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Recovery skills 2( continued)
SAID ALOUD
Aim. To practise exercises that strengthen a survivor’ s awareness of her body, feelings, heart, thoughts, and breathing.
Trainer. Through the story, we can continue to explore useful recovery skills.
The Helper asked the Butterfly Woman:“ Do you feel any difference?”“ Yes, I do,” the Woman replied.“ Do you feel more or less overwhelmed?”“ Less,” the Woman answered,“ but still not completely here.”“ Then we continue,” said the helper.
PART II: THE TRAINING
I will show you another exercise the helper believed would help the Butterfly Woman. It is a version of Grounding Exercise 1, which we did yesterday. It helps us to stay grounded when listening to painful parts of the story. Are you willing to try?
Grounding Exercise 7. Feeling the weight of your body.( 5 minutes.) This exercise helps survivors who are numb and frozen to feel grounded in the present.
• Feel your feet on the ground. Pause there for five seconds.
• Feel the weight of your legs. Hold that for five seconds.
• Try stamping your feet carefully and slowly from left to right, left, right, left, right. Feel your buttocks and thighs touching the seat of the chair. Hold that for five seconds.
• Feel your back against the back of the chair.
• Stay like that and notice if you feel any difference.
GROUNDING EXERCISE
Stop. Notice what you felt and how you feel.
Discussion. How do you feel after Grounding Exercise 7?( 5 minutes.)
DISCUSSION
Trainer. I will go on.
The helper paused and asked:“ Do you feel more present or less present?”“ Now I feel present,” the Butterfly Woman replied. The helper said:“ Now you have practised and experienced some recovery skills that you can use when feeling overwhelmed and not present. Your homework now is to practise these skills every day when you feel calm and safe. Then they will become automatic and you can use them when you feel overwhelmed.”
Notice what we did together in each of these exercises. [ The Trainer points to the six points on the facing page.]
These steps are vital when you teach and learn new skills. The final step is to practise them, as the helper did with the Butterfly Woman.