Grounding/Earthing as a Form of Self-Care

Self care is the practice of taking action to preserve one's own health (Oxford Languages) 

Have you ever gone to the beach, felt the sand under your feet and just felt so relaxed no matter what type of hectic or stressful day you've had? This feeling of calm is likely to be induced by the sounds of the waves, and from having your shoes and socks off your feet. When your feet are connecting to the Earth's natural healing energy - this is called grounding or earthing. 

Grounding is one of the most powerful and simplest ways to improve your health. Conductive contact with the human body to the surface of the Earth can have some very fascinating benefits to our psychology. 

This contact is easiest from the soles of your feet, however any contact with skin works, so whilst you pray salaah you're enhancing the experience with your feet, hands, nose and forehead. You can use grass, soil, sand or even contact with concrete for this.

Grounding is simple science - Humans are bioelectrical beings, and we carry a positive charge we can build up in our bodies. The earth surfaces carry a negative charge, making contact through grounding you are discharging any excess positive charge. This takes your body to a neural state, which is where the healing takes place.

Just like vitamin D is generated from the sun produced by energy and frequencies, the earth right under our feet provides unique energy and frequencies that influences our body. This process produces a healing effect at a cellular level. How amazing is that! 

Research is beginning to indicate that our cells are like little batteries, and we have trillions of cells, and our bodies hold milli volts, which is a very small amount of current in our bodies but we're very sensitive to external forces of man-made electricity. The amount of voltage in our body changes according to what surface we stand on. In the old days we used to wear shoes with leather soles which conducts electricity, so more than ever were being insulated, and our bodies are no longer getting the discharge as we now mostly wear rubber soled shoes. Interestingly, even in the Islamic tradition they used to wear leather shoes, and now we have the leather shocks. 

We are more than ever surrounded by Electrics, be it at home or office known as EMF(electronic magnetic fields), where our positive charge may be increased - it's a simple free method, that can help you feel better, the benefits are many, here are a few to come.

Decreases pain, decreased stress response, so it can take you from a fight or flight response to a rest and digest response, better emotional resilience and overall well-being, improves sleep, improves cortisol levels, improves wound healing, it can be used as an approach to integrative healing, reduces blood viscosity (in other words thickness) therefore this can be one of the best things for reducing cardiovascular risk. 

Experiments have shown using a multimeter, you can measure your own voltage, in different environments and you may be surprised how dramatic the changes happen going from inside the home to being outside on the grass.  

By spending 10 to 20 minutes a day on the grass, soil, sand or concrete, or for chronic conditions its 2 times a day, you can really reap the benefits for your health. Use this time to reflect, reconnect with your body, switch off from the mind chatter, and clear your head. Take a few deep belly breaths and feel grateful for these moments. It's self-care without much effort. 

Did you know you're also reviving a sunnah, Prophet Muhammad PBUH used to walk barefoot sometimes and wore shoes sometimes, so next time you’re out in the garden or even at the park, kick off your shoes and socks and enjoy the tickly sensation of the grass on your feet.  

As this verse in Surah Al Hijr mentions ‘And We did certainly create man out of clay from an altered black mud’ We are made from earth, we will return to earth, is it any surprise that we can heal from earth? Subhan’Allah.