I have recently switched out the mindfulness app on my phone. I used to use Smiling Mind, which is a mental health focussed app meant for people who want to reduce stress and stress-related symptoms. It offers very clear instructions with the purpose of stabilization and grounding and it is ideal for beginners and those who don’t want to engage with any kind of spirituality when they practice mindfulness. They allow you to choose between male and female voices for instructions and there is a varied selection of different exercises that you would also learn in a therapy setting. I really like Smiling Mind as support for mindfulness training in trauma therapy. They did a good job turning mindfulness into a therapy tool. It’s also free.

 

The new app I am trying is Plum Village. That is not really a mindfulness app, it is for meditation. The instructors are buddhist monks or spiritual teachers and the philosophy of the whole app is clearly buddhist and not meant for people with mental health problems, especially not people with cPTSD in the early phase of treatment. Meditations here need a high tolerance for sensing the body, emotions and the breath as well as basic gentleness in the way we treat ourselves. Great meditation app, but most certainly not for people in chronic dissociation.

But. I am utterly fascinated with the style of instructions. They keep the mind focussed and engaged which leaves little space for the mind to roam. Meditation is usually not recommended for trauma survivors because it leaves too much space for trauma-related thoughts and memories to come up and this technique minimizes the risk.

That is why I decided to make an attempt to put together my own small meditations, Plum Village style but with the intent of grounding a stressful experience like in Smiling Mind. I mainly created these to make them just right for myself. To be able to do these you need solid abilities in mindful observation, containment, regulation and good distress tolerance. These are phase 2 or 3 exercises.

 

How the meditation works

These meditations all follow the same pattern. The instructions guide awareness to one aspect of experience for the inbreath and ask you to internally respond to it in a certain way with the outbreath. The instructions will be given in full once, then they will be repeated as key words. After that you repeat them for yourself for 3 breath cycles before instructions are changed and you try to follow those as best you can. We will focus on a ressource first, then look at a difficult experience and then hopefully make it more manageable.

 

Meditation for Grounding in the Body

 

You can sit any way you like, just make sure that you can breathe easily.

Then you can gently focus your attention on your inbreath, thinking: This is an inbreath.

And on your outbreath, thinking: This is an outbreath.

An inbreath.

An outbreath.

 

As you breathe in, notice your shoulders and all the sensations that are present

As you breathe out, relax your shoulders down.

Notice shoulders.

Relax shoulders.

 

As you breathe in, become aware of your whole body, everything that is there

As you breathe out, gently smile at your body for making it this far.

Whole body.

Smile at body.

 

As you breathe in, become aware of the strength of your body that is constantly producing energy in its cells.

As you breathe out, feel this strength flood your whole body with light, down to the fingertips and toes.

Strength.

A flood of light.

 

As you breathe in, gently become aware of the areas in your body that feel unwell or in pain.

As you breathe out, look at these areas with love and compassion.

What is unwell.

Compassion.

 

As you breathe in, notice your feelings about having a body that has areas that are well and some that are unwell.

As you breathe out, hold the feeling gently inside yourself

Notice your feelings.

Hold your feelings.

 

As you breathe in, become aware of the age of your body and the fact that it has lived through many summers and winters.

As you breathe out, bring honor to your body for the years that it has served you.

Awareness of age.

Honor.

 

As you breathe in, become aware that this is an inbreath.

As you breathe out, become aware that this is an outbreath.

Inbreath.

Outbreath.

 

End the meditation at your own speed by moving around, orienting in the room and returning to a normal breath.

 

 

Meditation for Grounding Emotions

 

You can sit any way you like, just make sure that you can breathe easily.

Then you can gently focus your attention on your inbreath, thinking: This is an inbreath.

And on your outbreath, thinking: This is an outbreath.

An inbreath.

An outbreath.

 

As you breathe in, remember a pleasant moment you experienced this week. Something small like the smell of fresh bread is enough.

As you breathe out, enjoy the way that moment felt for you.

Pleasant moment.

Enjoy.

 

As you breathe in, become aware that the world can offer an endless amount of beautiful moments, with every sunrise, in every place.

As you breathe out, allow the awareness of a world full of beauty to fill your heart.

Beauty.

Full heart.

 

As you breathe in, notice the emotion you are experiencing right now, the one that brought you here.

As you breathe out, give your feeling an encouraging smile. It will all be ok.

Emotion.

Encouraging smile.

 

As you breathe in, allow your feeling to just be there, without having to change it.

As you breathe out, be present with the feeling and sit with it like a friend

Be there.

Sit like a friend.

 

As you breathe in, become aware of the weight of the feeling, whether it is light or heavy.

As you breathe out, internally reach out and offer your support.

Weight.

Support.

 

As you breathe in, notice the flow of your feeling and how it is not exactly the same as it was a moment ago, it is shifting.

As you breathe out, give your feeling space to develop and change.

Flow.

Space.

 

As you breathe in, notice what your feeling wants to do and how it wants you to act.

As you breathe out, bring gentle understanding towards your impulses.

Impulses.

Understanding.

 

As you breathe in, become aware that you can feel without having to act. You can choose.

As you breathe out, trust in your inner wisdom to know how to handle the feeling well.

Choice.

Trust.

 

As you breathe in, become aware that this is an inbreath.

As you breathe out, become aware that this is an outbreath.

Inbreath.

Outbreath.

 

End the meditation at your own pace by moving around, orienting in the room and returning to a normal breath.

 

 

Meditation for Grounding Thoughts and Beliefs

 

You can sit any way you like, just make sure that you can breathe easily.

Then you can gently focus your attention on your inbreath, thinking: This is an inbreath.

And on your outbreath, thinking: This is an outbreath.

An inbreath.

An outbreath.

 

As you breathe in, notice the ability of your mind to think thoughts. It is constantly thinking.

As you breathe out, internally lean back to marvel at the power of the mind.

The mind.

Awe.

 

As you breathe in, create a beautiful scene or picture in your mind using your imagination.

As you breathe out, enjoy the beauty of your mental picture.

Imagine.

Enjoy.

 

As you breathe in, notice that your scene is happening in your mind, a mental space created by your brain

As you breathe out, become aware of the space around you, how different it can be from your inner pictures.

Mind space.

Outside world.

 

As you breathe in, become mindful of the difficult thought that brought you here today.

As you breathe out, give the thought permission to just be here without fighting with it.

Thought.

Permission.

 

As you breathe in, notice how old this thought or belief really is and for how long it has been with you.

As you breathe out, gently offer help to such an old thought and maybe such a young part.

Age.

Help.

 

As you breathe in, become aware of what triggered the old thought or belief.

As you breathe out, bring comfort to the triggering moment.

Trigger situation.

Comfort.

 

As you breathe in, notice how the world today is different from the past situation in your mind space.

As you breathe out, relax in the knowledge that nothing bad is happening.

Today.

Relax.

 

As you breathe in, acknowledge the importance of the old thought in your past.

As you breathe out, let go of the thought and allow it to rest.

Acknowledge.

Let it rest.

 

As you breathe in, notice new thoughts that are created in your mind space right now.

As you breathe out, embrace the wonder of thinking and the human mind.

New thoughts.

Wonder.

 

As you breathe in, become aware of a hopeful thought you have about the future.

As you breathe out, allow the thought to be planted in your mind like a seed.

Hope

Sowing.

 

As you breathe in, become aware that this is an inbreath.

As you breathe out, become aware that this is an outbreath.

Inbreath.

Outbreath.

 

End the meditation at your own pace by moving around, orienting in the room and returning to a normal breath.