Grounding Exercises

Explain fight, flight or freeze - adrenaline and its impact - e.g. can lead to panic attacks.

Explain Diaphragmatic Breathing:

Diaphragmatic breathing is a type of a breathing exercise that helps strengthen your diaphragm, an important muscle that helps you breathe. This breathing exercise is also sometimes called belly breathing or abdominal breathing.

It has a number of benefits that affect your entire body. It’s the basis for almost all meditation or relaxation techniques, which can lower your stress levels, reduce your blood pressure, and regulate other important bodily processes.

The most basic type of diaphragmatic breathing is done by inhaling through your nose and breathing out through your mouth.

Diaphragm breathing basics:

Rib-stretch breathing (use diaphragmatic breathing into your stomach):

Numbered breathing (use diaphragmatic breathing into your stomach). Numbered breathing is a good exercise for gaining control over your breathing patterns. Here’s how you can do it:

Anchoring or can be used as a check-in or check-out:

This might be something like, “I’m Full Name. I’m X years old. I live in….. Today is Friday, June 3. It’s 10:04 in the morning. I’m sitting at my desk. There’s no one else in the room.” You can expand on the phrase by adding details until you feel calm, such as, “It’s raining lightly, but I can still see the sun. I need a break. I’m thirsty, so I’m going to make a cup of tea.”

Short grounding:

Lower your gaze, hands in lap or on diaphragm and take 3 breaths in and out (using diaphragmatic breathing). Feel your feet on the floor, and then starting with your toes, press them to the floor, then the balls of your feet, your arches and the heels. Make a whole foot connection! Then imagine roots growing out of your feet into the earth. Imagine those roots growing longer and combining with all the root systems underground. Feel connected to our earth. Then in your mind, take yourself to a place in nature, somewhere you love or maybe visited recently. Remember what it felt like. How warm or chilly, dry or drizzly, still or windy. Stay with those feelings for a few moments. Then bring yourself slowly back into the space with everyone. And when you’re ready, open your eyes or clear your gaze and then if you can, stretch or shake yourself in whatever way you feel comfortable.

Longer grounding:

Cognitive Behavioural Technique (CBT) - The 5 senses.

Longest grounding:

Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT): I’d like to invite you to close your eyes, focus on your breath - in and out. And then to just feel into your body, scanning up and down looking for some tension. Do you have tightness, stress or pain anywhere? Is it in your neck, shoulders, lower back or somewhere else? If you can’t find anything in your body, then look outside for whatever is causing you tension at the moment. Then tap the side of your hand with the other hand and repeat after me, “Even though I have this tension (or you can name the specific tension, e.g. this headache/back pain/frustration) in my body and life, I deeply and completely accept myself.” Repeat this x 3.

Then tap gently and repeatedly:

Check outs:

List favorites - List three favorite things in several different categories, such as foods, trees, songs, movies, books, places, and so on.

Plan an activity - This might be something you do alone or with a friend or loved one. Think of what you’ll do and when. Maybe you’ll make your favourite dinner, take a walk somewhere you love, watch a film you’ve been looking forward to, call a friend. Focus on the details, describing as much as possible.

List positive things - Write or mentally list four or five things in your life that bring you joy, visualising each of them briefly.


Revision #1
Created 21 April 2021 08:03:33 by Alix Emery
Updated 24 April 2021 06:21:58 by Alix Emery