10 Simple Grounding Techniques for Vatic Times
Since you’ve found your way to this post, I don’t have to tell you that we’re living in challenging times. In North America right now, we are in the Vata season of the year, during a Vatic phase of civilization, and many of us are in the Vatic phase of life, when energies are subtle, overwhelming, fast-paced, irregular, dry, and cold. Vata is all about subtle energy, but we are not on this earth to live as subtle energy. We’re here to experience physical existence in all its sensual, splendid juiciness, and staying juicy is also staying grounded. Here are some of my favorite techniques for getting juicy and grounded:
Take a warm epsom salt bath. Play music. Luxuriate.
Eat warm, moist, unctuous foods at regular meal times. Make sure to eat some ghee with every meal. Don’t skip meals.
Give yourself a sesame oil massage every day. I buy herbed Ayurvedic oils from banyanbotanicals.com and chandika.com for this purpose, and I also make my own.
Make and drink a bedtime rasayana.
Go to bed no later than 9:30 p.m., and aim to be asleep no later than 10 p.m. Treat yourself with the same love you would give to your own precious baby, because you are your own precious baby.
Breath diaphragmatically.
Sing or chant a mantra aloud. I’ve been writing songs, and I’ve started uploading them on YouTube. It’s been fun and integrating. Sing with others when you can.
Sleep under a weighted blanket. If you don’t like having a weighted blanket over your whole body, try laying sandbags over your pelvis and/or belly.
Find humanely raised and slaughtered meat, cook it well, and eat it, with great appreciation, between the hours of 10 a.m and 2 p.m. If you’re a vegan and that’s working for you, great, but if you’re a vegan and you feel depleted, constantly hungry, and ungrounded, realize that suffering in these ways is not serving you or the planet. This podcast about regenerative farming may help you break free from your rigid beliefs about food.
Listen to someone without judging what they are saying, without waiting for your turn to speak, and without saying anything back. The feeling that we have to do something, say something, know something, consume something, check something (like a smart phone) all the time is ungrounding and depleting. If we can look someone in the eye and see their light and hear them with appreciation and love—regardless of what they are saying—we will experience true connection, grounding, and healing. It’s often said lately that the most precious currency of our time is our attention. When we give our full attention to someone else, it’s the most precious gift we can give.