Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ Spring Forest Qigong Grounding

Hello,

What is "grounding" in reference to qigong?

I have trouble trying to describe it to a friend. I think of doing it will give me balance in the active exercises. However, I keep thinking there is more to it than that; somewhat in the spiritual sense.

I also read it somewhere, not SFQ, it describe doing grounding with meditation. Why do one wants to do grounding while meditating or before meditating?

Then my thought went to the science of electricity. Is it for protection? Thinking we should not do exercise in the rain or wind.

Bluebird,
Try reading the thread started by Amstar that's just down from this. Gallen talks about a man who was in his head & about grounding there.

Yin is female energy connected to the earth and Yang is male energy connected to the heavens. Anything that clicks for you in life is a combination of yin/yang and grounding and creativity.

Hi Bluebird,
I have verY strong feelings about this. Grounding!!
I will tell you two ways, one physical, and one spiritual.
Physical: This is the one I equate to qigong, or, Chinese method in general. As opposed to being on top of the ground, like standing on a surface, see yourself standing in the ground, maybe knee deep. This produces a grounding effect. Whenever you are moving energy up from the bottom, like in the seven steps, go into the ground, say 10 or 12 feet, moving the energy in and out of the earth. Grabbing the ground with your feet , or sending down an image of roots, tying into the ground...
Spiritual: Mother Earth is a living being. She knows you. All the lives you have walked on Mother Earth...your body always returns to her. You can talk to Mother Earth. Thank her for all she provides, and ask to connect to the "appropriate center", or "her center in a healing way", and visualize yourself going down and attaching to the center. Bring up the energy from that center to the bottoms of your feet, up through your legs, to your bottom chakra(base of the torso). See the energy fill up that area, and move up through lower chakras, or body, up to the heart level. This is a basic ground, plus, you are acknowledging a "relationship" with Mother Earth. Acknowledging the relationship , and your communication/prayer, is an act of love.
This is more on the Native American side, but I ground this way in meditation and qigong work. So, you can either move in and out of the earth, or plug into the earth, or have a relationship with Mother Earth. BTW she does communicate with us if we go to her, and, she likes tobacco! Putting a little tobacco on the ground, saying a prayer...I often carry tobacco. It reminds me of my relationship with her. It also comes in handy if I see a great rock or feather I want to take home. Placing a little tobacco on the ground and thanking Mother Earth for what you are taking, or what you have been given, is very appropriate. The other day, I was sitting in a room, looking outside. I was away on a bike trip, in a nice setting in the woods. I saw a redtail hawk feather come down, (vertically!!), and stick into the ground. Needless to say, a time to get the tobacco, and that feather!
Bottom line. And I feel very strongly about this, regardless of it coming from another source. Have the relationship. Don't "just" plug in and ground without the relationship.
"She" will help your exercise, just like the Master's energy. This is my personal feeling. I am not speaking for any system here.

one other aspect of grounding...the strength of my grounding, is relative to the level of energy I can bring in and hold.
Also, if you ground everyday, your emotions will tend to be more stable. It is less likely that you will get lost in the shuffle, so to speak. You are grounding in yourself too.
When you ground, you create a location, from which to "align" with things. It positions you in the universe. You also can bring energy to the earth, from heaven. The big yin /yang miX. The energy you put into the earth, doesn't only have to be that extra energy you are getting rid of. or worse,,, pollution...as a yin, or recessive being, the Earth takes this in. She does have the ability to heal herself. Doing positive work, like healing work, or sending her energy, softens the side effects to physical changes that can happen when she comes to a point where she "needs" to heal, due to excessive negative energy. Big picture perspective. Positive and negative energy. All our good work counts. I apologize for the side tracks. I hope I have inspired you to ground, and, give back to the earth for her healing.

Gallen, thanks so much for this writing on gounding. I've got it memorized. I am doing the 7 Steps a lot. It's a level 1 exercise that i really enjoy doing. Now i can work on grounding myself in the way you describe.

Margaret, Gallen,

Thank you both for your insights!!!

I have been looking at your responses to my question for the last two days. I found it hard to put into words as to how much I appreciate the guidance and having both of you sharing your own thought on “Grounding”.

I did not obtain this level of in-depth appreciation for “Grounding” from reading the SFQ course. Master Lin did talked about the Yin and Yang energy. The same course material probably presented a different level to us depending on how far we each are in the path of our own journey. I will keep in mind that I should go back to review the material from time to time.

Gallen, I am thinking about setting aside time just for grounding, more on the spiritual side.
Actually, this morning I made an effort to touch the trees and sit by them just thinking about Mother Earth and the plants. Yes, a little of my own qi grounding for that moment too. I wanted to do that and feeling very good about doing it. For now, the physical aspect will be incorporated with the active exercises as normal practice.

Respecting Mother Earth and taking time to appreciate and give thanks to the natural elements of life. I have always love the ocean, especially when I see the horizon how the ocean is connected to the sky, the heaven in some sense. For that love, I grew to appreciate much of the elements from the sea. Now, I see this, my development on grounding, as spiritual growth to further develop my relationship with Mother Earth as a whole.

[This message has been edited by Bluebird (edited September 25, 2002).]

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.

This is another inspiring thread too. Thanks, Bluebird, for asking such a valuable question. I hadn't even thought of grounding. As soon as you mentioned it & then w/ Gallen's reply, the importance of it really hit me.

Last night as i did the 7 Steps, i did that grounding visualization and it did make a difference even in my balance. I am usually ok w/ the balance part, but i was even more so. This awakened me to balance and grounding being two parts of the same aspect.

I'm sure it'll carry over into other situations in life as well, like at work.

Gallen,
What is philosophical with the gigong grounding? I sense the physical part with your examples. Please explain. Think there is an intellectual blockage on my part here.

Margaret,
When I do the 7 Steps now, I really feel the connection and balance with Gallen's advise on grounding.
The whole experience of learning SFQ thus far is hard to describe all that I have encountered. I still enjoy practicing both the active and inactive exercises equally.