Your Healing Connection with Mother Earth: What You Need to Know to Grow

Learn how cultivating a connection with Mother Earth can help you get grounded, reduce stress and not only heal, but flourish! (If you just want the quick tips, scroll to the end of the article. But if you like getting your hands dirty, keep reading…)

Have you ever had a moment when you felt as though you were spinning out of control… like your life was being uprooted? In disbelief, you may have looked up to the heavens and asked yourself, “What on earth is going on?!”

Relationship with Mother Earth

Several years ago, I experienced a very upsetting time in my life. I was at the tail-end of a toxic relationship that included an emotionally intense period of caregiving during a major illness. I was dealing with a lot of hurt… feelings of betrayal, anger, disillusionment and exhaustion. I remember that particular spring and summer, all I wanted to do was get my hands in the dirt.

I found great solace from barefooting across the lawn and plunging my fingers in the cool, moist earth of my flowerbeds and vegetable garden. Pulling weeds felt very therapeutic.

Gardening helped me to balance my emotions and give me time to think and gain perspective. It allowed me to take out my frustrations in a healthy, constructive way. It was a way to transform an ugly energy into a thing of beauty and connect with the healing frequency of the earth…Mother Earth.

I equate gardening with my mother. As a child, my mother would spend hours tending to her gardens…sometimes singing…sometimes in silence. We always had fresh, nutritious meals, lovingly prepared from our plentiful vegetable patch. There were beautiful, fragrant flowers adorning the family home in carefully kept flowerbeds and rock gardens. My mother still has a green thumb.

Although I never took much interest her passion then, I witnessed it and grew from it. Even if, as an adult, I wouldn’t choose to plant the same seeds, I know the soil was rich.

Connecting nature with nurture

So, given my mother’s nature and the connection one has with their nurturer, it stands to reason that I would naturally seek comfort in the earth. This connection between mother and earth is strong. As we know, Earth Day and Mother’s Day sit close together on the calendar. Coincidence? Let’s dig a little deeper into the mother earth connection and it’s healing powers.

Embodying the power of the goddess

Mother Nature (sometimes known as Mother Earth or the Earth Mother or Gaia) is a personification of nature that focuses on the life-giving and nurturing aspects of nature by embodying it, in the form of a mother or mother goddess.

This is exemplified in Greek mythology by the story of Demeter, goddess of the harvest. When she is sad and bitter from relinquishing her daughter, Persephone (a.k.a Kore) to Hades in the underworld the land is barren from the cold sting of winter. When she is returned, her love and joy bring back summer and it’s abundance. (Listen to Return to Me by Scenic Kiss)

Despite her climatic fluctuations, it is undeniable that both mother and earth host and sustain life. Similarly to an infant whose nourishment begins from it’s mother’s body, our primary source of sustenance is the earth. The Earth provides the ideal environment to support life and health, but as illustrated in the myth of Demeter, there is a symbiotic connection to consider.

Our wellbeing is dependent on hers. You’ve likely heard the saying, “When mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!” This applies equally to mother nature.

Protecting our natural splendor

Earth Day (April 22nd) is a celebration of the natural splendor of Mother Earth and also an initiative to raise awareness around environmental issues. This year’s theme, Planet vs. Plastics, calls to advocate for widespread awareness on the health risk of plastics, and phase out their use to protect both the planet and future generations. Respecting the earth helps us heal ourselves.

A popular Earth Day activity, that can be practiced all year long, is to pick up litter in your community and recycle it. While you help to reduce pollution, why not also give yourself a health boost by earthing!

In my previous blog post, Self-Care: 9 Fresh Tips to Boost Your Vitality This Spring, I touched briefly on the practice of earthing as a method of increasing health and vitality. My experience of healing and grounding from direct contact with the earth has been instinctive and conditioned from childhood, but scientific research shows the remarkable benefits of earthing.

Getting grounded is good

Earthing (also known as grounding) refers to the discovery that bodily contact with the Earth’s natural electric charge stabilizes the physiology at the deepest levels, reduces inflammation, pain, and stress, improves blood flow, energy, and sleep, and generates greater well-being. Such effects are profound, systemic, and foundational, and often develop rapidly. Does the answer to a rapid improvement in health and wellness lie right beneath our feet?

The Earth’s surface has a virtually limitless supply of mobile electrons that gives the ground we walk on (as well as lakes and oceans) a natural negative electric charge. When you touch your body to the ground, it dissipates static electricity and extraneous environmental electrical charges that are on you. At the same time, you receive a charge of energy in the form of free electrons and your body synchronizes with the natural frequencies of the earth.

(Well, it’s not exactly what my mom meant when she said, “You’re grounded!” But, as it turns out it’s a good thing!)

Our ancestors were grounded 24/7, so generally the more you get grounded the better. That being said, 30 minutes is the minimum amount of time recommended to be grounded each day.

Recharge with nourishing vitality

It’s like plugging your body into a massive ionizer. Himalayan salt lamps also emit negative ions which is why they are used so frequently in yoga and wellness classes. Prana, the Sanskrit word, commonly used to describe energy or life force, is in fact in scientific terms, negative ions.

Beyond, food, water and air, touching our skin to the earth is yet another source of nourishment from which we can thrive. Making contact helps us to receive healing and vitality, while releasing that which is out of alignment with our wellbeing. Mother Earth holds us in a loving embrace.

Resonating with the healing heartbeat of mother earth

In fact, she contains us in the womb of her healing frequency. There is a halo of global electromagnetic energy between the earth’s surface and the lower ionosphere that bathes us in vibrational waves that are optimal for our physical, mental and emotional health.

This frequency is known as the Schumann Resonance, named after the German physicist who discovered it. The Schumann Resonance, that oscillates at 7.83 hertz, is the electromagnetic frequency of our planet and is often referred to as the ‘heartbeat of Mother Earth’.

It is created largely by the discharge of lighting in our atmosphere, but is influenced also by solar flare activity and man-made electromagnetic frequencies… for better or for worse.

Being in sync with head-heart coherence

Interestingly, the 7.83 Hz Schumann Resonance falls within the range of human brain waves, precisely in the middle where the alpha brainwave and theta brain wave ranges meet. As such, practices that elicit this range of brain waves, such as meditation, help facilitate a deep coupling of human physiology with the earth’s resonance.

We can also attune to this frequency, through practices like visualization, chanting, yoga or simply by being in contact with the earth and spending time in nature. Inside this resonance we are better able to tap into our natural healing intelligence. Brainwave activity in this range encourages parasympathetic nervous system activation, thus signaling the body to digest, rest and repair.

What’s more is that synchronization with the Schumann Resonance creates coherence not only in our own brainwave activity through neuronal entrainment, but also with the planet and all it’s inhabitants. It is here that we can find a sense of peace and belonging and even tune in to the collective consciousness. (Far out, man!)

“Ample anthropological evidence shows that humans have intuitively synchronized with the planetary resonance throughout human history and back into the mists of time.”-Psychobiologist, Richard Alan Miller

The third eye portal to health and higher consciousness

The 7.83 vibratory frequency is also in harmonic resonance with our pineal gland whose primary function is to release melatonin which regulates sleep. It also helps us to be in rhythm with the cycles of mother nature. However, the pineal gland plays a more far-reaching role in influencing our overall health and wellbeing.

As a conductor of the endocrine system, the pineal gland controls hormone signals to all organs. It plays a dual neural-endocrine role with functions spanning into all bodily systems. Today, evidence suggests the pineal gland is the master conductor of the physiology of the brain and body.

The pineal gland is also known as the ‘third eye’ and has been linked to reaching enlightenment and to achieving states of bliss and higher consciousness. The question is this: If our brainwaves are affected by the pulse of the planet, then what influence do our thoughts and states of mind have on Mother Earth and beyond? Food for thought…

A wholistic approach to healing the wounds of separation

There is a connection between the relationship you have with yourself, with others and with the earth. Our choices have an impact on both our internal and external ecosphere. Self-care is intimately linked to how we care for our families, our communities and our planet. Understanding this connection gives us the power to align our actions with a wholistic approach to healing the wounds of separation.

Throughout life, we must cope with the wounds of separation. Sometimes separation means loss of a loved one and sometimes it is the sense of alienation or not belonging. Our first experience of separation is at the moment of birth when we leave our mother’s womb. Like mother earth, she also feels the impact of creating new life and must adapt to this change.

No matter the environment, our health depends on acknowledging this relationship. As individuals, our choices shape our lives, but let us not wander so far afield that we no longer recognize the source from which we’ve sprung. Healing comes from within and without.

Blooming through the muck

In my relationship example, separation was a healthy choice I had to make to weed out toxicity and get out of the muck. Although the process of change was difficult, it was an experience that lead me towards a better connection with my true nature and a greater understanding of what nourishment I needed to flourish.

Like the lotus flower, whose roots grow in deep, dark, muddy waters, we bloom through the muck as we grow from challenges in our lives and break free into the sunshine.

(For some guidance, try these meditations from, Blooming of a Lotus by Thich Nhat Hanh.)

Flower power

Although each flower has it’s colour, it’s fragrance and it’s meaning, flowers, in essence, are a symbol of life and love. Many people give flowers to mom on Mother’s Day. Forget-me-nots always remind me of my mother.

Honouring the great mother

The origins of Mother’s Day stem from, the initiative of a woman named Anna Maria Reeves Jarvis. She founded women’s clubs that helped mothers care for their children, Jarvis also organized Mothers’ Friendship Day in 1868, an event intended to bring mothers of Confederate and Union soldiers together in harmony after the Civil War.

From there, suffragette Julia Ward Howe wrote what’s called the Mother’s Day Proclamation two years later in 1870, in an effort to promote world peace and pushed for a Mother’s Peace Day to be celebrated in June.

It was around that time that the idea for some kind of day to honor mothers took hold, but it didn’t catch on for at least another 35 years.

Upon Jarvis’ death in 1905, her daughter, Anna, began a letter-writing campaign, calling for a Mother’s Day to honor not only her mother’s work, but for all mothers and the sacrifices they make on behalf of their children.

Sacrificing the ground we stand on

The idea of mother’s sacrifice, however virtuous, is an illustration of conditioned thinking that may very well be to our detriment.

What need be sacrificed in order for the children of the earth to be happy? Must a mother lose a piece of herself or forego her needs to ensure the best care for her children? Must we deplete Mother Earth of her resources and disregard the environmental messes that we make in the name of our modern lifestyle, convenience or economic advantage? “Don’t worry, mom will clean it up.”

Upholding the mother-martyr archetype normalizes, even glorifies the act of giving all to her children, no matter the cost to her own well-being. It is yet another manifestation of the wound of separation, where we have forgotten our interdependence with both mother and earth…where we disrespect the mother ground from which we come…the earth itself.

Sacred partnership with the divine feminine

Our capacity to heal is strengthened by remembering this sacred partnership and seeking to hold it in harmony…in a balance where all can thrive. When we heal ourselves we help heal others in our ecosystem. We raise the frequency.

Afterall, to mothers are born daughters who someday may be mothers themselves and will need to respectfully stand their sacred ground. Through their experience of mother, sons learn about nurturing and their relationship to the feminine.

“Through honoring the sacred feminine, we find natural access to spiritual qualities like receptivity, patience, the ability to listen, and the care for all of life.” – from, The Self-Love Experiment by Shannon Kaiser

Honouring these qualities also help us to listen to our inner wisdom and to prioritize self-care, healthy relationships and connection with source as a pathway to empowerment.

Conclusion

In understanding the mother earth connection, we recognize that we are part of a wider ecology. We are co-creators of an awe-inspiring life support system that is ever growing and evolving. We are not alone. Even if the terrain of our upbringing has been less than favourable or we find ourselves feeling ungrounded or alienated by the wounds of separation, we know that healing and personal growth are available to us. It’s in our very nature.

“The cosmos is within us. We are made of star stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.” -Carl Sagan

10 tips for healing with the mother earth connection

• • Include 30 minutes of earthing into your daily routine. Walk barefoot at the park or at the beach. Garden without gloves. Go for a river walk or swim in a lake. Practice shavasana or relaxation outside with your skin touching the grass. Meditate on a large rock or stone ledge.

• • When you need a pick-me-up try going for a walk in the forest or a wooded park. Spending mindful, intentional time around trees–what the Japanese call shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing–can promote health and happiness. Go on a yoga-hike to get your prana flowing.

• • Being in nature is way to cleanse yourself of the electro-magnetic pollution that we encounter in our home and work environments and tap into the calming, healing frequency of the planet. Sit or lean up against a tree, breathe deeply and tune-in to the heartbeat of mother earth.

• • Get creative. Cultivate your relationship with the divine feminine through nature-based arts and crafts or by beautifying your home and gardens. Make or wear jewelry with healing stones and crystals. Let nature inspire you!

• • Use the power of visualization. Imagine that you are in your favourite place in nature. Feeling grounded and supported. Holding the awareness of your body and breath, you see yourself in this beautiful natural setting. Notice how it makes you feel. (Try this guided meditation.)

• • Prioritize personal ecology. Set aside 10 minutes a day for your self-care ritual. Not sure where to start? Try my 21-Day Starter Challenge 4 Embodied Joy! Or enjoy this FREE 10-minute relaxation.

• • Study ayurveda, and learn to eat in a way that is supportive of your natural constitution and that is in harmony with the cycles of nature.

• • Try aromatherapy to come to your senses! Flower essences can be both calming and uplifting. The amygdala, the part of your brain that processes emotions is also linked to our sense of smell. Stop and smell the flowers when you need an emotional rescue. Visit a greenhouse and pick out a lush plant or flowering plant for your home or as a Mother’s Day gift.

• • Enjoy moments of stillness where you can take time to rest and rejuvenate. Practice balancing postures with your feet lovingly grounded to the earth. Gaze toward the space between your eyebrows during meditation to calm the mind and focus energy towards your third eye.

• • Start every morning with thoughts and feelings of gratitude for life.

Sharing is caring

If you have any other tips to share please leave your comments. I’d love to know… How do you connect with mother earth? How do you get grounded in times of turmoil? What nourishes you? What in your life would you weed out? How do you honour the divine feminine? What is your relationship to nature and to nurture?

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