Earthing and its many benefits
Just as our body enjoys the warmth and vitamin D from the sunshine, the Earth gives us food and water, a surface to walk, sit, stand, play, and build on, and something you never, ever thought about—an eternal, natural, and gentle energy. You can’t see the Earth’s energy but some people can feel it as a warm, tingling, and pleasant sensation when they are out walking barefoot along the water’s edge at the beach or walking through a meadow of dew-moistened grass.
There has been extensive research that shows that connecting to the Earth’s natural energy, by walking barefoot on grass, sand, dirt or rock can diminish chronic pain, fatigue and other ailments in our bodies, that plague many people these days. This connection of barefoot to earth, is referred to as Earthing or Grounding.
To simplify Earthing, I would say when your bare feet or skin comes in contact with the earth, free electrons are taken up into the body. These electrons could be referred to as nature’s biggest antioxidants and they can help neutralize excess free radicals in our bodies that can lead to inflammation and disease in the body.
The Earth is a conductor or free electrons and so are all living things on the planet, including us. The body is composed of mostly of water and minerals which in combination are excellent conductors of electrons from the Earth providing there is direct skin contact or some other conductive channel for them to flow through.
The Earth’s energy upgrades one’s physiology by allowing the body to cope and repair thereby promoting wellbeing, vitality and better sleep. It also harmonizes and stabilizes the body’s basic biological rhythms, knocks down (and even knocks out) chronic inflammation and reduces and eliminates associated pain, making it the most natural and powerful anti-inflammatory and anti-aging remedy around! No matter what your age, gender, race or health status you will benefit from a daily dose of Earthing!
BENEFITS EARTHING HAS BEEN SHOWN TO HELP:
- Defuse the cause of inflammation, and improve or eliminate the symptoms of many inflammation related disorders
- Reduce or eliminate chronic pain
- Improve Sleep and promote a deeper sleep
- Increase energy and vitality
- Lower stress and promote calmness in the body by cooling down the nervous system and stress hormones
- Normalize the body's biological rhythms
- Thin the blood and improve blood pressure and flow
- Relieve muscle tension and headaches
- Lessen hormonal and menstrual symptoms
- Dramatically speeds healing time and can help prevent bedsores
- Reduce or eliminate jet lag
- Protect the body against potentially health disturbing environmental electromagnetic fields (EMFs)
- Accelerate recovery from intense athletic activity
THE BASICS
Neither punishment for bad behaviour nor the terminology for a conductive surface, grounding (or earthing) is the extremely straightforward practice of walking barefoot to connect with the Earth. The Earthing Institute believes that since the dreaded introduction of non-conductive materials (shoes) on our feet we've lost our electrical roots to the planet and have become deficient in the made up nutrient "vitamin G" (the ground vitamin). That disconnection is being held responsible for human suffering and rise of chronic illness, and there's research from a former cable TV salesman to back it up. Not entirely restricted to land, the process can also be practised in a natural body of water.
GIVING IT A BASH
Walking barefoot is a quintessential summer activity in New Zealand, whether your surface of choice is sand, grass, dirt or lava-hot asphalt. For this expedition I spent the entire day without shoes, taking my tender city feet through a gauntlet of textures at Lake Rotoiti.
Along the way were several different types of grass: an ankle-length variety that felt like being savaged from a tiny grass army with spears, a carpet of damp spongy grass that stopped my feet from even touching the ground and a minefield of prickles that can be held responsible for changes in direction. Landing on coarse sand was a dream. As the water lapped around my ankles, I sunk between pebbles and the remains of fresh water mussels. The ground vitamins were strong with this one. The gritty sand lingered for the rest of the day. An interesting sensation emerged in my big toe after bouncing off a jagged rock. It was a dull, all-encompassing pain direct to the core — similar to hitting a funny bone. The experience wasn't so much a dance with electricity but squaring off with harmless obstacles that kept me on my toes. It's amplified walking. The physical appearance of the shoeless adventure was more noticeable in the form of patchy sunburn, leftover sand and red prickle damage. Whether it was the electrons of the Earth kicking into gear or simply being isolated on holiday, I certainly slept better that night.
WHY YOU SHOULD TRY IT
The beauty with grounding is that the intensity is entirely in the hands of the participant. After all, it's the basic human action of walking without shoes. The Earthing Institute's research suggests that people feel significantly better when they are grounded and getting their required dose of ground vitamins from the planet. Stated benefits include stress relief, improved quality of sleep, improved circulation and balanced blood pressure. The list of benefits is lengthy, and most could be attributed to simply being active outdoors, shoes or not.
RISK RATING
While the purpose is to connect with the planet's electrons, there is no actual risk of exposure to electricity, unless you're in the presence of live wires or meandering in a furious thunderstorm. Natural wear and tear on the feet should be expected — scrapes, scratches and bumps are all part of the business. Prickle minefields should be avoided.
