength.
Yoga, explains, the Earth element is linked to the first energy center, our Root Chakra, known as theMuladhara in Sanskrit. It is located at the base of our spine, at the level of the perineum. It represents everything that exists physically : our body, our health, our survival, our finances, our roots (family, bloodline). If this chakra is well balanced, it helps us to stay on the right path of life, to remain stable, centered and balanced, both psychologically and physically. It allows us to reduce fears and anxiety, to live serenely and fully in life. Harmonizing your root chakra is therefore essential, especially in times of uncertainty or great change. To do so, there are many yoga rituals, visualizations or activities in direct contact with the earth to help us.
Me and the Earth element
But before giving you rituals to take care of your inner Earth, I suggest you take two minutes to ask yourself the following question:
What is my relationship to the Earth element? Is it an element that I feel very present in me? Not enough?
To help you dig in this question, ask yourself for example:
- Is my life mostly stable and well balanced? Do I easily find balance in times of change?
- Or, on the opposite, do I often feel unbalanced, or with a feeling of not always being aligned with my body or my life?
- Do I often find it difficult to channel my energy, to organize myself, to stay still or calm?
- Do I have a lot of fear and anxiety right now? Do I have a tendency to be lost in my thoughts and brood?
If the answer to this second group of questions is rather “yes”, it probably means that it would be beneficial for you to strengthen your Earth element and your anchoring. We all need to take moments of calm, of breathing, of connection to the ground, to the trees, to refocus and REGENERATE.
And if you naturally have in you less EARTH than AIR or FIRE for example, you can adopt rituals in your daily life that will help you find anchoring and harmony. The more you get to know your inner world, the more you will be able to take care of it with accuracy and gentleness.
Taking care of my Inner Earth: 4 Anchoring Rituals to Find Serenity and Balance
RITUAL 1 – Recreating a Direct Link to the Earth: “Earthing” Session
One of the most natural and sensorial ways to reconnect with the earth is to practice activities that put us in contact with it. Everything happens as if your body instinctively recognizes the earth to create an osmosis between the outer and inner earth. Moreover, the earth has extraordinary regenerating properties, it heals us. If gardening or clay sculpture can be excellent ways to reconnect, I recommend a wonderful ritual: the “earthing” ritual.
This ritual consists of walking barefoot on the ground (on dirt, grass or sand), if possible when the ground is wet, to benefit from the extraordinary healing energy emanating from the Earth. Research has demonstrated its analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and stress-reducing properties. It’s easy and provides great well-being. It would be a shame to deprive ourselves of it! As soon as you can, take off your shoes, breathe softly, feel the energy that goes from the ground to the legs and all the body by visualizing a beautiful light; feel connected to the Earth’s energy, full of gratitude for the care it gives you.
To learn more about « Earthing » go and visit the Earthing Institute website.
RITUAL 2 – Mindful walking meditation
Walking is one of the easiest activities to anchor us. By focusing our attention on our feet’s movements, we free our mind from ruminations.
For this ritual, I advise you to choose a quiet place in nature, to be alone at first, and to give yourself time.
You start to walk very slowly, concentrating only and fully on the sensations of your feet on the ground. You break down each micro-movement of your walk (one foot gently lifts up, first the heel, then the whole foot, it lands in front of you, the other foot lifts up, etc.). Breathe gently, fully aware of every sensation in your legs and feet. Relax, enjoy the magic of your body walking and the connection to the ground.
RITUAL 3 – The Mountain pose
A yoga pose to anchor yourself, ideally in the morning when you wake up.
1. Stand with your feet slightly apart and parallel. Hips, knees and ankles aligned.
2. Weight is well distributed between both feet and on each part of the foot (front and back).
3. Arms along the body, palms of hands turned slightly forward to open the chest. Align the neck and spine, long and stretched.
4. Take a deep breath and lift your ribcage; exhale and tuck your stomach in and out slightly to position your waist, pelvis and lower back for alignment and stability (do not arch your back).
5. Stay for 5 deep breaths, looking at a fixed point in front of you.
6. Close your eyes and imagine roots coming out of your feet and digging deep into the ground. Feel this feeling of anchoring, stability and calm. Like the mountain, you feel strong and solid.
RITUAL 4: Root chakra meditation
Make yourself comfortable, ideally take a seat in the grass, but it can simply be in a comfortable and quiet space. You can be sitting with your legs crossed, or with your legs extended in front of you, with your back straight. Close your eyes, relax and let the coming and going of your breath rock you. After a moment, bring your attention to the base of your spine where you visualize a beautiful red light that shines and warms you up. Breathe in and feel this red sun grow; breathe out and feel the light spread a little more in the lower body: lower back, perineum, pelvis, then legs, feet. You feel more and more anchored, stable and strong. Stay several minutes in this state of calm and body awareness. Finish by repeating internally these 3 intentions: “I am calm”, “I am anchored”, “I am safe”.
Take care of yourself, and we will meet again very soon to explore another element of our inner world: WATER.
