Let's talk Grounding...What is it?

I am so new to this world of natural healing and still learning daily of how to navigate it and where to go from here. As I have been reading and listening and learning this whole new world, the term 'grounding' would come up continually. According to Healthline.com "grounding, also called earthing, is a therapeutic technique that involves doing activities that "ground" or electrically reconnect you to the earth."

Now, it is not a traditional therapeutic approach. You won't hear about it from a conventional doctor when they give you the list of therapeutic practices to enroll your child in. "They need ABA, Occupational therapy and Speech therapy along with Social Work...and oh yea GROUNDING?" That's not how it goes once you get a formal diagnosis of Autism, at least for us it's not. Once I dug deeper and became basically a desperate sponge at the beginning of 2022, this type of therapeutic practice seemed so simple to me. Something we can do with Alley daily and it made so much more sense to me as to why we see such a spike in behaviors during the winter months. We live in the Midwest and sometimes our winters are brutal! There are times where it is weeks of not being able to go outside for leisure, especially barefoot. I have witnessed it first hand that once our weather breaks and he is able to have the freedom of nature and the backyard rocking bare feet, he is a calmer child all around. It could be the amount of Vitamin D he receives from the sun exposure or it could be his time grounding himself and reconnecting with the earth's energy. Personally, I think it is a combination of both.

This type of approach is a very inexpensive way to combat a variety of issues that most children with Autism are the beholders of including inflammation and mood among other health issues according to Healthline.com. In this same article it talks about the "living matrix" and how it is the central connection between living cells. The electrical charge that is in this "living matrix" acts as an "immune system defense" which is very close to how antioxidants act in our bodies. People can believe what they want about us working on grounding Alley. I know what we see and how it effects him, which could effects every child differently or not at all. During the summer, fall and spring we are going to make sure he is outside barefoot multiple times a day. This works for him and us. We enjoy being outside as does he. It is his comfort and nature is his happy place. It is peaceful for him, with no judgment, no stares at his loud noises and he can just be him with the earth.

There are multiple types of grounding but we have only made a point of working on the barefoot one. We make sure that Alley gets at least 20 minutes a day outside, barefoot. Easy ways to ground yourself or children is to walk barefoot, lay on the ground, submerse the body in water and there is another more intense grounding which requires actual grounding equipment but we have not even breached that topic yet in our house. When I stumbled upon this therapeutic technique, I was shocked that I had never heard about this before? It can work but it also might not be working. However, I know when it comes to our son we are going to try anything to get him the best possible life. People could think we are out of our minds for believing in grounding, but to us believing in something that could possible help him is better then not trying for him.

With grace,

This Autism Mama

Healthline article- https://www.healthline.com/health/grounding