08/07/2025
Grounding in Medicine 🌿
Sage doesn’t need to be burned to be medicine.
Our ancestors carried it for calming the spirit, easing anxiety, and grounding after trauma. Just holding it, smelling it, or placing it in your pocket can help regulate the nervous system.
Grab a sprig of sage. Ball it gently into your hand. Hold it there for a moment and take a deep breath in and out.
👁️ Wanyanka – See
Look at the color. Pale green, silver-edged, curled in on itself. Notice every line in the leaf. Let your eyes settle.
✋ Epatan – Touch
Roll it slowly between your fingers. Dry. Textured. Soft in some places, sharp in others. Feel the dried leaves on your skin.
👃 Omna – Smell
Lift it to your nose. Breathe it in. Before the burn, there’s earth. There’s calm.
👂 Nakicih’on – Hear
Listen closely. The rustle of the leaves. The quiet crackle as it moves in your palm.
👅 Yazoke – Taste
Place a single blade on your tongue. Let the bitterness ground you. Let it remind you that you are here. That this is now.
Tuck the ball of sage into your pocket or medicine bag. Carry it with you through the day. Use your senses to ground yourself again and again in moments of overwhelm and stress. Let it absorb what you’re holding.
At sunset, burn it and smudge yourself. Offer it back. Let the smoke carry away the heaviness of the day.
This is how we return. To balance. To body. To spirit. This is grounding in medicine.
