This week we are featuring our friend and special guest—Courtney Lindop! She is a Brain Education instructor who teaches at a Body & Brain center in Boston, MA. Try this 10 minute routine to experience a series of exercises and a meditation for grounding.
WHAT IS BRAIN EDUCATION TV? Brain Education TV provides mental health and mental wellness videos to help young adults with loneliness, depression, and anxiety. The foundation of our content comes from Brain Education, an academic study from South Korea that stems from over 40 years of research and application and has been practiced by millions around the world.
WHY WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH… We suffered from high-functioning loneliness and depression our whole lives. We lived different lives in different states, but when we met, we realized we were struggling with common issues that reflected an important problem in our young adult generation. We didn’t know who we were, what we were passionate about, what we should live for, and what direction our lives were “supposed” to go. We spent a lot of time wandering in search of that magical ‘answer’ that will solve all problems (like I’m sure most of you are doing right now), and yet the further we searched outside, the more pronounced the emptiness inside of us felt.
Millions of people suffer silently from mental health related issues. Yet our society still places taboos around openly talking about relevant mental health topics like loneliness, depression, and anxiety. As a result, our young adults don’t know how to talk about it constructively, where to turn to, or what resources they have to combat this real-life threat to their wellbeing.
We credit Brain Education for giving us the courage to overcome our own mental health struggles and create the lives we want...and now we hope you can too through the videos we share on this channel.
Please leave requests and comments down below! ❤️Linda and Gabi
Hello, Earth Citizens. My name is Courtney and I'm a Brain Education Instructor.
Today, I want to show you a 10-minute routine for grounding, an excellent practice to help
relieve anxiety, calm challenging emotions, and even reduce symptoms of a panic attack.
The essence of grounding is mind-body connection, and the way we do that in brain education is by
stimulating and turning our attention to the body. So we're going to go through some moving
meditations to help regulate the nervous system, and we'll do a short visualization meditation for
grounding. So if you're ready, find yourself in a spot with minimal distractions where you can sit
comfortably on the floor or in a chair with your feet flat on the ground. Take a deep breath,
mouth exhale. This is a really simple way to help the body release stress. Again, inhale,
exhale out the mouth, and we're going to start shaking the head left and right gently.
Start with a slow and small movement. Take another breath, open your mouth slightly, and relax your
jaw. If we're finding ourselves needing grounding, usually there's a lot going on in the mind.
Have you ever seen a dog shake or a duck ruffle its feathers? Many animals have been observed to
release tension and stress naturally. This gentle motion can clear away excess thoughts and help
empty the mind. Take another breath and slowly stop your movement. Straighten your back and spine
and pause to feel your body. Now make a gentle fist and begin to tap your lower abdomen.
You may have seen this exercise before, sometimes called danjan tapping,
and it is one of my favorite exercises for grounding and centering. When you feel comfortable,
close your eyes, smile, and breathe out. The tapping is creating a feeling, helping us to
focus on our body, helping to pull the mind out of a stress response. You might like to continue
shaking your head left and right, and every once in a while, mouth exhale. The tapping shouldn't
feel forceful, but it should be strong enough to call your mind back when it wanders. You are
stimulating your second chakra, which is your ability to feel centered and neutral. Keep focusing
on feeling where you're tapping and let's take a few more breaths. Gently stop, rest your arms down,
take a deep breath, and simply notice what you can feel in your body.
We'll start our last moving meditation by arching and then rounding the lower back
and repeating that motion, essentially pushing the lower belly forward and retracting it back.
Clasp your hands together to help give yourself some momentum.
When you're ready, close your eyes and focus on your body. In brain education, we call this
vertical vibration, and this is stimulating all your chakras along your spine, but it is especially
stimulating your first chakra at the base of your body between your sit bones. The first chakra is
our connection to the earth, therefore holds our ability to feel grounded. Breathe and feel your
sit bones, feel your hips, feel your pelvis, feel your sacrum, feel your tailbone. Take a deep breath,
mouth exhale, guiding your mind to feel your sit bones, hips, pelvis, sacrum, tailbone.
Slow your movement to a stop, rest your arms down, and breathe. Once again, feel your body,
this time looking for any subtler sensations or vibrations. Feel the base of your body,
feel where your body connects with the earth. With your first two fingers together,
touch the ground on either side of you as if plugging in to the earth. The best imagery for
grounding is to think about a big, beautiful tree. Visualize the intricacy of the root system
deep within the earth, the strength and stability of her trunk, yet so flexible,
allowing the wind to graciously move her branches and leaves. This is the feeling we want to embody
when grounding. Visualize energetic extensions emanating from the base of your body
and from the tips of your fingers, rooting yourself deeply to mother earth. Your spine
naturally straightens your torso like the trunk of a tree. The top of your head reaches up to the sky
just like a tree growing upward towards the sun. Imagine sunlight shining down to the top of your
head, illuminating your whole body at the same time. A wave of earth's energy rises up beneath you,
holding and supporting your entire being. Carefully hear these affirmations for grounding.
I am rooted in this present moment. I am strong, steady, and grounded.
Thank you so much for meditating with me today. If you'd like to experience a full one-hour
brain education-based class, please visit a Body & Brain location near you.
