When it becomes too much, survival responses are to be triggered. We become reactive, we rush for action rather than observing the variety of available options. Through the lens of the ‘survival mode’ we perceive the world as an unfriendly or unpleasant place. Our stress response systems are organized wisely, but there’s too much pressure, so the resources are to be mobilized. Conscience is not involved into this process, it’s merely a sequence of reactive responses that build up a particular state. Sometimes we find ourself losing our inherent qualities, such as generosity and kindness. It happens often as a reaction to stress that has reached it’s max capacity.

What to do

It’s always good to give your body some more rest. To sleep for an extra couple hours when you feel you need to. To enjoy your time with the loved ones, or even with yourself. Find out which activities do calm you down, and let yourself be lazy sometimes. It’s the darkest time of the year, after all. Preparing for holidays as well as celebrating may help get some peace of mind, but only if the process is seen as a source of joy, not as a pool of obligations.

When stress continues, everything that’s been piled up in the darker parts of our internal rooms gets more and more activated. If you feel that your reactions are getting a bit out of normal, are you in the state of permanent fatigue, or constant arousal, – please don’t hesitate to contact me. Whether an advice on how to make it through the holidays with batteries at full, or how to manage the internal resources, whether a request to calm the state of the nervous system with a sequence of bodywork sessions, or find a good practice that might bring peace to the body and mind. I work online and receive clients in person as well.

Have a wonderful rest of the month and let us look at the future year as calm and resourceful.

Book an Appointment

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Grounding is developed by those who are engaged in physical work, and therefore are well aware of their motor and physical features. On the contrary, it may be almost absent for those who mainly operate mental structures, or objects and projects that do not require “here and now” presence. In the second case, natural communication with the body including the sensation of grounding, is often distorted or broken. Meanwhile, one can restore these ties. Visible increase of joy of life feeling as well as the contact with reality in its beauty will confirm such a change. Grounding always refers to the context of here and now.

Leaders are often well-grounded: in order to be able to influence other people with your will, you might need to feel your base.

“What can grounding offer us? It gives balance, ground under your feet, a possibility to stand, to contain life, a possibility to be able to discern, to stay in reality, on earth, even when things get hard or are very powerful.“

Merete Holm Brantbjerg, co-founder of bodynamic analysys

In our everyday speech we label the people who are not well-grounded as dreamers. On the contrary, “both feet on the ground”, would characterize someone we rely on. When we are “all in the air” in the difficult situation, we subconsciously turn away from presence and therefore make the situation even more difficult or dangerous. If this happens to you sometimes, that is something to work on.

Daily exercises focused on the body and bodily sensations (most accessible and ubiquitous are yoga and qigong) helps regain the sense of grounding. Working with a helping practitioner, craniosacral therapy or dance-movement practice will be extremely useful as well. A massage session may increase your grounding capacity, though not in all cases. It would be better to check the relevance of the particular service in advance.

In my resource programs, as well as in the individual online sessions, Grounding is among the first qualities we learn to restore and manage. 

I used several theses of Merete Holm Brantbjerg to create this text. Here is the link to one of her articles

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We can support other people when we ourselves are stable.

Stress is the body’s natural response to unusual circumstances. In a short period of time, arousal helps to cope with the threat. The negative effects of stress are associated with prolonged states of arousal and lasting mobilization.

Pay some attention to how you feel. Bodily sensations will be your evaluation criteria. 

Start with the perception of weight. In a state of severe stress the sensation of weight becomes very imprecise (when raising your hand for example, or feeling the weight of the body on the chair – can you really feel the weight?)

Observe your breath

You may notice that you talk abruptly

The tempo of your speech. If it is faster than usual, that is a clear sign of arousal.

The tone of your voice. Is this your ordinary voice, or has it changed from regular? Maybe you notice that you are speaking a bit too loud?

How to deal with the situation of severe lasting stress?

If you are not limited in movement, walk more. It helps to ground yourself up, feel yourself more rooted in the moment.

Switch off the news and social networks. Watch the minimum. Once or twice a day, only the information that’s important for you.

If you’re supposed to stay home (quarantine) – do the work with your hands. Anything from caring for plants to embroidery. When I start feeling that I am all in the air I work with the wood and do something simple. Works that demand fine motor skills help to center and calm yourself down.

Tidy up, organize what’s next to you.

Perhaps you have long been planning to clean the closet. Take care of this. Would it be good to iron the shirts?

If you like cooking, cook something that is not too complicated, though not too simple. Something that is of certain interest for you. Pay attention to the nuances.

People often eat to cope with arousal. Eating is an effective way to ground yourself up, but certainly not the friendliest for your body.

Choose one or two people you trust the most, those likely to be more resilient than you. Talk to them, ask how they cope with a difficult situation, share your ways. Contact those in your family who are away from you. Find out how they are doing. Call a couple of your friends in other cities.

When communicating, do not blame others for what is happening. Even if there is someone to blame, better think about what you can do.

A sense of humor is an essential criterion for your resilience. A healthy sense of humor and the ability to laugh, primarily, at yourself.

Remember: to support others, you yourself need to be stable enough.

Modern body-oriented psychology associates the capacity to cope with the stress with these three qualities: the ability to be in a grounded state, the ability to center, and the ability to manage boundaries.

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