Grounding For Distress

Regroup from anxiety, overwhelm, or trauma activation with this brief grounding exercise. We'll engage the breath while focusing attention on neutral objects to soothe the nervous system and turn off the fight, flight, or freeze response. Since the fear response makes it harder for us to process words, guidance will be brief and simple. Silence is included to give space to the practice.

Transcript

Hello, I'm Dr. Candice Kreesman and this guided meditation is for grounding in times of intense emotional discomfort. Let's get started. We will begin and end with a bell. Breathe in comfortably and alertly, Keeping your eyes open. Take a slow breath in. It doesn't have to be a deep breath if your chest or belly are feeling tight. Just breathe slowly and intentionally in and slowly out. Feel your body against your chair or the floor wherever you are seated. Feel your feet against the floor. Notice the sensations of pressure, Touching, Support from the ground or from your seat. Breathing in and breathing out. Now start to notice the objects around you. A wall, A door, Window, Lamp, Chair, Cup, Etc. Let your gaze rest on each object and take in all the qualities of that object. Feeling each object as if it is new to you, Something you've never seen before. Continue to slowly move your awareness from one object to another. Breathing in and breathing out. As you breathe out, Invite any tension you may be holding in your body to release. Breathing in, I notice this object. Breathing out, I relax around my awareness. When you get distracted by a thought or a feeling or any intense sensation, Gently notice that distraction. Then notice your breath, Your connection to your seat, And then notice a new object. Breath, Seat, Object. Now, We will notice colors. Bring your attention to everything around you that is the color blue. Let your attention be filled by each variation of blue in your environment. Breathing, Sitting, Aware of blue. Breathing, Sitting, Aware of blue. Now notice lines and textures. See if you can notice different textures without naming the objects. Becoming so engaged in noticing and experiencing that the mind doesn't even have to label the object. Breathing, Sitting, Aware of texture. Breathing, Sitting, Aware of texture. As we prepare to end this meditation, Take a few breaths here to notice the quality of the breath. It may be smoother or deeper. Notice the qualities of the body. There may be less tension or a sense of expansiveness. And notice the qualities of the mind. It may be more still, More quiet. Take these qualities of stillness and expansiveness and calm into the rest of your day. Thank you.

Reviews

That helped. So distressed I couldn’t think. Calmer. Thank you

Just what I needed. This will be my go to when I feel distressed. Thank you

I was feeling very emotional and stressed and I found this calming - thank you 🙏🏻 🌻

Not a cure all but it brought my attention to what else was there. (Besides anxiety) Also the peace became palpable too. It made me remember it is always there.

Thank you. I'm struggling to find peace amongst so much chaos and this meditation was a distracting balm.