Hey there fellow Ku’Lanians!
We all know we come to Ku’Lani to relax and enjoy the scenery and peacefulness of this wonderful little slice of awesomeness in Second Life. Did you know according to the World Health Organization, 301 million people in the world suffer from anxiety? July is Disability Pride Month, and for that we’d like to remind everyone at Ku’Lani how much we value everyone who comes by and calls this sim home!
Lani did a wonderful YouTube interview where she noted how accepting Ku’Lani is for everyone, and how we all look out for one another. Part of that is being aware we never know what the other is going through on a day to day basis in RL that we bring to SL. Did you know there are simple techniques that can help you with anxiety, that you can do right now to help lower stress? They are called grounding exercises. There are a ton of them out there, and there is no right or wrong way to do them. The whole point of a grounding exercise is to bring your mind to the here and now, and away from all those stressors you may have going on.
When we are stressed out, our body responds with an automatic stress response that floods our body with hormones and engages the lower part of our brain. This activates fight or flight (and recently added freeze) mode. This response is great when we need to fight, or run for instance from a bear. Not so helpful, when we need to focus at work or complete a task. We cannot control this stress response, and when we are in this heightened stressful state, we cannot access our higher level cognitive thinking as easily. When this happens you need a “reset” to get out of this response to bring yourself back to the here and now and make those hormones clear out. This reset is done through grounding exercises!
There are a lot of grounding exercises out there. Meditation, rocking out to loud music, physical exercises, mindfulness exercises, deep breathing, the list goes on. I strongly encourage everyone who would like to take a moment for themselves to look up YouTube videos (an example) on guided meditation. It would pair so well with Ku’Lani. Speaking of which, next time you’re feeling stressed and you’re on SL- hop over to the yoga retreat and zipline area and try out this grounding exercise: Find 5 things that are blue. Find 4 things that look soft. Find 3 things that look like they smell pleasant and think about what they may smell like IRL. Find 2 things that look smooth. Then think of 1 thing you like about yourself! (You can find these things in your RL, or in SL) Then think about how you feel afterwards. Do you feel calmer?
We value our friends and family here on Second Life, and we want to have a safe space to enjoy and be ourselves. I hope everyone has a fabulous, safe, cool, stress-free Summer at Ku’Lani!
Disclaimer: This blog is not meant to diagnose or replace the need for mental health services. If you or someone you love is experiencing a mental health crisis, please reach out to a healthcare professional.
This story written by Sparkles. Photos by Sparkles too!
