Using Grounding to Truly Know Yourself

My last blog post was about assertiveness, and some of the basics to help you get started with being assertive. I also explained that it is important to know what your thoughts, feelings, opinions and beliefs are. In order to be assertive and ask for what we need, we need to know what we need. Knowing what you need can be done by assessing your thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations. Our physical body tells us a lot about how we feel about a certain situation, and what would be healthy for us going forward. Our body holds wisdom, that if we can explore that wisdom will let us truly know ourselves and what our needs are.

Grounding exercises can really help to bring you into the present moment and focus on every aspect of the here and now. I start most of my therapy sessions with a grounding exercise in order to help my patients ground themselves in their physical body and the present moment. I start with asking them to bring awareness to their breath, and then I transition to a body scan in which they scan their body for any sensations, without judgement. This helps my patients truly understand what is going on in their mind and body, and let’s them start their therapy session with clarity.

The next time you are feeling distracted and not present, bring your focus to your breath, feel your feet on the floor, your back in the chair, and scan your body for any sensation. This will help you ground yourself in the present in order to act with intention.

Stay well and reach out any time.