Are you fully present and wide awake right now, or are you lost in thought, feeling spacey, and/or focused on your electronic device again?

Awareness is the only vehicle of perception you have to experience your life, and the present moment is the only place you can have it, yet it is so easy to slip out of the now and lose track of your thoughts and your awareness.

Grounding is great way to bring your awareness back to reality. Working with your internal energies releases stagnant vibrations from your field that keep you floating out into space rather than centered in the now.

Here are ten grounding techniques to help you when you want to come down from the cloud and put your focus back into the present reality:

10 Ways to Ground Yourself When You’re Feeling Spacey

Eat foods that grow in the ground, such as potatoes, carrots, radishes, or root vegetables. Anything that grows underground will bring your energies back to earth if you ingest it.

Heavy foods, such as animal protein, will also ground you, but be careful not to overdo them, or you may become too sluggish. You might also try eating something sour or acrid, like a lemon, to give you some zest.

Take off your shoes and go barefoot. Walking barefoot is the quickest way to ground your energies to feel centered. It will align your frequencies with the earth in an instant.

Go outside. Or if you can’t, look at pictures of the outdoors, especially the mountains or forests. One of the quickest ways to ground yourself is a reminder of where you are in the world.

Be a tree. Imagine that you have roots that go deep into the earth and relax as you picture the energies you no longer want or need to release down the roots. Or, even better, find a tree and sit with your spine pressed against its trunk. The natural energy flow in the tree will move your energies into the earth for you, and you will feel grounded.

Slap yourself, shake yourself, or get up and move. The change in your body awareness will center you in the now. You may also try splashing some cold water on your face.

Quantify the things you see in your environment. When you count, you are centering yourself in your left brain hemisphere. This stimulates logic and current-time awareness.

Drink something warm, like tea, coffee, or cider, to help you feel safe to be here in the now.

Blink, then focus on something, then blink again. Do this a few times as you focus on bringing your attention back to the present time, and you will center your awareness back into your head.

Wear or gaze at dark colors or earthy tones found in nature, like dark greens, clay reds, browns, and black.

Get your breath moving. Breath is prana, or life energy. When you increase your breathing, you also increase your prana. Try the breath of fire, a simple but potent pranayama to stimulate your energy and call your awareness into the here and now.

Breath of Fire

Breath of fire is a rapid pulse diaphragmatic movement. Breathing through the nose, keep your inhale and exhale equal in volume as you quickly pump the stomach out on the inhale and in on the exhale.

It should feel like you are sniffing deeply, in and out. This breath moves prana energy through your system while it floods you internally with oxygen, stimulating and waking you into awareness.  Do it for as long as it feels necessary.

Breath of fire can do more than wake you up. It turns your body into a high-powered engine, pumping and processing any stagnant energies you may be holding. You can also use it to help process complex thoughts or emotions that surface or any time you need to boost your energy levels and amp yourself up. This is a great practice to keep in your toolbox!