I can literally bore most of the world to tears with talk of energy flux and flow, Meridians and Energy Centers. The gentle side of Martial Arts, the complexities and importance of meditation in a homeopathic approach to life.
The process of Grounding and Centering have both real life and spiritual benefits as they can effect your mental, spiritual, and physical health and outlook. As a part of most meditation practices they are essential, but when done regularly it can help you with anxiety, depression, and almost any interpersonal situation.
What is Grounding? Grounding is the process of aligning your energy with the natural world around you, reconnecting with nature.
What is Centering? Centering is the process of aligning your internal energies and finding balance within.
I know it all sounds hokey, like new-age BS. But just like the Earth has an electromagnetic field, that same electricity like energy sends impulses that will charge and discharge within living creatures, electricity is used to send messages throughout your body, doctors use it to shock your heart or your brain, they use low current electricity to find nerve damage. There is a real science to it, and as energy cannot be destroyed it can only be changed, it doesn't take a lot of thought to realize that as we are acted on by outside forces, we absorb some of that energy. That electricity can pass between people when they hug, shake hands, or enjoy other forms of physical contact: like sex or a fist fight.
Meridians are the pathways, conduits or "grid" within the human body, the unseen network. Chakra's or "nodes" are where those Meridian intersect. These are often recognized in martial arts as "pressure points" or a place that you can interact with to effect maximum result from applied force.
When you bring your hands together you are completing a circuit, which is why many meditation coaches will instruct you to place your palms facing each other. Without turning this into a book (which I should think about writing some day) Those are the 'what' you are effecting with meditation, grounding and centering. I believe centering to be more important than grounding, others put grounding as the more important action, some will say they are equally important. One thing that I will not argue about, is that you (all of us) need to ground and center on a regular basis, to prevent our energy from stagnating or building up and pooling in undesirable ways.
With Centering What happens on the Microcosm effects the Macrocosm, its a sympathetic relationship, by effecting first yourself you can work to heal others and the the world around you.
To Center, you need focus and clarity. Which is part of why I light my daily candles. I focus on the flame, seeing it as my own energy, strong and clean, I will then complete a repetition of breathing, 4 seconds in through my nose, 4 seconds out through my mouth, and repeat for a minute or so until my pulse slows.
With Grounding you are using the world around you to heal yourself.
To Ground, you are discharging excess energy by coming into contact with the natural world. Walking barefoot in the grass, hugging a tree, holding your hands in running water, or in a bowl of earth, pebbles, or you can clutch a crystal like a worry stone. The importance is to visualize the exchange, as you pour energy in, filtered fresh energy comes back to you, like a tree draws water through its roots.
There are dozens of methods that can be used to ground and center, what is important is the mindfulness of the action, the intent, and your control over the situation.
Daily meditation has been found to benefit your physical health as much as anything else, and these meditations don't have to be an hour of sitting in a lotus position reciting 'ohms' for deep trance work. It can be 15 minutes of listening to classical music while you are laying on your living room floor, or even something more active like Taiko drums or tribal sounds while your on the treadmill focusing on your breathing. People often forget that not all meditation is stationary, you can capture your center and find your zen at any time or while doing anything (as long as its monotonous and, please not while driving or operating heavy machinery).
In today's world most of the anxiety we experience is self created. We invent things to worry about that we have no control over, some people seek to control every small detail of daily life in response to stress from the things they have no control over. I am a very low stress person, I always have been, and my daily habits reflect that. But I do have ADD, and it is un-medicated, so I use a few extra daily rituals to keep me on task. Like my OCD level of control on my calendar.
The trick is to establish a daily ritual, scent connects people to memory, so you can use a particular essential oil in a diffuser necklace to help you find that peaceful state of mind; and try out different oils, a lot of people use lavender for everything (it was my mom's favorite) but I find spicy scents like Ginger or citrus scents like Bergamot work well for me. You could try adding cup of tea to your end of day routine helps, a worry stone, or incorporate the process into something that you already do, maybe you can practice breathing exorcises while you walk your dog. Get a Himalayan Salt lamp to help stir up negative ions and purify the space around you, I use my electric one as a nightlight, it stays on my bedside table and I make sure to turn it on for thirty minutes or so while I am just relaxing in bed. Recently the popular stones to carry are Clear Quartz and Hematite, but I find Bloodstone and Carnelian are my favorite crystals, you should visit a rock shop and play with a few, do some research and get a couple to have with you at all times, one should be for grounding or earthing energy, the other should be for manifesting or energizing.
Just find what works for you, and remember to always try something new!