What animals have to do with grounding?

Trauma disconnects us from our body and the contact with the ground. This connection is essential for the balance of our nervous system, especially when a stressful event dissolves our bodily consciousness in such a way that we have nowhere to hold on to anymore.

This disconnection prevents the stress energy resulting from autonomic activation from being discharged. By remaining trapped in the organism, that traumatic energy perpetuates this "groundlessness" - dissociation of parts or the totality of bodily experience - for a long time, leading to extreme insecurity, defensive avoidance behaviors or inability to act.

In order to overcome mind conditioning, it's necessary to undo the physiological conditioning in the body. And grounding is fundamental in this process.

Earthly grounding is a powerful way of provide security to our nervous system, allowing it to become more resilient to the experience of emotions, sensations or thoughts.

Given its grounded and instinctive nature, one way to practice it is through the contact with animals!

Even if domestic animals have themselves been subjected to human conditioning, they preserve an instinctive connection much more clear and direct then us.

Sometimes, the simple contemplation of animal behavior, even if they're just sleeping, has a repairing and rooting effect on our physiology.

For example, by taking a few minutes to observe a cat or a dog, we can notice their rhythms and the way they behave from a full-body experience, guided by a biological and non-rational wisdom.

Animals participate in several therapies due to the phenomenon of co-regulation, in which we experience feeling safer in proximity to their behavior, by mirroring it in our own physiology. We feel closer to the earth and the wisdom that sustain all living beings.

If you feel comfortable with touch animals, placing your hands on their back or belly can be even more powerful, as it allows direct contact with the consistency of the rhythm happening in the animal's body. Notice their heart and breathing, and how it affects your own heart rate and breath.

Allow yourself to explore the effect of this contact on your body and on your connection to the ground, as long as it's comfortable for you and, of course, the animal.