Use this grounding meditation script whenever you find yourself feeling anxious, worried, overwhelmed, or lost. It involves slow movement, and it grounds your attention in your hands and the sensations you can feel in the palms. In the worksheet’s words, it invites you to explore the body in a new way, and it may help settle the mind.
A note from Sean
When someone tells me they are anxious, my go-tos are grounding in the body and connecting with the breath at the belly, in a very gentle, tender way. Sometimes I encourage people to sense the bottoms of their feet.
Try this today. Sit with your feet on the floor and your hands on your thighs, palms up. Take three slow breaths. Then raise your palms very slowly toward shoulder height. Notice the air against your hands, any warmth or coolness, any resistance. Lower them and take three more breaths.
Keep going: A Grounding Meditation Script and Grounding Down and Rising Up, a Meditation with Sean Fargo.
This suits anyone who feels scattered, worried, or keyed up. If your hands or body hold pain or trauma, or the sensations get too strong, go gently. You can rest your attention on your feet instead. Stop when you need to.
The practice is done seated in a straight-backed chair, with the feet on the floor and the hands on the thighs, palms up. In outline, you might:
- Take three to five slow breaths with the eyes closed.
- Raise the palms very slowly toward shoulder height, noticing resistance, temperature, and air against the hands.
- Turn the palms toward each other and bring them slowly to within about an inch, noticing tingling, pulsing, or any other sensation.
- Let the fingertips, then the fingers and palms, come into contact, and explore pressing and sliding the hands in slow motion.
- Reverse the movement, lower the hands to the thighs, and take a few breaths before opening the eyes.
We hope this worksheet supports your daily mindfulness practice.
