Grounded: In Pursuit of Personal Growth

When Ted suggested an issue on “growing gardens,” leaving open the idea of including personal growth, my mind wandered. My initial response was, “What I grow in my garden is

tired.”

But I then uncovered fascinating research on the value of “earthing” or “grounding.” I’ve come to realize that spending time in nature brings me into resonance with the Earth’s energetic frequency of 7.83 Hertz.

“Mother Earth’s natural rhythm is the frequency of 7.83 Hz, also called the Schumann Resonance,” according to Infiheal, an online counseling company in India. “This frequency lies in the alpha/theta brainwave frequency in the human brain. This brainwave state is relaxed and dreamy, where healing and rejuvenation happens.”

Connecting to the Earth’s magnetic frequency can result in “stress relief, grounding, enhanced learning, balance, overall improved mental health and well-being,” Infiheal said.

Shoes and gloves matter, I’ve learned — plastic or rubber between myself and the Earth can block energy flow, so bare feet or leather-soled shoes and non-rubber gloves are preferred. Feel the earth between your fingers. Go barefoot on the beach.

Become a tree-hugger. Trees are alive and generate their own energy fields, which in turn generate a parasympathetic response in you, thus the concept of “forest bathing.”

Relaxing in a meditative or mindful state while gardening or forest bathing has been scientifically proven to grow the prefrontal cortex, the executive decision-making area of the brain, and to reduce the size of the amygdala, an area affecting emotions. You don’t have to be a Buddhist monk practicing hours of meditation to get that effect —10 to 15 minutes a day can do the trick over time.

Mindfulness, of course, means being mindful of your environment, both external and internal, and slowing down enough to notice not just the scents of flowers, the music of birds and the bees, the whistling of the wind through the trees, but how your own body is reacting. It’s called “living in the moment.” Gardening and forest bathing can make us feel alive. It’s inexpensive, quick therapy.

Physics teaches that we are all “energy beings,” and that energy is neither created nor destroyed, but simply transformed from one form to another. Everything in our world generates an energy field: you do, I do, we all do, as do all flora and fauna and the Earth underneath our feet all the way to the planet’s core. This, in turn, generates the energy field that protects the Earth from the solar wind (the sun’s cosmic radiation).

The energy field each of us creates (measurable out to at least 6 feet) affects others, and we are affected by theirs. Some people can “see” those fields, called auras, or experience them physically. Rub your hands together and then feel the sensation as you slowly pull them apart. Reiki masters can send measurable healing energies from their hands and minds. We can control those fields with our minds with study and practice.

Meanwhile, just as you do your garden, grow the range of your curiosity. Online webinars are available on such topics as your gut and oral microbiome, Alzheimer’s, global energy healing, healing with vibrations, electromagnetic frequencies, body’s immune response, and many more. For thousands of free health talks, check out healthmeans.com.

Jane P. Woodward explores her energy field and expands her worldview in Arcata.