My practice of spiritual grounding comes from outside qigong practice. I have always found grounding in qigong systems more on the physical/philosophical side of experience, not so much as a spiritual relationship.
Margaret, another aspect, or awareness you can bring into grounding, and the seven steps... I only ground in the spiritual sense on the first movement, so that first move is slower for me. After that , I work more physically, moving energy up and down through me,and also the earth , more at that 10-12 foot mark, which is just a depth that engages earth energy/qi, and, also facilitates moving energy out of me into the earth on the down movements. Another possibility is "vertical alignment". On that first cycle, when I spiritually ground, with the energy at my heart level, as I do the last step to the crown point, I run the earth energy up to the center of the universe, or it could be a star or light envisioned as the "heavenly connection", and connect in a similar way to the center of that, then run that energy back down to the center of the earth, through me, then, back up to a balance in the heart. Vertical alignment. That alignment changes your self view, experience of space, place, relationship, etc... Once this alignment is experienced, I work more in the physical plane with the exercise, the alignment being more of a background awareness or feeling.
