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Grounding 101
by Lesli Musicar
Being grounded means living in one’s
body in the “here and now.” It is the ideal way
to live in the world because it allows us to live our lives
fully. In a grounded state we take in information simultaneously
from both the world around us and the world within.
The wisdom of the body is most available to us when we are in
a grounded state. The body provides sensory cues for taking
care of our physical needs, such as hunger, thirst and fatigue.
It also provides instinctual cues to monitor our physical safety.
And finally, it offers emotional cues to guide us in our interactions
with others. So, when grounded, we are in the optimum state
to take the best care of ourselves possible.
Loss of Grounding
Loss of grounding happens through overwhelming
events or the spontaneous recall of overwhelming events. These
may be episodic, like the death of a loved one, a hurricane,
a car accident, or a mugging. Or they may occur as a series
of on-going uncontrollable incidents in one’s environment.
These would include harassment at work, or an abusive relationship
at home. In such cases, one would be more attuned to the external
environment—on the look out for trouble—than to
one’s own body. And this would result in sacrificing groundedness
for the sake of safety.
Unlike adults, children are easily ungrounded. This is because
they have relatively fragile egos and no real power or control
in the world. So it takes much less to overwhelm a child. When
the home environment is fraught with unpredictability, say,
due to an alcoholic parent, marital strife, or some other chronic critical factor, it is bound to
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