FINDING YOUR FEET – DAY 1

Anxiety. Panic. Fearful thoughts and a fear-filled body – all pull the attention upward into the tummy, chest, shoulders, head. The tumultuous, swirling, clench and spin-cycles of hideous sensations just ruin the day, don’t they?

When we notice we are lost in those hideous sensations, shifting the attention to the feet can start to reverse the spin-cycle.

Why the feet? Because they are as far away from the stress-reaction sensations as we can get. Secondly, they are touching something solid – the ground.

The ground is not spinning. It is stable, firm and trustworthy. It holds us up. The ground is safe. We are not sinking, spinning, swirling or falling when we notice the stability of our feet on the floor.

If you can place your feet flat on the floor right now, can you notice what you feel? Is it possible to feel where the floor makes contact with your heels, but not your arches? The pads of your toes, but not the roots of your toes?

Perhaps see what it’s like to keep your eyes open, then what it’s like to close your eyes. (If you’re having a particularly stressful day, closing the eyes can sometimes trigger more stress).

Experiment with bending your knees and then pushing the soles of your feet into the floor to straighten your legs. Does the sensation in your feet change? What is it like to bounce a little? Maybe let your shoulders bounce too, and unclench the jaw and see if that will bounce?

Can you be a little child-like, as you take just a minute of your day to find your feet? The more attention you give to the feet, the less attention the spin-cycle gets.

Over the next 6 days this course will explore more aspects of grounding. We will use the feet to help improve mental health, physical wellbeing, begin a process of trauma and stress recovery, and as an SOS practice for panic attacks.

This seemingly simplistic practice really can help us all find our feet to walk our way out of stress, trauma, panic, anxiety, overwhelm, depression and dissociation. I hope to see you tomorrow.