Teacher: Solet
Date: 3/8/2009
<Solet> Tonight we’ll be covering Grounding and possibly Centering.
<Solet> If you have any questions during the class please PM them to Nevyn. He’ll field the simpler questions and will post those he feels should be answered publicly in the channel for everyone to see. (No worries, people won’t know that it’s your question, it’ll be posted anonymously.)
<Solet> Grounding is one of the more important concepts to learn and use when practicing psionics. From time to time we build up too much excessive energy, often clutter, in our fields.
<Solet> When this happens life is noisier and generally more hectic than normal
<Solet> Grounding can have several non psi related benefits as well. Getting rid of the clutter in your field leaves you more relaxed than you were before so grounding can even come in handy before a big test, to get rid of stage fright or any general nervousness.
<Solet> There are many methods for grounding and this evening I’ll be covering a few of the more basic ones.
<Solet> Before I start into the first one, if there are any questions so far please PM Nevyn with them. (I’ll wait a minute)
<Solet> Ok, doesn’t look like there are any so we’ll move on.
<Solet> First technique, the easiest. Stand or sit somewhere where you’re connected to something that’s connected to the ground (or to make it even easier, go outside).
<Solet> Visualize all the energy in your field, find the clutter that shouldn’t be there and the ambient energy that’s floating about.
<Solet> This most likely looks muddy or cloudy.
<Solet> Now look for the excess emotions or thoughts that are floating around. Grab them too.
<Solet> Now, take all of that and push it down, out of you, into the earth. Let it go. Keep doing this until what you’re pushing out is running ‘clear’ (like waiting for the water to run clear in an old house with rusty pipes).
<Solet> If you have problems doing this sitting, try standing with your feet firmly on the ground. If it helps, place your hand down and push out with that. (It’s a mental block that a lot of people have. They find they can push energy out better with their hands.)
<Solet> Once the energy is running clear, you’re finished.
<Solet> Any questions?
<Nevyn> Any special considerations for being on the third floor of a building?
<Solet> Not really. It’s just like if you were on the first floor. you have to go through the floor and foundation then to the earth.
<Solet> And this transitions us into our second method. Grounding into an object.
<Solet> This is a little more advanced and one should generally prep the object before hand using some sort of traditional grounding construct or a containment construct (so you can clean and use the energy later).
<Solet> This is helpful if you’re on the move. While you can ground normally in a moving car, some people have a hard time focusing on an ever moving target.
<Solet> And if you’re in a plane its even trickier. So what you can do is, just like before find all the clutter in your field and push it out.
<Solet> But this time you will be pushing it into the object of choice for later use or disposal
<Solet> For obvious reasons sensitive electronic equipment is _not_ recommended for this. Though things like a pen, business card or small piece of quartz are.
<Solet> Any questions on this method?
<Solet> Was suggested that I cover cleaning the object afterward.
<Solet> This is really quite simple because you don’t have to look too hard to find what you’re getting rid of, you already know where you stored it.
<Solet> Once you’re ready to clean the object you cluttered up. All you do is grab it, take hold of the energy you stored there, and push it down and out into the earth same as you would normally.
<Solet> You don’t have to pull it into yourself first but if it helps you control it better, push it down the side of your field.
<Solet> Another way you could do it is set the object on the ground, and push clean energy down onto it telling the clean energy to take the dirty with it into the ground
<Solet> Like rinsing dirty dish water out of a sponge with the sink when you’re done cleaning dishes.
<Solet> Before we move on to the third method, I’d like to take a short break (5 minutes or so) for everyone who wishes to try either (or both) of these methods and see if any questions come up.
<Solet> Don’t worry about getting everything grounded as there will be a couple more methods later that you’ll probably want to try as well.
<Solet> If you have any questions please PM myself or Nevyn with them and when we resume we’ll address them in channel
<Solet> Ok did anyone have any questions or problems while grounding?
<Solet> I received one: You said something earlier about cleaning and re-using the energy. How do you do that?
<Solet> That is a more complicated process that really deserves it’s own class and thus will be covered in a later class. It would take a lot of time and would require more assistants than we have on hand tonight to help out with the practice portion.
<Solet> Ok moving on to the third method. This is the method that Winged Wolf teaches in her book.
<Solet> Make a “line” of energy from you deep into the earth (her book suggests aiming for the center of the planet), the line should be about the size of your field so that you can simply push down or “dump” the energy away from you.
<Solet> As you might have noticed all these techniques involve grounding to the earth or a predesignated target. The reason we do this instead of flinging it off into the air is an act of courtesy.
<Solet> If you fling dirty stuff into the air you’re likely to hit some one with it. Regardless if they’re psionicly active or not, it’s not nice. If they are psionicly active, chances are they’re not going to be too happy.
<Solet> (Some even have a habit of bapping you back because of it.)
<Solet> Wolf’s method differs from the first one in that, in the first one we didn’t make a conduit (the line) beforehand.
<Solet> In all reality it’s not necessary to make the conduit first, but for beginners it really helps a lot.
<Solet> Any questions regarding Wolf’s method of grounding?
<Solet> Ok the next method is something we will _NOT_ be practicing here tonight because we don’t have enough healers on hand to fix you guys when mistakes happen.
<Solet> This is assisted grounding and is much more complicated.
<Solet> This is for when the person who needs to be grounded cannot do it themselves for reasons that could include combat, not psionicly active, to sick/tired to focus properly etc.
<Solet> This should never be done without the persons informed consent and should never by done by some one who hasn’t been trained properly to do this.
<Solet> The purpose of this portion is for education, _not_ real practice.
<Solet> When grounding some one else first you need to connect to them, if they’re shielded they’ll need to make an exception for you or take their shield(s) down (the former is suggested).
<Solet> Take a look at their field, how it moves, what’s in it etc.
<Solet> Start finding the dirty energy, excess emotions and other problem spots just as you would with yourself. Make note of where they are.
<Solet> Now, open the link between you up more and _slowly_ begin pulling the bad stuff towards you. Make sure to check in with them frequently and if they’re feeling wrong/bad/weird at all STOP.
<Solet> Assuming they’re having no problems, at this point you’re going to want to put up your own barriers to the stuff, connect to whatever your target is and begin slowly dumping the energy.
<Solet> Continue doing this until they are clean.
<Solet> The most important part of this process is to STOP if something goes wrong and to not even ATTEMPT to do this if you haven’t been properly trained by some one who has the time to be able to make sure you know how to do it correctly.
<Solet> Doing this wrong could end up damaging (possibly permanently) their energy system.
<Solet> Any questions on how the process works?
<Solet> Could I build a construct that would act like a janitor, dumping out “junk” energy as it builds up around and in me?
<Solet> Yes. This can be done in a simple shield that cleans stuff that shouldn’t be there.
<Solet> A lot of people do it, though it should be noted that you will still need to manually ground out from time to time
<Solet> When you do it manually you’re in full control and can make sure you get everything. There will always be things the auto pilot missed. Also you need to be careful that your auto pilot grounder isn’t over zealous. If it starts grounding out stuff that it shouldn’t you need to take it down and reprogram it’s grounding rules.
<Solet> Ok, that’s all I have on grounding, if anyone has another technique I missed please let Nevyn or myself know. There are some shortcuts that have been left out intentionally because everyone needs to start with the full method and trim as it works for them. (One persons shortcut may or may not work for another person.)
<Solet> Also, now would be the time if anyone has any questions on one of the methods in specific or grounding in general.
<Solet> Ok. We’ll take one last break to let you try any of the first 3 methods or the auto cleaner that was mentioned and see if any questions come up.
<Solet> Remember do _NOT_ screw around with assisted grounding.
<Solet> Alright, last call for questions and then the class is over. If you have any questions at all please PM myself or Nevyn with them.
<Solet> Ok, I got 2 questions on centering so I’m going to outline it VERY briefly
<Solet> Centering is often thought to be the second half of grounding. While the 2 are often paired together they do not need to. There are times when you need to ground but don’t really need to center and times you should center but don’t really need to ground.
<Solet> Doing both won’t hurt anything, but if you’re in a hurry it should be pointed out that you don’t have to do both.
<Solet> Centering is a way to calm your mind, declutter your thoughts. Grounding cleans up your field, centering, your head.
<Solet> Tonight I’m only going to cover the _very_ basics of centering.
<Solet> First off, close your eyes. Relax yourself completely, focus just on yourself.
<Solet> People often comment that it’s good to go to your “happy place”. It works.
<Solet> Now start analyzing your thoughts figuring out where they’re coming from and why they are happening, deal with and quiet them.
<Solet> Now start looking around in your field shield and energy system, if you recently grounded out you’re probably going to notice some bald spots. Make note of them.
<Solet> Next what you’re going to do is start moving the energy in your field around to even things out. Get rid of the bald spots.
<Solet> Quiet yourself again, and look around again, repeat until all the bald spots are gone and everything is nice and even.
<Solet> Now if there were problems with your shields/system, start putting them back the way they should be.
<Solet> Quieting yourself every so often.
<Solet> This takes more time and focus than grounding (and thus will be a much longer class of its own).
<Solet> You need to be completely quieted to accomplish this, if you’re anxious/worried/upset about something it’s not going to work well. When you try to fill in the bald spots you’ll just put clutter back into your field
<Solet> Thus it’s most important that you’re able to quiet yourself first.
<Solet> Any questions on centering?
<Nevyn> “How often should one center?”
<Solet> If you’ve just grounded and you got rid of a lot of stuff it’s probably a good idea to center.
<Solet> If you’re feeling out of your element or otherwise off balance mentally/emotionally, center.
<Solet> Grounding and Centering are basic maintenance. Similar to sleep, if you sleep on concrete blocks with a rag pillow, you’re going to wake up dragging the next day.
<Solet> If you walk around life with a cluttered or off balanced field, you’re going to be less efficient at everything.
<Solet> Any other questions?
<Solet> Alright. Class is over guys.