When I’m feeling out of synch with the time, the weather, and my schedule, or if I’m repeatedly waking up depleted, scattered, foggy, or overwhelmed, I know it’s time to do some grounding. Connecting the root chakra to the Earth provides a deep sense of stability and support while aligning the body to seasonal rhythms. Now is an especially apt time before all the year-end festivities, pressures, and triggers start to accumulate.

If you've been feeling frazzled, anxious, unsettled, scattered, panicky, or disoriented, your nervous system might be short-circuiting. It's time to kick off your shoes and socks, sink into a soft spot of grass, and get grounded.

As an energy healer I can see how so many physical problems originate from imbalances and distortions in our first (root) chakra -- what ought to be a vital energetic connection to the earth and one another. I can see now how my "stance," my orientation towards the world as a child, was exacerbating my pain and impeding my healing.