Grounding:
A month-long practice, done in community
The year I turned 29, I tattooed a garnet with roots to my ankle: I wanted a tangible, fingers-to-the-bone, can’t-forget-it-even-if-you-try way to stay grounded.
Garnets were a “family” stone: my mother had told me that the women on her side always had garnets and that they were meaningful because of their grounding and wisdom. So, a tattoo on my ankle, it was. I couldn’t get it closer to the ground, apart from inking the sole of my feet.
That time in my life was a focused year of searching for grounding– deliberately and as a regular practice. Many of the tactics I tried (that worked for me) made it into a little book I created and offered for free, here.
Here’s a picture of my cat, Jade, hanging out with my tattoo in 2014. Animals also help me root into myself.
And while I still do a lot to ground myself (most days), what I found I really was craving, was a grounding practice that was communal.
A gathering and a galvanizing.
Galvanization, as a process, is the act of applying a protective coating to metal so as to prevent rusting.
And that’s what I want us to do, collectively. Metaphorically.
Everywhere we turn, there are a million things grabbing our attention and energy.
Important things: political, familial, financial, medical, communal.
I could go on and on, but I bet you know what I’m talking about. There’s a current flowing through it all and the current is exhausting.
I believe the way to not be swept away by the current is by first anchoring ourselves. Planting into the ground. Only then can we respond rather than react. From our firmly grounded place, we have more to give, more to share, more to uplift others, and more to just be (sometimes less of these things, too, but in a freeing way!)
That’s why I’m hosting a month-long practice of grounding.
Together, let’s explore some ways to ground.
Let’s look at rooting ourselves in the moment.
Let’s apply a protective coating to our beings, to our selves, so that slowly, over time, we are not left pock-marked and weakened by all that bombards us, rusting away our defenses.
Let’s practice before the holiday rush arrives with its many demands.
Grounding doesn’t have to be big and bold and loud.
It doesn’t have to be costly or flashy or luxurious.
It doesn’t have to take a day or even an hour. It can be done in two minutes or twenty-five or a hundred.
Because, within some very broad parameters, you get to decide what’s grounding for you.
So what’s this course look like anyways?
30 days: June 1 through June 30.
Email prompts sent out tw0 to three times per week
Closing video call for the group (Participate via audio or video; a recording will be sent out, but live is best)
A group on Facebook for the duration of the course, where we can share our play & practice
You’ll leave with:
A practice, big or small, that you can take with you into the holiday season, so that you feel centered, tied into the present moment, less frazzled and less reactive
The experience of having practiced grounding with others, for individual progress only happens when we grow together
A renewed and recharged vitality to face the world
A remembering of your wholeness, in a way that spreads out into the community around you
How do you want to show up in your day to day?
Grounded I walk through the world a different person.
More curious
More kind
More generous
More boundaried
More able to sit with complexity and paradox and nuance
We do it together because:
together we are stronger
together we are more
together we ask different questions and see different lessons & perspectives
We need community.
We need each other.
There is power in community. There is power in practice. And there is power in play. Join me to practice and play.
What others are saying
As a busy single mom of three, I honestly thought that grounding wasn’t going to work for me. Where would I find time? How could I possibly shut off all the thoughts in my mind? Why should I even care? So, I was skeptical about the grounding course and potential benefits when I began. After a bit of nudging, I finally figured…well, why not?
It feels a little foreign at first, but I guess that’s the case with anything you try for the first time. However, after walking through the prompts and making them my own I now have a morning routine I look forward to. Not only that, taking the time out to quietly be in the moment gave me a chance to really understand what it is that I wanted in life which is more time to enjoy the things I love doing.
Before, I was so busy running from one fire to the next that I had lost sight of all the beautiful things happening around me. In a strange way it has helped me bring clarity to my business, my lifestyle, and my relationships as well. Essentially, I’ve learned to take a “chill pill” when things get hectic instead of pushing through and driving myself (along with everyone around me) crazy.
I found that this course was a great starting point for my personal wellness mission and if you’ve been feeling a bit out of control or unsure of your next move, a “pause” might be EXACTLY what you need too. ~Tylesha Dobson
Monica teaches and models what grounding is in a way that is practical and magical…and delightful! Yes, there’s the intellectual part, the part that your brain goes to work on, but then the wisdom moves into your body and that’s priceless. ~Karen C.L. Anderson
In June of 2018 I took Stone Soup Session: Grounding. Monica was there every step of the way on the journey with you if you needed help understanding something or if you wanted to talk to her about how one of the grounding exercises made you feel. What I found helpful and new were different ways of learning and grounding myself that I had never looked at from those aspects/perspectives/approaches. I enjoyed the Facebook group the most, where whoever wanted to participate, could. I loved hearing/reading the different things people did that made them feel grounded: it made me open up my thought process to another way of thinking of things I haven’t thought of as grounding. ~Elizabeth
What I loved about Monica’s grounding course is that it made me realize that I could access grounding no matter where I am or what’s around me. I loved the exercises of exploring grounding through the different senses and I still use the ideas from the course regularly. A big takeaway for me was realizing that grounding didn’t have to be a complicated daily routine like I used to think, but that I could feel more grounded just by bringing more awareness to daily walks or cooking dinner in the evenings and taking in the smells of spices bubbling in oil. ~Shila Soni
