Grounding Again

If there's one good thing to come out of my recent knee injury (read about this injury HERE), it would have to be that I've rediscovered grounding.

"Grounding" (also known as earthing) was something I used to do ALL the time before I was diagnosed with Lyme; in fact, I used to sleep on a grounding pillow case all night. 

However, after Lyme, for whatever reason, I had difficulty tolerating the grounding. In fact, saying I had 'difficulty' is a bit of an understatement. It would make me dizzy, shaky and lightheaded as anything. Was it a herx? No idea. All I know is that something that used to be so good for me suddenly seemed so bad. It was like Lyme knew earthing was good for me and punished me when I tried doing it. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Lyme seems to have an intelligence to it. It knows when you're doing something that will help you and will punish you for it. In fact, it knows EVERYTHING that's going on. It even knows we're talking about it right now. Ssshhhh. Only whispers from here on in, okay?

(Whispering) Now, I'm sure many of you are wondering: What is grounding?

Grounding/earthing is the process of connecting your bare feet (having socks on is ok) to the earth or a grounding mat that you can purchase online. This simply means placing your feet flat against the earth (or mat) or walking on the earth barefooted. The earth has a negative electron charge to it and this negative charge helps neutralize a harmful, inflammatory positive charge in our bodies that has gradually developed over time due to things like illnesses, cleaning/hygiene toxins, EMF pollution, air/food/water pollution etc.

Now, grounding isn't a revolutionary concept. It's only "a thing" now because it needs to be. What I mean is that, hundreds of years ago, we all "earthed" all the time, only we didn't really know it because we all walked around either barefooted or with non-rubber-soled footwear that still conducted the earth's negative charge into our bodies (like moccasins, for example). By nature, we're all *supposed* to be more connected to the earth. In today's modern world, however, we all mostly wear rubber-soled sneakers or shoes whenever we're outdoors. Rubber, as most of us know, obstructs our bodies' conductivity; this is why electrical wires are insulated with rubber or why we take cover in cars with rubber tires during electrical storms. It's nice to be protected from harmful electricity but when we wear rubber soles all the time we never receive the healing negative electrons from the earth. For this reason, the human race has never been so disconnected from the earth as we are today.

Exacerbating this disconnection problem is the fact that we've also never been more positively-charged than we are in these modern times. The technological revolution that has brought us cell phones, computers, tablets, Hi-def TVs, wireless Internet etc. has given rise to an influx of EMF pollution. Add in other modern-day pollutants like fluoride in water, GMOs or additives in foods, heavy metals in cooking wear/cosmetic products/vaccines, antibiotics/other medications, and we've never had so many toxins in our bodies. Numerous toxins give birth to numerous free radicals, which deplete our bodies of electrons. The more free radicals we have, the more electrons we lose and the more positive in charge we become. Indeed, it's actually a very negative thing that we've become so damn positive!

So if we've never been so disconnected from the earth due to footwear and we've also never been so positively charged due to the pollutants of the modern world, then we basically all of a sudden find ourselves faced with an epic electron crisis where we're all in desperate need of negatively-charged electrons. I suppose we could call it an electron epidemic. The entire human race is starving for negative vibes. We just don't know it.

For Lymeys, our body is in an even greater state of electron desperation because of the havoc Lyme has wreaked on our bodies. Whether it's because of viral problems, parasite problems, heavy metal problems, candida problems, coinfection problems or the Lyme spirochetes themselves, electron-eating free radicals are more than aplenty in our bodies and grounding may be key in helping to neutralize our charge.

As for me, I was very worried that I would never tolerate grounding ever again since I had so much difficulty tolerating even a liiittle bit. All it took was just 15 minutes on my grounding mat to make me feel very woozy and even a little dizzy, shaky etc. 

However, with my knee injured, I was determined to try again because I knew that grounding promoted healing, lowered cortisol levels and, thus, helped reduce inflammation (source). I needed to have more patience with the process. Maybe I needed to build myself up, little by little (as is the case with everything else when you're a Lymey) and this way I would eventually tolerate the grounding.

So I did just that. I started out very slow. All I could tolerate was 15 minutes at a time and that's what I did. Then, after several days, I tried 20 minutes. And, then, after several more days -- maybe a week -- I eventually tried 30 minutes...

Soaking in some negative vibes.

One night, I forgot I was even on the grounding pad and I spent a good 45 minutes on it. I kind of freaked when this happened because I thought I would feel sick from being on the pad so long. But I didn't even feel that woozy after. I was back, baby. I was able to tolerate the earthing again. Whatever herxing that may have taken place, that herxing was now over.

As I write this, I at least do 30 minutes of grounding a day, but I often do two 30 minute sessions a day, so an hour total. That's a decent amount of grounding, enough to make a significant difference with the charge in my body.

Overall, grounding again has made me feel stronger, more relaxed, more harmonized, more "in control" of my body and more normal. However, I must admit it has not resolved my knee issue. The knee dilemma may have to be solved another way but maybe this has all happened for a reason, so I could rediscover grounding and get the negative electrons that my body so desperately needed, especially from so much Lyme damage.

Here are some other key benefits of grounding (according to an article I found): 

Reducing chronic pain

Improving sleep

Increasing energy

Lowering stress and promoting calmness by reducing stress hormones

Normalizing biological rhythms, including circadian rhythm

Normalizing blood pressure and blood flow

Relieving muscle tension and headache

Speeds healing

Reduces jet lag

Protects body from EMFs

Helps recover from athletic injury

Reduces snoring

Helps support adrenal health


Sources

https://www.purposefairy.com/81302/the-amazing-science-behind-earthing/

https://wellnessmama.com/5600/earthing-grounding/


For Further Reading

EARTHING: The Most Important Health Discovery Ever! by Clinton Ober, Dr. Stephen T. Sinatra M.D., Martin Zucker, Gaetan Chevalier