It’s giving…grounded

We’ve all heard this buzzword floating around in the holistic health community and beyond. There are shoes designed to help, meditations to practice, massage techniques to try, dance moves to learn, and acupuncture strategies to explore. Everybody wants to be grounded.

But what does that actually mean? Do you know what it feels like in your body? More importantly, do you know how to achieve it?

If you’re unsure, you’re in the right place.

What Does It Mean to Be Grounded?

At its core, being grounded means your nervous system is at rest. It’s the feeling of being calm, steady, and fully present in your body. Instead of being consumed by anxious thoughts, overstimulation, or internal chatter, you move through life with a sense of clarity and balance. When you’re grounded, you respond rather than react.

This state isn’t just mental—it’s deeply physical. Grounding brings a tangible shift in the way your body feels. Your feet feel firmly connected to the earth, almost as if there’s an energetic exchange between you and the ground beneath you. Your legs may feel weighted, stable, and strong, reinforcing your connection to the present moment. There’s a quiet stillness in your core, a centered feeling in your abdomen that allows you to move through the world with a sense of ease. Your limbs don’t feel restless or jittery; instead, they feel strong, capable, and in control.

This is why practices like walking barefoot can be so effective—they bring your awareness back to the simple act of standing, supporting yourself, and feeling connected to something steady and unmoving.

How Do You Create This Feeling?

Grounding is something you can cultivate, and the good news is that it doesn’t require anything outside of yourself. There are countless ways to get there, but they all share a common thread: they activate your circulation, smooth your energy flow, and shift your awareness inward.

For some, this shift into awareness can feel uncomfortable at first. When we focus too much on our physical sensations, we may become more aware of anxiety, discomfort, or tension. This is why nervous system depressants, like Xanax, work—they mute the body’s response to stress, temporarily masking discomfort. But what if, instead of suppressing our feelings, we allowed them to move through us?

By giving emotions and sensations space to be processed, maybe we can release them in a way that has a lasting impact. And the best part? This can be done through simple, intentional practices.

Techniques for Grounding

1. Visualization

One of the simplest yet most effective ways to shift into a grounded state is through visualization. This technique is widely used in various healing traditions. In Daoist practice, visualizing light to heal is a common meditation technique where practitioners imagine a radiant, often golden or white light entering their body, flowing through specific areas, and cleansing or repairing imbalances, with the goal of promoting physical and spiritual wellbeing. It’s often referred to as "inner light" visualization and is deeply rooted in the concept of "qi" (life force energy) circulation within the body. 

In Somatic Experiencing therapy, developed by Peter Levine, visualization is often used as a tool to regulate the nervous system and process emotional trauma in the body.

A common grounding exercise is to imagine your feet growing roots into the earth. As you breathe, you visualize these roots stretching deeper, anchoring you, making you feel steady and immovable. Even if you’re experiencing anxiety or stress, this simple mental shift can create an immediate physical response.

2. Movement

While visualization helps anchor the mind, movement is essential for grounding the body. Activating your muscles shifts energy, promotes circulation, and brings your awareness fully into the present. This is why activities like dancing, hiking, yoga, and strength training are powerful grounding tools.

Dancing, for instance, connects you with the rhythms of your own body. As you move, you become aware of the subtle shifts in weight, the activation of muscles, and the way your breath flows with each movement. Strength training, on the other hand, creates a deeper sense of physical stability—it builds strength in your legs and core, reinforcing the heaviness and rootedness needed for long-term grounding.

Beyond just the physical benefits, activating your muscles also plays a major role in blood sugar regulation. When you engage in strength training, your muscles contract and pull glucose from your bloodstream. Over time, this helps stabilize blood sugar levels, leading to fewer energy crashes and mood swings.

3. Cacao as a Grounding Ritual

One of my favorite grounding rituals is drinking cacao. Not only is it delicious, but its nutritional properties actively promote circulation, relaxation, and emotional balance.

Ceremonial-grade cacao contains theobromine, a gentle stimulant that enhances mood, focus, and energy without the jitteriness of caffeine. It’s also rich in polyphenols that reduce oxidative stress, flavanols that lower inflammation, and tryptophan, which supports serotonin production. And let’s not forget magnesium and iron, which relax muscles, improve oxygen transport, and help regulate blood sugar.

Sipping a warm cup of cacao while simply being present can be a grounding ritual in itself.

4. Acupuncture

For those who struggle to quiet the mind, acupuncture can be a direct path to grounding. Many people describe acupuncture sessions as bringing them into a deep meditative state, where the nervous system fully relaxes.

Acupuncture increases circulation, balances energy, and enhances interoception—the ability to sense and understand your own body. Acupuncture is not just about needles, the nature of investigation often promotes a deeper mindfulness of your daily experience, highlighting the fine details of what you have going on. Over time, developing this awareness allows you to recognize when something feels off and shift before discomfort turns into distress. This gives you all the power over your experience, as do all of these techniques!

Grounding Is About Presence

Getting grounded isn’t about escaping reality—it’s about fully arriving in the present moment. Whether through movement, breath, visualization, or simple rituals, the goal is to cultivate a state of calmness, clarity, and stability that you can return to again and again.

Try a few of these techniques and see what works for you. The more you practice, the easier it becomes. Your body already knows how to be grounded—you’re just giving it permission to remember.

Key Takeaways: A Quick Grounding Recap

✔ Being grounded means having a calm nervous system, a strong physical presence, and a steady mind.
✔ Visualization techniques (like imagining roots growing from your feet) help shift your nervous system into a grounded state.
✔ Movement (dancing, strength training, hiking, yoga) activates circulation, stabilizes energy, and regulates blood sugar.
✔ Cacao supports grounding through its mood-enhancing and circulatory benefits.
✔ Acupuncture fosters deep relaxation and increases body awareness.
✔ Grounding is about presence—practices that connect you to your body and the moment will always bring you back to center.