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Comment on Life of a therapist

frog@feddit.uk ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

I know this is c/lemmyshitpost but I am curious what grounding techniques people use that works for them.

For me:

Choose a color and find 5 things that are that color.
Listen for individual 4 sounds.
Feel three things by touch. This can mean anything, like clothes, your own skin, or a desk.
What 2 things do you smell.
One thing you remember tasting.

This grounding technique was suggested to me to use for PTSD.

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HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I like to spiral into all the horrible things that will go wrong until I get eaten by clowns. Now, one of my drummers comes from a family of clowns. They are the best people in the world. The idea that they would be cannibals is so absurd it gives me the giggles and it knocks me out of whatever I was in.

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ickplant@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
My personal favorite is breathwork, but there are people who get activated/trigged by breathwork so YMMV.

Ocean breathing: inhale through the nose for a count of 5, and exhale through the mouth for a count of 5, without any pause in between. Continue for 2-5 minutes.

Earth breathing: imagine inhaling all the way from the earth through your left foot and leg, the air going to the base of your spine as you hold it there for 3 seconds, then releasing the air through your right leg and foot back to the earth.

Heart breathing: imagine inhaling air from the sky and the earth into your heart, holding it there for 5 seconds, then exhaling out of the front and back of your heart, with the air going to all of your cells.

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- frog@feddit.uk ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  This is very interesting. Thank you for the info.
  
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TheDoozer@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
It… kind of bothers me the order that is in. Is that on purpose?

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- frog@feddit.uk ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  It’s suppose to be done in that order so I used an ordered list. I don’t want to bother anyone so I’m going to change it to bullet points.
  
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  - TheDoozer@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Oh, no, don’t. It wasn’t a serious thing, just pointing out the weird 5 to 1, 1 to 5 thing.
    
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    frog@feddit.uk ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Okay. I kinda see your point anyway. No worries either way.
    
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- Sadbutdru@sopuli.xyz ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I think it’s in order of narrowing down your focus from the widest (vision, you can see things from miles away) to the narrowest (taste, happens inside your face). I believe this is part of what makes it useful as a grounding exercise.
  
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- ickplant@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  It’s called the 5-4-3-2-1 technique, and it’s in that order because it easiest to find 5 things you can see, etc. it would be hard to find 5 things you can taste if it was in reverse.
  
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  - TheDoozer@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Makes sense. Just the:
    
    1: 5 things 2: 4 things 3: 3 things 4: 2 things 5: 1 thing
    
    Throws me off a bit.
    
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    ickplant@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Ah, that makes sense!
    
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- AlexLost@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Counting down bothers you?
  
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  - felsiq@piefed.zip ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Step one has five things, and step five has one thing - I think what they’re reacting to is that the order of the steps being reversed would make everything line up
    
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    AlexLost@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Exactly. The order is correct, the items are counting backwards, not forwards. It’s not hard to fathom.
    
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