Noon Mul

When we get stuck on a problem or run into a creative block, we can try grounding ourselves through our senses.

(See “Daily practice: walk for the sun 🌄🌅 🚶‍♂️🚶‍♀️”)

Grounding through play was a big topic in the 2010s. Therapists and sociologists advocated play for both children and adults. Play nurtures curiosity, exploration, personal growth, reflection, and well being. Grounding through play is a simplified use of our 5 senses to experience things in an informal non instructional way.

PLAY IS WORK. PLAY IS LIFE. 

THE PLAY-SENSE CHART FOR GROUNDING  

Sense	Activity		Description
hear	Play an instrument without a goal. Whistle like a bird. Hum a song. Enjoy the vibrations in different parts of your throat, head, chest. Fill your lungs with air, then feel it squeezing out until you’re a husk.		Nonverbal sounds we emit are ancient ways of expression. Purring/Humming can self soothe. Humming while you work also shuts out the background noise in your head. Cats purr to self soothe, and it’s said that the frequency of their purr accelerates healing. Whistling is just fun, if you can do it.
smell	Go for a walk and smell different flowers, bark, or fruits at the grocery store. Breath ocean or mountain air. If you don’t have a mountain handy, try a spice like cardamom, cinnamon stick, lilac, pinewood, seashell.		Use a material in its natural state. Smells take you to the part of your brain where memories are stored.
see	Look at an artwork for a minute or 5 minutes. Go to different places and watch the activities.		One time I was looking around on my walk and saw a row of cat houses behind some bushes. On a winter day, I walked to a quiet part of city square and discovered snow drawings of trees.
touch	Touch a cool thing, warm thing, rough, smooth, bouncy thing. Hold a beaded bracelet. It can be stone, wood, shell, jade, rose quartz. Move the beads between your fingers one by one, repeating a sentence of your choosing 10 times.  Make a nonfigurative sculpture out of clay.
	Pet a soft animal with their permission. Procure an alpaca stuffed animal.		Indisputably the best.
	Play with a desk fidget thingy.		The barrier to entry: 0. Fun: 100%.
COMBO	Make percussive sounds with a bell, wind chime, rocks, marbles.(sound+tactile)
taste	Chew gum. Have a medicinal licorice, citrus lollipop, toffee, jelly, etc. Let dark chocolate melt in your mouth or crunch on some bones.