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Post by Bodhitree on Jul 9, 2017 18:43:11 GMT
Just to share a different perspective on the integral approach to mental health, I have come to believe that grounding is one of the core problems in mental health. It's a term often found in meditation and energy work, referring to the process of "coming back down to earth" and being solidly grounded in the body, returning the awareness to the sense of being restful in the body. The ways which one can use to do this are many and varied, and cover a whole spectrum of techniques.
Looking at mental health, there are a whole series of areas where a person having a mental health experience is not grounded. Take someone experiencing psychosis or mania, they are likely taking in audio hallucinations or even visual ones which significantly distort their attention, they are up in the clouds and usually have many different things on their mind. A person suffering delusions likely isn't going to be logically grounded in reality. A person suffering depression sees things so negatively that they too have 'lost their ground' and gone under.
So there are different techniques that can be applied to body and mind to ground them, to try and bring the person back to their senses. It's a field that's both young and old, as the following will demonstrate, it's worth keeping an eye on.
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Post by Bodhitree on Jul 9, 2017 19:06:58 GMT
So here are some basic tips on what activities can be used for grounding.
Food and diet
Eating is great for grounding. Eat healthily, things like beans and pulses and potatoes, stuff that fills you up and keeps your digestive system busy. Really light foods like salads will ground you less, something like a lentil dish more. Cutting sugar and stimulants like soft drinks and coffee are also good for keeping grounded.
Chocolate and strong tastes
A little bit of pure chocolate is also great for grounding, it is a taste that lingers. Other strong tastes such as curries and spicy food will also have a grounding effect, returning you to the body, slowing the mind and settling mental states. For an interesting effect - try putting some ground coriander on your tongue, it clears your mind in a hurry and the effect lasts for some hours, if you can stand the burn.
A regular schedule, long nights
A regular schedule of sleep, rising, exercise and other elements from this grounding table can help get your life grounded in a hurry. Doing anything on a regular schedule will help your willpower, and committing to regularity will help more. Going to bed early and avoiding a lot of tv will also help.
Connect with Nature
You've probably heard of this grounding technique before because it has literally been around forever. Pull off your shoes and walk barefoot outside. Feel the earth under your feet. You can walk on grass, dirt, or at the shore. Focus on the sensation on the earth beneath you. Dig your heels into the earth. Gardening is also excellent, as are long nature walks and cycle rides.
Baths and showers
Baths and showers can be a powerful grounding element. The cleansing power of water on your body and mental state is really potent, and I wouldn't be afraid to have 3-4 regular showers during the day to cleanse the aches and pains. Swimming in the sea or cold baths can also help create a grounding effect.
Meditation
When using meditation for grounding it's important to keep it simple and not go deep, so I would advise simple mindfulness techniques and maybe some chanting, sessions of no more than twenty minutes. Body-scan techniques are useful for reconnecting to the body as well.
Toe-tapping exercise
This is an exercise where you lie on your back and twist your legs inwards at the hip in order to produce a motion that taps your two big toes together. Do this for three or five minutes to start with, you might find the motion quite tiring but it helps ground the energy.
Scents and aromatherapy
Scents can be a powerful aid to grounding as different smells can really change the mood. The key thing is to find something that soothes you, that helps ground. Many people find lavender or chamomile soothing. Sometimes incense can also help.
Crystals and Stones
Certain stones and crystals have been known to be good for grounding as well. Try carrying some jasper, black kyanite, or blue kyanite in your pocket. It can be quite inspirational.
Colouring books for Adults
This is an activity that's quite popular in some psych wards, and for good reason. It focuses the mind, engages artistic instincts, and keeps the hands busy without overly taxing problem solving ability or asking too much of you.
Cleaning
Cleaning is a great centerering and grounding activity, if you learn how to do it right, with attention and dedication to cleanliness and spotlesness. Some people are great at it, and it can make the whole house smell nice and just be different afterwards.
Short Trances
Using things like YouTube binaural beats or chakra cleansing videos to achieve short trances can really help out your mental focus and your ability to resolve things internally. I'd recommend no more than an hour at a time.
Hard Exercise
When you aren't sure how to ground yourself, try hard physical activity. Moving your body can help you feel more centered quickly. Cycling or cardio or running is ideal.
Exercise is great because you focus and connect with your physical body while expending excess energy at the same time. Yoga is especially wonderful because it centers you on a spiritual and physical level, but it doesn't get you to a sweaty state which helps the whole body be at one.
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Post by snowstorm on Jul 10, 2017 17:22:45 GMT
Good tips. I find art and colouring has helped a lot when I have been unwell and scents and aromatherapy are good anytime too - am just burning a candle that has the aroma of bakewell tart :-) Would probably struggle to shower 3-4 times per day though!
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malli
Junior Member
Posts: 81
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Post by malli on Jul 11, 2017 15:33:40 GMT
Thank you for the grounding techniques. I really was not familiar with the food suggestions particularly.
Like snowstorm, I enjoy art and sketching/painting. Find myself most at peace when lost in Art.
I don't know if you at aware Kerome but in the Uk when people in crisis ring the so called Crisis Team, very often they are fobbed off with suggestions of a "milky drink" or a " nice bath". When I was with abuse survivors, who very often were in need of good grounding techniques being taught to them, it became a bit of a joke.
Now I can see where an excellent technique (in the way you describe it) has been worn down by ill educated and under funded and understaffed MH teams to become a "fob off" idea.
It is a pity, if only people were properly trained to talk this through with someone in crisis, even over the phone, it would help.
Thanks again for the ideas, from my point of view the exercises are new and helpful also.
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Post by Bodhitree on Jul 12, 2017 8:05:33 GMT
Thank you both, I think this is an area where a technique from other fields could actually be practically useful to mental health treatment. Although grounding as a technique actually comes from these other areas such as energy healing, a lot of the tips I have given above have a long history in psychiatric treatment. Look at cold baths, they were all the rage in sanatoriums in the 19th century. It's just a question of putting it all together.
The grounding "problem" is really finding techniques which can be effective against psychosis in a short period of time. You could combine all these tips and come up with a "grounding day schedule", which I feel might be worth a try as serious treatment, but there is no guarantee that it will in fact help someone suffering from auditory and visual hallucinations to come back to earth. It's certainly beneficial for less extreme cases, I've tried out a lot of these things myself with some success.
There are some indications that certain multimedia techniques might be useful against voices and ptsd symptoms, so that might be another avenue to explore.
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Post by Admin on Jul 13, 2017 2:12:09 GMT
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