Sometimes when life is stressful and there is a lot going on inside, we are not fully connected to the body. It rather feels like a fuzzy cloud without clear boundaries. When we are already stressed and overwhelmed, it is not always smart to go for the hard DBT Skills for the body because they might add to the stress. There are other options to get active and grounded in the body, that are slow and steady and support your connection to the Here and Now. I will share some ideas to inspire you to find what feels good for you.
Grounding through your hands
For some people the hands are among the last things they lose contact with. So it makes sense to start there to get in touch with reality again. You could
- knead dough, we are currently baking a lot of bread
- work with clay or play dough or sand in your sand tray
- paint with your fingers (use single-use gloves to avoid paint sticking to your fingers for a week)
- polish/clean mindfully with a lot of care for details
- fold laundry, feeling the fabric underneath your hands
- wash your laundry by hand
- yard work, cause what is more grounding than digging in the ground…
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Grounding through your feet
The feet are the part of the body that touch solid ground. They get lost early in the fuzzy cloud but making an effort to feel our feet can restore our awareness of the whole body quickly. Ts often ask you to put both feet on the floor for grounding. Things that work even better:
- walking barefoot, especially on different surfaces
- foot massage, you can do that yourself. It helps to ground really fast. If you have any knowledge of foot reflexology, great! But simply kneading your feet carefully works just as well. If you like, you can use essential oils for this too.
- massage inlays for shoes can increase your awareness while walking
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Whole-body interventions
Movement
- yoga, especially standing and balancing poses
- exercise, something slow and controlled like weight lifting or pilates, that makes you feel your muscles burn without creating a risk of injury through explosive movements
- dancing, which can be unskilled, who cares as long as you are having fun
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Tactile
- spiky massage ball to use where ever it feels good
- cool or warm stimulation, it doesn’t have to be extreme. We find it helpful to add warmth when in hypoarousal and coolness in hyperarousal. Find out how to tell that apart here
- shower with massage sponge, (not to avoid touching yourself but) to increase the sensation on your skin
- weighted blanket/weighted vest, those apply a comfortable amount of pressure to the skin and increase body awareness
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What did we forget? Tell us about your best grounding activities in the comments below!
If you have DID, try to engage as many parts of you as possible in these grounding activities. You can ask them to look outside through your eyes and feel with your hands or feet etc. You can also speak through to them and tell them what you are doing and what it feels like. We have huge success with grounding parts who are stuck in trauma time using these every-day-activities. It comes as a huge surprise that what is really happening is that boring! Our Littles who are the most bored by how ordinary life is, are the ones who are the most grounded and emotionally stable. And sometimes things even feel nice.
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