– Composed by Douglas Webber, and edited by Ekan Nangaku Leisching

Discovering Grounding; Knowing Thyself; and the Way of the Heart with BEZA’s Grounded Earth Elemental Module

Part 1 of a 4-Part Journey

Feel it, just for a moment. The solid ground beneath your feet. Whether you are standing on the pavement, grass, sand, or the floor of your home, can you trace that connection downwards through every layer between you and the deep center of earth…? Can you connect to the vast, ancient body of Mother Earth? This connection is your birthright, the first embrace you ever knew. The ancient Mother is YOU.

In the rush of modern life, how often do we truly feel her – this connection? How regularly do we pause to listen to this ancient wisdom of our planet, speaking her truth in many forms? She hums a deep heartbeat within her eternal placenta – her life-giving nourishment in her fertile soil offering herself as creative potential through the song of her soil.

This is an invitation from Mother Earth herself. It is a call to Homecoming, a grounding call… Back to the Earth.

Welcome to the first step in an exploration inspired by Born as the Earth Zen Academy’s (BEZA) Grounded Earth Module. This four-part journey serves as a prelude, offering tastes of the wisdom and practices explored within the module. Designed to stir your longing for that intimate relationship between your own inner-landscape and the living body of Mother Earth. Answering that longing is the path of knowing self – a direct encounter with your own true nature – the fertile ground from which the work in the module takes root. Truly, ‘what’ is Earth? Perhaps the deeper question is, Who is Mother Earth? Who is she really, this timeless ground beneath your feet? Listen to her wisdom…“What does it mean to be mentored by my wisdom, to walk the Way of the Heart? Let’s begin this exploration together, tracing your ancestral and genetic stream of connection back to the core… of my Body.

“To connect with me, your Mother Earth, is to remember this truth: you are held with love and support. You belong to my living system, to me, inherently. The feeling of being adrift, disconnected, or overwhelmed  stems from forgetting this simple profound connection.”

Many people today feel a deep yearning. A sense of something missing, a longing for authenticity, for a connection that runs deeper than the surface noise of the world. This is the spirit’s call to come home. It’s the innate desire to return to the source, to the truth of who you are beneath the layers of conditioning and expectation.

The BEZA Grounded Earth Module answers this call by guiding you back to the most fundamental relationship of all – your relationship with Mother Earth, and therefore, with your True Self. Why Earth? Because Earth is the ground of our originality.

This journey is not about becoming someone new. It’s about remembering who you have always been. It’s about shedding the layers that obscure your innate radiance and reclaiming your originality and sovereign uniqueness within the vibrant community of life, rooted in love and abundance.

What is true Mentoring? In a world saturated with information, yet perhaps now more than ever, we seek reliable guidance. We look for a Spiritual Teacher, a Guru, a Lama, an elder, a spirit guide – someone who can illuminate the path. BEZA’s Way of the Heart Mentoring honours this lineage of guidance, presenting a tried and tested  journey towards clarity and purpose.

We teach that the ultimate mentor is life itself, expressing its wisdom through humanity’s many pathways, recorded and mapped various indigenous Medicine Wheels. Consider the BEZA Medicine Wheel for example:

• Grounded Earth: Teaches reconnection to Self, remaining centered in change, and embracing your sovereignty.

• Compassionate Water: The Waters teach emotional intelligence, navigating relationships with compassion, and harmonizing techniques through meditation and shadow work.

• Visionary Fire: The Fires teach connection to dreams, passion, spiritual potential, and the path of ancestral healing.

• Medicine of Nature: Living Nature teaches transformation, authentic expression, discovering your medicine gifts, and walking in truth.

• Creative Stone: Ancient Stone teaches manifestation, communication, understanding power structures, motivation, and the sacred art of story keeping.

The Way of the Heart is about learning to listen to these teachings directly. It’s about cultivating the mindfulness and presence required to perceive the wisdom embedded in the natural world. One-on-one mentoring at BEZA facilitates this intimate dialogue, offering self-empowering tools drawn from the unique merging of our distinct African and Asian lineages. This integration enables the unfolding of everyday spiritual practices which are rooted in deep gratitude to our teachers and mentors in support of your unique journey. The Medicine Wheel provides the foundational map for our mentoring journey, integrating wisdom from myths, dreams, and core agreements in  support of your unfolding  path. We don’t claim to be the source of wisdom, but rather act as guides, helping you tune your body of senses and heart to the subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) guidance Mother Earth constantly offers so generously.

This isn’t about achieving a distant goal, but about embodying the enlightened wisdom of moment by moment practices which are grounded in a lived experience. It’s about walking the path with integrity, courage, and an open heart, mentored by the very ground you occupy.

“Just as I hold deep veins of gold and rich seams of essential minerals within my depths, you hold inherent treasures, unique qualities, and a core purpose waiting to be unearthed. This isn’t about acquiring something new; it is recognizing the innate richness that is already part of your True Self, your spiritual gift and purpose.”

Often, the dualistic human mind experiences lack, operating from a story of scarcity. Yet, I, the mother of your being, teach abundance through my constant cycles of generosity and nourishment. This isn’t just material wealth, but the deep, unshakable richness of being, the fullness of potential lying dormant within you, waiting to be unearthed.

How do you access these inner-treasures, this knowing of abundance? It begins with grounding, with remembering your connection to me.

Try this simple practice:

Take a few moments. Stand barefoot on grass or soil if you can. Feel the texture, the temperature. Breathe deeply, feeling the steady, supportive energy rising from me into your body. This simple act of meditation and presence anchors you, creating the inner-stability from which you can recognise your inherent value and abundance. As you practice, bring awareness to your Hara – the body’s vital center in the naval area – feeling how this centering stabilizes your core. Why not give this simple practice a try right now? Or perhaps before you continue to Article 2? Connecting with the Earth element – through embodied practices like this, some of which we will explore in this series and others in the Module itself – helps shift  the critical mind that focuses on lack. It allows you to access the deeper knowing, the felt sense of your own inner-resources and abundance, dissolving limiting beliefs and allowing the light of your inherent treasures to shine through.

This first step is an invitation to pause, to feel the Earth beneath you, and to acknowledge the call to Homecoming. It’s the beginning of a journey back to yourself, guided by the oldest, wisest mentor we know. This series unfolds in four stages:

Part 1 (This Article): The Foundation.

We’ve laid the groundwork, asking who Mother Earth truly is, introducing the importance of  Homecoming, the Way of the Heart, and the inherent treasures within ourselves and  rooted in the stability of Earth.

Part 2: The Resonant Heartbeat.

Listen closely in the next article as we attune to my deep pulse – the Schumann Resonance. We will explore how this deep vibration resonates within the space between soil and sky, and how aligning with this frequency through practices like grounding, earthing, and centering in your Hara can bring profound calm, stability, and a deeper connection to your own bio-electrical nature and inner wisdom.

Part 3: The Living Soil, The Living Self.

Following the pulse, we journey into the miraculous life within my soil – my teeming microbiome and vast mycelial networks. Discover the intimate reflection of this vibrant ecosystem within your own gut, exploring themes of nourishment, interconnectedness, the sacred alchemy of decay and regeneration, and how tending this inner and outer soil is vital for holistic health and Knowing Thyself.

Part 4: Moulded by Earth, The Sacred Form.

Finally, we arrive at the most intimate truth: your own body as sacred form, moulded from my substance. Drawing from ancient creation stories and the metaphor of potter and clay, we’ll explore embodiment, transformation, the potential for conscious shaping through the Way of the Heart, healing through reconnection, and embracing the profound cycle of returning to Earth as the ultimate Homecoming.

For now, simply rest in the knowledge that you are standing on sacred ground, the foundation for your entire being. The journey of Knowing Thyself through the wisdom of the Earth has begun…