With our world going through such a massive period of disruption, it often feels like we are in “Phoenix” times. You know the mythical Phoenix bird, that is destroyed by the fire, only to rise anew from the ashes?
It’s a powerful symbol of what is immortal amidst the chaos of change.
And no matter how advanced we are along our spiritual path, we are all feeling the impact of the present energies on our beautiful Planet.
During these times, grounding is so important. Whilst we can achieve that through grounding visualisations and by connecting our feet to the Earth, one way to amplify any of these experiences is to apply essential oils under the soles of our feet.
Which essential oils are best to use under our feet?
My favourite essential oils for the purpose of grounding are the tree oils.
Every essential oil has a personality, and its personality is derived from the character and part of the plant that it comes from. Thus the oil from a delicate flower conveys softness and femininity, whereas the oil that comes from the roots, limbs, trunk and bark of a tall, strong tree conveys strength and grounding.
Some of my favourite oils to apply under my feet for Earthing and Grounding include:
- Northern Lights Black Spruce
- Vetiver (whose oil is derived from the roots of the Vetiver grass. Although it’s not a tree, the fact that the oil comes from its roots is still very anchoring for us).
- Idaho Grand Fir
- Frankincense, or a blend containing Frankincense oil such as Young Living’s Valor and Believe oil blends.
- Cedarwood
- Sandalwood
- Grounding oil blend (one of Young Living’s blends designed to assist with grounding)
Why put essential oils under the soles of your feet?
In addition to its benefits for grounding, there are a number of other good reasons why you’d want to put essential oils under the soles of your feet:
The pores are larger
Did you know that the pores in your feet are larger than the pores over the rest of your body? Imagine you have a thick banana cacao smoothie in your hands, and a normal sized straw. It can be a bit difficult to suck up those nourishing goodies in the smoothie, right? So if you are using an oversized straw, you can get a whole lot more goodness into your body a whole lot faster.
That’s a great analogy for the pores of our skin. The larger pores on our feet allow us to draw up more of the life-enhancing benefits of essential oils a whole lot faster.
Experiment by putting a few drops of Peppermint oil under your feet. You’ll be amazed that often you can taste it in your mouth within a few seconds. This just goes to show how fast essential oils can enter our bloodstream when we apply them to the soles of our feet.
The skin is less sensitive
The skin of our feet is less sensitive than the rest of our body. After all, it’s designed to be walked on! So it’s the perfect place to put neat (undiluted) essential oils. I’m not saying you can’t put these oils on other parts of your body…however, some natural plant chemicals found in certain essential oils can be irritating to sensitive skin, and that means you might need to dilute these essential oils before you put them on other parts of your body. However, you will rarely need to dilute them under your feet.
That being said, if you do apply an oil to the soles of your feet and it feels warming, just rub some carrier oil like coconut, olive, or Young Living’s V6 oil under your feet, and any heat from the essential oil will be extinguished within seconds.
It’s a great place for photosensitizing oils
Some essential oils are naturally photosensitizing, meaning that the skin where you put these oils becomes sensitive to sunlight and UV light for a period of 12 to 72 hours, and should be covered with clothing before any sun or UV light exposure. Citrus oils like Orange, Lemon and Lime fall into this category.
Our feet are a great place to put photosensitizing oils if we know we are going into the sun. We still get to absorb the essential oil and all its benefits, without it being on a high sun exposure site of our body.
Our feet are a powerful anchoring point for our meridians
In both Reflexology and VitaFlex Technique (a Tibetan form of reflexology), our feet map the rest of our body. Every organ of our body is reflected somewhere under our feet, and every nerve line in the body ends in our feet. By paying attention to our feet with reflexology, Vitaflex Technique, massage and essential oils, we can direct energy to any other part of our body. And energy equals wellbeing and vitality, so that’s a really good reason to be putting essential oils under your feet.
Our feet are our connector to Mother Earth
Just as our pineal gland connects us to the moon and the natural lunar rhythm, so too do our feet connect us to the heartbeat and rhythms of the Earth. This enables us to feel more in harmony with nature and with life, as we ride the in breaths and out breaths of our Planet.
Combine your essential oils with Earthing
Earthing is the practice of walking barefoot on the Earth. Whether you are walking on rocks, sand, soil or plants, when you walk barefoot on the Earth, your body is picking up free ions from the Earth’s surface. These act as natural antioxidants for your body, helping to protect you from free radical damage and harmful EMFs.
Think of the Earth as a large battery, designed to recharge your body, and bring harmony to any imbalances.
An eight-week study1 showed that daily Earthing not only improves sleep and increases energy, it also reduces inflammation, anxiety and cortisol levels (that’s our stress hormone), and it speeds up wound healing. Wow!
Most of our shoes have rubber soles, and rubber is an insulator. That’s why it’s so important to kick off your shoes, and practice earthing for at least 20 minutes at a time, a few times a week (and daily is even better!). It doesn’t matter whether you are standing still or walking, you’ll benefit either way. My favourite way of Earthing is going for a beach walk. That way I not only benefit from the Earthing, I’m also breathing in all those beautiful negative ions from the ocean air.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4378297/
