A couple of things

[Peter S]

When my dad was in the Navy, back in the ‘40s, his eyesight was flagged as a problem at his medical. Expecting to be tons to get glasses, instead the doctor gave him exercises to do. As a result he didn’t need glasses till well into his 60s.

[Greenbare Woods]

Staring at a screen hour after hour is hard on eyes. 

[BlueTrain]

Easy on the brain, I expect.

[nuduke]

After encouragement and info from Jbee I had a period where I practiced earthing/grounding.
I was hoping it might have an effect on my stiff back or my annoying periodic skin rash.
I set up an earthed rig using a flat copper sheet and connected that to the electrical earth (which is into the ground in UK via earth wires, drain pipes, water pipes etc. all of which are eventually buried and form a good electrical connection to earth) on which I put my bare feet when working at the PC (which I spent a helluva lot of time at in those days).
I'm afraid I didn't experience any very perceptible effects except perhaps an evanescent and very hard to pin down general feeling of well being whilst earthed.
Since we moved house in 2015 I haven't resurrected the kit, I'm afraid.  However the back has been much helped by yoga and the rash by antihistamines as it turned out to be an idiopathic form of urticaria - still a mystery what causes it.  Earthing did not reduce its incidence at all.

Whilst, like Martin M, I am not convinced by the explanations for earthing as a proven phenomenon and await evidence as to why, how and if it works, I am however, as a dyed in the wool reductionist rationalist, nonetheless happy to accept others' empirical evidence as some sort of reason to use it.  Although my earthing kit is in the cupboard, I do walk on the earth a lot barefoot for the earthing possibilities.


Has anyone ever reported any negative side effects of earthing?  I have noticed over the years that quite a few 'alternative' therapies and things people take for different reasons like homeopathy or mineral supplements are reported to work or not work, as the case may be, yet none of them seem to have bad effects on  people.  I take this as evidence that a lot of these things don't actually have a scientific effect except on a placebo level.  However, one must not dismiss them out of hand - just because they appear not to be active chemically or biologically does not mean they are not positively therapeutic.  Many people find them beneficial.  So we must all discriminate for ourselves what therapies are useful and active in our own bodies and minds.  Many ancient remedies are therapeutic and many others (e.g. herbal remedies) contain active drug compounds that do the work.  The problem is that not everything is properly or extensively researched meaning that what a substance does for you is based on empirical and anecdotal evidence which tends to vary.


So, I shall continue to earth in bare feet.  I may even look out my earthing kit again.
John

[BlueTrain]

I can report with confidence that sleeping on the ground does not improve one's sleep. At least it never did mine. Maybe there was too much insulation. However, I grew up hearing a lot about traditional lore. I suspect that since that was a couple of generations ago, most of it has probably been forgotten. Much of it had to do with growing things and nobody there keeps a (vegetable) garden anymore. If they do, they should know that you have to plant things according to the signs, as given in the Farmer's Almanac. I don't recall if wearing a copper bracelet was one of them but I think some people believed that carrying certain things around in your pockets was supposed to be worth doing, only I don't remember what things. I imagine that most of those things were brought over from Europe and what didn't, came from the Indians. At least nobody mentioned werewolves or even real wolves.

There was a magazine entitled "Foxfire," which was about southern Appalachian culture, crafts and history, later published in book form. I never read any myself, not wanting to make apple butter or built a log house, although I did live in one. No doubt all sorts of folk remedies and such things were included. But most things along those lines, like carrying something special in your pocket, were mentioned in such a way as to suggest that they didn't have complete faith in the claim but it was more a case of "it wouldn't hurt."

Some of those things work but chances are, the reasons they do (and sometimes don't) have to be scientifically grounded, not faith based. And circumstances are apt to be more complicated that people generally realize. In other words, someone said that grounding/earthing works best when the ground is moist. So it may not work too well out in Arizona. But the air is good if you have respiratory problems--or used to be.

[nuduke]

I agree Blue Train, a scientific grounding to explain phenomena is essential.  But that doesn't mean to say there is no place for faith or empirical experience in the function of something.  A lot of old wives' remedies are based on sound scientific principles and others work but we don't know why yet.  The classic is willow tree bark extract that was used for centuries to treat pains and fevers.  That's because it contains the equivalent of aspirin (Salicin) from which Aspirin was eventually isolated and synthesised.  Foxglove, digitalis is another - led to a major heart drug Digoxin.  Also the placebo effect has been shown to be amazingly strong in those that believe in it even though they know they are using an inactive placebo.  So if there are reasons to believe in something having an effect then that can have the desired effect whether or not there is any specific scientific grounding.  I just isn't cut and dried.  I am a fierce reductionist - I believe there's a scientific reason for everything - but I believe that there are many things that are currently beyond scientific reasoning.  That is no reason to dismiss or avoid the things that presently defy explanation.  Quite the reverse in fact.  Engaging with them makes it more likely that an explanation may occur to someone.


Consider earthing: The thing about earthing is that it is not beyond plausible that there is a connection between the electrical activity in the body and the ability of the earth to absorb electrons.  The Earthers claim you receive energy from the earth by connecting with it.  I find that hard to believe. However, anyone with a home electrical test multimeter can measure the change in body resistance when you earth yourself.  I think its more plausible to speculate that what happens is that there is a small flow of electrons to earth when you improve contact with the earth such as in going barefoot or connecting with the electrical earth and this may (or may not) have some sort of beneficial effect.  While the earthers make no reference to a mechanism by which a flow of electrons out of the body could affect the body, I am happy to be pluralistic and accept others' benign faiths and beliefs in my belief that a reductionist, rational, scientific explanation will eventually emerge as to the effects of those beliefs.  Who knows, one day, like aspirin, yoga or using mouldy bread to put on infected wounds, one of them may change the world for the better.


In my early days of going naked in the woods and to an extent today, I would feel what I called an 'earth energy' whilst meditating naked on the leafy floor of a wood or hugging a tree or just feeling the breeze on my skin.  This is a metaphysical, ontological thing and I have no doubt is self-generated.  I just want to feel uplifted in these circumstances and so I allow my self  and mood (spirit?) to be uplifted.  The effect is calming, energising and if I'm lucky, slightly mystical.  Naked in nature I like to feel like a creature of nature (which I am not!) but I can open my mind to such possibilities and let the feeling of that experience flood in.  None of that is scientific nor does it imply a particular belief or faith.  However it is a meditative state which my mind invites to happen, the result being inner calm, positive thought outcomes and so a love of being naked in nature.  I call that earth energy.



As my dear old dad used to say in a broad Yorkshire accent and with a jolly wink of the eye, to avoid getting dragged into political conversations or the consideration of religions, "I believe in Giblet Pie!"


John

[BlueTrain]

The usual comment is "I believe I'll have a drink." And just like a drink, different people will undoubtedly be affected differently by these phenomena. I suppose also that the subject (the person) has to be receptive, too. But in like manner, different people will perceive the problems differently. For instance, I doubt that any teenager would report any sleeping problems, other than perhaps not getting enough sleep. Apparently we require less sleep as we get older. Ironically, we have fewer reasons to go to bed and fewer reasons to get up.

I've been hiking nude in the woods (basically just walking, really) since I was in high school. I simply don't tan, being a natural red head, or was, but most of the places I have been were shady anyway, so the sun was not an issue. My skin problems originated at the city swimming pool, not in the woods. But it feels good not to wear clothes outside under a wide range of conditions. That is my motivation. I can't say I've felt any electrical energy out walking, unfortunately. I walk and I rest but I don't meditate. Elevated thinking doesn't happen to me when I'm being extra careful on a rough and rocky trail and perspiration is dripping off me like I just stepped out of a salty shower. That's another thing: it doesn't evaporate! Where I live, it's usually far too humid for sweat to just evaporate and most of the time in the woods, there is virtually no breeze. That only changes when I reach the more open places along the ridges. In contrast, a couple of places I can think of are windy most of the time. At home and indoors, none of these conditions apply but it's still good to be nude, which I manage to do two or three hours a day, not counting when I'm sleeping, also nude. That is, without wearing anything in bed. I'm under the covers, so I'm not really nude, I guess.

We are all creatures of nature and of this world. What is unnatural is something that cannot be done. We cannot fly like birds and however batty we might be, we can't fly like a bat, either. Men are not from Mars and women are not from Venus.

[ric]

nuduke.....as i understand it  current thinking is that the earth is neg charged and gives up electrons to the body during earthing.

my other half recommends  earthing the most important health discovery ever,   clinton ober and stephen sinatra     available on amazon and kindle.

[BlueTrain]

Some of this sounds like feng shui, which I think is supposed to be "using energy sources to harmonize individuals with the surrounding environment." I have a compulsion to do certain things to suit myself, at least when I have the energy and the spirit moves me, but it isn't the same thing. I just like things orderly. Es muss Ordnung geben!

[jbeegoode]

China's most important bank is supposed to have a corner cut out of it, to accommodate a lay line. Some Chinese Feng Shui does deal with earth energies, positive and negative. Most of what I read in Western FengShui books sounds to be some intuitive ideas that make as much sense to me as not walking under a ladder, or crossing black cats. I understand a sense of openness in a room, symbolic unconscious effect, practical considerations and room decor, but these books get extreme with nothing backing them up, but fear.

During my wealthy years, I left my toilet lids open. Then someone comes by and tells me that my riches will flush down it, if I leave it open. The lid is a practical consideration with female home use. They want the seat down, Guys want it up. So shut the whole thing and everybody is hassled equally and it looks tidy.

The Earthing has demonstrated to me that it works. The dowsing, I can personally feel and demonstrate. The transpersonal energies more than prove themselves. I am more apt to go with something I can see, touch and feel, like barefoot and nude, not reactions and anxieties.
Jbee

[Peter S]

The number of things that can - and do - get dropped into an open toilet bowl and accidentally flushed away gives credence to that one. And walking under ladders risks falling objects, so no superstition then. Having moved house on Friday 13th and experienced the one dry day in three months of near continuous rain I think I’ve disproved that one. Black cats have witchcraft connotations, take that as you will; I believe unlucky 13 is to with the Last Supper, so ditto; and that rabbit’s foot wasn’t lucky for the rabbit, so go figure.

[F.BareSoul]

I have a bad back with a herniated disk, along with scoliosis.  I hardly can sit comfortably and I feel the need to lie back with the right support in the right spot near the bottom in the lower back along with support to the rest of me up to where the head will be held, for staying for a good period. But about benefitting from going barefoot, I only go barefoot all the time, never any other way, about eighteen years. I don't feel confident about effect of grounding, with any charge, but I should have it if there is, but I have real benefit still, I can really walk, without difficulty because of this spine, I have done it so for long enough, and for many thousands of miles now, that I could go really fast,  my soles are durable, like shoes, I have arches which I did not before I had started being barefoot as much as I could be, being completely flat-footed with weak feet, now they are strong, and I have stronger legs for all the walking, I manage squats and everything well while I am quite older still. I am not limited because of my back, this way!