FINDING YOUR FEET – DAY 4

“The feet…? Why? What’s this all about?”

I know, it is a bit of a weird idea. If you haven’t yet tried grounding attention into the feet, or you would to know the theory behind how it helps, read on.

We are on a constant look-out for danger. Actually, all organisms are. This design feature was hard-wired into us when we evolved from the primordial soup. We survived because our ancestors had the ability to spot and avoid danger. Those who didn’t…well, they got eaten. It was a tough school back then!

So it’s a good thing to be vigilant against danger.

However, this bit of our wiring is ancient. It’s not very sophisticated and treats all ‘threats’ in the same way. If we think, imagine, or even dream something that feels dangerous, the system acts as if it IS dangerous.

Real or imagined danger releases a flood of adrenaline into your blood stream, which puts the body on amber alert. The first thing we notice is a feeling of fear in the body. The heart beats faster , the shoulders rise and the breath shortens. This all says, “Something bad is going to happen”. So now we release a bit more adrenaline. Quite literally, the fear we felt has generated more fear. We are in a fear cycle.

But if we take attention away from the sensations of fear and drop into the feet, feeling the solid, stable and SAFE ground, we start to reverse the fear cycle. The more curious we become about the ground and our feet, the easier it is for the system to start calming down.

Worth a try? It’s helped me countless times. I hope it can help you, too. See Day 1 of this course for instructions.