Staying grounded in anxious times

Dear friends,

There is a lot to make us anxious in the world right now.  As I write this, it’s a month until the US elections, the consequences of which will be felt around the globe. Extreme weather events are happening more and more frequently.  Wars are raging that are causing millions untold suffering.  Sometimes, these feelings of anxiety feel like they will engulf us, making it hard to function in daily life.

There’s nothing wrong with anxiety.  The feelings of tenseness and nervousness, rapid breathing and heart rate, and sense of impending danger are all perfectly appropriate if we’re in the path of a Category 5 hurricane, for instance. But if we’re so knocked off balance by the anxiety that we can’t take effective action, we can’t care for ourselves or others.

There is a simple practice we can do when feeling anxious that helps us to stay centered and grounded.  We can focus on the sensations in the soles of our feet touching the earth.  We can feel the tingling, the pressure, the temperature variations that arise. We can do this if we’re standing, sitting, or walking.  We can do it with our shoes on or shoes off.  There is research that indicates doing so helps us to calm down when perturbed. 

Putting our attention on the soles of our feet is a mindfulness practice because it involves stabilizing our focus on a single object, having the effect of settling our minds.  It can be easier to do when we’re anxious than other mindfulness practices like meditating or taking deep breaths because it takes so little effort. Your feet are already there; you just need to feel them.

When we shift our focus from our apprehensive thoughts to the soles of our feet, we’re moving our attention as far away from our agitated brain as is humanly possible. We become less caught by the storyline of our dread and worst-case scenario thinking. The earth also helps us to hold some of the fear and anxiety we’re experiencing, and Mother Earth is much bigger and capable of holding difficult emotions than we are.

I’ve recorded a 5-minute practice called Soles of the Feet that can help you ground and stabilize yourself when you’re experiencing anxiety. 

After doing this practice, you may want to also bring some warmth and kindness to yourself through practices such as supportive touch or repeating some loving-kindness phrases.  You can find a variety of free self-compassion practices here.

I hope you’re caring for yourself in these difficult times.  We’ll get through this together.