A Grounding Prayer for Protection and Healing
Dear Mystics, what is prayer? Psychosomatic therapist and founder of Moon & Bloom Heidi Smith defines prayer as “an active agreement that you make between your soul and the divine (whatever that means to you). It is a sacred practice that can be called upon to bring about states of grace, healing, and change.”
In The Uncommon Book of Prayer: An Illuminated Guide to Co-Creating with the Universe, Heidi invites readers of all faiths, spiritualties, and personal practices to expand their ideas of prayer as an authentic, sustaining, and heart-centered experience. In developing a conscious prayer practice, you can find a way into co-creating with the universe for healing, hope, dreaming, and creative problem-solving for your life and our world.
Read on for a short excerpt, plus a Grounding Exercise and Prayer, courtesy of Heidi.
A Definition of Prayer
To begin, I want to share my definition of prayer. I define prayer as an active agreement that you make between your soul and the divine (whatever that means to you). It is a sacred practice that can be called upon to bring about states of grace, healing, and change.
For many, prayer is a polarizing term. I use prayer interchangeably with spell, mantra, affirmation, and resonant language. If any of those words or phrases feel like a better fit for you, use them! God is a polarizing term as well, and perhaps you’d rather use spirit, soul, universe, or divine. Perhaps your personal cosmology and beliefs about divinity are evolving and you’re not sure which words to use to describe your practice. That’s okay, too! Though it need not be, prayer is often associated with religion, which brings up complicated feelings for many. Religious systems have helped, and also harmed, a lot of people. Even so, I encourage you to consider that prayer has been a part of every civilization (pre-colonization), and our misconceptions about it are grounded in the ways it has been stolen, misapplied, and, in many cases, used to thwart the very power it holds to help us. This is not what lies at the true heart of prayer, though.
Prayer is not fundamentally a means of control, but it does invite a different relationship between intention and letting go. Prayer is also not a one-way solicitation for permission or pardon. It is co-creative and relational.
Grounding Exercise and Prayer Interlude
The following exercise and prayer can be called upon whenever you want to access greater presence or protection. I utilize grounding whenever I pray, work with clients, make medicine, or am preparing for a challenging situation.
Grounding Exercise
Sit comfortably, quiet your mind, and close your eyes or lower your gaze, whichever feels right to you. If possible, have your feet flat on the floor or lie down. Take some deep, grounding breaths into your belly and into your root chakra, which is located right around your perineum. Allow the lower part of your body (feet, legs, thighs, and hips) to relax with each exhalation. Feel yourself getting heavy and sinking into your seat. Allow a grounding cord (I like to envision a tree trunk) emanating from your lower back, going through your root chakra, and plunging all the way to the Earth’s crystalline core. Feel the Earth energy coming up through your lower body, through your root, and through your feet, with every inhalation. Just notice how you feel in your body as you connect with the Earth. Feel her energy holding you and bringing you into presence. Stay and hang out here for a few minutes if it feels comfortable.
When you feel ready to come back, gently release the grounding cord back to the Earth, and allow your root chakra to come to a comfortable, neutral position. Slowly deepen your breath once again, bring your awareness back to your space, and open your eyes.
Complex trauma survivors usually need to relearn how to quiet the mind. The dorsal, or backside, of the vagus nerve responds to danger that may be either real or perceived. When our dorsal vagal goes into protection mode, it shuts down, or freezes. When this happens, we may disassociate, feeling trapped or numb. In some instances, meditation and prayer can exacerbate dorsal vagal shutdown. If this is an issue for you, you can integrate soft music or another gentle sensory stimulus like ambient music, a sensory toy (I have a magic wand filled with glitter), a somatic exercise like tapping the forearms or, if seated, gently rocking side to side on the sitz bones. I do feel it’s beneficial to build your tolerance for presence, stillness, and quiet, at whatever capacity and pace that feels doable for you.
Grounding Prayer
Dear mother/father god, spirit, and universe,
I ask permission to call on the powers of my highest self, light, love, truth, nature, and healing.
I call on all my angels, guides, and ancestors.
I call on the energies of Mother Earth and Tree Spirits.
I allow my energy to root down into the center of the Earth.
My mind is at peace, and all thoughts wanting my attention float away like clouds.
I am anchored in perfect presence.
I am rooted in acceptance of all that is.
I allow all of my chakras to align with the heartbeat of the Earth.
I am connected to all life through this divine rhythm.
I feel the warm, nourishing, and healing energy of Mother Earth, holding me in balance.
Thank you so much for all that you do for us, Mother Earth.
With deepest gratitude, so be it.
Flower essences to complement this prayer: red cedar, red clover, corn
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The Uncommon Book of Prayer
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10 / 15 / 2024
