Grounding
An ancient legend tells the story of four illustrious rabbis who embarked on a mystical journey through the levels of the pardes/
/orchard. You may recall that the letters in pardes symbolize the levels of Torah study, the basis of Kabbalah. The rabbis were attempting to reach the highest levels of consciousness, the kabbalistic world of sod, secrets.
According to the legend, only one of the four who entered the pardes, Rabbi Akiva, entered in peace and left in peace. Of the other three rabbis, one died, one became insane, and one completely abandoned his faith. What protected Rabbi Akiva? One interpretation is that Rabbi Akiva survived because he stayed grounded, connected to the earth. Because he was in contact with his body and the physical world he was able to handle the magnitude of the experience, while the others could not. He had created a balance of spiritual and physical within himself resulting in a strong vessel that withstood the challenge of holding the intense light of higher consciousness. Because Rabbi Akiva stayed in his body, he emerged from the highest mystical realms of the pardes even stronger and wiser.
Working with kabbalistic ideas and symbolism can create altered states of consciousness. Grounding to the earth is an essential preliminary to energy, meditative, or kabbalistic practices to ensure that you are firmly in your body. It is very easy to get carried away in esoteric study, and leaving the body for a length of time can be quite detrimental. It can be difficult to return to reality and in some cases to discern reality from imagination.
Even the pressures of ordinary life can cause us to “escape” out of the present moment and detach from the rigors of being a soul confined to a body. In working with clients, the first thing I check is the stability of grounding. For a myriad of reasons, from the shifting of the earth’s magnetic poles to having been caught in traffic, many people are not grounded moment to moment.
Conscious grounding helps to create a stable container for balancing and reconnecting energies on the physical, emotional, and mental planes. Grounding also helps to stabilize the sefira of Malchut, creating a vessel that is strong and secure enough to hold the light of intense spiritual vibration. The mind may then travel and return safely to the physical body, as Rabbi Akiva exemplified in the pardes.
Atoms and molecules are electromagnetic force fields. Our cells are made of atoms and molecules so we are electromagnetic beings. Electricity and magnetism connect us to those same forces in the earth. We are held by the force of gravity, and like a lightning rod or any other electric device, we must be connected to the ground in a way that allows energy to enter and leave the system.
When we are earth-grounded, we feel secure in our bodies, supported, solid, connected. People who are not grounded may feel depleted if fresh earth energy is not entering to “juice” them. They may also pile up so much excess energy they “explode” with emotion. When people say they are “burned out” or “fried,” in a way they really are.
Grounding can occur at different levels. For example, we experience physical connection to the earth through a harmony with the force of gravity. Emotional grounding allows our emotions to move freely and enables us to easily discharge unwanted thoughts. When both the physical and emotional bodies are grounded, we can bring our minds and hearts into harmony with others and with our higher selves.
Grounding is largely a function of the root chakra and the kidney meridian. The root chakra, similar to the sefira of Malchut in the Tree, stores information dealing with survival, safety, and of being held securely in time by the ancestors. It is the connection to Mother Earth that feeds the higher chakras. It replenishes and heals us.
In the poetic language of Kabbalah, Malchut is also the realm of the Shechina and the world of Assiya, physical matter. Malchut creates the vessel that stabilizes the entire Tree. Having no light of her own, Malchut instead attracts, receives, and holds the influx of divine light from above. The stronger the vessel Malchut creates, the more light the Tree can hold. A stable Malchut is necessary for lasting healing and repair while a weakness in Malchut brings instability to the entire Tree.
Physically clearing the energy of the root chakra and/or entraining to the vibration of a healthy Malchut are excellent ways to ground, but require some training. We will focus on simpler and more immediate ways to reconnect to earth energy, first through an energy practice alone and then through a combination of energy and kabbalistic symbols.
The Energy of Grounding
We ground to the energy of the earth through the lower parts of the body. Besides the root chakra, a primary doorway to this energy is Kidney 1 (K1), the acupressure point called the Wellspring of Life. K1 is the first point on the kidney meridian. It lies on the ball of the foot. Kidney energy runs up the front of the body, continually delivering life force energy also called chi, and in Kabbalah, Ruach.
There are many easy ways to practice conscious grounding no matter where you find yourself at.
Indoors:
- Gently stamp on the floor and consciously feel your connection to the earth through the bottoms of the feet.
- Massage or stretch K1 with the fingers or rub the ball of the foot with the back of a stainless steel spoon.
- Sit in a chair with your feet flat on the floor and rest your hands on your thighs. This is called pharaoh posture because it is the position of seated pharaohs found in ancient Egyptian carvings.
- Stand on sea salt crystals while you shower.60
Outdoors:
- If you have access to a large tree, stand (preferably barefoot) with your tailbone and back against the trunk. You are connecting to all the surrounding area where the tree’s roots extend. Close the eyes and feel the expansion of your own roots.
- Walk barefoot on wet grass or on a beach.
- Lie on the ground with bent knees. Feel the connection to earth through your tailbone and feet. Breathe deeply.
Kabbalistic Grounding
The following grounding technique is based on Earth Docking, created by my colleague Ellen Meredith, a gifted and intuitive energy healer.61
Sit with your feet flat on the floor. If possible, remove your shoes and activate the K1 point by rubbing it with your fingers or the back of a stainless steel spoon.
Place your hands and arms gently on your thighs, or use them to follow the energy as it rises up the body.
Project the image of the four-letter Name onto your body.
Imagine doors on the bottoms of your feet connected to Kidney 1. Open the doors. Imagine you are extending the sides of the letter hei, like roots down from your feet, deep into the earth. Stop about eight feet down. Here the energy is very stable. Imagine you are plugging your hei roots into energy outlets, as if you were plugging in an electric appliance like a toaster. Feel the energy rise up each leg through the hei and up the body through the vav, upper hei, and yud. Let the energy release through the crown like a fountain.
Connecting to Heaven
The focus here is on earth grounding to balance the cerebral and spiritual nature of Kabbalah. But both heaven and earth energies must be in balance to create the stable dance of yin/yang, of life. In general, yin/feminine/earth energy enters through the lower part of the body; yang/masculine/heaven energy enters through the top of the head.
As in Kabbalah, the masculine energy connects to the light of heaven. If an influx of spiritual energy is needed, it is possible to do earth grounding in reverse. If we imagine the Tree of Life on a physical body, the top of the head is the sefira of Keter, meaning crown, corresponding to the crown chakra. Keter also corresponds to the top tip of the Y/ 
in the Name YHVH. Also called a crown, the crown of the yud is our closest connection to the Infinite Light of Source.
Imagine the tip of the yud connecting to your special soul star lying about eighteen inches above the head. (Some call this the eighth chakra.) The soul star is your connection to shefa, the cosmic flow. Imagine this life-force energy entering through the crown, traveling down through the Name into your roots, and repeat the pattern with your breath and imagination as long as desired.