Take a few deep cleansing breaths. Go outside and stand on the grass barefoot. Feel the blades tickling your feet. Feel the solidity of the earth beneath you. Close your eyes and feel the energy emanating from the center of the earth traveling up toward the surface toward you. Feel the vibrations as they enter your feet and feel the strength and peace this energy is offering you. Let it flow throughout your body and feel the subtle connection that gently intensifies the longer you stand where you are. Know that this is the vital energy of the Earth acknowledging and embracing your presence. Feel the healing and love that flows through and around you, and when you end this exercise, know that these vibrations remain a part of your being and strive to share them with those around you. Namaste!

 ​As spiritual beings encased in physical bodies, we walk, work, rest, love on a small planet third from the sun in a solar system existing as a part of a universe we cannot fathom and which, at present, we are unable to physically visit. Our bodies are sustained by the generous gifts of water, air, and foods that the Earth provides us. Like a benevolent Mother, she tends to us in many ways, some of which are often hidden from our awareness. Her trees share messages of wisdom culled from ancient experiences. Her rocks and crystals show us how it is to live vibrantly in a seemingly static form. Her rivers, lakes, and oceans not only provide the necessary water we drink, but they move our thoughts from the mundane and bathe our minds with cleansing movement, removing our angst and bringing us peace as we watch them ebb and flow around us, reminding us of our own ebbs and flows. Mother Earth, too, is part of the spiritual as well as physical reality in which we live.
 
I remember as a child lying on the grass in my backyard and looking up at the clouds floating overhead on a blue ocean of sky. I would press my back into the Earth and feel the vibrations reaching up and surrounding me, cradling me as I lay there feeling the Earth thrumming with life and love. I would close my eyes and could almost sense the movement of the planet within the great sea of the universe.
 
Now, many years later, I sometimes walk around and become aware of these same sensations. But now, I am also keenly aware of the relationship we have with Mother Earth and the need to protect her as much as she protects us. We have made great strides in recent years of cleaning the pollution we, as inhabitants of this wondrous planet, created by our presence here. In a time when there is talk of reverting back to practices that threatened our eco-systems and, thus, our very beings, we need to become ever more vigilant of our individual responsibilities for maintaining the planet as pollutant free as possible for our own survival. We can each do our part by, for example, recycling, reusing, and repurposing what we use. We can make sure our legislators hear our voices demanding a clean environment in which to live.
 
Just as Mother Earth strives to nurture us, we need to gratefully receive that nurturing and act as responsible stewards of our planet. So long as we continue to incarnate here, we must strive to ensure that the physical bodies we inhabit live in awareness of the interconnectedness of all things and live accordingly with empathy, compassion, light, and love. Namaste!