Grounding and Your Health

[Method of Self-Healing]

Grounding and Your Health

Kevin  W Chen, Ph.D.  MPH

In a recent Journal Club meeting at school, our guest speak, Dr. James Oschman gave each participant a book by Ober et al (2010), Earthing – The most important health discovery ever!   For the first time I read systematically about the significance of Earthing, or grounding, to our health, and I would like to share some highlights of what I found in the book and the related literature.

What is grounding?

Grounding, (or Earthing), refers to the process connecting our body to the earth, and bring a neutral and balanced state inside.  During grounding negative ions from the earth’s surface rush into our bodies to discharge the many unpaired positive ions, or free radicals, and balance the electron-magnetic field, that we’ve picked up in daily life. Those free radicals are associated with disease, aging, and inflammation, and when we expose our barefoot to the soil, grass, or even concrete, the earth’s healing powers swoop in to strengthen our health.

Why we need grounding?

Our bodies are meant to come into contact with the Earth (a “grounding” force) on a regular basis.  Our bodies and cells have electrical energy, and especially with the high prevalence of Electromagnetic waves, Wi-Fi and mobile phone waves, many of us have a high amount of positive electrons built up in our bodies, which lead to dramatic increase in prevalence of inflammation-related diseases in recent years as the results of positive electrons in the form of free radicals that can build up in our bodies, while high-rising living and rubber-bottom shoes have prevented us from direct contacting with earth.  When in direct contact with earth, the grounding, your body becomes suffused with negative charged free electrons and balances itself out.

What are the main health benefits of grounding?

There have been a lot of studies on the effects of grounding on cortisol level, inflammation and other health aspects.  In addition to the book Earthing, I found many academic publications, including a recent review by Chevalier et al (2012), According to emerging research, Earthing or grounding can be beneficial in the following:

• Reducing inflammation by defusing excess positive electrons
• Reducing chronic pain
• Improving sleep
• Increasing Energy level
• Reducing the incidence of cancer, and help cancer recovery
• Lowering stress, and promoting calmness by reducing cortisol.
• Normalizing biological rhythms including circadian rhythm (reducing the incidence of heart diseases)
• Reducing the body’s electronic field and extra electron-magnetic field.
• Reducing primary indicators of osteoporosis
• Improving blood pressure and blood flow
• Relieving muscle tension and headache
• Lessens menstrual and female hormone symptoms
• Speeds healing- used in some places to prevent bed sores
• Shortens recovery time from injury or athletic activity
• Reducing or eliminating snoring

Cancer, Electromagnetic Field and Grounding

Before I read the book Earthing, I already heard about the health benefits of grounding for cancer patients.  According to Dr. LianZhong Pan, a well-known pathologist from Taiwan, Electromagnetic wave is the major killer to most cancer patients, because it caused inflammation, stress and interfered with the effect of therapies.

Dr. Pan reported that the body of a normal person has electromagnetic wave between 20k and 40k gauss, but many cancer patients or the near-death patients tend to have electromagnetic wave over 80k gauss in certain acupoints.

Dr. Pan introduced a special therapy for cancer patients who carry too high of electromagnetic wave, “Dawn, the sunset and the Earth”, that is, barefoot standing outdoor during Dawn and sunset to help removing electromagnetic wave while increasing brain bioelectricity.  Barefoot standing outdoor (grass field is the best) during Dawn and Sunset can help the body effectively return the electromagnetic waves to the earth.  The Earth is the gift God gave us to deal with electromagnetic wave in the body.

After practice “Dawn, the sunset and the Earth” for a few months, most of his cancer patients can lower their electromagnetic wave from 80k to 20k Gauss, some of them are able to recover from cancer completely.

How to Ground Effectively

The basic idea is to connect your body with the Earth, return the electromagnetic wave and positive ions back to the Earth, and gain negative ions and energy from the Earth. Here are some suggestions:

• Barefoot standing outdoor, preferably the wet-field, or grass-field, for 10 to 15 minutes when condition permits
• Practice “Dawn, the sunset and the Earth” – barefoot standing or walking during Dawn and Sunset, discharge and regain bioelectricity
• Walking outdoor by wearing shoes with conductive-rubber bottom, such as Plaggz shoes (see http://www.pluggz.com for more details)
• Consider using a grounding pad or mat (which uses metal fibro connect to the ground wire in the power outlet) for meditation or sleeping
• Practice Qigong detoxification outdoor, and use qigong technique to directly discharge toxic energy to the earth, while gathering Earth Qi and Heaven Qi to achieve balance within.

[In our coming self-healing retreat for cancer patients, we will teach the “Dawn, the sunset and the Earth,” barefoot detoxification, gathering earth Qi, and many other simple but effective self-healing techniques (see http://www.cim.umaryland.edu/healingretreat/ for more details).]

Key References:

Ober C. Sinatra ST, Zucker M.  Earthing, The most important health discovery ever? (2^nd Edition), 2010.  Laguna Beach, Ca: Basic Health Publications, Inc.

Chevalier G, Sinatra ST, Oschman JL, Sokal K, Sokal P.  Earthing: health implications of reconnecting the human body to the Earth’s surface electrons.   J Environ Public Health. 2012; 2012:291541.

Chevalier G, Sinatra ST, Oschman JL, Delany RM.  Earthing(Grounding) the human body reduces blood viscosity – A Major factor in cardiovascular disease.   The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 2013, 19(2): 102-110.

Kevin W Chen, Ph.D. – is an associate professor at the Center for Integrative Medicine and Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine (USA).  Dr. Chen was educated in the universities of both China and the United States, and has years of experience and training in blending eastern and western perspectives, and in the practice of life-nurturing methods. As a long-time practitioner of Qigong Yang Sheng, he is one of the few scientists in the U.S. to have both hands-on knowledge of mind-body practice, and an active research career in mind-body medicine, which is funded through grants by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and various foundations.  Dr. Chen devotes his career and life to the practice of Yang Sheng, and promotion of self-healing and mind-body-spirit integration through the non-profit organization, World Institute for Self Healing (WISH). He can be reached at Qigong4us at gmail.com.