Recently here in the USA we celebrated Earth-day. This caused me to think about the concept of grounding and the affects of walking barefoot on our planet. Coincidentally, I like to begin my voice lessons by having my students ground themselves. I often begin meditations instructing students to imagine themselves supported by the earth. Having grown up as a nature child of the 70s it was very popular to walk barefoot to feel connected to the earth but, until now, I never knew the subject had been actively researched. Being a science geek, these thoughts sent me down a rabbit hole of digging though medical journals that research the subject. The website www.groundology.co.uk espouses the wonders of planting your feet in the ground. Grounding, also called earthing, has been found to have health benefits. The body is a matrix of cellular material made up of electrons and neurons and by touching the earth, we reconnect the human body to its surface electrons. I had no idea these electrons existed on the surface of the earth, but research has shown that our planet is a massive storage chest of electrons and we access them through touch. There are over twenty peer reviewed articles on the subject.

“Electric Nutrition: the Surprising Health and Healing Benefits of Biological Grounding” by Stephen Sinatra, Oshman, Chevalier and D, Sinatra (NIH online database) refers to earthing as “electric nutrition.” The first benefit identified is mood enhancement. Have you ever felt better by being in nature? This benefit may come as a surprise, but grounding has been shown to shift the autonomic nervous system to rest and digest and create vagal stimulation that balances the body and improves mood and well-being. Beyond mood enhancement, the surface of the earth generates a kind of “electric nutrition” according to Dr. Stephen Sinatra. This “electric nutrition’ is surprisingly potent and has rapid anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant affects. One of the major causes of illness today is inflammation within the body.