I offered a workshop last weekend on “Getting Through the Day”, which deals with how to bring ourselves back into regulation when our emotions get triggered and run away with us.  The workshop was held at a beautiful spiritual center, unexpectedly, as the original venue didn’t have enough room that day.  

As all of us involved with the workshop moved through the day together and shared approaches to centering and helping ourselves move through difficult feelings, I was reminded, once again, of how many creative and wonderful contributions have been made to the processes of healing and self-regulation over recent years.  Not only did I offer the approaches I had brought to the workshop, but participants drew from their wisdom and experience to offer additional approaches.

A couple of the ways of grounding and centering that we explored that are relatively easy to use come to mind as I sit writing this experiment, so I would like to share them with you and invite you to make them the focus of your explorations this week.

First is the basic body-based therapy approach of pressing your feet into the floor whenever you feel ungrounded.  There’s nothing else to do – just press your feet into the floor and notice what you experience.  As you notice the sensations of your feet pressing into the floor, also notice how your body responds in general, as you give this some time.  You may find this approach to be a basic and immediate way to ground yourself when you get activated and have trouble bringing yourself back into the present moment.  And, it’s one you can use anywhere without anyone knowing what you’re doing.

Another approach is from Andrew Weil’s “Breathing: The Master Key to Self-Healing.”  This is a CD I highly recommend, as Dr. Weil offers a number of powerful and effective breathing exercises to ease anxiety and promote grounding.  Following is the “relaxing breath” that he shares with many of his patients:
            Inhale through the nose to a count of 4.
            Hold for a count of 7.
            Exhale through your open mouth, making a “whooshing” sound around
                        Your tongue for a count of 8.
            Do four breath cycles and then breathe normally.

Another approach I have heard from several people over the years, which I believe I’ve shared before, is to place one hand on your belly and one hand on your heart and then just sit this way for a little while.  As you notice yourself begin to settle, become even more aware of the sensations that allow you to recognize that you are settling and linger with those sensations for a while.  A variation is to place one hand on your solar plexus and the other on your heart.  Play with this and see what works best for you.

As with all the experiments, there’s no right answer here.  There’s just the next opportunity to explore your relationship with awareness and play with ways to more comfortably inhabit the present moment.