How are you at staying grounded amidst the chaos of today? When things get chaotic, getting grounded will help you stop reacting and start taking strategic action. I have some body-based ways to help you ground.
First, let’s do a quick test to see how grounded you are now. Take a breath and read the next stanza. While reading, just notice when you want to turn away out.
Global health officials are scrambling to contain the outbreak of disease, but they are not sure when the spread will stop. Meanwhile, schools are closing and businesses are having people work from home for an unknown period of time. Conferences and retreats are being cancelled, as countries close borders to stop the spread of disease. You should self-quarantine, if you think you may be at risk, and make sure you have enough food to be quarantined at home for at least 3 weeks. No one knows how long quarantines may last, so prepare to keep your family safe.
Now, after reading this series of headlines, how is your grounding? Put your hand on your heart and tap a finger to bring your heartbeat more into your awareness. What is the quality of your heartbeat?
A quick heartbeat is a signal that your body is in an alert state, aka stress, which makes you more vulnerable to sickness and disease. So try a grounding practice that steadies your heart rate instead of reading another news article.
To tend to the body, yoga has poses that increase circulation and reduce stress. I’ve been following a sequence that Joan, my yoga teacher, learned to stay healthy when H1N1 was going around India. Most poses have my head below my waist, or upside-down, which flips my reality.
When your head is below your waist, the definition of being upside-down, your brain has to work harder to make sense of what your eyes are seeing. In this process, other stressors fall away, and your pulse slows. Because you then see the world differently, you have a grounded and fuller picture of the present moment.
Humans can easily get distracted by the larger world, which can lead to ungrounded decisions. So let’s take a moment to be together and look at the world differently, based on your ability.
Get upside-down by bending over at the waist, getting in a headstand, leaning forward in your chair, or hanging your head over the side of a bed. If upside-down doesn’t work for you, try to do something backwards: flip your computer screen, move backwards, do something sustained that shifts your sense of equilibrium or normalcy.
You can get grounded by increasing your awareness of the present moment. With so much destabilizing people, tend to your own grounding today. Then you’ll be better equipped to help friends and family who are panicked amidst the chaos.