Grounded

June 2022

“Get yourself grounded and you can navigate even the stormiest roads in peace.” — Steve Goodier

I recently attended a music festival, and dancing barefoot in the grass is what I remember most. I felt alive, free, and joyful, three things I haven’t really felt in a long time, especially since the onset of Covid. All because my bare feet were connected to the earth. Grounded. I felt grounded.

How long has it been since you’ve felt that way? Being in the world with all its challenges can be difficult and the result is that we often become fractured by the obligations of home, work, school, children, church, relationships, LIFE.

What does being grounded even mean? I think it means you feel at home with yourself. You are present and at peace in your own skin. I don’t know about you, but that’s a tough one for me at times. Let’s break it down further.

What Being Grounded Mentally Means

Being able to keep your awareness on the here-and-now is a powerful mental health skill. We all need to “keep our wits” to function. Being present allows you to calm yourself when you’re upset. If you’re immersed in nature, then you are grounded. It is the basis of self-control, self-expression, and feeling alive.

Life is so painful when you’re not grounded. Symptoms like feeling triggered, flooded, reactive, off-kilter, in fight, flight or freeze mode — these are signs a person is feeling ungrounded.

Do any of the below sound familiar? Having grounding techniques may help.

• You have paralysis of analysis; you hesitate because something bad might happen either way.
• People describe you as “highly sensitive”.
• You struggle to make decisions, often losing out because you can’t respond in time.
• Your mind is racing, you lose focus, you’re spaced out.
• Conversations jump around.
• You keep forgetting details about people, places, or events.
• Your breath is shallow and fast; muscles tense.
• Sometimes you feel frozen: your mind is foggy, body slow, or no energy.
• You seek numbing activities.
• You try to join something that looks like fun but you’re too anxious to enjoy it.
• You feel consumed with worry if someone or something does not arrive when expected.
• Certain memories keep returning on their own in flashbacks.
• Involuntary scary or bad thoughts come up and undermine your daily life.

The ability to stay in the present is key to coping when emotions or memories threaten a person’s sense of safety and self-control.

Trauma therapy expert Dr. Janina Fisher describes grounding as “a set of skills for use whenever someone is feeling any level of distress, particularly when they are overwhelmed or dissociating or experiencing escalating anxiety.”

“All of us need activities in our lives that help us to stay centered and grounded and present in our bodies,” explains Dr. Fisher. “Grounding techniques are about ‘coming back into the present’ when something in the present triggers the past.”

3 Grounding Techniques

Here are 3 grounding exercises to help bring your mind and body back to the present.

Trace Your Breathing.

• Close your eyes and notice the sensations of breathing. Inhale and notice what the air feels like moving through your nose or mouth.
• Exhale and feel the new sensations. Notice the air move from your chest through your throat, nose, and mouth.
• Let your body relax. Breathe in and out naturally.
• Try to do this for one minute. With practice see if you can do this calmly for 10 minutes.

Grounding Exercise in a Chair

• Sit in a chair with a back. Place both feet on the floor. Sit deep enough to rest your back and seat comfortably.
• Notice the feeling in your back and your legs where they contact the chair.
• Cross your arms and place a hand on each shoulder. Alternate tapping each shoulder gently.
• Try to do this for a few minutes. To be less obvious, rest your hands in your lap and tap each leg alternating between each leg.

Grounded Walking Meditation

Health experts are taking new interest in earthing: the benefits of direct contact with the earth’s surface. Walking barefoot reduces pain, stress and helps improve sleep.

More simply, contact with the earth appears to improve your health. It helps lower stress, reduce inflammation, and reduce pain.

• Find a natural environment, like a nature trail, a beach or a grassy area.
• Remove your shoes and socks and find a comfortable place to stand.
• Sense the texture of the earth against your feet. Feel the contact with your heels, arches, toes, and spaces in between.
• Relax and let your breath become slow and regular.
• When you are ready, step forward with one foot and slowly move your weight onto it.
• Walk slowly, noticing the sensations in your feet. This is about calming your body, not exercise.
• Breathe in time with each step. Breathe in with your left stride, breath out with the right, for example.
• By the way, today, June 1, is National Go Barefoot Day. Why not try it?

We all know there is no across the board solution when we begin to feel overwhelmed or out of control of our lives. But I am proof that just for a little while, literally having my bare feet in the grass helped me tremendously. Whatever type of grounding you choose, give yourself the gift of trying. You’re worth it. We all are.

Be Well …

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