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Watch the video and follow Master Qi Gong Teacher Peter Caughey along to try this powerful grounding exercise.
This simple yet effective Qi Gong movement is designed to help you regain energy and balance by connecting to the earth through mindful, intentional movement. You’ll learn a step-by-step method from the Dao Yin Qi Gong walking set, involving a sequence of gentle steps and hand positions that help distribute your energy evenly and harmoniously.
Go Deeper: Below an Interview with Qi Gong Master Teacher Peter Caughey on the Importance of Grounding.
Peter Caughey is a renowned Qi Gong Master, Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and founder of the Forest Rock Qigong School. With over 30 years of experience, Peter is the last remaining teacher of the Jen Gee Dao Tai Kit Kuen Monastery School lineage from Southern China.

Q. What does it truly mean to be ‘grounded,’ both energetically and emotionally, and why is this essential in today’s fast-paced world?
Pete In the context of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Qi Gong the word ‚grounding‘ is used to describe the feeling of being more stable and centred inside your body.
Having your emotions balanced, your physical body strong, having a feeling of being connected to something and feeling secure in your life, your body and secure in your mind. This is important in this fast-moving world as it makes us feel safe and secure, and solid with who we are and how we show up in this world.
Q. How has your personal journey with Qi Gong influenced your understanding of grounding, and what changes have you noticed from consistent grounding practices?
Pete Qi Gong makes me feel grounded and connected to this world.
It makes me feel connected to my body, connected to my mind, my soul and my consciousness. By practicing grounding Qi Gong exercises, it allows me to feel a connection to the earth and a connection to who I am. It helps me to be connected to my surroundings and the people I love and to the work that I do. It helps me feel connected to my friends and to my family. It brings a feeling of solidarity and solidness in myself and who I am as a human being to this world.
Pete In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Earth element represents stability. Stability is a concept of life, where I, as a human being feel strong and powerful. It evolves the idea of purpose, of what I can do and what I can achieve in my life. By practicing Qi Gong daily, It brings back this emphasis of purpose and it brings back the feeling of connection to the earth, to where I live and where I stand. I get the feeling of solidness and a profound awareness of human life.
Q. What impact does grounding through Qi Gong have on emotional resilience, especially during times of uncertainty?
Pete Feeling grounded in Qi Gong can bring awareness to my emotions and feelings. It helps me to be aware that I have emotions but I am not emotions. When I’m grounded and centred I get to watch my own reactions and my own feelings without any attachment of whether they are wrong and right. It is more about the observation of my experience of emotions and feelings.Â
Qi Gong helps me to feel alive and connected to myself, my emotions and my feelings without judgement but with an understanding and a sense of peace, harmony and contentment. Feeling emotions and having feeling are normal, it’s part of human existence – it’s part of human life. Qi gong helps me to have these emotional experience without causing any damage to my body, mind and my soul.
Pete In Qi Gong, the Earth element creates mental clarity and emotional stability.
When grounded and centered, my mind gains the clarity to perceive and think from a place of logic and insight and clear perspective.
Grounding also regulates my emotions, reducing emotional swings and allowing me to experience feelings without distortion or dysfunction.
This help to prevent the emotional imbalances that can lead to physical illness.
Q. How does Qi Gong help maintain grounding and stability throughout daily experiences?
Pete By practicing Qi Gong daily it establishes a feeling of being grounded, centered and stable. I observe problems and resolve problems quickly and efficiently. My mind functions with clarity and accuracy. I feel solid in my approach to the world. I feel solid in my approach to difficult problems. I feel grounded with my ideas and with who I am and how I stand up as a human being in this world. I feel strong in myself, strong in my character and strong in my personality.
Pete When I feel grounded I feel connected to nature, I feel connected to the plants and the trees. I feel like the tree rooted into the ground with its power and strength and its nourishment it gets from the earth. I feel the same feeling. I feel as though I have the same strength and power that the tree has and the same connection that the tree has, I feel I have the same life inside me like a tree has. I feel the attraction to earth and the wind and the rain and the water and the light – just like a tree and I feel I have all of these as well. I feel connected to nature. I feel connected to everything that grows, that breathes, that is alive on this planet.
Q. How does aligning energy with the Earth element contribute to a sense of purpose and belonging in life?
Pete The aligning with the earth element and the feeling of grounding gives me a sense of purpose. It gives me a feeling of belonging in the world. It gives me a feeling of stability, power and strength. It gives me an insight or a vision into the future. It gives me a solid understanding of the choices that define what I do in my life. And it helps me make choices, good choices in life that define my experience, my happiness, my peace and ultimately my growth.
Pete If I’m feeling scattered and my mind is distracted and all over the place, Qi Gong practice brings me back into being centered and grounded again. It brings me back so I can have clear thoughts, a clear mind and clear ideas. It helps me to restore peace, quietness and calmness inside my mind and inside my body. It gives me clear vision and clear insight.
Q. How does grounding in Qi Gong support digestive health and well-being through the Earth element in Chinese Medicine?
Pete The grounding aspect of Qi Gong harmonizes the earth element, and the organs associated to the Earth element are the spleen and the stomach, so the Earth element exercises help to regulate the functions of the stomach and the spleen to create smooth digestion without any dysfunction or digestive issues, and helps to smooth the digestive process.
Thank you for sharing all your wisdom with us today Pete.Â
MORE TO EXPLORE…
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