Hi and welcome to this grounding practice.
You can use this practice anytime you feel overwhelmed,
Overstimulated,
When there is so much going on inside of you or outside of you,
In the world,
That you're not sure how to cope with it.
And since you're here I can probably guess that you are aware that you need to breathe or meditate or even do tapping or move your body to let some energy pass and move through you.
But when you feel overwhelmed your system can shift into a state that's called the freeze state.
In the freeze state we become numb,
We become too overwhelmed,
So overwhelmed that we dissociate,
We disconnect from our body.
So if you're feeling this way stick with us and do this practice with me.
Notice how you feel afterwards.
You can save this practice anytime you need it or share with someone who might benefit from it.
So let's begin.
So we're gonna start with placing the soles of our feet onto the ground below us.
Take off your shoes or your socks.
Try to be barefoot,
Placing both your feet firmly on the ground below you.
If you feel there is a lot going on inside of you right now,
Imagine that your feet all the way up to your hips,
So your whole lower body is melting into the ground below you.
Gently melting,
Gently releasing all tension into the surface below you.
Give it all away.
If you feel numb,
Dissociated and if you actually don't feel a lot going on inside you because you feel more disconnected from your body,
I invite you to apply some gentle pressure and push your feet down into the floor.
When we are stuck in freeze we want to activate the body,
We want to gently bring some movement into our system.
Now let's take some deep breaths together to regulate the nervous system even more.
See if you can place your hands on your belly and breathe with me.
Take a deep breath in,
Fill up your belly,
Then your stomach and finally your lungs and your chest.
That's a full big breath in.
Now we'll exhale from the chest,
From the stomach and finally emptying out your belly.
Now let's do it more in a fluid motion.
Inhale,
Filling up your belly with air,
Then your stomach and finally filling up your chest and then exhale gently releasing all the air from your chest and your stomach and finally your belly.
This is called a three-part breath.
We'll do three rounds but in your own pace.
Inhale,
Belly,
Stomach,
Chest.
Exhale,
Chest,
Stomach,
Belly.
I'll give you some time to do the final two rounds in your own pace.
Now take a moment to notice how you feel.
What we just did was a few rounds of three-part breathing and grounding our feet into the ground below us and sometimes that's all it takes.
That's all it takes for your nervous system to down regulate,
To balance again and to come back into a state of calm and safety.
Beautiful.
Now you've checked in with yourself and noticed the difference in how you feel.
Let's move on to something different for you to explore today.
We'll practice PMR,
Progressive muscle relaxation.
This is again great in both scenarios,
Whether you feel a lot inside of you or you feel nothing inside of you.
So I invite you,
If you're not laying down yet,
To go ahead and lay down.
Make yourself very comfortable.
With PMR the aim is to enter a deep state of relaxation and to release the built-up energy that our body is holding on to.
When we are overwhelmed,
When we are stuck in freeze,
We feel numb,
Disconnected,
You might be crying,
You might want to do things but don't have the energy to do it.
It's as if you are really frozen.
This really means that below the freeze there is this huge amount of built-up energy that is just waiting to be released.
It's like a champagne bottle when it's shaken up but it still has the cork on it.
The cork is your freeze but inside the bottle is so much built-up energy that wants to be let out.
So let's begin.
As you are laying down,
I invite you to become aware of the contact points of your body and the surface below you,
Just like we did in the beginning.
With pressing the soles of our feet into the ground,
I invite you to just become aware of where your body ends and where the surface below you begins.
Notice the whole back of your body.
Then I invite you to drift your focus to your lower body,
Take a comfortable breath in and then hold your breath.
As you're holding your breath,
Squeeze all the muscles in your lower body.
Squeeze and curl up your toes,
Your ankles,
Your calves,
Your shins,
Your hamstrings,
Your thighs,
Your buttocks,
Your hips.
Squeeze your muscles just a little bit harder now and then exhale.
Release the tension and let out your breath with a sigh.
Beautiful.
We'll now do the same for the upper body.
So take a comfortable breath in and then hold your breath and start to squeeze all the muscles in your upper body.
Make fists with your hands.
Tense your whole arm,
Your shoulder,
Your belly,
Your chest,
Your neck,
Your whole spine and back.
Hold your breath and squeeze just a little bit harder,
Tensing all the muscles in your upper body and then release with a sigh and release all the tension.
Allow the muscles to let go.
You might feel the need to take a deep breath or yawn.
These are signs that your nervous system is coming back into a state of safety.
Now we'll do a little one,
A little extra PMR for our neck,
Shoulders and head.
So take a comfortable breath in,
Hold your breath and squeeze all the muscles in your face.
Squeeze and tense your neck,
Your shoulders,
The back of your head.
Hold your breath and squeeze just a little bit harder.
Squeeze your jaw,
Your temples and then exhale and release the tension.
And notice how you feel.
We'll do one last round,
A full body PMR,
A full body progressive muscle relaxation.
So take a deep comfortable breath in,
Hold your breath and start to squeeze all the muscles in your whole body,
From your toes all the way up to the top of your head.
Squeeze your fists,
Your belly,
Your ankles,
Your chest,
Your spine,
Your neck.
Squeeze just a little bit harder,
Especially in those places where you often hold tension.
Maybe your stomach,
Your chest or your shoulders.
Squeeze harder and then exhale,
Release all the tension and let it out with a long sigh.
Beautiful.
And again we notice how our body feels.
We practice just 10 minutes of somatics,
Of breathing,
Of being with our bodies,
Of being with our nervous system instead of against it.
My name is Anais.
I'm a trauma-informed neuro-mindfulness coach and I thank you for being here,
From the bottom of my heart to yours.
