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| This Note
is one of a series
where I give my ideas on aspects of Reiki and/or energy work. The pages
are intended to give some "food for thought" and some are only my
viewpoint. While a number of facts may be included, you should decide
for yourself how much (if any) of the content feels right to you. Recently in a class I was explaining a
common term used in healing practices, that of "grounding" oneself. It
seems to have at least 2 connotations.
The
first relates to whether you are completely in your physical body and
the second relates to your connection to
Mother Earth.
(Click on the image for a larger view)  In the image to the left
(from Barbara Brennan's Hands
of Light) we see an example of how a
person receiving an energy healing session might slip out of
body (Brennan's book shows at least 9 layers of the aura).
Apparently we often do this during sleep, but normally we slide back in
easily when we awake. However, sometimes we are in such a deep
altered state during Reiki that when the session is finished we might
feel disoriented, much like we sometimes do when our sleep is suddenly
disturbed and we awake in a confused state. So we are apparently
not "grounded" within our physical body, and might have a little
difficult walking or driving. A brief series of firm,
vigorous rubbing along the outside of the arms and legs (as long
as
these are not sore or injured) tends to help bring us back "in
body", as will a
glass of water or perhaps a wet cloth self-applied to the face., among
other solutions.(Click on the image for a larger view)  The second idea of
connection to earth energy itself seems to have a few purposes in a
treatment as well. When I briefly learned a form of energy
healing from Carol Ann
Liaros in 1978, I was told to ground myself and
my healing subject so that we would not experience each other's
negative energies. I was to do this by first imagining that my
own
root chakra and/or feet were extending roots into the earth, like a
huge tree. Then I was to imagine the same for my healing
subject. I can recall some treatments where my healer was very
adept at this and I could feel a strong pulling downwards.
Sometimes I had to do this on my own to get that same feel from the
treatment, as the healer had not been taught this. However, Reiki
energy seems to exhibit a fair amount of this grounding property and
thus does not seem to normally require it. Some Reiki schools
teach an additional grounding symbol energy (Mara/Rama) that can
assist with this. The other useful purpose of this second grounding process is to help energy move more freely through the body, especially when it seems to be slow or get stuck, as when a headache might develop. After a good Reiki treatment you can even feel a sort of energy breeze coming out of the recipient's foot chakras. Some Qigong practices actually teach their healers how to achieve this. And as an energy worker, part of your personal development might require that you develop more connection to earth, so as to more easily handle greater flows of new or existing energies. In my case, over a period of a couple years my own spirit guides led me to places where I could not only sense, but also acquire such grounding energies from very strong earth power spots. In particular these were Stonehenge, UK, Kurama Yama, Japan, the base of the Canadian Niagara Falls and Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach, Oregon. These, combined with my development of the Unified Chakra/Field certainly made my own energy progression much easier to handle. 
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