This is called the 4 elements exercise and It’s used to help to feel grounded. It draws upon many separate ways of grounding, so trying to be present in the now, breathing techniques, there is a calm place elements and also some butterfly tapping.
This is one of those exercises where it’s easier to demonstrate it for you to experience rather than me try to explain it. So follow along, get an idea of what we are doing for each stage, don’t expect it to be effective on your first run through, they’ll be things happening where you’ll be thinking about what to. But as you play through it the second or third time you’ll have a better idea of what’s going on.
So let’s give this a go.
So let’s just slow everything down. Get into a comfortable position and just scan through your body, scan through your mind and just get a sense of how you are feeling right now. How tense are you, how stressed are you right now.
Earth
Notice your feet on the ground. Feel those sensations of your feet on the floor. Feel where the pressure is.
Now notice where your body makes contact on your chair. Where the chair supports you. Maybe it’s under your bottom, maybe you have arms on your chair. Maybe your chair has great back support. Just notice where your body makes contact.
And as you do this look around your room and see if you can notice something that you haven’t noticed for a while, or maybe something new. Maybe theres an object you’ve not seen for a while. Maybe there is a part of your wall you’ve not noticed like a small mark on it, maybe there is a chip in your desk you’ve not noticed before. If you can’t see anything then choose an object, look at it and describe it.
Now pay attention to what you can hear. Name it in your mind.
What else can you hear.
And whilst you are hear noticing what you can see and noticing what you are hear, also notice that right now you are safe, and right now your body can be calm.
Air
Bring your attention to your breath. In through your nose, and out through your mouth.
And this time see if you can breathe in for 7 seconds, and out for 9 seconds.
And this time see if you can breathe in for 7 seconds, then take another quick inhale, and then out for 9 seconds.
Let’s do this again.
Water
Notice your mouth. Is your mouth dry? When we are feeling stressed our mouth goes dry. When we are activating our rest and digest system we produce saliva. So let’s see if we can produce some saliva. Sometimes not swallowing can help. Just pay attention to your mouth and let that saliva build.
Sometimes licking your front teeth can help. Give that a try. Notice any saliva building.
Close your eyes, and imagine a lemon. Imagine the yellow colour of a lemon, imagine the shape of a lemon, and it’s there right in front of you. And imagine cutting into it, imagine what that smells like. Hold the lemon up to your nose and smell it. And now get ready to give it a bit of a lick. Hopefully now you have some saliva being produced.
Light
Now whilst noticing your feet on the floor, and your body in the chair. And breathing deeply and calmly, and producing more saliva in your mouth, see if you can bring up an image of somewhere that makes you feel calmer.
This could be somewhere real that you have a memory of, or it could be somewhere imaginary in your mind.
Let’s call this your calm place.
Look around your calm place. What can you see?
What can you hear?
Can you smell anything when you breathe in?
Just notice a sense of calm.
And as you notice this, scan through your body and see if you can feel a sense of calm somewhere. Maybe there is a loosening of some tightness, maybe there is some lightness.
And if you want you can give this place a name, or just call it calm place.
And we are going to introduce some tapping. Cross your hands, touch your thumbs to your collar bone, and do some slow alternate tapping. Like it’s a butterfly, and you are beating its wings one by one.
And as you do this, hold in mind your calm place, hold in mind those sensations and the feeling you have.
And now we are going to bring this to an end.
Stop tapping, and bring your attention once again to the now.
Scan yourself and get a sense of how calm or stressed you are feeling now.
See how it compares when you did this at the beginning.
Just take a couple more breaths.
And thats it.
Hopefully you are feeling a bit calmer. Like all exercises some don’t land as well for some people as they do others hence there are alternatives on my channel.
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