By Dr. Bridgett B. Simon
As spring moves in, the season can bring environmental allergies that make you want to hide indoors. In energetic medicine, I take a little different approach. The practice of Earthing has become a term coined for having contact with the earth against your skin, such as the feet when walking barefoot, or when sitting on the ground. Other methods are used such as Earthing mats, but I am referring here to getting outside in direct contact with the earth.
Allergies are related to an imbalance in the immune system. They can bring itching, airway narrowing and mucous production among other not so fun symptoms. The inflammation involved in allergies often has a positive charge to it like free radicals do in our body, unstable cells that cause damage like immune imbalance, heart disease and the like. The surface of the earth has a negative charge. It is theorized that connecting to the earth via the skin might help to stabilize the free radicals and inflammatory cells when the positive and less stable charge meets the negative charge of the earth’s surface and is neutralized.
The idea is to get your feet on the ground or skin contact if you can. Taking a walk on the beach barefoot is a good example and the water may help conduct the electron or negative charge. A walk barefoot in grass without a lot of pesticides is a great idea as well. Even sitting with your feet on the ground with your kids playing around you is lovely. If you have severe issues with seasonal allergies, start small like a few minutes a day when you can, and build up to 30 minutes a day or a few times a week. Over time the air will do you good, as we spend so much of our time inside living in boxes essentially, cut off from nature. The reconnection with the earth is no small aspect in my opinion. The light and dark cycles of the day, the fresh air, the sun on our skin, these are all parts of our environment that affect our mood and hormones. When you affect hormones, you affect the entire body. Earthing has a side benefit of reestablishing this connection, even in a small way and I think this is beneficial in optimizing health.
Finally, adding homeopathy to an Earthing program would be great to try for the motivated. See a homeopath or talk to your Naturopath about AllergyEasy which is a program using homeopathic drops of common allergens instead of allergy shots. Homeopathy also focuses on righting imbalances and using the body’s own strength and wisdom to treat itself. This is very appealing to me as a physician and energetic medicine practitioner. Think of me when you walk on that beach or play in the sand box with your kids, I am probably not too far away.