More and more psychotherapeutic approaches insert grounding, or roots, among emotional regulation techniques.
These techniques are strategies that help to connect or “root” in the present moment, increasing awareness and allowing us to regulate the emotional activation linked to internal or external stress factors.
The rooting techniques take inspiration from the work of Lowen (1977) then reaching the contemporary to be part of the bottom-up interventions especially in the trauma -oriented approacheslike sensomotor psychotherapy.
However, the rooting techniques are indicated as a practical tool for all those who have problems of emotional hyper-activation (anxiety disorders, DPTS), as well as hyp-activation (depressive disorders, dissociation).
During moments of strong emotional activation we can have symptoms such as dizziness, clouded view, tremors, accelerated heartbeat, fainting sensations, empty head or loss of Contact with your body.
The rooting exercises report the nervous system to a state of quiet, allowing us to anchor us at the moment present in an immediate and informal way.
“Having your feet on the ground” refers to the concept of being present and calm, therefore regulated, in the face of the events that can happen, outside and within us. Grounding exercises favor this feeling of physical and mental presence.
What Grounding consists of
The awareness of the present moment, inherent in the experience of roots can be reached in different ways and practically always our disposal.
The classic exercise derived from the bioenergetic approach plans to stand, in a relaxed but vigilant position, bringing attention to the feet well in contact with the floor, the legs that support the weight of the trunk resting on the pelvis.
Using proprioception as Attentive anchor We remain in contact with the feeling of being rooted to the surface below that supports us.
Continuing to breathe and perceive the weight of the body we can use the imagination to enhance these sensations imagining to sink into the soil, perhaps with roots like a tree and increase the perception of stability.
Other modes of Grounding
The roots can be done in different ways and each of us should find what is most congenial and effective.
A popular rooting technique at the present moment is the Method 5-4-3-2-1which involves all five senses.
It can be started with a simple exercise of deep breathing called triangular breathing. To do this, you inspire for 5 seconds, you hold your breath for 5 seconds and then you exhale for 5 seconds, continuing as long as you do not notice a slowdown in emotional activation.
Then we proceed with the exercise of Grounding of the 5 senses focusing on:
- 5 things we can see
- 4 things we can touch
- 3 things we can hear
- 2 things we can smell
- 1 thing we can enjoy
The rational is that the technique 5-4-3-1 help to direct attention to what is happening around us rather than on what is favoring the non-emotional regulation (whether they are thoughts, sensations, forecasts for future events or events present).
In addition, we can use each of the senses independently by choosing a couple of exercises for each sense and bringing attention to note how in each sense we experience the experience.
Examples of Grounding
View
- Focus on a small object, such as a pencil or a coffee cup, and identify every color and shape.
- Look at the sky looking for clouds, birds, dawn or anything else you can identify.
- Focus your attention on a plant or flower and how it moves with the wind.
- Look at a pet as he plays or rests.
- You can choose large or small objects to focus on. Once an object is chosen, try to notice the color, the plot and the reasons.
Touch
- Put your hands under running water, alternating hot and cold temperatures every 30 seconds.
- Concentrate on how your clothes feel on your body or how your hair feels on your head.
- Tap the surface of something around you and focus on the consistency. For example, take note of a smooth table or with wood veins that you hear under your fingers
Hearing
Focusing on external sounds can help you root you at the moment.
- A barking dog
- A watch that ticking
- External traffic
- Music
- Birds singing
- The wind blowing
Smell
- Enter your bathroom and sniff a soap or a shampoo.
- Turn on a fragrant candle.
- Spread a fragrant oil.
- Take simple smells around you, like the scent of a pillow on the sofa or a pencil.
- Exit and breathe deeply through the nose. Maybe you will feel the smell of the newly cut grass or the flowers that bloom.
Taste
Try to choose something you can easily taste, such as:
- a candy
- coffee
- sugar and salt
- a dried fruit
In reality it is not necessary to taste these foods if you don’t have them at hand. Instead, try to think about distinct flavors while you remember them.
Further specifications
The best time to learn the rooting skills and add them to your tool box is definitely when we feel at a low level of stress, we usually learn better when we are quieter.
Once you become familiar, we can try to root ourselves in the 5 senses when we realize that the level of activation rises.
Leaving aside the judgments, on our ability to root or on the availability we have at that moment (“I’m not doing it well”; “I don’t like this smell”; “The gray sky is sad”), we use the senses to notice and anchor us to what we have around allowing our system to find the connection and balance.
We note our mood before and after using a technique to see if it is effective for us, also giving a value to the discomfort on a scale from 1 to 10, before practicing the roots and after. Note changes can be further useful.
Recall that like any other ability, grounding should be practiced, without discouraging but looking with curiosity what works for us.
Bibliography
- Fisher J. Ogden P., Sensorimotor Psychotherapy. In approx. Courtois KD. Ford (edited by), 2009.
- Lowen A. Lowen El. Expansion and integration of the body in bioenergetics. Manual of practical exercises, astrolabe, Rome, 1979.
- Ogden P. Minton K. Pain C (2016). Trauma and body. Sensomotor psychotherapy manual. Isc, Milan, 2012
