EARTHINGby Diana Aimone
Photo by Nirzar-Pangarkar
EARTHINGby Diana Aimone
“ The earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair”
~ Kahlil Gibran
A simple act of placing bare feet on the ground may provide a foundation for increased health and well-being, known as Earthing or grounding. As a mental health counselor, I work with clients suffering from depression, anxiety, PTSD, chronic fatigue, chronic pain and diagnosis of degenerative disc disease, fibromyalgia, lupus, irritable bowel syndrome, arthritis and more.
One reason could be that we rarely connect with the earth with our bare feet in our modern world. We
Photo by Nirzar-Pangarkar
spend most days disconnected from our planet. Free radical stress from exposure to pollution, cigarettes, pesticides, processed foods and radiation continually deplete your body of electrons. The Earth is electron-rich to provide an abundant supply of antioxidant free-radical busting electrons. Without antioxidants, free radicals can overwhelm your system leading to oxidative stress, inflammation, and accelerated aging.
Our body is an electrical being that can use grounding to harness an electrical charge of the Earth to positively influence health. When bare feet are placed on Earth, you absorb large amounts of negative electrons through the soles of your feet. This is possibly due to the Earth being struck by lightning; thousands of time each minute, primarily around the Equator.
Earthing is as simple as placing your feet on bare ground, beach sand, grass, concrete or bricks which are not painted or sealed, or ceramic tile. Surfaces that do not ground you are wood, vinyl, plastic or rubber, tar, tarmac, and asphalt. There are also grounding pads, grounding chairs, grounding sheets for your bed, wrist bracelets, and other products on the market, if you cannot wiggle your toes on the earth’ s surface each day.
Research shows significant health benefits from Earthing, including improved sleep, decreased inflammation and pain, a shift in the autonomic nervous system from sympathetic to parasympathetic activation, reduction in blood viscosity, improvement in wound healing, improved circulation, and stress reduction.
Make a commitment to touch the Earth more with your bare feet, enjoy the fresh air while you’ re out there, it’ ll do your body good! For more information check out the resources listed below.
Resources: Mercola. com, Chopra. com, Earthing. com, the movies Down to Earth and The Grounded.
16 BEND HEALTH GUIDE | Spring 2018