This is a text version of our grounding zine that can be read by a speech reader. If you want the printable PDF in its original graphic format, see https://www.antiviolenceproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/grounding-zine.pdf
Grounding: Some Ideas and Some More Ideas
zine by Anti-Violence Project
we’re super grateful to the unknown person who wrote these ideas
- Eat something, describing the flavours in detail.
- Walk slowly, noticing each footstep, saying “left” or “right” with each step.
- Describe an everyday activity in detail, such as a meal that you cook.
- Notice five things you can see, five things you can hear, five things you can feel, taste, or smell.
- Touch various objects around you. Notice textures, colours. Compare objects you touch: materials, weight, temperature. Is one colder? Lighter?
- Grab tightly onto your chair as hard as you can.
- Clench and release your fists.
- Run cool or warm water over your hands.
- if you wake during the night, remind yourself who you are, and where you are. What year is it, what age are you now? Look around the room and notice familiar objects and name them. Feel the bed you are lying on, the warmth or coolness of the air, and notice any sounds you hear.
- Carry a grounding object in your pocket – a small object like a rock, clay, a ring, a piece of cloth or yarn that you can touch whenever you feel triggered.
- Read something, saying reach word to yourself. Or read each letter backward so that you focus on the letters and not the meaning of words.
- Play a “categories” game with yourself. Try to think of “types of dogs”, “jazz musicians”, “countries that begin with A”, “cars”, “TV shows”, or “cities”.
- Feel the clothes on your body, whether your arms and legs are covered or not, and the sensation of your clothes as you move in them. Notice how your feet feel to be encased in shoes or socks.
- Dig your heels into the floor. Notice the tension centred in your heels. Remind yourself that you are connected to the ground.
- Notice your body: weight of your body in the chair, wiggling your toes in your socks, feel your back against the chair. You are connected to the world.