Grounding Techniques

So here are a few very simple, yet very powerful grounding techniques. You can do them anytime during your day.  No need to set aside special time.  You can do them when you have some time to fill, or are riding on the bus or at work. The first few times you try, you may find that having some space alone makes it easier and allows you a fuller experience. This first technique I will describe is better done on your own, but many of the others are suited to doing in other situations.

To start with, take your shoes off, stand and bend your knees slightly.  While you are standing, gently flex your knees, and bring your awareness to what it is like to be in your body, right now.  Scan from your head down to your feet and make little mental notes as to how parts of your body feel.   Take a slow breath or two with your attention assessing your overall level of comfort.  Feel for any areas that may be in pain or tense, as you breathe.

Now feel your feet on the floor, and notice the texture of the surface you are standing on. Do your feet perceive it as rough or smooth, soft or hard or some other sensation?  How is your weight distributed between your feet?  Take a moment to bring awareness to this.  One foot may feel like it has more pressure or feel different than the other.  Maybe you are leaning more into your toes, or your heels, or maybe there is some pain in one place or another.  All the sensations that you are feeling are ok.

Grounding isn’t any particular way that we feel.  The powerful healing and transformative quality is solely in becoming aware of how we feel, in any particular moment.  There is nothing more to do; nothing in how you feel is in any way wrong or needs to be changed.  The beauty of this technique is that there is nothing to be concerned about or fixed.  It is the awareness, only the awareness that you are looking for.  Awareness is truth and it is the truth (according to Jesus and the Buddha) that brings us into reality and sets us free.  So it is the awareness that is transformational.

There is nothing more to do.  We are standing, gently flexing our knees, breathing and becoming aware of our connection to the ground and our bodies.  Each new sense of awareness allows us to see our selves and the world, more and more, without the distortions that cause conflict and pain in our lives.  Each new awareness brings us more and more into harmony with the abundance of reality.

Here are a few other grounding techniques I’ll give you to try.  No need to do more than one at a time.  Take a few moments whenever you feel that you are not fully present to the moment, or would like to feel more present in a moment.  It is important only to breathe a bit slower and deeper than normal and to see if you can allow your awareness to open fully to your experience of your body and your world.

Grounding Techniques

• With bare feet, curl your toes up and stretch them out a few times.  Sense what this feels like.  Then work your feet kindly down into the ground and see if you can become aware of what it is like to have your feet firmly planted in the earth’s soil.
• Rub the bottom, sides, and top of your feet gently on the floor, carpet or the ground.  Then place them flat and sense how this feels in your feet and in your whole body.
• Open your eyes and calmly look around you, as you breathe slowly in and out. See if you can open your awareness to the experience in your body of reality in your midst.
• Move around a bit. Feel what it is like to be in your body, in this moment. Stretch out your arms, hands, and fingers as you take some slow breaths.
• Peel an orange or a lemon. Breathe in deeply and notice the smell. Take a bite.  Roll the fruit gently around in your mouth as you focus on the full experience of the texture, taste, smell and other senses.
• Take some time to be with a pet.  As you breathe, see if you are aware of any changes in the way your body feels when you are with them.  Can you draw any part of their essence right up into you, with your breath?
• Take an unhurried shower or a bath.  Move a little and sense how you are, being in connection with the water.
• Go for a walk, dig in the dirt in your garden, or play some of your favorite music, while you breathe and calmly sense yourself and the world around you.
• While all of these techniques are simple, safe, gentle and comfortable to do, the experience of allowing our selves to fully take in the reality of what is actually happening now, while we do these simple movements, can be truly transforming.  I encourage you to try one or all of them out.  If you have any questions or need any assistance, please feel free to email or call me.  I’d be glad to help you.

I am currently working in private practice in Toronto providing these techniques to support your healing process.

Please call me at 416-565-8419 or email me.