Loading practices
Loading practices
Areas › After harm › Safety and grounding
You cannot argue a frightened body calm, but you can breathe it calm. Long, slow exhales do the talking.
Remember when He gave you sleep as a reassurance, to make your hearts strong and your feet firm (Quran 8:11). Calm is something He settles into the body.
الأنفال
إِذۡ يُغَشِّيكُمُ ٱلنُّعَاسَ أَمَنَةࣰ مِّنۡهُ وَيُنَزِّلُ عَلَيۡكُم مِّنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ مَآءࣰ لِّيُطَهِّرَكُم بِهِۦ وَيُذۡهِبَ عَنكُمۡ رِجۡزَ ٱلشَّيۡطَٰنِ وَلِيَرۡبِطَ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِكُمۡ وَيُثَبِّتَ بِهِ ٱلۡأَقۡدَامَ
Remember when He gave you sleep as a reassurance from Him, and sent down water from the sky to cleanse you, to remove Satan’s pollution from you, to make your hearts strong and your feet firm
Qur’an 8:11read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
Slow, controlled breathing measurably shifts the nervous system toward calm and increases feelings of comfort and control. The body leads the mind back to safety.
Zaccaro, A., Piarulli, A., Laurino, M., Garbella, E., Menicucci, D., Neri, B. and Gemignani, A. (2018). How breath-control can change your life: A systematic review on psycho-physiological correlates of slow breathing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience doi
Slow, controlled breathing shifts the nervous system toward calm and increases feelings of comfort and control.
Strength of evidence: long taught, never tested. Widely used and long taught. No trial has established that it works.
Slow breathing with extended exhales down-regulates the body's alarm and restores a sense of control.
Where this sits: Stage 1, Safety and Stabilization (Herman); grounding.
Build one place or time in your day that reliably feels safe, and return to it when you need steadying.
When the past floods in, name five things you can see, four you can hear, three you can touch. Come back to now.
When fear rises, being near a calm, safe person, or turning to God's remembrance, helps your body borrow that steadiness.