Grounding 101

[BloomInWinter]

Keep trying, Mercy! It'll happen for you, I just know it!

 

[KP the nut]

Maybe my T will have some more specific thoughts for particular incidents.

My T recorded some of the grounding he did with me in sessions. I have them on my iPod to carry with me - they help a lot. My T had the voice which help instil calm within me.

 

[Mercy]

Thanks KP. Over the years of therapy, I have been taught different things which are good for grounding when I feel like I might be going to disassociate. Either they work or I don't disassociate as much.

There was a recent article from the British Journal of Medicine about PET scans. It showed that the old survival brain reacts to 'danger' and sets off the biochemical cascade needed for fight or flight actions. The thinking forebrain did not light up until quite a bit later.

That was a relief to me because I thought I had been punishing myself with full body flashbacks. Then I can only do 'grounding' after its over.

EFT tapping technique

What is EFT tapping, please?

 

[Philippa]

Check google for some you tube demonstrations of EFT. It stands for Emotional Freedom Technique. It works with the energy meridians of the body, which the Chinese have known about for centuries. It's a system where a person can help themselves release built up or suppressed emotions and stress.

It really works well. I've only met one person who said it didn't work for them, and it wasn't that it didn't work, but she said it gave her a headache afterwards...but that isn't usual.

I couldn't be bothered checking the last 2 pages to see if me or someone else added this, but I wanted to offer a grounding technique, where you can just stand and imagine that you are a tree, with roots that grow thick into the earth. Really get into imagining this one, so you feel that you are stable and solid, like the trunk of the tree, and glued to the earth.

 

[Mercy]

I love it. I 'know' many trees. Once time I was sculpting in my brother's drive way. At the end, stood 5 beautiful, slim, long needle pines. I heard them singing. It spooked me at first but I listened as they sang calm and in harmony, I mean no strife. I looked around for a window harp but there wasn't much of a breeze.

I read a story in Readers Digest about a woman who was in a canyon with lots of pine trees and she said she heard them singing. I didn't feel so out in left field then but this is the first time I have written about the singing.

 

[BloomInWinter]

One of the very basic grounding techniques that has taken literally years of practice but which finally has a real effect is pausing, breathing, and thinking to myself, "It's ok. You're ok. You're safe now. This is just anxiety."

 

[KP the nut]

(((Bloom))), you are so right. It is a basic one but it is so easy to forget this.

 

[BloomInWinter]

Now, I'm able to ground myself more often when I seem to be slipping into the past.

It's a welcome relief to have skills now to employ earlier in the distress cycle.

 

[CraftyCath]

I was surprised by my progress in grounding recently. I was going to put this in 'Accomplishments and Successes' but it isn't a big enough deal to go in there. (Mods: Please move to another section if it doesn't fit here - thanks).

When I went to York to meet 'the Forum Gang,' I was nervous and excited at the same time. A normal reaction for most people, even those without PTSD.

Well, I have never been a good traveler. In the past I have tried to get out of the car at 70mph because I felt trapped, confined and the further we got away from home the worse the agoraphobia got. Sometimes I was sick before I even left town and if I drive, my hands glue themselves to the wheel and I sweat like a pig!

I was nervous during the journey but with the breathing and self-talk it felt very different. The thing is, I didn't notice the lack of panic until much later. If H had asked how I was doing I think that wold have caused me to 'think' about panic and I probably would have.

I knew I would be OK around the 'guys' as I have got to know them enough to feel comfortable and they are all truly wonderful. I am very bad at sleeping away from home (well I don't sleep AT home so only to be expected) and I'm terrible around food; having developed a social phobia when I was out for a meal with a bunch of so called friends who then made my life a misery. Also, I was force-fed by my Grandmother so I guess it was inevitable that I would have problems with food.

Well, at the picnic the though of problems around food never crossed my mind! I was so relaxed! I knew I would still have problems with restaurants as I feel confined but out in the open I never batted an eye lid. And the biggest thing yet is that I slept fairly well as I'd requested a room away from others with an en-suit (I have problems with shared bathrooms but that's another story). I got up that morning, looking forward to seeing the sights in York, and went to have breakfast. I was nervous as I didn't know what the hosts would be like or if they would mind me not having a cooked breakfast, just something light (I actually got told off by a guy who ran a B&B for not wanting a cooked breakfast once!). Again, as natural as anything I just relaxed my muscles, found a peaceful place inside me, breathed slowly and never batted an eye lid again when my meal came. I had fresh fruit salad and bacon on toast followed by another slice of toast with marmalade. I even asked for extra margarine and extra water for my tea which I would never have done in the past.

I enjoyed my breakfast both mornings and the second day I looked forward to it and wasn't nervous at all. This is progress for me and it only occurred to me when I got home how well I had done. Processing the traumatic memories has moved me on at a speed I could not have imagined and all the grounding and self-talk, like Bloom said, has worked for me. Positive affirmations (thanks to KP for the idea of an Affirmation Book which I read every day) and learning to love myself and not worry about what others think of me has improved my quality of life tremendously.

I never thought I would ever be this strong.:tup:

 

[amethist]

Way to go Cath. :tup:

 

[BloomInWinter]

(((((Clapping))))) for you, dear (((((CraftyCath)))))!

 

[Tanishq]

Having to find yet more....

Running my hands under warm water.

I do this often when I am in for bath. It's soothing, isn't it?