Top 10 Tips for Troubled Times: Self-care tools to build resiliency and regulation
I’m sharing over the next posts my Top 10 Tips for Troubled Times – a guide to help you build your own First Aid Kit for dealing with times of stress and getting out of overwhelm. I’ve built this up over a long time and this are my go-to tools, that you can build into your daily routine, to help build resiliency and regulation
The very first Tip I’d like to share with you for your tool-box for troubled times is deceptively simple – but really fundamental. So here we go!
Top Tip #1 – is Grounding
Why is this important?
- Because sensation and movement are the languages of the (lower) survival brain and brain-stem
- And our lower brain and our body fundamentally feel safer and better when we have a clear FELT SENSE of which way is down… of where Gravity it
- When we get into overwhelm, typically our energy is all up in our heads and swirling around up top – and we may even lose connection with our body and stop really feeling where we are, feeling our connection with the ground
- If we can get a clear sense of that vertical line in our body, and our connection with the ground….and send our energy down in our body…… we can be in a better place to deal with whatever we need to
A Simple Grounding Practice
This first simple exercise is great to do multiple times a day – to help build regulation and resiliency – and most definitely also in times of stress and overwhelm!
There are 2 simple parts to this practice – check it out below – give it a go, and see what you notice!
- Calming the brain stem
- Place both hands behind the back of your head, cradling your brain stem
- Say out loud (or to yourself!) that your intention is to calm your brain stem and ground your energy
- Keep doing this for a few minutes, with the intention of calming and grounding
- Notice what happens, what might shift for you
2. Sending the energy down into the ground
- Standing – Feel your feet on the ground, and bend your knees – just until you can really feel the muscles in the front of your things (quads) engage
- Press the palms of your hands together in front of your heart – feel the resistance, really press your hands into one another
- Send the energy down in your body, into your legs and feet
- this also more clearly in your body
The most important thing is to stick at this until you notice something shift.
Perhaps it’s feeling heavier in the legs, more contact with the ground, maybe a sense of dropping inside. The nervous system learns by noticing differences! So even small shifts are important.
It’s the doing it that matters, and make a difference over the long run.