Is This Real?

Sometimes people can be soo excited for something they start to ask "is this real?" But all too often in the world of trama (which can be a small but sudden rush) and depression, that same feeling can be disturbing. Grounding is probably one of the first techniques I learned in my journey. There are many ways to ground and an easy way is by deep controlled breathing.

I use to HATE it when people would tell me to just breathe. It seems impossible when having a panic attack!!! I also trained in ballet in high school and we had to hide our breathing from the audience. Unconciously this reinforced really shallow breathing for me. Recently I was in a program where the therapist called it belly breathing. She literally said one day move your stomach. That helped make the light switch go on in my head. It's not even about the amount of air I take it but how I take it in. I'm more connected to my body when I move my belly to take a breath. When I breathe through my belly I tend to take a deeper breath which supplies more oxygen to my brain and body.

Other things I do to ground are rubbing my fingers along the seam of my clothing, count ceiling tiles, meditate, stretch, color, go for a walk, and intentionally touch things noticing their temperature and texture. There is so much more I could say about these things. For now here are some ideas.

Takeaways

• Grounding is a tool that can be used when things don't feel right or real

• A common tool is deep breathing

• Deep breathing is from the abdomen not the chest

• There are many other tools to help ground you

• Find what works for you that you can do in moments of stress