Being safe in our bodies helps the mind heal.

When we have been through trauma it affects the whole person- both body and mind. So to help make ourselves feel safe in our bodies, we need to help our mind and body; learning new and appropriate patterns so that we can begin to heal. When have been through trauma we may, disassociate, numb or distract ourselves to avoid feeling. To calm ourself we need to bring ourselves back into our bodies. We can do this by a variety of techniques. Here are some suggestions, I have discovered which you may find helpful, along my journey so far.

Grounding – What is it?

Grounding exercises are helpful when you find yourself feeling distressed or overwhelmed. You can use your senses such as sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch to bring you back down into a normal un-agitated state. If you catch yourself having distressing circling thoughts or painful flashback memories try some grounding exercises. It can be helpful to have multiple grounding exercises to pull out and use. Just like no one grounding exercise works for every person, you might find that one works for you in certain situations but not in others.

Grounding Exercises – example

Feel the weight of your body. Feel the weight in your feet. Focus on that and then move to your legs. Focus on each area of the body and move up until you reach your head.

Chew on some flavoured gum. Notice the sensation in your mouth as you chew it.

Run your hands over something with an interesting texture. Notice how it feels and try to feel every sensation that it gives you.

Try to notice five things you can see, hear, smell or feel.

Step outside. Notice the temperature change and feel the fresh air. Take a deep breath. What do you smell?
Take ten slow deep breaths. Say out loud the number of breath to yourself. Really feel your chest going in and out.

Slowly tense and release your body. Start at your hands and work your way up your arms. Then tense and release your chest and abdomen and work your way down your legs.

Touch something cold like an ice cube or a small piece of metal or stone that you have kept in the fridge.

Smell something strong like a candle or peppermint oil.

Eat something sour, like a lemon.

These are just a few examples of grounding exercises. You can use these or come up with your own. Try different things until you find what works for you.

Breathe work

People who have been through trauma, tend to hold their breath and don’t even realise they are doing so. One thing I found helpful when this was pointed out to me is that I started to notice I was doing this without realising it. So we need to become more aware of our breathe, and even remind our self to breathe properly as quite often we shallow breath too. One suggestion would be to set an alarm on your watch as a reminder. Until you get into a practice of remembering. There are lots of technique’s for breathing.

• Meditation – is not about stopping our thoughts, what we are trying to do is just see, hear, feel the thought and let it pass like a cloud would pass us by in the sky. Bringing our self back into the now and not to get caught up in the thoughts in our head. For example, you can think… Im sat here on my sofa, I feel safe, the room is warm, I can smell the flowers I just bought. This is bringing your thoughts into the present moment, you are not thinking about the past or the future. If you keep repeating bringing yourself back into the present moment you are being mindful.
  Meditation is noticing the space in between the moments. When I was first starting out meditating, I liked to use meditation’s with a guide telling you what to think about or music in the background. Yoga Nidra is very helpful and so relaxing. Start off with a short meditation practice and build up gradually.
• Exercise- especially Yoga or Pilates, helps us focus on the present moment because we have to think about what we are doing, we are synchronising the breathe to the movement. We may explore our limitations, and push our selfs a little. We can stroke and touch our own skin in a soothing calming way. We are gifting our self, time and space. We can get in touch with our body in a safe, relaxing way. As yet there are not many trauma informed practitioners around. So if you want to try these activities, maybe try at home first to see how comfortable you feel because they can be quite exposing for a traumatised individual. I spoke to my Yoga teacher privately and luckily for me she was new to Yoga teaching so she was more than willing to be guided by me as in being touched or me not doing poses when I felt vulnerable. It can be a tricky path to navigate. But I absolutely loved it, That was before covid.

By doing these activities we are creating space to be calm and reconnect with mind and body and let our self know that we are safe.

Elena, TRUK Admin