Earthing, Connexion à la terre

Many articles talk about earthing, grounding, and reconnection to the Earth or even reconnective healing. It looks similar but are they referring to the same principles? It’s pretty confusing and hard to make the difference between material and physical concepts. To have a better idea, I investigated. Here are my findings.

The difference between earthing, grounding and reconnection to the Earth relies on the speaker's perspective and angle. Sometimes it refers to physical interaction and other times to spiritual connection. For yoga teachers, the connection of our body to the ground is spiritual. For an electrician, it means a safe way to protect our home. A naturopath will see it more as a lifestyle to reduce oxidative stress. Magnetizers talk about the ‘’reconnective healing spectre’’.

 

All electric appliances are grounded for our safety

Grounding a house is mandatory to protect people from electrocution. It’s physics! The earth binding is one of the important safety rules for an electric installation. The grounded outlet (the third hole in the electric plug) avoids electric shock or even electrocution by recognizing the excess of electricity from poorly insulated appliances to the ground.

Electricity is an electron flow in conductive materials. When there is too much electricity due to malfunction, thunderbolts or other circumstances, electrons escape where they can, for example, by passing through our body if we touch a non-grounded device. We speak of electrification or electrocution depending on the intensity of the discharge). When the electrical circuit is connected to the earth, the excess of electricity diffuses into the planet. Earth is so large everything is absorbed.

A physical connection to allow electron flow and reduce the oxidative stress in the body

For more and more people, earthing is now a lifestyle that promotes direct contact of the skin with the ground. Walking barefoot or swimming in natural environments are encouraged. Some celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow, Mariel Hemingway, Naomi Harris confess to practice earthing for their wellbeing and reduce jet lag.

Many scientific studies have confirmed that the benefits of earthing include better sleep, reduction of inflammation and pain. Even athletes use earthing to accelerate recovery after intense training or competition.

The principle behind the practice is close to the one described previously, with the flow of electrons that move from a damaged electrical device to the ground. This is the same, but with a deficient charge of electrons moving from the ground to the body. More info: What is grounding?

Today, we are exposed to stress, pollution, electromagnetic radiation and junk food, resulting in an increase in exposure to oxidative stress in the body. Oxidative stress is an excess of free radicals that the body cannot control, leading to faster cell-ageing and inflammations.

Free radicals are positively charged. The planet's surface is electrically conductive (except in ultra-dry regions such as deserts) and is continuously negatively charged by the global atmospheric electrical circuit. Earthing transmits electrons and acts as a natural antioxidant, neutralizing free radicals. The direct link through the skin to the surface of the ground allows the neutralization of free radicals. It helps the body to control oxidative stress and to reduce inflammation and pathologies.

A spiritual connection to the Earth to find harmony

In yoga cosmology, the material world comprises five elements: earth, water, fire, air and Akash, often translated into ‘’ether’’. Our body and spirit are a combination of those elements. Getting in contact with one of the five elements is a way to focus on our deep being. For each chakra, a specific sound (bîja mantra) and a geometric figure are associated.

The earth element represents rooting in the world and also rational and practical thoughts. Among earth connection practices, hitching in nature, hugging a tree, or gardening are examples of yoga teachings. Some yoga posture also refers to stability and confidence. The tree pose is one of the well-known postures.

Reconnection with the cosmos via vibratory frequencies to reach connected healing

Magnetizers claim to use magnetic energies to balance disorganized organisms. The methods are said to reduce pain, stress, anxiety, reduce skin problems and stop smoking. Magnetizers give patients the energy from the cosmos through their hands, helping them release the stress. The patient must be receptive and open-minded. The problem is that not everyone can be a magnetizer. One needs to have the gift. Magnetizers themselves say that patients should avoid people that claim to heal or insufflate fear to keep the patient captive.

A Similar technic called ‘’Reconnection’’ appears in 2014, based on vibratory energies. They claim to heal in general: self-healing and for others. Be careful, The method is different from the other energetic methods and associate’s energy frequencies, information, and light transmitted by the partitioner.

Pour être honnête je n’ai trouvé aucune documentation ou étude scientifique validant le concept évoqué par les adeptes de cette technique.

To conclude

The same word with different meanings sounds like polysemy in grammar. Grounding and earthing are vibrant examples of the coexistence of many possible meanings for a word or phrase.

Make sure you and your discussion partner talk about the same subject!

When was the last time you touched the Earth with an actual part of your body? If you answered honestly, it's probably been far too long. Touching your bare skin to the Earth is a process known as earthing, and it has undeniable physiological effects. .

Grounding, also known as earthing, is a therapeutic technique involving activities, such as walking that ground you to the Earth. In other words, it electronically reconnects you to the Earth and balances your body charge, which has positive effects on your overall health. It calms your body, lowers the viscosity of the blood, allows the body to heal and reduces inflammation.

Electrons move from the Earth to the body and vice-versa when the body is grounded. Why?

To understand the phenomena, you should consider three facts :

• The human body is a conductive bioelectric entity.
• The excess of free radicals, positively charged, can do a lot of damage to the body.
• Except in the deserts, the ground is negatively charged (21 mVols) acts as a natural, free antioxidant.

The "off-ground" civilization

In the distant past, long before urbanization, people were always touching the soil, the ground. But in today's urban world, we live most of our lives inside, and when we go outside, we usually wear shoes that insulate us from the ground. The modern lifestyle has increasingly separated humans from the primordial flow of Earth's electrons.

Are you electron-deficient?

Free radicals occur naturally when you breathe as the body converts air into chemical energy. They also come from external sources such as pollution, x-ray and cigarettes. Free radicals are atoms with unpaired electrons. But electrons like to be in pairs, so in free radical forms, they will steal electrons from other molecules to pair. This destabilizes the other molecules turning them into free radicals themselves, and creates a chain reaction. This domino effect can lead to cellular damage, including the breakage of the cell membrane, altering proteins, and destroying DNA code.  Cellular damage from free radicals is known as oxidative stress. It plays a role in developing cancer, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, and other diseases and ageing.There is a theory that states we age because of free radical damage over time.

 

To prevent or reserve the destructive process, the body constantly needs a reservoir of antioxidant molecules : Coenzyme Q10, selenium, other. The antioxidants molecule will supply the free radical with an electron to repair and stabilize the chemical bond. In supplying electrons, the antioxidants molecules do not become free radicals and stop the chain reaction. Our body produces some antioxidants on its own but sometimes not in a sufficient amount.

 

How to reconnect and be grounded in the urban world?

The easiest and cheapest way to ground is to go outside, sit in the grass, walk barefoot, or do gardening.

But this is not always possible when you live in an apartment in a city. Fortunately, indoor solutions are available. Simply plug in your grounding products, and you're ready to start grounding right inside your apartment building. This connection lets you safely and conveniently balance your body charge while sleeping, working, playing, reading, watching TV or more. Sleeping grounded gives deeper sleep, feels more refreshed in the morning.

Voir les articles de reconnexion à la terre