When my third grandchild, Nicholas, was born, I spent two weeks in my daughter and son-in-law’s home to help take care of my two older granddaughters. While we cooked, played, went for walks, visited museums and parks, my daughter recovered from her c-section, rested, and bonded with her new baby while her husband went to work.

Since I’m used to living a quiet calm life and meditating often, spending lots of time with these bright, talkative, and rambunctious kids, their friends, a tiny yappy dog, and heavy city traffic, resulted in me becoming grumpy a few times.

When this happened, my granddaughter, Caity, 7 years old at the time, would say, “Grandma, you need to hug a tree!”

As much as I tried to hide my momentary vexations with the boisterous kids who were always trying to push the envelope of what Grandma would allow- (“Oh, yes, Grandma, Mom allows me to watch YouTube cake decorating videos for hours every day!”) Caity and her older sister, Faith, could see right through me.

Energy doesn’t lie. Kids especially can see through attempts by adults to put a happy face on less than happy feelings. I would have to admit they were right: Every time I was feeling grumpy they nailed me on it!

Our next move was to pile in the car and drive to a wooded park with a small lake and go straight to the nearest friendly tree for a much needed grounding hug. We hugged a lot of trees that summer! This helped us all get grounded and feel present in our bodies again. Plus it seemed to drain my grumpiness away.

After that the kids would run around and holler with their outside voices to their heart’s content, play on the playground, climb trees, or walk the nature paths. I always felt better and much more grounded and present to the children after visiting the park with the wonderful trees. The kids were able to settle down as well.

In Donna Eden’s 2008 edition of her book, Energy Medicine, she states “Your body needs the Earth’s electromagnetic field.” “…In addition to the iron in your blood, all life forms contain tiny [microscopic] crystals of magnetite, a natural magnetic mineral comprised of black iron oxide. This magnetite continually registers changes in your relationship to the Earth’s electromagnetic field and helps orient you to that field.”

In other words, our bodies are evolved to live within the Earth’s magnetic field. The author cites incidents in which Japanese workers and Russian Cosmonauts were completely separated from the Earth’s magnetic field and suffered health consequences – insomnia, decreased energy, aches and pains, loss of bone density. p 316

In our world we are increasingly disconnected from the earth and nature. We are exposed to toxins in our air, water, food. Screens and shiny electronic devices are hijacking our time and attention, anxiety is on the increase. We often overthink our challenges, living in our heads and feeling separate from our bodies.

When we or our children are out of sorts, feeling anxious, disconnected from our bodies, overwhelmed, unfocused, grounding helps us reconnect to our power source, planet Earth.

You can do these grounding exercises along with your kids. They are meant to be fun!

1. Hug a large deeply rooted tree or sit and lean against the tree’s trunk. If you’re feeling adventurous, climbing a tree and spending time in the branches is grounding too because the tree’s energy is fully grounded, deeply connected to the electromagnetic energy of the earth.

2. Pretend to be a tree. First ask your kids to imagine their tree self has weak or shallow roots and a big wind comes along… what happens?

Now pretend to be a tree with deep roots. Breathe in the Earth’s energy through your imaginary roots. Let it fill your trunk, then reach your branches up to the sunlight. Take several deep breaths pulling the air from your deep roots to your stretching branches upward. Imagine soaking in the sunlight through your leaves to fuel your growth and pulling water up through your roots to nourish you.

3. Play in nature, walk barefoot on a beach or a grassy yard, lay on the ground and check out the clouds, tree branches, flying birds, moon or stars, soaking in the Earth’s magnetic energy. (use bug protection if needed) I promise, you will feel better!

4. Rub the soles of your bare feet with a stainless steel spoon. (One a magnet will stick to.)

5. Plant a garden, tiny or large and tend it – get close to the soil and the sweet green living plants that share our planet.

6. Swim in the ocean, a lake or pond

When your you or your kids feel spacey, out of body, anxious, agitated, unfocused, grumpy, take a few moments to ground yourself. Bring awareness to your body and heart, breathe deeply, and connect with your power source, Mother Earth.

Look for upcoming blog posts on easy energy tips to help you and your kids feel calmer, relieve pain and set energetic boundaries.