The term “grounding” is used in abundance these days, especially in health and wellness spaces. But what exactly is grounding, and why is it considered such an important aspect of physical and mental health?

The reality of the world today is that the majority of people are living in a state of nervous system overload called fight or flight, which is the opposite of being grounded. When you are stressed, overwhelmed, constantly in your head, or anxious, your nervous system interprets that mental distress as a physical threat, sending you into a frantic state.

This is a survival mode where the sympathetic nervous system is chronically activated, and the body remains locked in that dis-regulation. It requires all of the body’s life force energy to maintain this state of hyper vigilance, which means it has absolutely no reserved energy for things like cellular repair or disease prevention. The panicked condition of the body causes it to overlook things it would normally manage with ease, which is the cause of nearly all illness we observe today. Grounding is the deliberate process of signaling to your brain that you are physically safe in the current moment, and thus bringing the body back into a state of equilibrium. It is absolutely vital to our health that we learn how to ground ourselves.

There are an abundance of ways to regulate a dis-regulated nervous system, and it just so happens that plants know a lot about grounding. Plants spend their entire lives grounded into the earth, which is how the rhythm of their life cycles are regulated to the perfection of nature. Simply removing your shoes and walking barefoot on the grass causes an exchange of electrons from the soles of your feet and the earth, which, like the roots of the plant, allows your body to literally ground back into the wisdom of nature. Using plants as medicine also assists with calming the body internally. CBD and THC have grounding effects on your nervous system by acting as biological shields against stress, shifting your body out of a frantic fight or flight state and back into a calm, balanced baseline. This is called Parasympathetic nervous system activation, and its the state of a body that is able to heal itself once more.

Consider this; the integrity of the foundation upon which something is built determines its ultimate outcome. There is no tree that reaches its branches to the heavens whose roots do not conversely reach to the depths of the earth. With this being said, we must suspend our disbelief for a moment as we imagine ourselves as trees. Without first grounding ourselves into the reality of the present moment, our energy remains scattered and ineffective. If we wish to harness our life force energy in a meaningful way we must take some advice from nature. Taking time to ground into the breath, into the rhythms of nature that are within our own bodies, is how we achieve this state. Using plant medicine helps us to harness the healing rhythms of nature that, as human beings on this earth, are our birthright. Walk in nature, take your CBD, and remember this ancient wisdom that lives on within you!