What is grounding? When someone instructs me to breathe in to a count of four and breathe out to a count of eight, I get anxious. I think , I can’t possibly do that. I will fail at that. Breathe like this to be grounded, I am told.
Grounding, according to dictionary.com means on the surface of the earth. There are so many websites about grounding exercises. About how to do it right, how not to do it, how to do it better and how to get help with it. The guided meditation site, says grounding is connecting your by and soul to the earth.
I suspect everyone has to figure out how to do this for themselves. We might forget, when our experience is so meaningful, we think we should share it with others. It will help them! I think we have to take the different parts of things that people say or teach. We can use the parts that we feel connected to. Maybe a suggestion keeps popping up for us , it could work.
There are 10 suggestions in the article by Robert Taibbi, LSW, in Psychologytoday.com. Breathing, meditation, nature, movement. You may have heard these suggestions before. It is okay if those do not work for you. You are not doing anything wrong. How do you find grounding, or soothe yourself when needed?
Some suggestions for grounding from Livingwell.org are, taking ten slow breaths, sip some cool water, feels the clothes on your body, stamp your feet, if possible take a walk and hold a cup of hot tea. There are many ideas to try.
