KUALA LUMPUR: At least three times a week, Ahmad Ridzuan Midan and his 69-year-old mother Rahmah Mat Lani spend about 30 minutes barefoot while tending to the flower plants in the yard of their home in Merlimau, Melaka.

They walk around the garden, allowing their bare feet to come into contact with the soil, sand and grass.

It may seem like they are ‘playing with dirt’ but what they are doing is practising grounding or earthing, a form of therapy which, they claim, has brought positive changes to their bodies.

“We have been practising it for the past one year,’ Ahmad Ridzuan, 31, told Bernama. ‘Previously, my mother had difficulty standing, and Alhamdulillah, after doing this technique, she can easily get up and walk, and her body feels relieved and more energetic.’

He said after practising the therapy several times, he himself felt positive changes within myself, including reduced stress, improved sleep patterns and better blood circulation.

Ahmad Ridzuan, who is pursuing a PhD degree at Universiti Pend
idikan Sultan Idris, said he was drawn to the grounding technique after following a programme about it on TikTok by Coach Dr Yazid, who is a Master Practitioner in Neuro-Linguistic Programming and a Certified Life Coach (USA).

Coach Dr Yazid, whose full name is (Associate Prof) Dr Mohd Yazid Mohd Yunos, is a lecturer at Universiti Putra Malaysia’s Department of Landscape Architecture at the Faculty of Design and Architecture.

Mohd Yazid said grounding is a practice involving direct physical contact with the earth’s surface to restore the body’s natural electrical balance, which can improve overall health.

According to him, grounding techniques include walking barefoot on soil or sand; reading a book while lying on the ground or under a tree; strolling in a park; picnicking by the beach, waterfall, river or lake; playing in a playground; hugging trees; bathing or soaking in water; trekking through forests; hill climbing; soaking feet in salt water; bathing in the rain; swimming; and gardening.

“Effective g
rounding techniques must involve some part of our body touching the earth or nature, such as our hands touching a tree, the grass or soil.

“… we aim for the transfer of electrons from the earth to the body because during grounding, electrons move from the earth into the body and act as natural antioxidants to neutralise free radicals present in the body, thus protecting healthy tissues from damage and speeding up the body’s healing process,” he explained.

Mohd Yazid, who has expertise in nature therapy and therapeutic landscapes, said earthing or grounding is the cheapest and easiest therapy and can be practiced by anyone for physical, mental and emotional well-being.

“The human body consists of elements of the earth, so from time to time we should return to being grounded… when we lack contact with the earth, our bodies are less exposed to nature.

“The body is naturally in a negatively ionized state, and when we are constantly surrounded by technology with electromagnetic waves, it will affect our en
ergy levels, resulting in an excess of positive ions,” he said.

Since the earth is rich in natural biological systems, grounding acts as an effective therapy to help reduce mental health disturbances caused by stress, he added.

“There are negative ions on the earth and when we return to nature by, for example, going barefoot on the ground, our bodies will become more balanced, thus increasing our vitality and improving our health, well-being and longevity,” he said.

Citing recent research by Professor Dr James L. Oschman whose article titled ‘Illnesses in Technologically Advanced Societies Due to Lack of Grounding (Earthing)’ was published in Biomedical Journal in February 2023, Mohd Yazid this technique is safe and capable of optimising the unique physiological functions of each individual, as well as providing relief from aging-related diseases and potentially slowing down the aging process.

“In several of his (Dr James L. Oschman’s) research findings, free radicals present in the human body are found t
o be the cause of rapid aging. Therefore, with the grounding technique that channels beneficial negatively charged electrons to our body cells, the flow of electrons from this technique can neutralise free radicals in every cell and tissue of the human body,” he said.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency