GROUNDING YOURSELF

Hello Teacher Candidates!!  UBC has two main campuses that are located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the Musqueam and Syilx (Okanagan) peoples.  UBC’s activities take place on Indigenous lands throughout British Columbia and beyond.  It is common at UBC gatherings to acknowledge the land on which one is situated.  Learn more about the importance of this at UBC by watching this short video, Why We Acknowledge Musqueam Territory.   To learn more about the land you are on, click here.

There is an abundance of land-based resources in BC, wherever you are located!  This offers infinite opportunities for you to ground yourself during your time in your program.  What does it mean to ground yourself?  Grounding is a technique that helps keep you in the present moment, shifting your attention away from your thoughts and feelings to the here-and-now.  It is a useful exercise to engage in if you are feeling stressed, anxious, and/or overwhelmed.   One such technique – the 54321 grounding technique – is using your five senses to pay attention to your surroundings.  Consider taking a walk to a land-based resource near you, and engaging in this grounding technique as you do.  Check out this video on what this could look like.  What are five places near you where you can take a walk and ground yourself?

While you are encouraged to access the land-based resources around you, please know you can practice the 54321 grounding technique wherever you are.

Take good care of you,

Education Embedded Counselling & Wellbeing