Joan (not her real name) rushed into my counseling office, threw her coat and purse on a chair, and exhaled, “Geez! What a day! I am feeling so spaced out.”

“What happened?” I asked.

“This morning I locked my car keys in the car. I’ve been running here and there on errands all day, and coming over here, I almost got in an accident. I feel my mind is going in 100 different directions. Oh! And I forgot my checkbook to pay you with. That okay?”

“Yes, of course.” It wasn’t the first time that she had forgotten her checkbook. “It sounds like we better start our session with some grounding.”

“Yes, I hoped you say that.” It also wasn’t the first time Joan needed grounding.

I asked Joan to stand with legs shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent. Then I stood behind her in this position (photo), and asked Joan to simply give all her attention to simply sensing her feet, legs, and belly. (This is just one of the more than 50 grounding exercises in The Getting Grounded Manual. Take a peek at the Getting Grounded Table of Contents.)

After a minute or so of silence, I took my hands off of Joan’s head. “How do you feel?”

“So much better!” she said with a deep sigh. “Thanks! I needed that!”

Of course you can try this exercise at home too. See for yourself what a difference being grounded makes.

My name is Michael Nagel. I am a counselor in private practice in Portland, Oregon (see About the Author). I know the importance of grounding. Everyday I see its importance in my clients. Many clients feel scattered, fritzed, harried, spaced out, anxious. They live in their heads, not in their bodies. They live ungrounded.

Until I wrote Getting Grounded, I would give my clients verbal instructions on how to do some of the different grounding exercises in the manual. Too often they would come to their next session mentioning that they had forgotten how to do the exercises. Also there are far too many ways to get grounded than I could teach in 10 sessions.

That’s why I wrote The Getting Grounded Manual. Not to mention, I couldn’t find any other book on grounding exercises to which I could direct my clients.

If you're feeling spaced out, scattered, anxious, panicky, and you want to feel Joan's relief as a way of life, then order now your ebook or print copy of The Getting Grounded Manual.

Returning to The Getting Grounded Manual Homepage from About the Author