The Roots of Grounding

You're grounded!

As a kid those two words had a very negative connotation. They meant that some unacceptable behaviour warranted, in the eyes of the parent, a negative consequence. The punishment might have been removal of privileges like seeing friends, talking on the phone or watching TV. Grounding almost always meant home arrest.

While I can't recall getting grounded (mainly because I was good at sneaking around and only told my parents about my rebellion when I was already an adult!), I did experience grounding as a young adult.

The year was 2001 and I was working as a financial analyst for Gate Gourmet, the airline catering arm of the Swissair group. I had just met the man I would later marry when, on his birthday, October 2, the Swissair fleet was grounded due to insolvency. It was a very emotional time for Switzerland and in particular the Swissair Group employees whose livelihood was now on the line.

The airplanes were literally grounded, banned from flying. The consequences were huge and affected thousands. But, if we break it down and simplify, how different was it from a child being grounded?

In both cases, the message appears to be the same: Get your shit in order or you don't get to play the game. And, if you look beyond the branches and dig into the roots, there is also a deeper message.

In the yoga world, grounding literally means bringing ourselves back to Earth. Getting out of whatever reality we have created in our heads and feeling the stability and authenticity that come from being firmly rooted in our bodies and surroundings. Eliminating all distractions so we can think clearly. Clearly enough to come up with a new business plan, a better strategy. Taking a breather so that we can reflect and work on doing better next time.

As a parent, I ground my kids - and myself. But it is anything but a punishment; it is a self-care skill. When my kids need a breather, we have started listening to meditations with Insight Timer . How do you get grounded?