Blog#71: Earthing - A Re-connection
What do chiropractic, acupuncture, yoga, tai chi and
chi gong all have in common? Lots of
things, including helping facilitate physical, mental and emotional healing and
facilitating strength, longevity, and balance.
Balance is unwavering stability when standing, walking, climbing, running
and even standing on one leg. In past
years or today, in cultures living in natural, rural settings, earthing is part
of daily life. Earthing includes walking
barefoot on the ground, sitting and sleeping on the earth, growing or hunting
one’s own food, swimming in natural bodies of water, and walking long distances
barefoot or wearing leather or cloth-soled shoes or moccasins.
Western civilization’s more urban, industrial setting
prevents earthing in many ways. People
wear rubber soled-shoes, live many floors up from the ground, ride in cars,
planes, trains, buses and other public transportation rather than walking, sleep
indoors on synthetic beds, buy food from the supermarket, and swim in
human-made swimming pools, to name just a few problematic things.
Healing exercises and arts such as tai chi, chi gong,
and yoga help us reconnect to the earth by improving our balance and helping us
perceive and utilize the energy arising from the ground. They also help us connect with the energy in
the air around us, as well as that within our own minds. Skilled practitioners use acupuncture and
chiropractic to help us feel and benefit from our connection to the earth’s
energy and our own energy systems. Chiropractic
especially helps us improve our posture and balance.
There are some relatively new therapeutic devices that
help connect us to the earth’s energy.
These earthing devices include mats, sheets, throws, bands, and clothing
that are inlaid with conductive metals, usually silver, and are plugged
connected via a cord into the grounding part of an electrical outlet or else
directly into the ground via a window or door. Theses devices are reputed to
help alleviate pain, normalize the immune system, improve sleep, enhance
detoxification, calm the mind, and improve circulation by thinning the
blood. Some caveats: they may magnify
the effects of certain medications, such as prescription thyroid or blood
thinners. If used for longer than
appropriate time periods, they can overwhelm the body with heavy
detoxification.
All of us can begin earthing by standing and/or walking
barefoot on the ground, gardening with our bare hands, walking more often and
riding less, sitting on the earth, perhaps underneath trees, camping out in the
wilderness, and generally spending more time in rural or natural settings. We are fortunate to have numerous natural
settings within the city of Chicago in the form of parks, forest preserves, and
nature centers. Take advantage of them
and notice their calming and strengthening influence.
This blog’s offer:
contact me with questions about earthing, including chiropractic,
acupuncture, chi gong, tai chi yoga, and Earthing devices.
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