Grounding

Grounding is often, especially within the mental health paradigm, recognized simply as a tool or practice of taking the time to notice and connect with a particular element within the body, be it a sensation or perhaps even the note of a feeling that allows one to feel more present, embodied, and to some degree regulated. This participation is important for beginning to nurture that complementary process of building a reservoir of capacity from within to stabilize one’s life. What is being stabilized may be an emotion, a physical sensation, or can even feel energetic.

The use of grounding can, in fact, come from within or outside oneself. You may notice a particular sensation or point in the body that feels inviting, neutral, or less activated than other parts, serving as a kind of point of entry to begin to calm, quiet, and build a space for attunement and attention. Further, one can use an outside source or model to begin the inward journey of settling the nervous system. This may include nature, the ground itself (particularly if one is barefoot), touching or leaning against a tree, a plant, or an animal. It may also include visual or auditory cues: a serene lake, the crashing of waves near the ocean. All of these elements may serve as tools to regulate and bring presence.

It is the practice of engaging the senses that is at the heart of grounding. Whether the senses arise from within or are noticed without, the tools and mechanisms of engagement differ, but the goal is similar: taking on a more grounded, physically present contact with oneself and the world around them, whereby one can engage more fully and relationally, while beginning to leave behind the fragmentation of experience that arises from survival adaptations present in the nervous system.

To ground is the practice of leaving the space where one feels a kind of disembodiment and moving toward greater presence through these practices as tools to recapture, often in small ways, a regulated response to one’s feelings. It gives permission to notice the world both outside and inside in a coherent manner and offers a kind of recognizable pattern of stability that engages the learning centers of the brain to orient toward as a map for integrating oneself into an embodied presence.