http://www.joyproject.org/overcoming/grounding.html

One of the most frustrating things about the process of recovery is that the thoughts and symptoms feel so automatic. By the time you realize you’ve been triggered, you’re already stuck in a chain of negative thinking and unhealthy behaviors, and the rational part of your brain that might be able to intervene has already shut itself off. It’s auto-pilot from there. So, is there anything we can do? The short answer is: YES! In fact, these situations are actually great opportunities to increase our awareness of our deeper emotional experience and to learn to live in the moment again. 

Grounding Skills are tools that can help us to stay focused on the moment. They can help us to re-connect with the reality around us when our mind has jumped to thinking about the past, our biggest fears, the size of our thighs, or planning our next binge/purge session. Once the mind starts down that path, it can be incredibly difficult to get back on track. That’s where Grounding Skills come in. The good news is: the more you practice grounding skills, the easier it will be to bring your mind back to a healthy place once it’s been triggered.

Automatic thoughts, flashbacks, impulsive behaviors, and other symptoms can happen when something we’ve just seen, thought, or felt is associated in some way with our deeper emotional pain—the stuff we don’t want to think about. Chances are, it will happen so quickly that we won’t realize that our mind has completely shifted gears. Some automatic reactions last for a few seconds, some for hours or days. We might go blank for a few seconds before jumping back into a conversation. Or, we might decide that the outside world is just too overwhelming, and we choose instead to stay in and ‘zone out’ for the next day or two. Often, one trigger causes a particular symptom that tends to trigger another symptom, and before we know it, we’ve engaged in a whole chain of unhealthy behaviors. When we look back on the events of the day, we might feel like we weren’t even there!



The Process:

First step: Awareness
When you notice that your thoughts have drifted away from what’s going on in the moment, stop. When you find yourself analyzing whether you ate too much or whether you’re a worthwhile human being, recognize that you’ve lost touch with what’s happening around you. Remind yourself that you are in the present. Take an inventory of exactly what is going on around you. Take deep breaths and try to relax your muscles.

Second Step: Identify the Feeling
This is a step that tends to frustrate any person with an eating disorder. After all, we’re either “fine” or “not fine”, right? For this reason, some people find it helpful to use a list of feeling words. (Go to http://www.joyproject.org/Documents/emotionslist.pdf for a list you can use). Identify any words that seem to “fit” with what you’re currently feeling.

Third Step: What does this remind me of?
Ask yourself what comes to mind when you think of past situations where you might have felt similar feelings. Don’t think too deeply about those situations for now—just make a note of what pops into your head (either a mental note, or writing a note on paper). What sounds, sights, sensations, people, conversation topics, or thoughts are you experiencing now that were similar back then? You can reflect on those situations more at your next therapy session, or when you’re in a good place to really focus on dealing with those feelings. For now, the goal is to get your mind back in the present moment so you can continue what you were doing before you got triggered. If some aspect of your current situation is alerting you to a danger that you’ve faced in the past, then begin planning to take action to protect yourself. Don’t ignore your instincts. However, if the current situation is NOT dangerous, and you’re simply finding yourself ruminating about internal fears or past hurts, focus on reminding yourself that the current moment is safe, and that those fears don’t need to block out what’s happening now.

Fourth Step: Re-Ground your thoughts to the current moment
The following is a list of ideas that can help to bring your mind back into awareness of the present.



PHYSICAL OR SENSORY GROUNDING SKILLS
# Reorient yourself in place and time by asking yourself some or all of these questions:
1.) Where am I?
2.) What is today?
3.) What is the date?
4.) What is the month?
5.) What is the year?
6.) How old am I?
7.) What season is it?
8.) Who is the President?
# Focus on your surroundings. What items are near you? Notice details. Describe these items in your head (i.e. “The couch is green, the table is smooth, the book is on the shelf”)
# Hold something with a unique texture and focus on how it feels against your skin.
# FOCUS on someone's voice, the sound of the refrigerator running, or the sounds of the birds outside your window.
# Dance
# Draw
# Finger Paint
# Hold a safe object, such as a favorite stuffed animal, a picture of someone you trust, a smooth rock, a stress ball, a special piece of jewelry, etc.
# Listen to a tape of self-affirmations
# Take your shoes off and rub your feet on the ground.
# Move parts of your body. Focus on what you’re feeling in each arm, finger, kneecap, or your toes.
# Stomp your feet
# Stomp on aluminum cans to crush them.
# Suck on an Altoid, or a super-sour piece of candy.
# Put a few drops of Tabasco sauce on your tongue, focusing on the intense flavor.
# Spray yourself with favorite perfume. Breathe deeply as you smell it.
# Draw on yourself with a marker.
# Focus on your breathing. Breathe in and out slowly.
# Place a cool cloth on your face, or hold something cool such as a can of soda.
# Chew on ice.
# Rub ice over the body.
# Stick your hand or face in ice water.
# Place a loose rubber band around the wrist and snap it hard enough to feel it but not to do any damage.
# Jump into either a hot shower or a cold shower. Do this fully clothed for a different sensory experience.
# Listen to music that fits the emotion you’re experiencing.
# Listen to music that portrays the emotion opposite from what you’re experiencing.
# Sing out loud.
# Put a small pebble in your shoe and walk around.
# Dig your nails slightly into your palms just enough to cause dent marks, but not enough to cause damage.
# Brush your hair slowly, concentrating on each stroke.
# Pop bubble wrap.
# Pet a cat- pay attention to the softness of the fur, the sound of purring, the cat’s warmth.
# Take a bath. Add scents to the water for a stronger sensory experience.
# Go for a walk, paying close attention to the warmth of the sun, the feel of the wind, or the smells around you.
# Dig in the dirt in your garden.
# Turn on as many lights as you can.
# Say something out loud. Yell, if you’d like.
# Talk to yourself in a mirror. Pay attention to the facial expressions and body language of the person looking back at you.
# Write in your journal.
# Imagine a STOP sign in your head.
# Visualize putting your thoughts into a safe container. Mentally throw the negative thoughts into the trash.
# Write your thoughts on paper and throw the paper away or put it in a box to take out later.
# Try to change any negative thought into a positive—even if you don’t really believe the positive. For example: if your picnic was rained out, tell yourself you are relieved you won’t have to deal with mosquitos and ants today.
# Identify cognitive distortions, i.e.: Do I KNOW that I’m a loser, or is that just a fear of mine?
# See how many things you can think of that begin with the letter “J”.
# Think of a place or time when you felt very safe.
# Say a prayer.
# Repeat a comforting phrase, such as: "this is now, not then."
# Count nice things.
# Count backwards from 100 to 1, skipping every third number.
# Create a list of something: books, CDs, favorite movies, states you’ve been to, etc.





Finally: Reflect on this situation at a later time, and ask yourself how you can use this information to identify ways to minimize your vulnerability to triggers in the future. Are these triggers something you could easily avoid? If they are not avoidable, are there things you can do to make you less vulnerable when those moments arise? If you made some attempt to deal with a trigger, and it didn’t work, ask yourself what went wrong. Do you need a different strategy next time? Do you need additional help to overcome this trigger in the future?

The Bacchanalia

The Bacchanalia were wild and mystic festivals of the Roman god Bacchus (or Dionysus). The festivals occurred in the grove of Simila near the Aventine Hill on March 16 and March 17.

Nowadays, whenever we hear the term Bacchanalia getting thrown about it is typically used to describe wild partying that has gotten way out of control. In the popular imagination, the Bacchanalia are often characterized by frantic participants moshing together in a pit of sexual orgies. The Bacchanalia were free-spirited and sexually charged festivals that involved pagan mysticism, wild sex and divine communion which allowed its celebrants to achieve states of euphoria that hovered between divine ecstasy and the oblivion of nothingness. Those who have spent a week at one of the Hedonism resorts in Jamaica would probably find the sexually charged atmosphere of the Bacchanalia remarkably familiar.



The cult of Bacchus was a mystery religion that originated in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) and spread throughout Greece and into southern Italy where it became extremely popular among the Romans. Despite their notoriety, not much is known about the Bacchanalia. This is largely due to the fact that mystery religions were closed to the uninitiated and their inner-workings kept secret from the outside world. However, scholars have managed to piece together fragments from ancient legal documents, historical texts and plays that can help give us a glimpse into the bacchanalian festivities.

The Bacchanalia first appeared in Greece around 700 BC and eventually found their way into Italy around the fourth century BC. The first bacchanals were held twice yearly in the middle of winter and were reserved for girls and women who performed their rites naked. By the time Rome had become the preeminent power in the Mediterranean after their victory over Carthage in the Second Punic War (202 BC), the rituals had opened up considerably making them quite popular with the natives. Admission was extended to men and people of all social classes; even slaves could even join in on the fun. With the increased popularity, celebrations were taking place as often as five times a month.



The time and location of the bacchanals were usually closely guarded secrets. Priests and priestesses preferred to hold their gatherings in secluded forests where their privacy could be ensured. On the day of the festival, devotees would prepare some goats by painting their horns gold. Special torches dipped in sulphur and charcoal was also made. Devotees often wore fawn skins that emulated forest animals. Skimpy outfits or even complete nudity was also par for the course. Participants would often carry along their favorite sex toy; women would bring sexy wands while men might bring along a wooden phallus.

After nightfall celebrants would proceed to a forest clearing by dancing to the sounds of crashing cymbals and loud music. Once the celebrants arrived at the appointed place, they could be seen quaffing down wine, dancing, leaping, whirling, screaming and generally working themselves up into a frenzied state. They would inspire each other into ever greater acts of ecstasy, whereby the whole scene would descend into a writhing mosh pit of sexual orgies. The aim was to achieve a heightened state of ecstasy in which the devotee’s souls would be temporarily freed from their physical existence. It was in these moments that the worshipers hoped to commune with Bacchus and obtain a glimpse of what they would someday meet in the afterlife after their resurrection.

The festival would reach its climax with frantic feats of strength and ecstasy, such as ripping trees out of the ground and eating the raw flesh of their sacrificial animals. The latter act was a sacrament similar to communion where the devotees assumed the identity of Bacchus. By symbolically drinking his blood and eating his body, the devotees believed they became one with Bacchus. The euphoric devotees would then rush over to the banks of a nearby river with their flaming torches and dip them into the water. Since their torches were made with sulfur and charcoal, they would emerge from the water still burning, a symbol of Bacchus’s power.



Attributes and Followers of Dionysus

Dionysus was also called Bacchus (“the mad one”), Lusios (“the loosener, the liberator”), Bromius (“the roaring one”), and Evius (from the Bacchic cry “Evohé” ). He was depicted either as a dark, bearded figure or as a beautiful beardless youth. In either case, he was often shown wearing a crown of grapes, vine leaves and ivy and carrying a thyrsus (a long staff topped with a pine cone or ivy). He was particularly associated with wild, untamed natural forces of all kinds, especially the intoxicating power of wine (the god himself forms the handle of this drinking horn, for example) and with strong irrational drives within humans, especially sexual passion (outside his shrine on the island of Delos stood a stone pillar crowned with a huge, erect phallus). Dionysus was associated with many animals, particularly large cats that rend and tear their prey: notice how this ivory statuette with the archaic smile caresses the head of a fawning lion. Dionysus is sometimes shown riding on a panther or in a chariot pulled by tigers. Dionysus was also linked with animals known for their wild sexual energy, such as bulls, goats, asses; indeed, he was sometimes called “the horned god.” Although raw sexual energy was part of the province of Dionysus, the god was linked in mythology with only one major female, Ariadne, the daughter of king Minos of Crete, who helped Theseus escape from the labyrinth after he had killed the Minotaur. Theseus subsequently abandoned Ariadne on the island of Naxos, from which she was rescued by Dionysus and made his consort. A beautiful Attic cup shows Eros celebrating the union of Dionysus and Ariadne; see also this large Roman cameo.

The followers of Dionysus were denizens of the mountains and forests—sileni, satyrs, nymphs, maenads. Satyrs were half-man, half-animal creatures, represented as carefree, intoxicated, sexually aroused, and brutish; like the maenads, they were entranced by music and dancing. The female worshippers of Dionysus were called maenads (“raving women”), bacchae or bacchantes (“mad women”), or thyiads (“ecstatic women,” with a sexual connotation). Like Dionysus himself, these women dressed in animal skins, wore their hair loose, wreathed themselves with ivy, vine leaves and even snakes, and carried a thyrsus.



Core Ritual of Dionysus

The core ritual associated with the worship of Dionysus was orgiastic, meaning that it involved states of trance-like ecstasy, “outside-of-oneselfness,” merging with and possession by the god. It was celebrated every two years, at mid-winter near the time of the solstice, on barren mountain tops, especially Mt. Parnassus overlooking Delphi. There were three parts to this ritual:

    * oreibasia (“mountain dancing”): To the accompaniment of flutes, drums, and cymbals, the worshippers, particularly women, danced themselves into ecstatic trances.
    * sparagmos (“tearing to pieces”): In these trances they caught snakes and small animals and dismembered them with their bare hands. This vase painting shows Dionysus himself participating in the ritual.
    * omophagia (“eating raw flesh”): By eating the bloody flesh of these animals, the worshippers became one with the god and with the wild natural forces that he represented.