Psychological Grounding - The Quality Of Life

Fear, sadness, anxiety, despair, anger - these "characters" seem dangerous to many of us. They lie in wait for us in the most unexpected places and pile on with all their weight at the most inopportune moment. It is very difficult to curb violent emotions, and if a person is especially sensitive, then these insidious predators will always find something to eat. What about when tears or mad rage come to the very top of the head, when the inner world shrinks to the size of a billiard ball in the chest and is ready to explode there, and at this time colleagues are holding a meeting or children are asking to play hide and seek with them?

There is a fairly simple and accessible way for each of us to come to our senses even in the most seemingly unbearable situation. In body-oriented psychotherapy, this method is called grounding, as in physics, only here, instead of an electric current, emotional stress goes into the ground.

Conscious walking

Let's try to start simple. You can stand up and just walk around the room or down the street, paying attention to the feet: what part of the foot touches the ground when the foot drops or comes off it to take a new step? How are the toes involved in maintaining balance? How is body weight distributed between the two legs? How tight is the sole of the shoe to the skin or the fabric of the sock? If the situation permits, you can conduct a small experiment: walk alternately on the outer and inner edges of the feet, on the toes and on the heels, backwards - without losing attention to the legs. This will spur blood circulation and restore sensitivity in areas that we rarely give attention to. If it is not possible to get up, you can do this exercise while sitting, in the same way examining the details of the contact of the back and priests with the chair: fidget on the seat,strain and relax your buttocks, stretch your toes inside the shoe, shift from toes to heels under the table while no one sees. At the same time, it is important not to forget about breathing and not to restrain it during this difficult exercise.

The meaning of this unpretentious practice is simple. Firstly, when we turn our attention to the processes in the body, we forget even for a moment about the worries that occupy so much space in our consciousness. Secondly, if you think about contact with the ground, feel it, then you can, despite the emotional storm, feel your stability, restore balance - for a start, at the level of the body.

Just a couple of minutes of playful "conscious walk" is enough to feel how our state is changing. After completing the exercise, stop and listen to what is happening in the legs. Is there a feeling of your own weight, a pleasant tingling sensation, or maybe a slight tremor? By focusing on the feeling of warmth and heaviness in the feet, you can feel how the force of gravity connects us to the center of the Earth with an invisible line. With each exhalation, one can imagine how a gravitating tension goes into the ground through the feet, and with each inhalation, the legs come in tone and fill with strength, like the giant Antaeus, whom Gaia's mother helped to win in any fight.

Try to practice mindfulness walking in more than just difficult situations. Every day, walking down the street or even from room to room, you can keep your attention on how the step is arranged, what muscles are involved in it, how the body weight moves. This is both a wonderful distraction so as not to walk all the time in a thundercloud of worries and doubts, and an effective meditation practice. The clearer the sensations, the clearer it becomes how to make it more pleasant and comfortable for yourself. Perhaps it will become obvious that our shoes have been tormenting our feet for a long time and it's time to change them. Maybe you want to slow down and enjoy the regularity. It is possible that the gait will turn out to be ideal and natural, and from this realization it will be very pleasant to the soul.

Why do you need grounding

It may sound trite or too poetic, but the earth accepts whatever we give it. Whatever worries we carry on our shoulders, the earth can support our weight. Whatever waste of our life (of course, of organic origin) we donate to the earth, it will process it and turn it into a new round of life. The Earth gives a person the simplest and most understandable, always available and, most importantly, unconditional support - one has only to remember that we are in continuous contact with it.

That is why grounding is a key part of any bodily practice of self-discovery, and it is also a simple tool for working with complex feelings. The worries that fill our heads are often associated with events that have already happened, past events, or with anxious expectations of the future. In this abstract mess, it's hard to take care of yourself and remember basic things like hunger, warmth, or, say, a comfortable position. If, in a moment full of emotions, we think about how we stand, sit or walk, this will immediately return us to the situation “here and now”, and completely different things will really be significant in it.

It's no secret that not only body-oriented psychotherapists work with grounding. It can be called in different ways, but in fact this tool is used in yoga, and in tai chi, and in other practices and martial arts. Ancient Slavs, such as buffoons, also worked with grounding. An important point in their teaching, lyubkov, is the ability to be a master to oneself. It means being able to master your body perfectly - and to begin with, at least keep your balance well. There is a very simple exercise for training such a "master" position. Let's try to stand steadily, slightly bending our knees, shift the body weight to one leg, and begin to smoothly swing the other back and forth in the air, lifting it off the ground. At first, the amplitude may be small, but if it seems too simple, you can swing your leg more and more, and for the most stable there is a complicated option:"Draw" a figure eight in the air with your foot. Let the movement be not tense, no special effort is needed - the secret of success is relaxation, natural balance and gravity. If it is possible to achieve a state where the leg, like a pendulum, freely and calmly draws loop after loop in the air, you can change legs, and, as a rule, one side of the body is better developed than the other. After this exercise, stand on both legs and listen to what is happening in them and throughout the body. Remember your breathing during and after such experiments: if you manage to synchronize the inhalation and exhalation with movement, you can achieve special ease and a noticeable improvement in well-being.natural balance and in the force of gravity. If it is possible to achieve a state where the leg, like a pendulum, freely and calmly draws loop after loop in the air, you can change legs, and, as a rule, one side of the body is better developed than the other. After this exercise, stand on both legs and listen to what is happening in them and throughout the body. Remember your breathing during and after such experiments: if you manage to synchronize your breaths and breaths with movement, you can achieve special ease and a noticeable improvement in well-being.natural balance and in the force of gravity. If it is possible to achieve a state where the leg, like a pendulum, freely and calmly draws loop after loop in the air, you can change legs, and, as a rule, one side of the body is better developed than the other. After this exercise, stand on both legs and listen to what is happening in them and throughout the body. Remember your breathing during and after such experiments: if you manage to synchronize your breaths and breaths with movement, you can achieve special ease and a noticeable improvement in well-being. Remember your breathing during and after such experiments: if you manage to synchronize the inhalation and exhalation with movement, you can achieve special ease and a noticeable improvement in well-being. Remember your breathing during and after such experiments: if you manage to synchronize the inhalation and exhalation with movement, you can achieve special ease and a noticeable improvement in well-being.

Grounding and bioenergy

Experiments with breathing, grounding, and conscious movements came into psychology not so long ago. One of the pioneers of body-oriented psychotherapy was Alexander Lowen, who called his approach bioenergetic analysis. Don't be afraid of this word - energy. This is not shamanism or esotericism at all, it is a completely obvious physiological reality that can be tracked by various devices and sensors. A simple example: when we breathe deeper, more oxygen enters the body, the brain and metabolism accelerate, more strength appears for movement - the energy level in the body rises. If you strain in some place, then the access of energy to this place will be blocked, especially if this tension is chronic. A prime example is pinched knees when the legs are fully extended. Try to stand up straight as you normally would,and pay attention to the position of the legs. Almost certainly the toes are slightly apart, and the legs are straight and tense. In bioenergy, this posture is considered unhealthy and unstable. The knees are our natural shock absorber, both literally and figuratively. If you push a person standing on straight legs, he will lose his balance and will have to step to the side in order not to fall. If the knees are slightly bent and mobile, then any tremors can be softened without giving up their positions. It is also a vivid metaphor for life's upheavals: it is easier for a person who is mobile, ready for change, standing on his feet to cope with stress and emotional shocks. Therefore, in bioenergy, grounding is both a contact with the ground in the literal sense, and a person's connection with reality: the adequacy of the perception of the surrounding world, the ability to withstand difficulties. In fact, a person is not very different from a tree: it also has roots, albeit not so obvious, and the more firmly a person takes root, the more confidently he goes through life.

Finally, let's try to carry out one exercise from the bioenergetic analysis: "Basic grounding experience." In just a couple of minutes, it will help relieve stress after a long day at work or calm down after a conversation in a raised voice. It is best for him to find a quiet place where no one will disturb you. Stand straight, legs slightly wider than hips, feet strictly parallel to each other or even slightly turned toes inward. Knees slightly bent - try to find the optimal position that does not require much effort. We breathe regularly and easily, best of all with an open mouth. Slowly, without straightening our legs and without holding our breath, we bend forward to touch the ground with our hands, while all the body weight should still fall on our feet. The head is down, the neck is completely relaxed. In this position, we will try to barely bend and unbend our knees,until there is a feeling of tingling, trembling, warmth spreading over the legs - at this moment, the position of the knees can be fixed and several deep breaths can be taken. After that, you can take your hands off the ground and begin to gradually straighten your lower back, shoulders - and only lastly raise your head. Listen to yourself and do not rush to switch to your usual speed limit. The state that comes with grounding will want to be kept longer and not spilled. Listen to yourself and do not rush to switch to your usual speed limit. The state that comes with grounding will want to be kept longer and not spilled. Listen to yourself and do not rush to switch to your usual speed limit. The state that comes with grounding will want to be kept longer and not spilled.

Related books

Lowen A. Collection of Bioenergy Experiments.

Lowen A. Body Psychology.

Timoshenko G., Leonenko E. Working with the body in psychotherapy.

Baskakov V. Free body.

Malkina-Pykh I. Psychosomatics.