When I was born, the first living thing I met - even before my own mother - was the soil. My family home was made of earth, dusty and wonderful. The earth is our original mother. This is true of us all, regardless of the setting of our birth. We are made from the same glorious dirt as our planet, paired with the dazzling radiance of stardust and the sweet breath of consciousness. We’ve come to regard the very thing we are made from with fear and disgust - meanwhile the earth aches to see us heal. It is alive, it’s electric, and it contains a built in system of grounding and healing which benefits us, simply by being present. This is more than just a feel-good spiritualism, though if that’s where it ends for you, I honor it. But for those curious about the science, as well as the implications therein, I’ll gladly continue and explain in the simplest terms.
The human-developed electrical fields we surround ourselves with through modern comforts - from the television to the refrigerator, home wiring, wifi and climate controlled settings - disturb our natural, electrical balance. There are even people who have tremendous sensitivities to these imbalances, suffering inflammation and illness. Sadly, this is largely discredited by the current socio-medical system, and these people suffer in an increasingly robotic world. For the majority of us, it’s a slow leak effect rather than a large burst of discomfort. This can surface as anything from headaches to chronic illness to disease, often undiagnosable or explained away as something that "just happens."
The surface of the earth is electrically conductive. Whenever you stand barefoot on the ground, you are receiving its charge - free of charge - made possible by the power and energy of the sun. Problems arise when we are physically lacking in negative charge, which is where this practice of placing our bare feet on the ground comes into play. Making contact with the earth through bare skin allows the transference of millions of electrons into the body. The earth is a conductor, as are all living beings. The earth is negatively charged, emitting negative electrons. These help detoxify our bodies in many ways.
With our feet on the ground, we begin to flow with the current of the earth, providing us with greater health, and a feeling of connection and stability. With a regular practice, you become more centered, strong, solid, and balanced. These negative electrons induce multiple physiological changes and near immediate healing, including most notably the significant reduction of inflammation and pain, deeper sleep, a shift from sympathetic to parasympathetic tone in the autonomic nervous system, improved circulation, rapid wound recovery, and release of tension within muscles and joints to name just a few of the benefits.
As stated by the US National Library of Medicine / National Institutes of Health:
"The National Library of Medicine's online resource PubMed lists 7021 studies and 522 review articles from a search of 'antioxidant + electron + free radical.' It is assumed that the influx of free electrons absorbed into the body through direct contact with the Earth likely neutralize ROS and thereby reduce acute and chronic inflammation. Throughout history, humans mostly walked barefoot or with footwear made of animal skins (which do not interrupt connection to the earth). They slept on the ground or on skins. Through direct contact or through perspiration-moistened animal skins used as footwear or sleeping mats, the ground's abundant free electrons were able to enter the body, which is electrically conductive. Through this mechanism, every part of the body could equilibrate with the electrical potential of the Earth, thereby stabilizing the electrical environment of all organs, tissues, and cells."
In a world where the origin points of illness and pain are primarily agreed by professionals to be “unknown” yet the cures are costly and boundless, it is no longer shocking to me that the most obvious mechanisms of healing should also be the ones hiding in plain sight. All too often, the place of healing also denotes the place of origin, and what we are therein lacking. Thankfully, bare ground is still available for most of us, even in small patches depending on where we live. Many other naturally supportive attributes of this world such as clean and free flowing water, fresh particle-free air and unadulterated foods from well nourished soil are becoming harder and harder to come by. These are our original medicines - and the earth itself is the keeper of them all.
In a 2020 article by the Telegraph titled, "Gardening Can Do What Medicine Only Tries to Mimic for Mental Health," horticulturalist Monty Don - who also openly shares about his often crushing depression - excitedly speaks to new scientific evidence disclosing what we likely understand in our core but still want to have validated through modern methodology.
In his words:
"Modern life is, for most people, cut off from reality, sealed away from weather, food, seasons, entertainment - almost everything. Our lives are the product of somebody else's creation - from what we wear, eat, listen to, move around in, to anything you can think of. But gardens are real. They are not a version of themselves served up via a corporate process. By becoming in tune with the seasons of growth, fall, preparation and harvest, you make your mind and body happier and healthier. By having a direct stake and involvement with the process of plants growing, of having our hands in the soil and tending it carefully and with love, your world and everyone else's world too, becomes a better place."
There is a kind of morbid human desire to have these intuitions given mainstream credit. And though I do love that individuals, from lab coat wearers to newspaper editors, are beginning to dig deeper into these somewhat taboo notions, I send a sweet smile to indigenous communities, who have made these subjects points of interest in the first place. In a less popularized and an essentially direct tone, Nemonte Nenquimo, Indigenous Waoriani leader of the Amazon rainforest, penned an open letter in The Guardian written to anyone who will listen. The article was sharply titled, "This is My Message to the Western World - Your Civilization is Killing Life on Earth." She states:
"I never had the chance to go to university, and become a doctor, or a lawyer, a politician, or a scientist. My elders are my teachers. The forest is my teacher. And I have learned enough (and I speak shoulder to shoulder with my Indigenous brothers and sisters across the world) to know that you have lost your way, and that you are in trouble (though you don't fully understand it yet) and that your trouble is a threat to every form of life on Earth."
So often, the wonder we experience when taking in the natural world around us can seem saccharinely distant, ignorantly wide-eyed and naive. With that being said, the world is a marvel. And we each have to start somewhere in the patient process of recognition between self and earth, which has been severed for so many of us.
What can we do about this disconnect?
Most of us are used to living within immensely sterile environments. We don’t exactly know our dwelling spaces in any intimate way - as a living ancestor and descendant all in one. The historic walls of Kasbah Des Caids in Morocco are not unfamiliar to the residents who call it home, or the land itself. In fact, this historic structure is made of the land of the Atlas Mountains. The labyrinthine stairwells, rooms and passageways are all structured from only local raw materials, as they have been for countless eras. Built in the beginning of the 16th century, this residence was and continues to be made of the pure earth around it. No unknown particles, factory developed products or imported attributes. From the skeleton to the skin, this living structure is an ancestor to the region. How many structures could we say the same about where you now stand?
These methods of building and living interdependently with our environment are largely rooted in indigenous methods. Like trees, they are alive - holding space for the life around it as well. This is true reciprocity.
Reconnecting to our environment can begin at letting our feet, our hands, our lungs and our minds, untangle from the structures of the quick-and-modern. Let your bare soles walk freely in the forest, or even a city park. Sit with the roots of a tree and imagine all they have heard and seen. Visit a library, check out some books about trees, then maybe even read aloud to them. Find a freshwater spring and share a drink of water with a friend. Discuss the sensation of it. Sink your toes into the mud. Reconnecting to environment is to reconnect to Creator, and to our very own innocent nature. Our beginning, our end, and our beginning again.