It's in the ground...
What does being rooted mean to me?
It means feeling at ease with myself, my body, my thoughts, and with my life direction. It's a feeling that everything has balance and foundation. It means my fears fall to the background.
It’s like life is occurring from the deepest and truest sense of who I am because I have a well-established support system, just like the roots of a tree.
We all have moments of feeling indecisive, stressed, or even overwhelmed. When we are not present with our roots of being, these feelings may overwhelm our every thought and action. Our fears don’t ever disappear entirely. But when we have well-established grounding practices, we realize that a substratum of deep inner wisdom lies beneath all worry and confusion..
For many of us, noticing and cultivating these qualities moment-to-moment are new skills that take time and practice. Consider the way a small seed grows into a thriving plant. The first thing that emerges is the root. Only after the root fully anchors into the Earth to receive the soil’s nourishment, does the stem sprout up to receive the radiance of the sun.
The secret to the health of trees, to the health of the entire forest, is found in the roots.
All trees are inter-connected through an underground network of mycorrhizal fibers. Peter Wohlleben, author of The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate, tells us that the mycorrhizal fibers are fine, hairlike root tips of trees that join together with microscopic fungal filaments to form a network of fibers operating in a symbiotic relationship between trees and fungi.
Trees send chemical and hormonal electrical signals through these roots; the systems appear to be very similar to the nervous system of animals. Wohlleben says that trees will send essential information and nutrients to other trees through this network to help keep them alive. They do not abandon weak members of the network. He says that if two trees are sharing the same space, sunlight, and root systems—and one tree dies--, the other tree will often die shortly after because they are so dependent on each other.
We are not separate from these systems.
We pretend that humans and human creations exist within our own rules, but we are bound by the same laws and rhythms of nature. Our own success and health is dependent on the success of everyone, including the success of the natural world.
Though we don’t have physical roots, we have energetic roots that connect us with the calm, abiding Earth. These roots sustain us and keep us stable during the storms of life. Just as healthy roots make it possible for a plant to grow a strong stem and then burst into bloom, feeling rooted makes vitality and expansion possible for us.
For us humans, tending to our roots looks like meeting our basic survival needs; food, hydration, sleep, clothing, and shelter. It is feeling connected to a community of friends and family that we can turn to in times of joy and times of need.
Tending to our roots means remembering that we are connected to the Earth and to all the natural rhythms of nature: the monthly cycles of the moon and the year-long journey of the sun. It means being responsible stewards of the living-Earth, supporting both our human and our other-than-human companions.
We need to care for our interconnected roots.
We can sense when our personal roots are in need when we feel restless, a loss of energy, constant negativity or sadness. Reconnecting to our human-body and the Earth-body are essential components of nourishing our roots.
When I am regularly taking care of my body and aligned with my sense of purpose in service to the world, I feel my roots thrive.
Establishing a practice of rootedness can be a challenge. Traumatic experiences may make us fear what we will feel when we are present and fully in our bodies, so we avoid going there. In addition, we live in a society that in many ways supports distraction and disconnection. But with practice and the right support even those challenges can be overcome.
Yogic ways to reconnect with your roots:
Physical movement: Yoga asana is designed for this work; think tree pose, warrior poses, & seated forward folds
Connect with the Earth: Go outside, go for a walk, be in nature
Nutrition: Eat whole foods, as close as possible to their natural state, and drink plenty of water
Bija Mantra—Seed sound: The sound for your roots is "LAM"—repeat this with your out breath for 3 minutes
People: Reach out to family and friends, have phone calls, laugh together, have a zoom dance party!
Non-people: It is also important to connect with other-than human beings. This may include caring for animals, plants, gardening, or simply engaging with a regular sit-spot
Meditation: A few minutes of sitting quietly and observing your breath is a potent way to get grounded.
I feel that my mission in this world is to help folks establish deep roots of well-being. We do this work through weekly yoga classes, my group trainings, and through my 1:1 Mentoring Programs.
With well placed roots,
Angie
