Welcome to part 2 of the power of grounding. Today, I'll be sharing a beautiful grounding practice that will help you connect your mind and body. If you missed part 1, don't worry, I'll give you a quick recap of what grounding is all about before we dive into the practice. Once you've listened to the episode and would like to come back to enjoy the practice only then start the episode at 5 minutes 50 seconds. This is where the grounding practice starts.
Grounding is the practice of coming into your body, feeling present, and being able to identify sensations inside and outside of your body. It's a way to create a deep, authentic connection with yourself and understand the language of your body.
To prepare for the grounding meditation, find a comfortable seated or lying position where you won't be distracted for the next 10 minutes. You can choose to close your eyes or keep them open. Here's a step-by-step summary guide to the practice:
I hope you enjoyed this grounding practice today. In next week's podcast, I'll be sharing another grounding practice to help you befriend and open up to the language and sensations of your body. Thank you for listening, and have a beautiful week ahead.
Feel free to share this practice with anyone who may need it. It's a great tool to use when feeling stressed, overwhelmed, or in need of a moment to feel present and connected.
00:01 - 00:40 Speaker 1: Welcome to part 2 of the power of grounding. Today is a really special practice for you to bring together all of the information that I shared last week in part 1, Which was called the power of grounding and why it's crucial for mind-body connection What we'll be doing is I will share a quick recap now about what is grounding or you can go back and listen To part 1 if you missed out on that last week, there will be the show intro and then we're moving on to the beautiful grounding practice. I'll pop in the show
00:40 - 01:29 Speaker 1: notes below the time that the practice starts. So if you want to come back to this practice often, which I of course recommend you do, you can always just fast forward to the part where the grounding practice starts. Grounding is really being able to come into your body, feeling present in the body, and being able to clearly identify sensations going on inside the body. So having an interoceptive awareness and also sensations going on outside of the body. It really is this beautiful connection between mind and body and now there's so many reasons why we lose that
01:29 - 02:13 Speaker 1: connection which I went into in depth in our last episode, but they could be things like pain, generalized stress, or even trauma. Now the benefits of grounding, they really give us this beautiful foundation to navigate and balance our stress. And it allows us to be fully and completely aware of what's going on within. Our minds tend to lie to us often. I remember I was on the brink of burnout and people were saying, are you okay Larissa? And I'm like, yeah, I'm totally fine. I'm fine. Sometimes our minds like to lie to us and we lie
02:13 - 02:58 Speaker 1: to ourselves. But understanding this beautiful practice of grounding allows us to create deep, authentic connection with ourselves. Now, grounding when it comes to mindful eating is really important because we wanna start to navigate and understand the language of our body. In particular different cues and triggers to eat. Some cues and triggers to eat are because we're hungry but there's many cues and triggers to eat that don't involve hunger at all. And this is where the real magic happens when it comes to mindful eating. It's really starting to understand our behaviors and the sensations that happen internally
02:58 - 03:44 Speaker 1: and also externally that are some of our cues or triggers that drive us to eat or overeat certain foods. When we understand ourselves at an ever greater deeper level, then we have a platform to create lasting change instead of just getting wrapped up in the next fad diet thinking that that's the answer to all of our problems when we actually have a lot of internal and also external cues and triggers to eat. Now that you have a greater understanding about the art of grounding, no doubt you will see how important it is to create that connection
03:44 - 04:41 Speaker 1: between mind and body. To prepare yourself for this grounding meditation, find a comfortable seated or lying position, somewhere where you won't be distracted for about the next 10 minutes, somewhere where you feel safe. And if you choose to, you can close your eyes or keep them open. So next up is our show intro and then your beautiful grounding practice. Once you've settled into your seated or lying position, choose to either gently close your eyes or soften your gaze at a particular point, starting to invite a sense of calmness to wash over you. Lengthen the spine with
04:41 - 05:53 Speaker 1: a graceful stretch, and with a slow audible sigh, let go of any lingering tension in your body, allowing the shoulder blades to gently release into the frame of the body. If comfortable, gently close the mouth, feeling the upper and lower lip touching ever so slightly together. And then start to notice your breath moving in and out through the nose. Taking awareness to the body, and opening up to the points of contact between your body and the surface below you. On the next out breath, Sink into these points of contact, like you're relaxing into a warm bath.
05:55 - 07:03 Speaker 1: Feel the stability and the strength of the surface below you caressing your body. If you're seated, it might be your feet pressing against the floor, the underneath of the thighs pressing against the seat. If you're lying, it could be the back of the heels, the back of the pelvis or the shoulder blades pressing firmly into the surface below. Rest here for a moment, really finding that connection between the physical body and the surface below. With every exhale, sinking the mind and the body into these anchor points. Noticing any subtle sensations in or around these anchor points.
07:10 - 08:20 Speaker 1: Gently drawing breath in through the nostrils and becoming aware of which nostril feels more open and accepting of the breath. Tracking the journey of the breath as it moves through the nostrils, gliding down the back gliding down the back of the throat and moving into the lower lobes of the lungs. Being aware of that gentle rise of the belly on the in-breath, and the softening of the belly on the out-breath, Enjoying the awareness of the body with curiosity and acceptance. And gently take the mind, Guiding it through the body, starting at the top of the head
08:20 - 09:50 Speaker 1: and gently sweeping it through the body, opening up to any particular sensations that draw your awareness to them. Gently sweeping awareness down through the neck and over the shoulders. Gliding down the front and the back of the torso, creating connection, mind and body, allowing the awareness to cascade over the legs, to the heels or the soles of the feet, bringing loving attention to any parts of the body that are delivering sensation. It could be constriction or softness. The effects of gravity grounding the body into the earth below. There could be pain or peacefulness. Allow the in-breath
09:50 - 11:05 Speaker 1: to open up awareness of the body as a whole, gently drawing the breath in. You might even like to feel as though you're sending energetic roots from the points of contact of your body to the earth down into the earth, and on the breath, drawing up grounding earth energy. Exhale, sinking down, sending your energetic roots into the earth, connecting mind, body and matter. And gently inhale, drawing up grounding earth energy. Exhale, sinking down, sending your energetic roots into the earth, connecting mind, body and matter. Simply allow yourself to be present with the body right here, right
11:05 - 12:36 Speaker 1: now, in the moment. Noticing if the mind wanders off, and gently come back to the body. Releasing down into the earth, into the earth. Opening up a channel of communication between the mind and the body. Honoring any sensation that arises in the moment. And then allowing yourself to take 3 more gentle flowing breaths in through the nose, following the journey of the breath into the body, opening up to sensation, and the expansion on the in-breath, exhaling and just sinking into the body, and allowing the body to sink into the anchor points below you. Continue with this
12:36 - 14:19 Speaker 1: gentle expansion and softening. Rise and fall. You Allow the body to be a home base for the mind. Wherever the mind goes, the body stays grounded and anchored. And whenever you notice the mind wandering off, allow the body to guide it back to the here and now. Tune in and check in any time you need to during your days, and return to this practice often. And whenever you feel ready, you may like to reopen or focus your eyes. Gently looking around in your surrounds and noticing something that feels comforting or visually pleasing to your eyes. You
14:19 - 15:24 Speaker 1: might even like to take 1 hand over the middle of your chest, and 1 hand over your belly button. And feel the gentle pressure of your hands on the body. That sense of grounding, connection and love. Enjoy a stretch and return to your day. Feel free to share this practice with anyone you think may need it. It's great to come back to this grounding practice if you feel stressed, scattered, overwhelmed, anxious, on autopilot, or if you just need a moment to yourself to feel present, grounded and connected. So I hope you enjoyed this practice today, in
15:24 - 15:52 Speaker 1: next week's podcast I'll be sharing another grounding practice but a slightly different practice for you, so you can have some tools you can use in your daily life to start to befriend and open up to the language and sensations of your body. So thank you for listening, from my heart to yours, Have the most beautiful week and I look forward to sharing again with you next week. Bye for now.
