This episode is part one of a nine-part series of body-centered practices. Dr. Janys originally recorded this as part of a crisis counseling course. Their students kept asking to download it so here it is for anyone and everyone. Body-centered practices can be helpful in gaining resources for calming the nervous system. If you are looking for brief practices for personal use, resourcing for counseling, or for being a counselor- this will be of use to you! Transcript included.
In addition to being a therapist and a professor, Dr. Janys is certified as a yoga instructor and yoga therapist. In addition to using her own experience leading guided body-centered practices, they referenced the readings below to create the body-centered practices series:
Levine, P. (2008). Healing Trauma: A Pioneering Program for Restoring the Wisdom of Your Body. Sounds True.
Menakem, R. (2017). My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and Our Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies. Central Recovery Press.
Rothschild, B. (2000). The Body Remembers: The Psychophysiology of Trauma and Trauma Treatment. W.W. Norton and Company Inc.
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Body-centered practice, one grounding. Before you begin, find a comfortable place where you will be able to focus on your experience without interruption.
You can be lying on the floor or seated in a chair or any position that's comfortable for you.
Begin by noticing your breath.
Allowing your exhales to settle your body even further into the space where you are. Noticing the breath come into your nose. And out through your nose.
Noticing the gentle rise of breath into your body. And if you'd like, you can extend your exhale just a little bit longer. See if that very small change in your breath just allows you to settle even further into your practice.
Noticing any thoughts, just exhale, and see if you can let them quiet down. Any feelings, just noticing they're there without judgment. Allowing any sensations, temperature or. Relaxed or tension in your body to just be present without judgment? Accepting the moment where you are.
And allow yourself to create an image of the ground, whether that's the ground underneath you or maybe the forest floor or the sand on a beach.
Just allowing yourself to create an image that allows you to feel connected to the Earth, to feel grounded.
Wherever your image takes you, allow yourself to feel a sense of community in that other people have shared the earth that you rest on. There are stewards of the earth that have been here before.
Perhaps you know the name of the tribe that stewarded this land long before settlers came here. And you'd like to offer them and the earth some gratitude.
I invite you to breathe in and imagine whatever element of earth, whether it's forest or sand or trees or rock formations, just allow yourself as you breathe in. See if you can feel yourself from your toes just filling up with the Earth.
Breathing in and noticing that you're part of it.
Choosing the elements that feel right to you.
Continuing to focus on your breath.
Creating a sense in your body of this is what it's like for me to feel grounded. And my groundedness is not the same as someone else's, but this is what it is for me. Allow this to become a resource for your body.
And with your next breath moving away from that image. And now bringing in an image of something that is fearful for you. Maybe there's some worry there, anxiety. You don't have to get caught up in the feeling of the image but just see something. That brings fear into your body and just noticing it.
And see if, on your next breath, you can let the image be farther away from you.
And bring in that groundedness, since that's a resource for you, whatever that element of Earth is for you.
And just notice what, if anything, changes when you allow your resource to show up.
And then in the next breath, see if you can bring an image of hope.
Allow yourself to really see the image and notice what happens to your body when you invite this image of hope in, where do you feel that hope, even if it's just a glimmer or a spark of hope in your body? See if you can breathe that in even more and make it more alive inside of you.
And then send that image of hope away.
And then finally bring in both images of fear and hope and see, can I hold both of these at the same time and still find my groundedness, still find my rootedness in the place where I am?
And let yourself with each breath, see the images of hope and fear fade away.
And just know if you can hold both of those images.
In your body that you are in the right place.
Allow yourself to slowly bring light back into your eyes if they were closed. Wiggle your fingers or your toes or stretch in any way to bring yourself back into the rest of your day.
And take a moment before you move into your next task to just write down some reactions, responses, or anything else meaningful for you, for your practice today.
I hope that you can feel groundedness throughout the rest of your day. And you're welcome to revisit this if this serves you.