As a toddler, Josh Patner grew to become accustomed to stepping over his mother, who used to lie down within the kitchen at any time when her mother-in-law would name.
“My grandmother would discuss her ear off,” Mr. Patner, 61, recalled. To manage, his mom would “lie on the ground and maintain the cellphone away from her head.” Mr. Patner’s father, additionally a fan of the ground, took a 20-minute nap below the household’s piano every night time after work.
So it’s unsurprising, maybe, that Mr. Patner enjoys flooring time at his house in Brooklyn and even at his good friend’s locations — partly to stretch and soothe his again (he has scoliosis), but in addition, he says, as a result of it feels calming.
“If I do know you nicely sufficient to take a seat in your sofa, I do know you nicely sufficient to lie in your flooring,” he mentioned.
Whereas that is nothing new to Mr. Patner, others are simply now catching on to the apply: Posts with the hashtag #floortime have garnered hundreds of thousands of views on TikTok.
Lily Bishop, a graduate scholar in Chicago, made a video exhibiting herself inclined on her beige carpet, silently staring on the ceiling, arms unfold extensive. “I’m a flooring particular person to my core,” learn the phrases emblazoned over the clip. “Assembly simply ended? Ground. Dwelling from the gymnasium? Ground. Wish to take a nap? Ground.”
“I discover it makes me extra relaxed and current, and type of, like, slows down the anxious ideas,” Ms. Bishop, 27, mentioned when reached by cellphone.
For her, the feeling feels just like watching ocean waves wash ashore — however with out the journey to the seashore.
“You don’t must have a serene, pure setting,” Ms. Bishop mentioned. “You simply want the ground.”
What’s so nice about being on the ground?
Though there isn’t a physique of analysis that extols the advantages of mendacity on the bottom, psychologists say spending time on the ground is unlikely to harm, and may even assist us really feel grounded.
Once you lie flat in your again, your posture is open and relaxed, which can have a chilled impact, mentioned Ellen Hendriksen, a medical psychologist in Boston.
“Your physique and temper wish to align,” she mentioned. For this reason it’s tough to really feel hopeful and optimistic for those who’re slumped in your chair, head hanging down, she added. Or why our shoulders shoot up or our jaws clench once we’re anxious.
Mendacity on the bottom may also assist us keep away from ruminating, defined Alan Fogel, a professor emeritus of psychology on the College of Utah and the creator of “Restorative Embodiment and Resilience.”
“In our Western tradition, we don’t have a number of areas for restoration,” Dr. Fogel mentioned. “There’s no timeouts. There’s no recess.”
You could assume {that a} snug mattress can be extra conducive to rest. “However usually what occurs, particularly in acquainted locations like our mattress, is our thoughts retains working,” Dr. Fogel mentioned. “We take into consideration what occurred through the day. We take into consideration what we may have performed or ought to have performed.”
When mendacity on a more durable floor like the ground, nonetheless, you might grow to be extra attuned to what your physique is feeling and fewer targeted in your ideas.
To get snug, it turns into essential to sink into the ground and soften your muscle mass, Dr. Fogel added. The give attention to letting go makes it simpler to assist the physique and thoughts decompress — to “simply be,” he mentioned.
Kara Lennon, 34, an account govt and an indoor biking teacher in Boston, has been a fan of flooring time for a few decade.
“It’s like going exterior and sitting within the solar” for a couple of minutes, she mentioned. You’re feeling higher, “after which you will get again to no matter you’re doing.”
Individuals have been gravitating to the bottom for hundreds of years. Examples embrace the yoga pose savasana, which helps folks slowly chill out every a part of the physique whereas mendacity on their backs; Zen meditation or tea ceremonies that usually happen on the ground; and the radiant flooring heating system in Korean houses, which makes the bottom much more engaging for sleeping, finding out or consuming.
Is mendacity on the ground for you?
Not everybody will discover reduction on the ground. Some might have bodily challenges, for example, that make it uncomfortable or painful to decrease themselves to the bottom.
If you’ll be able to attempt it and wish to give flooring time a go, “focus in your breath, actually flip inward,” mentioned Rachel Goldman, a psychologist and medical assistant professor of psychiatry on the NYU Grossman College of Medication. Do you are feeling extra relaxed, extra grounded or extra in management? If that’s the case, she mentioned, “it’s one extra technique that you need to use if you really feel like you want to.”
Ms. Lennon acknowledged that “it might sound foolish,” however in her case, taking a flooring break for even just some minutes every day permits her to be extra productive whereas working from house.
“It’s urgent the reset button for a second,” she mentioned.
