Grounded. What does it mean to be grounded? Not spacy. Not scattered. Or as children say...not daydreaming. When did we stop daydreaming? Now we say our thoughts are racing, or our mind is not here. Daydreaming sounds like so much more fun!

So grounded is the opposite of all this. It is the place where we feel totally present. We are aware of the body and its sensations. We are aware of the breath. We are completely present. It is the opposite of being unfocused, and is in fact, yoga.

All that grounding is, is what yoga is. Every time we come to the mat we become aware of the body, the mind is watching it and we breathe. We are attempting to find our connection with the floor and the earth below it. We are seeking our place in the world.

In all of yoga we are focused on being present. As I write this I think, when will I get to bed? My tummy is really full from that blueberry pie. Oops! I crossed my legs again!. It is very challenging to be present and totally focused. There are so many distractions. The sounds... The crickets chirping. The night train sitting on the tracks. The flow of traffic on the highway. The thoughts - see above. Our constant craving for everything to be done and perfect.

And with yoga, it is all happening at the same time. It's simply a matter of what you choose to pay attention to. Isn't that easy?

Meditation is a way of grounding, bringing ourselves back to the present moment. We get lost in our thoughts. Daydreaming. And then we come back. Time after time after time.

Being grounded means feeling stable and rooted, like a tree. Standing postures are good tools to help us feel grounded. We reach down through the feet and feel like we know where we are. Balancing postures help us find our feet, our stability, our balance and our place in the room.

Drinking water might help you feel present. Eating meat, protein or simply eating may bring you back to your earthly body.

Sitting on your sitz bones in a seated twist, you find yourself awake and aware of twisting spine.

Lying on your belly for back bends: cobra and half locust and you are there. You are dropped down through the pelvis and feeling heavy toward the earth.

One last time for grounding..lying on your back. Nothing to do. Savasana. The final relaxation brings you back to the ground. Back to your roots. Back to your self. Letting go of all external "stuff" and remembering who you are.

Today started out as one of "those days". You know, where everything you touch falls apart, or you cannot get the bag or jar, or paint can, open. Or the screw breaks off. Your big blue garbage can spills into the street before the nice men come to pick it up. And I got so frustrated. I found myself yelling to the cats: "I can't deal with this!" And I had to back off, and take a deep breath and say, none of that mattered.

What was precious and what mattered was that my girls looked at me with wide eyes, watching my every move like it was the most exciting thing they'd ever seen! And that was feeling grounded, being with my cats, who allow me to talk to them and yell around them. They let me move their world to wash the towel or shake out the throw rug, or vacuum behind them. And through it all, they are present. They are watchful. They are awake. And enjoying every moment. OK, well, maybe not so much the yelling or vacuuming.

Being grounded for me means knowing I am present and I can do whatever I need to do at the moment. So I guess it's off to bed for some sleep.

Thanks for listening.

Blog. A journal. I always have things to say in class and then I go blank at the thought of writing down my thoughts.

So, go back. Remember el derecho? Power lines were down. Trees were down. Roads were blocked. Meanwhile, it was 100 degrees. People lost power and water,  and then food. Many  had to stay somewhere else and take their pets with them. There were break-ins. Al l around our usual patterns were disrupted.

And in the chaos there was connection. Even as the electrical wires were not connecting, even as fewer people could be on the Internet or Facebook, there as connection. How? Some invited neighbors over to stay with them. One side of the street had power while the other did not, so long extension cords allowed the power to connect another household. A friend told me she quickly developed a new routine: she walked to Cups where she got coffee which she took back to her front porch where she sat and read the paper while drinking her coffee with her neighbor. Lights were out and people re-connected in ways they had not for a long time. People went to stay with friends or family members. Separate households became one...for awhile.

Another report was a neighbor who cooked all meat from the freezer on the grill and shared it with the neighborhood.

Everyone coped. It  wasn’t fun or what was expected or desired. The power returned in a couple days or was off for far longer than that. There were losses. At The Yoga Center we had power and kept the doors open for students to come practice yoga.

We stay in our houses. We lounge in the air conditioned spaces. We do not connect with our neighbors other than a brief wave as both back out of the driveway in the morning or take out the garbage bins. 

And in the warm darkness of no electricity and no electronics to divert us, maybe we reconnected within ourselves. I had electricity. I have no AC so there was no change there. The ceiling and floor fans were blowing the air around. I was still hot, but I did manage to re-assess. I noticed that I was having trouble hearing what people said or understanding the full impact. I had trouble communicating and being understood. I wasn’t certain if I was being heard for what I said and what I wanted.

And that realization made me go inside, go inside myself to see if I was truly listening to myself. If others had a hard time listening maybe that started within me. I found that I wasn’t treating myself well. I was frustrated with communication challenges and then would do something not healthy. For me it’s usually eating late at night, or staying up late. Or not meditating or doing my yoga practice. So I decided to re-group and start listening. One night, craving ice cream after yoga I found the ice cream place closed. Saved by their closure! I got up in the morning and returned to the yoga mat and my meditation cushion, for however briefly. I biked on the Greenway.

I worked on my 5^th chakra, the throat chakra. I tried opening my ears to hearing better, taking my time to try to understand better. I later learned that some of my feeling not heard was, of course, due to phone messages and emails not getting to the intended due to the power outages.

The black-out reminded me that we need to go within in order to be without. Ya know? We need to regroup and re-connect with ourselves before we can connect with others. As an introvert I really have to guard my alone time in order to regain energy spent on being with others. And yet I have chosen a livelihood with the intention of helping others. I can only do that if I help myself.

May we all take care of ourselves. May we practice healthy habits. May we share our good fortune with others. May we all know peace no matter what.