Preparing for your Shamanic Mask Making Experience

I have had a few people ask how they can prepare for the workshop I am presenting in the spring. I believe, to have a productive journey, you must be able to ground and stay grounded. Journeying is traveling to non ordinary reality in an altered state of consciousness. This in itself can feel like you are not grounded.

Grounding energetically protects us and helps to keep our energy flowing smoothly and unobstructed. Grounding helps to keep us in our power, in our bodies and present. It enables us to focus our energy and helps us to hear our intuition. Grounding secures your energy to planet earth It gives you a vehicle to release unwanted energy that you are storing in your body. It can increase your physical and emotional stability. Enables you to connect with spirit with more ease. 

How do you know if you are not grounded? A person’s energy is not focused. They have a hard time staying on task. They loose things easily and sometimes act hyper. But most of all, when you are not grounded it is easier to absorb negative energy. When you are not grounded, entering a room full of people with a lot of activity can be overwhelming. 

Often times you may walk into a room and realize that the energy is not comforting. Maybe there is an argument in progress, maybe there are just a lot of people, and there are too many different energies in the room. Grounding a room will help with all of these situations. You can bring harmony to the room or area by grounding it. Grounding a room will also assist in shifting the energy so that meditation, journeying or healing work may be more effectively done.Learning techniques to help you ground can benefit you in many ways. 

Techniques for Grounding Yourself

Heaven and Earth Connection

Begin by bringing your awareness to your breath. Breath in, filling all three lobes of your lungs with air or heavenly chi. As you continue to breath, bring your breath all the way down to your diaphragm noticing your diaphragm pressing down as you inhale. Continuing your breath awareness draw your breath all the way down to the pelvic bowl, or lower dan tien.  Standing with your pelvic bowl level draw the chi down filling your pelvic bowl. Nourishing your ocean of chi, your energetic reserves. As you continue with breath, notice your pelvis softening and expanding. Bringing the energy all the way down and out the perineum, down into the earth creating your earth connection, your grounding cord. This cord connects to your root chakra (CV1) and reaches all the way down into the center of the earth. Creating your earth connection. With your next outward breath, release any energy that does not serve you. Using your energetic cord that was created with your breath, release any negative thought, physical pain, or emotions that do not serve you. Release them out through your grounding cord using it like a funnel. On an inward breath draw earth energy up through the soles of your feet and the ethereal cord you just created, Again drawing energy into the lower dan tien. Continue drawing earth energy all the up the spinal column filling the cranium with energy. Notice the cranial bones relaxing and the cranial sutures softening. As you continue to breath, notice space forming at the top of your head allowing your energy to leave through your crown chakra (GV20), reaching all the way into the heavens. On the next inward breath draw again, heavenly chi in through the top of your head bringing it all the way down to the pelvic bowl. You now have a heaven and earth connection and are grounded through the earth.  

Drinking Water

Drinking water is a fast way to ground yourself, especially after receiving healing work, meditation or exercise.

Breathing

To ground quickly, Bring your awareness to your breath. A couple of deep breaths will bring you right down to earth. Often times during stress we begin shallow breathing and become ungrounded. This is also a great way to stop mind chatter. 

Grounding A Room

Stand or sit quietly. Bring your awareness to your breath. As you breath consciously in and out drawing fresh heavenly chi all the way down to the lowest lobe of your lungs bring your awareness to the room. 

Imagine the four corners of the room become redwood trees. Imagine these beautiful trees growing a root system deep into the earth, bringing weight to the room. 

As you continue to breath, imagine a trellis connecting the trees to one another. Replacing the walls with a trellis covered in beautiful climbing roses. 

Now imagine the floor below you turning to earth, and the ceiling above you turning to sky. 

You have now grounded your room and are standing one with nature. 

By practicing this you will have a more productive journey. You will be less likely to fall asleep and you will remember more of what happened during your journey.

Slide Show of the process