Areas › Your body › Grounding and settling
After you have tried something to settle, check: how here do you feel now, compared with before? Do not assume it worked just because it usually does.
This takes ten seconds and does two jobs. It tells you whether that particular thing is worth reaching for again, and it slowly trains you to notice your own state changing, which is the skill under all of this. Ask it of yourself, or ask it gently of the person you are sitting with, in whatever plain words suit them.
Qur’an and Sunnah
Then their skins and their hearts soften at the mention of God (Quran 39:23). The verse notices a change in the body and in the heart together, which is the kind of noticing being asked for here.
ٱللَّهُ نَزَّلَ أَحۡسَنَ ٱلۡحَدِيثِ كِتَٰبࣰ ا مُّتَشَٰبِهࣰ ا مَّثَانِيَ تَقۡشَعِرُّ مِنۡهُ جُلُودُ ٱلَّذِينَ يَخۡشَوۡنَ رَبَّهُمۡ ثُمَّ تَلِينُ جُلُودُهُمۡ وَقُلُوبُهُمۡ إِلَىٰ ذِكۡرِ ٱللَّهِۚ ذَٰلِكَ هُدَى ٱللَّهِ يَهۡدِي بِهِۦ مَن يَشَآءُۚ وَمَن يُضۡلِلِ ٱللَّهُ فَمَا لَهُۥ مِنۡ هَادٍ
God has sent down the most beautiful of all teachings: a Scripture that is consistent and draws comparisons; that causes the skins of those in awe of their Lord to shiver. Then their skins and their hearts soften at the mention of God: such is God’s guidance. He guides with it whoever He will; no one can guide those God leaves to stray
Qur’an 39:23read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
What the research says
A meta-analysis of mediation studies found that the benefits of mindfulness-based programmes run partly through increases in mindfulness itself, more self-compassion, and less rumination and worry. Noticing your own state is part of the mechanism rather than a nicety. Mediation findings rest on correlations between measures, so treat them as a plausible route rather than a proven chain.
Gu J, Strauss C, Bond R, Cavanagh K. (2015). How do mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and mindfulness-based stress reduction improve mental health and wellbeing? A systematic review and meta-analysis of mediation studies.. Clinical psychology review doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
Why it works
Checking afterwards is how you learn what actually works for you rather than what is supposed to.
This one is still a draft. It is waiting on a scholar and a clinician to read it before it is published.
Near this one
After movement, take a moment on five things: the quality of your mind, of the sensation in your body, of your breathing, of your mood, and of your energy.
Brain imaging does show that practice changes something. Be careful with anyone who tells you a great deal more than that.
Steady pressure suits both directions. A weighted blanket, a firm squeeze of your own hands, lotion rubbed in with real pressure, bare feet pressed into the floor.