Earthing: A Simple Healing Experiment Begins

I’ve just come inside after spending an hour or so chained to the ground….

(Do I have your attention?)

Its not quite what I’m sure you’ve just imagined. I was “chained” with a silver chain, wrapped around my ankle, that was itself connected to a electrical ground wire that led to a grounding post in the Earth below the screened in porch. I was rocking in my favorite chair, sanding a moonstone & resting while enjoying the day.

The full reason why can be found here:
The Earthing Institute

The concept is simple:

The surface of the Earth resonates with natural, subtle energies. Ongoing scientific research is discovering the details as to why people feel significantly better when they connect with these omnipresent energy fields. Earthing refers to the process of connecting by walking barefoot outside, as humans have done throughout history… Earthing immediately equalizes your body to the same energy level, or potential, as the Earth. This results in synchronizing your internal biological clocks, hormonal cycles, and physiological rhythms, and suffusing your body with healing, negatively charged free electrons abundantly present on the surface of the Earth. (from Earthing Institute – About Earthing

The website is large, and there’s even a book about this shockingly simple concept – that we evolved within contact of the Earth’s natural charge, and that now that we’re “modernized” with insulated houses & rubber soled shoes, we are no longer in contact with the Earth’s charge, and this is one cause of chronic illness.

As I read through the site yesterday, over & over they mentioned inflammation, and the role that the Earth’s negative ions have in reducing inflammation by neutralizing the positively charged ions of inflammation.

This is not some New Age “grounding” technique – this is backed by hard science & serious research. They’ve documented the changes in the body caused by simply being in contact with the Earth’s ground energy.

We know that Earthing allows a transfer of electrons (the Earth’s natural, subtle energy) into the body. We know that inflammation is caused by free radicals and that free radicals are neutralized with electrons from any source. Electrons are the source of the neutralizing power of antioxidants.
In the Earthing studies, as well as the feedback from thousands of individuals who have grounded themselves, we have consistent evidence of people whose pain was reduced. Such reduction of pain is evidence (but not proof) that inflammation is reduced. However, the studies point clearly in that direction. (from Earthing Research

They also have a companion site where they sell kits for grounding yourself indoors – either using the “ground” that is hopefully incorprated into your home’s wiring or using a ground rod & a cord thru a window, and they have everything from silver-impregnated sheets, grounding mats, bands, etc., that you plug into the connectors the kits come with.

One of the questions asked in one of their FAQ’s was couldn’t you just use your own ground rod & wire & wrap it around your ankle. The answer was yes, but it wouldn’t be very comfortable.

As I sat outside, bare feet planted solidly on moist Earth, I realized I already had a ground rod & wire running just under the porch, that was previously used to electrify a wire running around our dog fence. It didn’t take long to unhook it from the dog fence, curl the wires into a loop, and then attach a silver chain.

Wa-la! My own home grounding system!

Does it work? Will it help those of us with ME/CFS/FMS, etc? I don’t know.

But, reading through their site yesterday, I read account after account of people saying it improved their sleep, eased arthritis pain, increased their energy, normalized their blood pressure, and yes, even one person who had fibromyalgia & was greatly helped.

They even go so far as to warn those of us on medication that we may need adjustments if we begin Earthing. Apparently, it has a documented affect on blood pressure as well as thyroid function, with many taking meds for those needing a reduction in their medication.

The minimum amount of time needed for an effect is recommended as 40 minutes, twice a day. Many people are sleeping on their grounded sheets, so getting an 8 hour grounding.

There is no way you can have too much time spent grounded, since being grounded 24/7 is our natural environment.

I’d love to get their grounding sheet, but for now, I’ll start with my homemade set up, and see what happens.

So did I notice anything during my first grounding session? Yes. And I don’t really have words for it. I felt peaceful. Quiet inside. Less anxious. Centered. The same way I felt as a child when I ran wild, always barefoot, through the Woods. And ya know, I didn’t want to un-hook myself!

I’m very interested in what you might think of this concept – give their site a read through, and leave me a comment, please!