As a beginner, you're going to be running out of energy fairly quickly. You can always take the time to lay back and rest, but that can be slow and ineffective. Sometimes the loss of energy will may you feel sick or uncomfortable, and you may want that feeling to pass. Either way, if you don't have any energy, you can't do anything, and sometimes you may want your abilities for an emergancy. For those reasons, grounding is a necessary topic for all beginners to learn, before they get too involved in anything.

1. What Is Grounding?
   
2. Sources of Energy
   
3. How to Ground
   
   1. Step 1 - Find a Source
      
   2. Step 2 - Try to Gather
      
   3. Step 3 - Continue Until Full
   
   

What Is Grounding?

The term 'grounding' most likely came from reference to bringing energy up through the root chakra. Some methods of 'grounding' involve bringing energy up from the ground through the root chakra. However, in this article, we're going to discuss a number of different grounding methods to give you a bit of flexability and a number of resources to ensure you'll never run out of energy...or at least be able to get more when you do.

Grounding can be a lot more complicated than it sounds. There are limitless sources of energy to choose from, but they are each different. You need to choose one that will work properly for you - one with your energy type or very similar. If you don't choose the proper energy type, you can end up damaging yourself instead of helping.

Sources of Energy

As you should have read in the Introduction to Energy article, everything is made up of energy. Therefore, everything is a possible source of energy. However, we must take into account the different energy types available, and that some sources may not be the best to take from. Before we get into what you should take energy from, let's first discuss what you shouldn't.

People - One of the first things you may think of is taking energy from other people. That's not the wisest thing to do unless you ask them first. Those who aren't aware and can't defend themselves could have most of their energy drained, which could have a negative effect on them. Those who are aware may try to defend themselves and harm you. Some people may also have energy types that will harm you, or may poison their energy as a defense which will harm you.

Animals - This goes for the same concept as people as far as morality goes. You shouldn't take food from an animal, don't take their energy either.

High-Gravity bodies - Don't try to gather energy from super-compressed sources, such as black holes. The gravity is strong enough to even hold energy in, you may strain your chakra trying to gather it. The black hole itself is not made of energy, only what it contains.

Otherkin - If you are human, try not to take energy from Otherkin (this also goes under the people section). Otherkin tend to have a much larger variety of energy types. If you yourself are Otherkin, then ensure that they will allow you and that their energy type is similar to yours.

'Unfriendly' Areas - Don't take energy from areas that do not appeal to you. For example, if you're a light being, don't take energy from an area with pure dark energy, such as a shadow relm.

Also, be sure to use common sense. If you start to gather energy and something just doesn't feel right, then stop and find another source.

Now, let's get into the different areas where you should gather energy from:

Inanimate Objects - Though mana (energy from inanimate objects) isn't the most effective when gathering energy, your body will convert it. Inanimate objects are all over the place and aren't going to yell at you for stealing their energy.

Nature - The earth and nature are perfect (if you're a light being, default for human) for gathering energy. There's tons of stuff to gather from, including plants and the earth itself. Just be careful and try not to gather much from animals.

Massive Bodies - Massive bodies, such as stars, have a lot of energy you can gather. Make sure the body isn't too massive, or the gravitational pull may make it too difficult to pull energy from it.

Space Around You - You can gather energy from the space around you - including air, and actual space. There is obviously a lot of both and no harm should come from it.

Obviously, this is just a short list, but those are the general areas most people will gather their energy from.

How to Ground

Grounding is a farily simple task given the proper sources of energy. If you have read the Introduction to Energy Manipulation article and were able to successfully push out energy, bringing it in is just the opposite. The only difference is that gathering energy tends to be a little bit slower than expelling it. Also be sure not to take in too much energy, or it could have a negative effect on your body. If it becomes increasingly difficult to pull in energy, that probably means that you're full.


Step 1 - Find a Source
Locate a source of energy that you would like. Try to sense your energy type within the source, or one similar to yours. You should be able to do this on instict. Make sure this source has enough energy so you don't have to jump from source to source. If you'd like, you can use multiple sources across vast areas (i.e. nature in general).


Step 2 - Try to Gather
Once you've located the energy you want, try to pull it into you slowly at first to see if there are problems. You can pull it into any chakra you'd like, but I do not recommend any of the main chakras (excluding root). Pulling it in any of the others will circulate it through your body and store it in the necessary chakra for you. One of the most common places to pull in energy is through the hands, feet, root chakra, or using all of the smaller chakras in your body at once. If you pull energy into one of the main chakras, the crown for example, it may get sore, and give you a headache.


Step 3 - Continue Until Full
Keep continuing to gather energy until it becomes difficult to pull more in. Once this happens, that most likely means you're full. However, try to recognize where the resistance is. If the energy is coming to you but your chakras refuse it, you're full. But if the energy is not coming to you, then the source is probably resisting. If this is the case, try not to fight it and find a different source.

If your chakras begin to hurt during this process, it can be for a number of reasons. Two of the most common are that you're trying to pull too much energy into your chakras, straining them, or that you're pulling in an energy type that has a negative effect on you. If you can't really find an energy type that doesn't harm you, try finding a neutral energy source and seeing how that fits with you. It may not be as comfortable if you have a polar energy type (dark/light), but it shouldn't harm you. Don't forget to expell the negative energy types from your system so they do not harm you. If pain continues to persist, you may have damaged your chakra (see the Introduction to Chakras article), or may need to clean out your energy (see energy cleansing in the healing section).


It is recommended that you try to gather at least a little bit of energy whenever you start to run out, or after you use a lot of it, just to keep yourself in a healthy and stable state. The absense of energy is never comfortable.