If you’ve been with me for a while, you know that I have been going through some major shifts and changes that have been unfolding for the past 2+ years. My relationship with angels and guides is deepening. My relationship with my own soul is deepening. And I’m learning how to use my intuition in brand new ways.

I’m still “living on the edge” of A Course in Miracles, exploring all of the things that the Course points to, but doesn’t fully explain.

While I can honestly say that it is fun and deeply nourishing, I’ve also had to buckle my proverbial seatbelt. In addition to everything that is happening in the world, over the past few months, it’s been one crisis after another over here.

There’s a beautiful lesson in A Course in Miracles that can greatly help us in times of distress. It is Lesson 109, “I rest in God.” Here is a snippet:

“I rest in God.” ²Completely undismayed, this thought will carry you through storms and strife, past misery and pain, past loss and death, and onward to the certainty of God. ³There is no suffering it cannot heal. ⁴There is no problem that it cannot solve. ⁵And no appearance but will turn to truth before the eyes of you who rest in God. (ACIM, W-109.3:1-5)

I don’t know about you, but there are times when I find it difficult to sit on my couch to meditate. Especially during times of crisis when we need meditation the most! So I’ve been exploring additional ways to rest in God that work for me, repurposing everything around me as a supportive tool.

As you may recall, I’m currently having a love affair with the feminine aspect of God. One way I connect with this feminine energy is through a repurposed earth. I’ve been learning how to forage for wild food (we’re eating morel mushrooms I foraged for dinner tonight) and make edible salads from “weeds” in my backyard. I also cherish spending time in the woods, picking up shells and rocks on the beach, and you know how much I love spending time with my pet chickens.

Being in mindful relationship to the earth makes me feel in mindful relationship to the Divine.

Another way of saying this is that the Holy Spirit can repurpose what I love (plants, rocks, grass, my chickens, the woods, the beach etc.) and use it to help me awaken. Doing earthy things was incredibly grounding and supportive during the period of dealing with one crisis after another.

This brings me to my current favorite practice of resting in God.

Just as I am held safely in the mind of God, I can feel myself held by the earth as a parallel. Here are the steps I follow in case you want to experiment with this practice too:

1. Find your spot.

I have a favorite spot in my yard where I saw an image of the Black Madonna in my tree. This is the place where I usually go to practice resting in God. I feel a connection to the tree, the rocks around the tree and the grass beneath my feet. It’s my spot.

While your spot can be anywhere, indoors or outdoors, I’m finding it particularly supportive to practice outdoors where I can be in direct relationship with the earth. If your spot is indoors, maybe try opening a window if it allows you to hear birds or feel the breeze.

2. Lie down with your back flat against the earth so you can feel the ground beneath you.

If you are unable to lie down outside, sitting in a chair with your feet on the earth is a great alternative. If you are indoors, try getting on the floor if you’re physically able to do so. If not, you can do this entire practice from wherever you are situated. Simply feel the earth supporting you.

While outdoors, I lie on a soft mat and sheet so I’m comfortable but can still feel the ground beneath me. I can spread my arms out if I want and wiggle my fingers in the grass.

3. Bring your awareness to your back body.

The front of the body is where we usually bring ALL of our attention as we are forward facing in the world. Focusing on the back of the body can dramatically increase our sense of connection to God. From an energetic perspective, the front of the body is where we interact with the world (and through which we extend love into the world) and the back of the body is where we receive the love of God that we give.

I recognize it might feel strange or even challenging to focus on the back of your body, but keep an open mind and give it a try. My awareness of my back body was very hard to maintain in the beginning. I can say from experience it gets easier with practice.

4. Imagine you’re receiving love through doorways in the back of your body.

Now of course you’re always receiving love from the Divine through your mind. But we believe we’re in a body! So let’s repurpose the body as a supportive tool to help facilitate our learning.

You can imagine that in the back of each chakra of the body (base of the spine, sacrum, solar plexus, heart, throat, and 3rd eye) there is a door that opens up to receive the love of God. The crown of the head (the 7th chakra) is always open to the heavens above. Imagine that the love of God flows into the back of your body. If the chakras feel challenging to connect with individually, you can focus on a feeling of receiving love through the full length of the back of your body.

5. Next, imagine that the earth, in its entirety, is holding you.

As you lie on the ground or floor, imagine that the earth is supporting your body as you breathe. It’s holding you. And as you stretch your arms out beside you, you can imagine how this earth that you touch extends and is also holding every other living thing. You’re connected to everything in this way. The same earth beneath your body is the same earth beneath every other body.

6. To deepen your connection to a repurposed earth, imagine that you have a grounding cord that connects you to the center of the earth.

I find this image particularly helpful to maintain my connection to the earth. You can imagine that you have a grounding cord that is the same circumference as your hips, which extends deep into the center of the earth. And in the center of the earth, you can imagine that there is the den of the Divine Earth Mother. You can send anything down to her (just like you send things “up” to the Holy Spirit) and she will transmute whatever it is into new life force (aka love).

7. Breathe and Rest.

This is my favorite part. Listen to the birds. Feel the grass beneath you. Feel the soil beneath you. Feel the air. Hear the sounds. Feel the earth holding you. Sense your body. Sense the love flowing into your body and mind. Feel connected to everything that seemingly exists on this planet. The same earth that holds you is the same earth that holds everything. The same God that you rest in is the same God that everything else rests in and is part of.

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Getting grounded and connected to the earth has been a missing piece of my journey. As someone who has struggled with anxiety, my energy can easily go very high up in my body, resulting in racing thoughts, heart palpitations, or antsyness. This practice slows me down and syncs my energy and my mind to a much more grounded connection with God through everything I see and feel.

I spent many years as a student of A Course in Miracles up in my head, partially disconnected from my body, all the while thinking that whether I was connected to my body or not didn’t really matter (because we’re not bodies).  I didn’t realize that being disconnected from my body allowed the ego to keep my unhealed parts hidden.

Getting re-connected with the earth beneath me, learning about the trauma that the ego has hidden in the body, and keeping a radically open mind, has brought me into new levels of healing and spiritual experiences that I never could have imagined on my own.

Let me know if this practice resonates with you! Simply leave a comment below.

All my love,
Corinne