Lifeletter #129: Well & Truly Grounded

Do you remember coming home late, as a teenager, and meeting one of your parents, waiting for you, with folded arms and a grim look? My mother would glare at me for a few moments, with steam rising from her head, and then say, “You are grounded, young lady.”

Wikipedia defines grounding as ‘a common punishment for children or teenagers. In some cases it is suggested as an alternative to corporal punishment in the home.’ A google search brought up this definition of grounded: ‘prohibited or prevented from flying. (of a pilot or an aircraft) You don’t taunt a grounded flier, especially after he’s had a few beers.’ That’s exactly how it felt to me, when I was an adolescent. Being grounded was a punishment- it felt like having my wings clipped.

But there is another, very different definition of grounded: ‘well balanced and sensible. “The kids have money and a rock-star dad, but they seem grounded”

Or this one: ‘used to describe a person who is sensible and has a good understanding of what is really important in life.’ (the Merriam Webster dictionary)

I didn’t really know what it was to be grounded, according to the second definition, until about 12 years ago. I was participating in a retreat with Adya Shanti, a well-known American spiritual teacher. I had been sitting in meditation for quite a while, when Adya entered the room right behind me and walked by where I was sitting. The quiet and settled state of my nervous system allowed me to perceive his energy very distinctly. I could not believe how grounded he was. I realized that he was rooted right down into the earth. His whole energy field felt like a great mountain, massive and unshakeable.

It was also clear to me that he was transmitting a silent message to the world, to the universe through being so grounded. That message was very simple and so full of love: ‘I am here. Completely here. Not anywhere else. Just here.’

Luckily for me, I never got over that moment with Adya. It stayed with me and percolated through my body and mind and heart for years. I wanted to find out how to get grounded like that. I wanted to sink my roots deep into the earth. I wanted to show up like that. I wanted to offer a presence like that to the world, to everyone I met.

It’s taken me a long time to open to a much deeper embodiment. In the process I’ve encountered layers of my own being who do not want to be here, who are looking for some kind of exit strategy, in case life gets to be too much for me. That’s what got to me about Adya’s level of embodiment. It was such an unconditional ‘yes’ to life.

I had no idea, when I had that realization about grounding, that I would be carried into a deep and intense exploration of my whole energetic relationship to life. Now, finally, I’m so glad for it. Because our relationship with life, with the universe, with everyone, has to transform on that level, before we enter a new way of being.

If we don’t make real contact with what is happening, on the core energetic level, our life will keep moving in the same circles. Going down, underneath the surface, we come face to face with many things we have never seen or felt before. When we are well and truly grounded, we have the strength, to stand and face them. This is what the earth offers to us. The energy of earth is warm, welcoming, loving, embracing. It creates tremendous stability in us.

 With the energy of earth moving through us, we can see where we have turned away from life and from ourselves. And learn how to open again, breath by breath, learn how to say yes to whoever and whatever life brings us.

 

 

And how we are all
preparing for that
abrupt waking,
and that calling,
and that moment
we have to say yes,
except it will
not come so grandly,
so Biblically,
but more subtly
and intimately in the face
of the one you know
you have to love

-David Whyte

 

 With Love,

 Shayla