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Suggestions for Recovering from Stress, Trauma, or Grief (+ Free AT Exercises)

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Here are some simple grounding steps one can take to reconnect with self and to the present.
You may already be using an effective means of coping – bravo – this is meant to encourage and support your personal process. Do as much as feels safe in the place you are in right now – you may be surprised by how much that is!

Take your time; allow each thought to settle in. You are whole and you are sound, regardless of how you are feeling right now.

A hand reaches out and touches the tips of tall grass in a warm summer sunset.
A person relaxing in the grass on a fall day. When you’re lying down, you can feel supported by the earth. You can feel gravity moving through you towards the center of the earth, and an equal and opposite pull in reverse helping you stay buoyant an…
The silhouette of a young woman sitting on a rock and looking out over a rocky landscape and a distant city. See how far you can stretch all of your senses in every direction. What can you hear, see, smell, taste, feel?

  • Notice your skin all over: open up to sensation

  • Are you breathing? Holding the breath blocks feelings; while this may feel protective, it can impede your recovery. Go back to the first step, start again without holding your breath.

  • Include the awareness that you are sitting or standing on the ground, on the earth

  • Acknowledge your relationship to the earth through the grounding effects of gravity. As you let go of holding up your weight, your system responds by lightly expanding up and out. You are safe to “undo” because you are supported.

  • Are you breathing? Breathing is easier when we have released some of the pressure of working against (or collapsing into) gravity

  • Now include awareness of the space you can see in this moment. Lightly remind yourself that you are more substantial when you expand into the space than you are when you contract from it.

  • Now incorporate the space outside your visual field in this moment, hear the sounds and let them pass by.

  • Notice how you feel while continuing to be as present as possible with the awareness you’ve gained. I hope this is helpful – feel free to pass it on to anyone you think can make use of it.

Belinda Mello is a member of the Alexander Technique Liberation Project and ATI, International
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All welcome, those seeking greater embodied freedom. This includes all races, colors, religions, sexes, gender identities or expressions, sexual orientations, national origins, genetics, body types, abilities (visible and invisible), ages, immigrant statuses and economic statuses.
I am/ we are committed to the work: the ongoing process of being called in, uncovering layers, deepening understanding, and enacting positive change. We commit to promoting equity and reducing and repairing harm when it happens.

We acknowledge, denounce and reject all racist and sexist ideas, both expressed and implied, in F.M. Alexander’s writings (1869-1955). While the past cannot be changed, we can inhabit the present application of Alexander’s discoveries with openness, humility, and conscious awareness.