What does it mean to be 'grounded'?

[zhoupeng]

Hi Everyone,

 

I have seen this term come up quite often in discussions revolving around the safety of certain practice methods and the readiness a person is for attempting certain exercises. In terms of the latter, my question is what exactly does this mean? As someone who is in to internal martial arts when I see the word I immediately think of someone doing alot of Zhan Zhuang (standing stance practice).

 

Does 'grounded' specifically mean 'rooted' in the sense of martial arts? Or does it mean having a lot of Qi? Or being capable of a high level of concentration for prolonged periods? Or having good physical health?

 

What would make a person sufficiently 'grounded' to attempt something safely?

 

Any help would be appreciated, Thanks!!

[ryansmith]

Hi Everyone,

 

I have seen this term come up quite often in discussions revolving around the safety of certain practice methods and the readiness a person is for attempting certain exercises. In terms of the latter, my question is what exactly does this mean? As someone who is in to internal martial arts when I see the word I immediately think of someone doing alot of Zhan Zhuang (standing stance practice).

 

Does 'grounded' specifically mean 'rooted' in the sense of martial arts? Or does it mean having a lot of Qi? Or being capable of a high level of concentration for prolonged periods? Or having good physical health?

 

What would make a person sufficiently 'grounded' to attempt something safely?

 

Any help would be appreciated, Thanks!!

Strong base chakra.

[soaring crane]

Hi Zhoupeng,

 

It's a really good question and I'm looking forward to the answers you get. From my perspective, Qigong exercises, even "static" practices in sitting or standing, are always an attempt to balance Yin and Yang (the and in the middle is important), Body and Spirit, so to speak, and result in a deeper grounding and expanded Geist. I've been reminded from quite a few sources with a lot more authority on this than I have that Qigong should never be done in a trance condition. You should never loose contact to your body while practicing; remain focussed on your activity all the time, even if the activity invloves standing in one place.

 

This is a lot different from my more esoteric, new-agey friends who meditate to gain contact to the spirit world, talk to their spirit guides, contact Archangels, or get aid from Hildegard von Bingen, or whatnot. They have to intentionally do deep rooting meditation before starting. They think they're doing it as a form of protection, so that less-friendly "energies" won't find it so easy to find a place to hook into them, or take a part of them off to the other side, or whatnot. I don't really go along with what they do and, honestly, they're all just a little crazy (another way of saying "ungrounded"). And that, imo, is precisely because they concentrate entirely on the fun spiritual stuff and forget about the leg-work. Virtually everything they do invlolves imagery and imagination and they never really come out of this state.

 

They won't listen to me, and yet, they all rave about how smooth and strong my chakras are (even though I have nothing to do with Chakras) and how well grounded I always am while still able to "give such good energy", in their language.

 

A whole different perspective on being "grounded", which we call "rooted" in German, has to do with feeling comfortable with and within yourself, and with the place where you are at the moment, the place where your roots are growing. I feel a lot more rooted here in good old Europe, where I can trip over 3,000 year old Celtic walls in the woods and where little towns routinely celebrate 1,000 year anniversaries, than I ever did in New York where I was born and raised.

 

Added through edit: Being grounded can mean you don't have the urge to run away from what and where you are right now, no urge to look for external confirmation of your methods and motives. Self-contentment might be a good parallel.

Edited December 29, 2009 by soaring crane

[zazaza]

Strong base chakra.

if you have a strong base, but the others aren't functioning well then one won't be grounded.

to me grounded means the same as centered.

 

the way to center oneself is to focus his attention upon him"self",

see through the outer layers of mind and recognize your self as the pure substance,

and keep your awareness on that always.

 

this way all blocked energy gates become unblocked,

and slowly (or quickly) one combusts spontaneously into enlightened states of blissfull centeredness.

 

for more information on how to ground, read

http://www.thetaobums.com/Self-realization...ery-t12963.html

[TzuJanLi]

Greetings..

 

Grounded, as i understand it, is balanced and connected.. connected to the earth and the heavens.. 'Man' (gender neutral) is the interface between Heaven and Earth, offspring of the marriage of Heaven and Earth.. 'Grounded' is attaining the Clarity to experience this exquisite condition.. 'Grounded' is not being deceived by the 'Spiritual Circus'..

 

Be well..

[C T]

My definition:

 

To be grounded means to live with a sharp and constant awareness that the 'ground' under my feet

could be taken away at any moment....

 

Without this thrust at the fore of my being, somehow, i find it very difficult to remain in the present

ground, always seeming to defer the given moment by engaging in mindless chatter, distractions,

preoccupations and insanely mundane activities, including the underlying thought that, "Ah, no

problems there, tomorrow always comes.." Well, in a sense, that is true, but i have realized that

although tomorrow always comes, one day, that very day when i could be slightly off centered,

i may not be there when it does!

[de_paradise]

Well, in awakenings the first while, its pretty destabilizing. The strong energy flows and hormonal changes and kriyas and muscle palpitations, changes in mood, etc etc. can very easily lead a person to negative thinking. "im gonna die. im gonna die." for example. My friend thought this repetitively for a year. Serious depression. My thing was, "noone understands this?" Poor me.

 

Then theres too much energy, too vibrating. Its actually indicative of progress, but the question is how much can you take while still trying to lead a normal life? Theres little things to do for grounding, but I found its more mental than a matter of hugging a tree or whatever remedy. I think its about outlook and control of what is deemed positive or negative. You just have to be mentally prepared like a friggen marine landing on pandora, and that is by being open minded about all the weird shit you never thought could be true about your body. And if an alien comes down and farts in your face, you just roll over and go to sleep:) You dont go into eplectic shock and lose all your friends because you now know a whole lot of shit they dont believe.

[markern]

To me it seems to be about your energy and awareness being disperesed over your body in a way that is balanced and that has a sufficient amount of your awareness and energy in the lower part of your body and espeically your legs and that you strongly feel the ground and a stable comfortable connection to it in a way that makes you feel safe. Trust and openess are spleen qualities and the spleen is the earth element and when I work on the spleen I feel those two things and I feel like I stand solidly on the ground and feel trusting and open in a very natural way. Rooting would be feeling a really powerfull conection and pull deeper down into the earth. Grounding and rooting then avoids too much energy being stuck high up with the problems that entails and they give you a strong downward pull so that even if you go way up in some far away astral plane you can use this conection to pull yourself strongly down.

 

 

Hi Zhoupeng,

 

It's a really good question and I'm looking forward to the answers you get. From my perspective, Qigong exercises, even "static" practices in sitting or standing, are always an attempt to balance Yin and Yang (the and in the middle is important), Body and Spirit, so to speak, and result in a deeper grounding and expanded Geist. I've been reminded from quite a few sources with a lot more authority on this than I have that Qigong should never be done in a trance condition. You should never loose contact to your body while practicing; remain focussed on your activity all the time, even if the activity invloves standing in one place.

 

This is a lot different from my more esoteric, new-agey friends who meditate to gain contact to the spirit world, talk to their spirit guides, contact Archangels, or get aid from Hildegard von Bingen, or whatnot. They have to intentionally do deep rooting meditation before starting. They think they're doing it as a form of protection, so that less-friendly "energies" won't find it so easy to find a place to hook into them, or take a part of them off to the other side, or whatnot. I don't really go along with what they do and, honestly, they're all just a little crazy (another way of saying "ungrounded"). And that, imo, is precisely because they concentrate entirely on the fun spiritual stuff and forget about the leg-work. Virtually everything they do invlolves imagery and imagination and they never really come out of this state.

 

They won't listen to me, and yet, they all rave about how smooth and strong my chakras are (even though I have nothing to do with Chakras) and how well grounded I always am while still able to "give such good energy", in their language.

 

A whole different perspective on being "grounded", which we call "rooted" in German, has to do with feeling comfortable with and within yourself, and with the place where you are at the moment, the place where your roots are growing. I feel a lot more rooted here in good old Europe, where I can trip over 3,000 year old Celtic walls in the woods and where little towns routinely celebrate 1,000 year anniversaries, than I ever did in New York where I was born and raised.

 

Added through edit: Being grounded can mean you don't have the urge to run away from what and where you are right now, no urge to look for external confirmation of your methods and motives. Self-contentment might be a good parallel.

 

 

Never thought about that but a lot of americans are somhow much less rooted energeticly than eurpeans. Although it varies a lot of course and I supose Texans have thier feet firmly planted on the ground

 

An american once told me "everything that isen`t bolted down slides to California. Good luck on educating the new age people. I have had about zero success. A little more than zero but still not much. They anoy me a lot and I think many would be better of not being at all involved with the stuff they deal with. HOw do they reply to what you tell them?

 

 

 

if you have a strong base, but the others aren't functioning well then one won't be grounded.

to me grounded means the same as centered.

 

the way to center oneself is to focus his attention upon him"self",

see through the outer layers of mind and recognize your self as the pure substance,

and keep your awareness on that always.

 

this way all blocked energy gates become unblocked,

and slowly (or quickly) one combusts spontaneously into enlightened states of blissfull centeredness.

 

for more information on how to ground, read

http://www.thetaobums.com/Self-realization...ery-t12963.html

 

To me being centered has to do with having my main energy and awareness centered in the dan tien and intentionally and physically moving from the dan tien. But I also include having a good part of my awareness in the center line of my body. When I do pilates a lot I feel a strengthening along the spine that gives me a feeling of having a very solid core and center psychologically.

Edited December 29, 2009 by markern

[soaring crane]

An american once told me "everything that isen`t bolted down slides to California.

 

Yes, I think the reason so many Americans are confused and unsure of which way to turn, is that their roots lie a few thousand miles away from them. Pick a direction, North, South, East or West. Most "Americans" have no real connection to the land they stand on. Many still hyphenate themselves: Italian-, Polish-, Chinese-, Irish- , -American. It's become completely normal. But really quite a weird and untested brand-new development in human history.

 

As a result, you can join virtually any discussion forum online dominated by Americans (Guitar, Running and Digital Imaging are three themes that come to mind where I've been active in the past) and start a thread on depression and psychoactive drugs. It'll grow to one of the biggest threads at the forum.

 

That's what "ungrounded means", to a large extent. No?

 

Good luck on educating the new age people. I have had about zero success. A little more than zero but still not much. They anoy me a lot and I think many would be better of not being at all involved with the stuff they deal with. HOw do they reply to what you tell them?

 

Well, I'd say I'm just too boring for them. They can't understand that I don't just do gymnastics and breathing exercises. The results are right there in front of them, so to speak, yet they would rather look for guidance from external, more mysterious forces. They tend to run from one guru to the next, which I think is part of the "ungrounded" problem as well.

 

The current hot theme is the "Intraterrestrials", the "Hollow Earth" theory which isn't a theory, it's hard tested and proven fact, according to them

Edited December 29, 2009 by soaring crane

[Aetherous]

soaring crane wrote:

 

...which we call "rooted" in German, has to do with feeling comfortable with and within yourself, and with the place where you are at the moment

 

Nice.

 

Yes, I think the reason so many Americans are confused and unsure of which way to turn, is that their roots lie a few thousand miles away from them. Pick a direction, North, South, East or West. Most "Americans" have no real connection to the land they stand on. Many still hyphenate themselves: Italian-, Polish-, Chinese-, Irish- , -American. It's become completely normal. But really quite a weird and untested brand-new development in human history.

 

I think if someone grows up outdoors, they will have a closer connection to where they live. If you have kids, take them to play outside in more natural areas!

[suninmyeyes]

in my understanding to be grounded means having clear sensible mind,purposful actions and generous,compassionate heart .

now this can be tried to be achived through different ways .and i suppose if one is doing martial arts or chi kung ,then it would be by applying practises thought.plus lots of introspection and honesty and forgivness within yourself.

by the way DE PARADISE i love your aliens farting in the face

[z00se]

I think grounded means to be grounded within your body. If you have too much cosmic energy you will be overcome with bliss and not living in your body too much. You will feel so great you won't have much concentration for what is going on around you. If you have too much star energy you will be in a dreamy state, adventuring around the universe in a kind of lala land.

 

For general daily life you need to be grounded to perform well. For spiritual moments you can be high as a kite =]

 

This is what my experience shows me.

[zhoupeng]

Thanks everyone for your replies, it has been really helpful for me to know that while everyone is approaching it from different angles, it is clear that we are all looking more or less in the same direction.

 

It is nice to see that the concept of grounding can be taken in a physical, mental and psychological sense; now I will try to incorporate these angles to make my practices more holistic ^^

 

Does anyone know of a person you would describe as being very grounded? How does an encounter/interaction with such a person feel? Do they leave any impressions?

Edited December 30, 2009 by zhoupeng

[Spectrum]

it means push on it and see if it falls over

[z00se]

it means push on it and see if it falls over

 

This means NOT grounded.

 

http://www.thetaobums.com/Ayahuasca-experience-t13009.html