When you are facing seemingly never-ending demands, stress can seem normal. We all know the feeling. Racing through your day, trying to keep up, feeling depleted, exhausted, and irritable. It’s all too easy to succumb to the overwhelming whirlwind of stress. The toll of chronic stress extends beyond the mental realm, impacting your physical and emotional well-being. However, by reconnecting with your physical experience, you can tap into your nervous system’s innate ability to regulate itself, bringing you back to a feeling of calm.
Throughout this blog post, we will delve into the ways stress affects your physical health, emphasizing the importance of addressing the physiological aspects of stress. Additionally, we will explore the concept of somatic therapies and its potential to assist you in effectively managing stress. But that’s not all! I will also equip you with five practical grounding exercises that effortlessly integrate into your bustling schedule. As a therapist, I use these exercises regularly both myself and in my work with clients struggling with anxiety and trauma. These exercises can empower you to anchor yourself, release tension, and restore calm.
So, take a deep breath, get comfy, grab that cuppa tea and prepare yourself for an a journey into rediscovering your body.
Stress: Fictions and Facts
When you think of stress, what do you think of? That boss who won’t get off your case? The competing demands between juggling the kids’ schedule, your work obligations, exercise and fitness routine, and trying to find time to connect with your partner? Or perhaps that conversation you’ve been avoiding comes to mind.
As a hardworking adult, you understand the hit that your productivity can take when you’re under stress. You know stress dampens creativity, leaves you with brain fog, and makes you want to run away from it all. While stress is a normal part of life and can sometimes be beneficial – like when you put your body under moderate stress through exercise – chronic or excessive stress can have detrimental effects on your overall health and well-being. Prolonged exposure to stress without adequate relief or coping mechanisms can lead to physical and mental health issues, including cardiovascular problems, weakened immune function, digestive disorders, anxiety, and depression. In the short term, muscle discomfort, digestive issues, sleep imbalances, and racing thoughts can occur. In the long-term chronic stress can threaten your entire body. Research shows that chronic stress can contribute to a range of serious conditions, including heart disease, high blood pressure, weakened immune function, and even exacerbation of existing health issues.
Additionally, not everyone is affected the same way. Stress is not exclusively about a set of outer circumstances, but rather the physical and psychological response to a situation that your nervous system finds challenging. It is a natural and instinctive reaction that arises when you perceive a situation as demanding or threatening to our well-being, whether it be physical, mental, or emotional.
Stress triggers a cascade of physiological changes in our body, activating the fight, flight or freeze response. This response prepares you to either confront the stressor, escape from it, or shutdown. It involves the release of stress hormones, such as cortisol and adrenaline, which initiate various physiological changes, including increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure, heightened alertness, and increased energy production.
It is important to note that stress is subjective and can vary from person to person. What one individual perceives as stressful may not affect another in the same way. Additionally, the causes of stress can be diverse, ranging from work-related pressures and relationship difficulties to financial concerns, major life issues, or more systemic problems like racism, climate change, and intergenerational trauma. For people with trauma, anxious or emotionally unavailable parents, or chaotic upbringings, the threat response can be heightened in seemingly mundane circumstances. This can lead to ordinary daily interactions feeling highly stressful, or even overwhelming.
Recognizing and understanding your body’s unique stress response, and getting to learn your triggers are crucial to reclaiming a healthy nervous system. By developing effective coping strategies, practicing self-care, seeking support, and incorporating stress-reduction techniques, you can navigate the challenges of stress more effectively and maintain a healthier balance in our physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Somatic grounding tools offer a path to harmonizing your physical and mental well-being, allowing you to release tension, restore balance, and promote healing from past wounds.
What are somatic therapies?
Somatic, derived from the word “soma”, means related to the body. Somatic therapies are ways of reconnecting with your body, and harnessing the body’s innate tendencies to return to a state of self-regulation. Somatic therapies have been popularized by the works of folks like Peter Levine, Pat Ogden, Bessel van der Kolk, Ron Kurtz, and Eugene Gendlin, and has a long-standing history in Jungian therapy. Popular approaches include somatic experiencing, sensorimotor psychotherapy, and body movement therapy. However, somatic approaches have deep roots in many spiritual, religious, and cultural traditions. Think for example of Buddhist walking meditation, ancient Yogic practices, Qigong, Taichi, or traditional Indigenous dances. What these practices have in common is a connection between mind, body, and spirit.
Somatic therapies offers a holistic perspective on stress management by addressing the root causes of stress and its physical manifestations. Somatic approaches can go beyond the cognitive layer of thinking about your issues, and take you deeper into the wisdom of the body as a powerful resource for healing and transformation. Importantly, somatic approaches are also culturally responsive, and readily allow for the individual to use bodily movement approaches that are appropriate for their lived experience.
By engaging with the body’s wisdom and addressing stress at a somatic level, you can access your innate capacity for healing and resilience. In the next section, we will delve into specific grounding exercises that you can incorporate into your daily life to promote relaxation, presence, and resilience in the face of stress.
5 Simple Somatic Grounding Exercises
Before trying out these techniques on your own, it is important to note that our bodies can store many strong emotions, and even past trauma including specific traumatic events, developmental trauma, and intergenerational trauma. It is important to ensure you feel safe, comfortable, and in control when trying these exercises. If you have a history of trauma, I strongly recommend seeking out professional support from a registered psychotherapist or other mental health professional.
Ready to tap into your body’s natural regulation? Here we go!
1. Grounding Through The Senses
Engage your senses can be a powerful way to anchor you in the present moment and reorient you to your bodily sensations. When you get trapped in patterns of overthinking or rumination, anxiety can spiral out of control and cause you to lose orientation to your surroundings. Orienting to your senses allows you to reconnect to what your body is experiencing in the present moment, and helps reduce the pull that anxious thoughts have on you awareness. Make sure you have some objects handy, a few things that have a scent to them, and a snack.
First, begin by scanning your environment and notice 5 things you can see. Get curious about what catches your attention, or where your eyes linger for a moment. Notice any objects or colours, and simply note that.
Next, reach out and find 4 things you can touch. These can be any ordinary objects – a book, pencil, rock, plant, desk lamp, or even the fabric of your clothing. Simply notice the tactile sensations your hands and fingers discover as you find these 4 objects.
Third, listen for 3 things that you can hear. This could be the sound of birds chirping, cars driving by, or the chatter of a television in another room. If your environment is relatively quiet, imagine 3 sounds that you enjoy. This could be the sound of waves breaking on the shore of a beach, or the rustle of wind through the leaves of a tree. Notice what it feels like to hear (or imagine) these sounds.
Next, find 2 things you can smell. This could be a perfume, incense, food, or even the smell of pages of a book. Take a moment to breathe in the scent as fully as you can, and gently allow yourself to exhale a big sigh through your mouth.
Last but not least – you guessed it – find 1 thing you can taste. In my case, I almost always have chocolate handy! Notice the texture on your tongue, and the depths of the flavours.
This exercise helps redirect your focus to the immediate environment, promoting a sense of grounding and presence, and reorienting you to your space.
2. Body Scanning
Find a comfortable position, preferably with your feet firmly planted on the ground. This could be standing up, or seated in a chair low enough to allow you to reach the ground. Take a moment to check-in with your body and pose the question “Is there anything I can do right now to make my body more comfortable?” Listen for a response and notice – maybe your back needs a stretch, or you need to shift your weight from one hip to the other. Give yourself some time for your body to respond.
Once you are relatively comfortable, begin by noticing the weight of your feet touching the ground. Feel the tactile sensations of your body grounded to the earth. Slowly and gently, scan your awareness up your feet, through your legs, into your butt, back, abdomen, all the way through your arms, neck, and into your head. Notice any sensations or areas of tension in your body, without judging them, but just getting curious about what your body might need to relax even one molecule.
Once again, start with your head and slowly work your back down, acknowledging each body part with an attitude of curiosity. Imagine you are getting to meet each part for the first time, and getting to know new sensations you may not have known were there.
This practice of adopting a curious and compassionate stance towards your body helps cultivates awareness of areas of physical stress stored in the body, and can release tension. As you do this, notice the emotional response you have to each part of the body. This can give you clues to what might be stored, and can help unblock stuck emotions within the body.
3. Using The Breath
If you have ever done meditation or yoga, then you may be familiar with the idea of watching your breath. However, this isn’t the only way to use your breath as a tool for grounding. An immediate and accessible method even if you don’t have time to sit and meditate is the use of the “VOO” sound, as explained below by Dr. Peter Levine:
This technique is done by taking a natural full breath into your belly, then breathing out the sound “VOO”. After breathing out, rest and begin to notice any bodily sensations, feelings, emotions, thoughts or images that arise. When you’re ready repeat 2 or 3 times.
Breath is a crucial part of how anxiety, stress, and trauma are stored in the body. When we enter into heightened states of sympathetic nervous system activation (fight-or-flight response), such as when we feel highly anxious, our breath patterns change. The use of breath work including the “VOO” technique has been shown to stimulate our parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest response), which can bring us back to state of calm.
The use of “VOO” bears resemblance to other forms of breath-related work such as mantras, chanting and deep breathing, and can be an immediate way to activate your vagus nerve. As with any of these forms of breath work, it is important to note that strong emotions can be released, therefore it is important to work with an experienced practitioner or mental health professional.
4. Compassionate Hands
What if your hands had the power to heal? This next technique might just be that!
Begin by holding your hands out in front of you with your palms facing you. Look at your hands, and take your time to notice what your palms look like. See if you can feel the sensations on the palms of your hands as you look at them. Notice if your palms feel warm, cool, sweaty, dry, tense, or relaxed.
Then, when you’re ready, begin by placing your right palm on your abdomen between your ribcage – right below your solar plexus. This is about two inches below the spot where your ribcage meets in the centre of your chest, and about an inch above your belly button. Take your left hand, and place it behind your neck, and give the back of your neck a gentle squeeze. Not too hard, but firm enough to feel the sensation of your left hand squeezing your neck. Rest there for a few moments, don’t forget to breath, and notice any sensations that may arise.
When you’re ready, you can continue by moving your left hand to your upper shoulders, or even squeezing down your right arm. As you do so, continue squeezing various parts of your body with your left hand. Notice the sensations – what does it feel like to put firm yet comforting pressure on various parts of your body? Your chest? lower abdomen? Thighs? Legs?
When you’re ready, switch! Left hand on your solar plexus, and begin squeezing various parts of your body with your right hand.
If you have a partner who you feel comfortable doing this with – set some parameters on which body parts are game, and then take turns placing gentle pressure on your partner using your hands.
This technique helps you feel into self-compassion by connecting your awareness of your body with your touch receptors. This also works by progressively relaxing each muscle group in your body, allowing you to release tension. When you’re done, don’t forget to check-in with your body and notice which parts feel more spacious, lighter, or have some relief.
5. Tapping
Tapping is a technique which harnesses the power of bilateral sensory activation to promote relaxation, alleviate distress, and foster a greater sense of well-being. Bilateral stimulation is widely utilized in various therapeutic modalities, and involves stimulating both sides of the body or sensory field to facilitate positive changes in the brain and nervous system. At its core, bilateral stimulation taps into the brain’s remarkable capacity for neuroplasticity. The brain possesses an innate ability to reorganize itself and form new connections between neurons, allowing for adaptive responses to life’s challenges. While we used to think that the capacity of our brains to change stopped in early adulthood, we now know that neuroplasticity can extend into the entirety of our lifespan. In other words, you can certainly teach an old dog new tricks!
Bilateral stimulation capitalizes on this neuroplasticity by engaging multiple sensory pathways simultaneously, which activates the brain’s integrative processes and promotes the regulation of emotions and stress responses. Bilateral stimulation has the capacity to activate large emotional neural networks, and reprogram how we process and experience our emotions and memories. This can even facilitate the integration of traumatic or distressing experiences into a person’s broader memory network. This process promotes adaptive information processing and supports the development of new, more empowering narratives.
Here’s how you can start practicing bilateral stimulation using the Emotional Freedom Technique of tapping:
- Find a Comfortable Position: sit or stand in a spot where you can relax comfortably.
- Identify the Target Issue: Determine the specific issue or emotion you want to address through bilateral stimulation. It could be a negative emotion, a distressing memory, or a limiting belief. To start, pick an issue that is manageable and not highly distressing or overwhelming.
- Rate the Intensity: On a scale of 0 to 10, rate the intensity of the issue or emotion before starting the practice. This will help you track your progress and observe any changes.
- Identify an affirmation statement: This should be a specific statement related to your target issue or emotion. For example, if you are addressing an anxious feeling, you could repeat, “Even though I feel anxious, right now I deeply and completely accept myself.”
- Start at the Karate Chop Point: Begin by tapping the karate chop point on the outer edge of your hand (the fleshy part below the pinky finger) with a moderate intensity. This sets the stage for the practice.
- Tap on the EFT Points: Tap on the EFT points on your body while using a gentle and rhythmic tapping motion, moving from the karate chop point over to your eyebrow, and then making your way down the following list. As you tap on each point, repeat a phrase or affirmation that relates to the issue or emotion you are addressing. This can be a specific statement, a reminder of the emotion, or a positive affirmation. For example, if you are addressing anxiety, you could repeat, “Even though I feel anxious, I deeply and completely accept myself.” The EFT points include:
Eyebrow: Tap gently on the inner edge of your eyebrows.
Side of Eye: Tap gently on the outer edge of your eye socket.
Under Eye: Tap gently below your eye, on the bone.
Under Nose: Tap gently above your upper lip, below your nose.
Chin: Tap gently on the indentation between your chin and lower lip.
Collarbone: Tap gently on the junction where your collarbones meet.
Under Arm: Tap gently on the side of your body, about four inches below the armpit.
Top of Head: Tap gently on the crown of your head.
- Continue the Sequence: Repeat the tapping sequence, going through each of the EFT points, while maintaining the alternating tapping pattern. Tap each point for about 5 to 7 taps, or as long as it feels comfortable, while being sure to repeat your affirmation statement.
- Check the Intensity: After completing the tapping sequence, reassess the intensity of the issue or emotion on the scale of 0 to 10. Notice if there has been any change in the intensity level.
Other common methods of bilateral stimulation you may wish to explore include:
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR): Originally developed to address trauma-related symptoms, EMDR utilizes rhythmic eye movements to facilitate the processing and resolution of distressing memories and emotions. By moving the eyes back and forth, typically guided by a therapist, individuals engage both sides of the brain, enabling the reprocessing of traumatic experiences and the integration of more adaptive beliefs and emotion
- Auditory Stimulation: Listening to alternating sounds or tones through headphones can also create bilateral stimulation. These are typically referred to as ‘binaural beats’. This can involve listening to music with alternating channels or specially designed bilateral soundtracks for anxiety, insomnia, or gut issues.
- Rhythmic Movements: Engaging in rhythmic physical activities that involve bilateral movement, such as walking, dancing, or swimming, can provide natural bilateral stimulation. Because these activities involve alternating between the use of your left and right side of your body, they tap into the same bilateral stimulation that other methods such as tapping and auditory stimulation use.
Want more tools to feel calm?
Hopefully these tools have provided you with some quick and easy ways to experience relief from anxiety. While research has consistently highlight the potential benefits of somatic therapies for stress reduction, emotional regulation, and overall well-being, it is important to note that somatic therapies are not one-size-fits-all solutions, and effectiveness can vary depending on individual circumstances. For a more in-depth look at somatic therapy, including the benefits, drawbacks, and how to find a somatic therapist in Toronto, check-out my blog post entitled “What is Somatic Therapy?”.
It is also very important to mention that if you have a history of trauma, somatic therapies should be explored with the assistance of licensed mental health provider. If you are seeking support in managing stress, anxiety, or trauma, consider exploring somatic therapies with a registered psychotherapist. Reach out today to schedule a free consultation call. By embarking on this therapeutic journey, you can gain valuable tools and insights to navigate stress more effectively, foster greater self-care, and cultivate a deeper connection between your mind and body.
