Earthing

Rabbits, Children, and an Old Man

The makings of a world movement?

It has been around two months since I first started incorporating Earthing into my early morning spiritual practices. It has been a game-changer. The results have far exceeded my wildest expectations.

But I have already elucidated the mechanics, meaning, importance, and benefits of Earthing (grounding) in a few previous posts so I will not reiterate. Instead I just want to share two incidents that happened over the last week during my pre-dawn Earthing activities.

My favorite place to go for Earthing has become the expansive lawn in front of the elementary school a block away from where I live. Not only is there plenty of grass to walk barefoot on but there are some lovely trees for hugging (another powerful form of grounding). The place also affords a halfway decent view of the sunrise at this particular time of year.

As I get to the school I take off my flip-flops and hold them in my hand as I begin walking barefoot on the grass. I’ll walk in a large loopy clockwise circular pattern around the lawn a few times, stopping to hug all the trees. If anyone is watching I’m sure they must think that I’m a mental patient recently escaped from the closest mental institution. Thankfully, it’s very early in the morning — before sunrise — and there are not many people out and about.

I will then stop in either of a couple perfect spots and drop the flip-flops on the ground as I do some meditation. I do this twice; once facing the moon if it is still in the sky and once facing the horizon where the sun comes up. I try to FEEL the planet under my naked feet as intensely as I can. Meditating while barefoot on the ground outdoors is approximately 839 times more intense than meditating on the carpet in one’s living room.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I realized that I was not alone!

As I began my Earthing one morning I noticed the cutest little bunny rabbit sitting in the grass at one end of the lawn. I, of course, verbally said hello to the rabbit (to not do so would be rude). I proceeded with my Earthing, careful not to get too close to the rabbit and scare it away.

With only its head and eyes moving, the bunny rabbit sat there and watched me do my Earthing. When I left I said good-bye to the rabbit.

The next morning the bunny rabbit was right there in the exact same spot. Again it just sat there watching me do my Earthing. And again the next day the rabbit was there again in the very same spot. For a week the bunny was right there every morning waiting for me to come and greet it then do my Earthing. It somehow made the Earthing experience even more joyful.

But then one morning everything changed…

With the darling bunny rabbit watching me, I had just finished my final meditation when I heard a screen door slam shut. Looking in the direction of the sound I saw that someone in one of the homes across the street from the school had let out their dog for it to perform its morning ablutions. It was a very big, mean-looking dog.

When the dog spotted me across the street it immediately began running full-speed toward me, growling and barking. What I do when a dog is running toward me to attack me is I stomp my foot on the ground, point my finger at the dog then yell, “Go home!” Surprisingly, it almost always works.

I was about to do this when the dog spotted the rabbit in its peripheral vision and it veered away from me and began running toward the rabbit. The rabbit immediately began hopping away. While the rabbit was fast, the dog ran even faster. It was soon just a few feet behind the rabbit as they both disappeared around the side of the school building.

I was horrified. I mentally called out to the dog, “Come back and attack me but please leave my bunny rabbit friend alone!”

I quickly walked over to where I could see around the building but both the rabbit and dog had disappeared. They were nowhere to be seen.

I prayed that the dog did not catch the bunny rabbit. The event put a real damper on my joyous Earthing.

The next morning the bunny rabbit was not in its usual spot. While the lawn in front of the school was open, the playground behind the school was surrounded by chain-link fencing (no doubt to keep children from wandering away during recess). So I went over to the side of the school to look into the playground and I was so relieved to see my bunny friend sitting on the grass in the playground.

Examining the chain-link fencing, I saw that where the fencing ended up against the school building there were a few inches of space between the last fence post and the building. It was enough space for a rabbit to squeeze through but not enough for a big mean dog. The bunny had survived! I was so happy.

I have spotted the bunny several times in subsequent mornings but it was never in its old spot where it could watch me Earthing. I missed the audience.

This morning I did not spot the bunny at all — at first. But there was another surprise waiting for me. I went about my Earthing as usual and after finishing my second meditation I opened my eyes and was quite surprised to see two small children standing a few feet in front of me.

The closest one was a girl who was around six or seven years old. A little farther away was a boy who was around four or five years old. They had been silently staring at me as I meditated.

Then I noticed that both of them had their shoes in their hands and were standing barefoot on the grass!

What the…?

I looked at the girl and said hello (to not have done so would have been rude). Then I added, “It sure is nice to go barefoot in the grass, isn’t it?”

Her face lit up, “It sure is! I love it!” She then dropped her shoes and began doing somersaults and rolling around in the grass.

As I looked at the boy he immediately began speaking to me. Unfortunately, he was speaking in Spanish and I did not understand much of what he said. (Dammit! Why didn’t I bother learning Spanish back when I used to live just a stone’s throw from the Rio Grande?)

Where did these kids come from? Why were they out and about so early in the morning? Why were they holding their shoes? Were they imitating me? How long had they been watching me? For days perhaps? What the heck was happening?

The boy then pointed and said something in Spanish. I only recognized one word of what he said; the word, conejo. That’s the Spanish word for rabbit. I looked to where he was pointing and sure enough there was my bunny rabbit friend watching us!

How did the boy know?

I stayed and watched the children frolic barefoot in the grass for a while. I kept thinking, “Now these are my people.”

I finally said good-bye and went home. On the way home I thought about how monumental change always happens from the bottom up instead of from the top down. I imagined a world in which animals, children, and adults all frolicked barefoot in the grass together. Could Earthing help bring about such a world? Could animals and children lead the way in reconnecting humankind with the planet they have become so disconnected from? Would adults disengage from their distractions long enough to realize what the animals and children are showing them? Will animals, plants, and humans join together to enter a whole new reality? Will we finally enter a new golden age?

I laughed. I can be so silly sometimes.

Copyright by White Feather. All Rights Reserved.

More Earthing blabber…

Edit: Actress Kris Keppeler chose this story to read on her radio show Does This Happen To You? You can listen to it here.