Grounding Meditation
So, meditation has a scientific background. The practice of mindfulness meditation has been put into active practice in psychotherapy for over 40 years now, because it has been shown to meaningfully help people become aware of (and, thus, control) their thought processes. I am borrowing from that proven method for my grounding, and am thus utilizing methodology from The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Workbook. For the record, however, that is merely because I already have that book in digital PDF form. Mindfulness meditation is also commonplace to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and many other psychological therapy practices.
Mindful Grounding
1.) Find/secure/make a place you can meditate. This is a broad statement, for a reason. Lots of meditation how-tos are ridiculously exclusionary. Not everybody can hold a singular position for a long time, or sit in silence, or stand bare-footed alone in a forest. So here’s what you need to do, in the most general form - find somewhere where you can be focusing on yourself as best as you can for a good length of time. If that’s walking, because you have ADHD and can’t sit still, that’s okay. If that’s laying down, because you can’t sit without discomfort, that’s fine too. If that’s sitting next to a laptop in your room because you need music to drown out noise from family or neighbors, do what you must. Just try to make sure you’re able to focus on your thoughts and feelings, whatever it takes to get there. My own personal meditation pose is in a chair, listening to low-BPM non-vocal music and/or nature sounds on a laptop through headphones. You do what you need to do to get to where you can actually do the meditation. That’s the important thing.
2.) Focus your attention on your breathing. Breathe in through your nose, and out through your mouth. See what speed it is, then try to slowly lengthen the amount of time you take with each breath. Doing so triggers a mirror effect in your mind - when you are calm, you take longer breaths. Thus, taking longer breaths brings your mind towards a calm state. When you are able to easily exhale each breath for three to four seconds, or at the very least as long as you are comfortable maintaining, you are ready to move on to the next step.
3.) Give the Earth your trust and permission. This planet of ours is ancient and powerful. In a very real, literal sense, we are born of it. Everything we are comes from molecules and elements that reside within or upon this floating sphere sitting in the vastness of space. Everything within us will eventually return to it. It’s entirely capable of handling our energies, as it does so every day in everything we do. Give it active permission to do so now, and trust in its capability to bring what you need back to you.
4.) Shift your focus to your thoughts and feelings. Imagine that they are falling balls of light, drifting down in front of you. Each time you think something, or feel something, or recognize a sensation - that is a ball of light. You don’t have to visualize this, if that is difficult or impossible for you. Just consider them as if they are something outside of your own core being, because they are indeed only temporary visitors inside you. Thoughts pass, emotions wane, sensations cease.
5.) Identify your thoughts and feelings, as they happen, and then release them into the Earth. Each time you think or feel something, give it acknowledgment. Don’t judge it, don’t attempt to suppress it - just recognize it for what it is. Then let it go. Allow each and every little ball of light to sink into the ground around you and absorb into the patient, powerful Earth. Every thought can pass. Every emotion can dwindle, given enough time. Release everything after you have recognized it for itself. You have already given the world permission to return to you what you need in the future, and you can trust it to do so - as it gives you the air you breathe and the water you drink. With each individual spark you release, you make room for more. Then, when you release those, still more... until you have let everything slip away.
6.) Relax, for whatever time you have left to meditate. By releasing your negative thoughts and emotions into the Earth, you have created more space for the beneficial things you wish to keep as they are returned to you. You have also bridged the artificial gap mankind creates between itself and the surrounding world which sustains us. This link may bring you a sense of peace, or wholeness, or other positive energies. Take the time you have to soak up this feeling, so you can use it for constructive ends in the future.