11. Is grounding the same as earthing?
Not really, no. But there are some similarities, and both practices are good for our mental and physical wellbeing! Just to be clear, this blog is not about currents, voltages, or preventing electric shocks (sorry tradies). Instead, I’m referring to the mental health type of grounding (and earthing).
Grounding techniques are relevant to distress management and emotion regulation. The goal of grounding is to help pull us back to the safety, and control, of the present moment, which can be helpful when feeling “spacey”, anxious, or overwhelmed by difficult or strong emotions.
When stressed, we often get caught up in our heads: recycling negative thoughts about the past, project anxieties into the future, fixating on working out ‘why’ we’re feeling stressed, suffering flashbacks (re-experiencing a past pain via intrusive thoughts and images), and so on. You might even feel afraid or uncomfortable being in your body with distressing thoughts and emotions and have developed strategies to escape it (e.g., comfort eating, ‘doomscrolling’, self-harm). Some people may even enter an altered state of consciousness, known as dissociation. This is a mental process of disconnecting or detaching from your environment, the people around you, or your body and thoughts when faced with too much stress.
When we are ungrounded we are more vulnerable to flashbacks, self-injurious or suicidal behaviours, and many other destabilising symptoms. Being ungrounded can even create a false sense of security (because we’re not feeling anything) when we are actually at our most vulnerable and unable to judge who and what is safe around us.
The act of ‘getting grounded’ is to take deliberate steps to reconnect your body and mind to work together. While it may not always be comfortable to be grounded, it is the only way to ensure basic safety, disengage from unhelpful coping strategies, and prevent additional psychological symptoms.
The sources of grounding are endless and what works best for you might be different to someone else. First, let’s try a cognitive awareness exercise to ground you in the current time and place.
Answer the following questions:
• Where am I right now?
• What is the day today?
• What is the date?
• What is the month?
• What is the year?
• How old am I?
• What season is it?
If you were already feeling calm, these might seem like strange questions to ask yourself, but when we’re feeling flooded with emotion this can be a really effective way to bring yourself back into the here-and-now.
Other examples of cognitive awareness grounding exercises:
• Play a “categories” game with yourself: e.g., try to think breeds of dogs, animals that begin with ‘A’ and move through the alphabet, cities in Europe, types of sports, etc
• Count backwards from 100 or say the alphabet, very s..l..o..w..l..y
• Repeat a coping statement, comforting saying, or quote
Examples of sensory/physical awareness grounding exercises:
• Carry a grounding item in your pocket and touch it to connect with your senses: e.g., small rock or gemstone, or something small and sentimental
• Spend time with a pet/animals and really focus on their unique characteristics and how they might feel to touch
• Calm breathing
• 5–4–3–2–1 senses (name 5 things you can see, 4 things you can hear, 3 things you can touch, 2 things you can smell, and 1 thing you can taste)
Earthing on the other hand is essentially creating skin contact with the raw earth — such as walking barefoot or sitting/lying on the ground — in order to allow free electrons from the earth to enter our body (which is electrically conductive). Before you tune out because this sounds really kooky and new-age, there is emerging evidence (peer-reviewed studies) that show the benefits of ‘earthing’ for reducing pain, inflammation, stress, and improving sleep, and our immune functioning. Have a read for yourself: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550830719305476.
