being
the
ground
Nervous System Regulation
Toolkit for Crisis Responders
“Being the Ground” is a free multimedia, multilingual toolkit for nervous system regulation for people organizing on the frontlines of crisis. It was created by The Embodiment Institute in partnership with Latinx Therapists Action Network, Coaching for Healing, Justice, and Liberation, and network of individual practitioners. If you are responding to ICE raids, climate catastrophe, other state and imperialist violence, displacement, or the many intersecting frontlines: we hold you in gratitude and care, and this toolkit is for you!
In this toolkit you will find:
This toolkit is made up of videos you can watch or listen to, along with accompanying PDF guides for each one.
Teachings and practices
to learn and prepare
to support your ability to listen to your body and get curious about what it needs and what is possible
Practices for taking action
For mobilizing energy, bravery, or readiness (before or amid action)
For grounding and orienting
(amid action or in any moment)
For moving energy through
(after action)
How to practice in your daily life and with others
to incorporate practice into your own life, create space to practice and learn with others, and infuse these strategies in both the “hot” and “cold” moments of community response and protection work.
Why we do this
| introduction, 3 min
From Prentis Hemphill, The Embodiment Institute
In neighborhoods everywhere, our communities are weaving powerful webs to protect one other from harm. This is love out loud. When we are facing crisis, practice can support us to mobilize the body for action, to generate safety, to give and receive support, and to allow energy to flow through after activation.
How to use this toolkit
You can start at the beginning of the toolkit, or you can start anywhere that draws you first!
We believe it’s important to have these practices already in us, for when we most need to call them up. We highly recommend watching or reading as much as you can.
If you are in the midst of action and wanting to practice right now, you can go straight to the practices for taking action, below, and then come back later to decompress, reflect, and learn more.
If you need support beyond practice – from a buddy, a practitioner, or emergency responders – please make sure to seek what you need.
Teachings and practices to learn, prepare, and build skill
In this section are some brief teachings about the nervous system, stress and adaptability, and how communities have organized care. There are also practices to learn about our own nervous systems and to grow the ability to listen to our bodies. Doing these individually and with others can support you to prepare for action, to become more present and choiceful in the midst of chaos, to become more able to reach for resource and connection under pressure. They can also support an ongoing learning and healing journey.
Understanding and working with your nervous system
| teaching, 5 min
From Francisca Porchas Coronado, Latinx Therapists Action Network
This video explains how the nervous system works and why we invite you to do the practices in this toolkit. Francisca tells us about the wisdom and the strategy of our nervous systems, which both protect us and help us fulfill our purpose.
Notice and Name
| practice to understand your body’s responses, 3.5 min
From Sandra Olarte-Hayes, Latinx Therapists Action Network
This is a practice from the Latinx Therapists Action Network to help you learn about your nervous system’s protective responses to stress.
Stress, adaptability, and resource
| mutuality practice, 17 min
From Prentis Hemphill, The Embodiment Institute
Prentis Hemphill introduces a way of working with stress as an opportunity to reach for resource and connection. They lead us through a practice of mutuality to practice noticing and expressing our needs.
Storytelling from Minneapolis
| assessing safety and connection, 9 min
From Susan Raffo, embodiment practitioner from Minneapolis
Body-based practitioner and teacher Susan Raffo shares some storytelling about networks, practices, and skill-building for care that grew in Minneapolis (MniSota Makoce) in response to Operation Metro Surge but also in the decade and more prior. Raffo also shares a practice for assessing safety and connection, which can be found below, along with an additional practice called “Feeling the support of land and time.”
Transforming chaos into care and connection
| poem for practice, 7.5 min
From Marie Michael, embodiment practitioner from Minneapolis
This is a poem written for and from Minneapolis (MniSota Makoce) during the time of the 2026 ICE occupation. It is an invitation to practice orienting to chaos and, through sensing and presence, transforming it into care and connection.
Practices for and after taking action
This section contains practices to ground and regulate during, after, and in between moments of acute pressure. We highly recommend watching or reading as much as you can in advance, and incorporating practice into your regular life (ideally with others [link to how to practice, below]). This will make it possible to call on practice when you most need it.
Practices for mobilizing energy, bravery or readiness (before or amid action)
Bringing our ancestors into action with us
| practice to bring bravery into action, 4.5 min
From adrienne maree brown, author and somatics practitioner
This practice from adrienne maree brown is about calling our ancestors into solidarity, when we are entering into action. It is one of three shared in this toolkit that adrienne created for and with folks organizing against ICE in Minneapolis in January 2026.
Comrade commitment
| practice to connect before action, 4 min
From adrienne maree brown, author and somatics practitioner
This practice from adrienne maree brown is an invitation for folks entering into action together to make real human connection and commitments to each other. It is one of three shared in this toolkit that adrienne created for and with folks organizing against ICE in Minneapolis in January 2026.
Thoracic activation
| practice for mobilizing energy, 1.5 min
From tayla shanaye, Coaching for Healing, Justice, and Liberation
This is one of three simple practices from tayla shanaye that you can do subtly without calling attention to them. You can use them in the middle of a conversation, in the process of organizing, in the midst of an action. Activating the thorax (area between neck and abdomen) allows us to mobilize when we have become immobile. It helps bring us out of shutdown responses.
Practices for grounding and orienting (amid action or in any moment)
Head, Heart, Gut
| practice for grounding, 8 min
from Prentis Hemphill, The Embodiment Institute
This is a practice for getting present and curious by listening to our bodies. It can be done alone or with others, at any moment. To do it, simply bring attention to your body and ask: “What does my gut know? What does my heart know? What does my head know?”
Street Somatics
| practice for grounding amid action, 6 min
from Prentis Hemphill, The Embodiment Institute
This is a set of practices Prentis shared for folks organizing against ICE raids in Los Angeles in June 2025. They include making contact with your own body, a wall or a tree, or a partner, to return to your body when overwhelmed. Shaking or yawning also both help to down-regulate.
Vagus nerve pressure with tongue
| practice for soothing, 3.5 min
From tayla shanaye, Coaching for Healing, Justice, and Liberation
This is one of three simple practices from tayla shanaye that you can do subtly without calling attention to them. You can use them in the middle of a conversation, in the process of organizing, in the midst of an action. This practice uses the tongue to activate the vagus nerve, which can soothe the nervous system in a time of acute stress.
Brief mindful pauses
| practice to ground amid action, 4.5 min
from Sandra Olarte-Hayes,
Latinx Therapists Action Network
Brief Mindful Pauses is a practice from Latinx Therapists Action Network to check in with your body and stay in relationship with it, at any time.
Vergence
| practice to ground by orienting to horizon, 4 min
from Sandra Olarte-Hayes,
Latinx Therapists Action Network
Vergence is a practice from Latinx Therapists Action Network to to ground by orienting to horizon.
Connect with your boundaries
| practice when activated by others, 3.5 min
from Sandra Olarte-Hayes, Latinx Therapists Action Network
Connect with Your Boundaries is a practice from Latinx Therapists Action Network, for when you are activated by proximity to others.
Practices for moving energy through (after action)
Shaking
| practice to release tension, 3.5 min
from Sandra Olarte-Hayes, Latinx Therapists Action Network
Shaking is a practice from Latinx Therapists Action Network To release built-up tension, stress, and emotions stored in the body.
Safety sandwich
| rescue tool using left ear point and bone knocking, 3 min
from tayla shanaye, Coaching for Healing, Justice, and Liberation
This is one of three simple practices from tayla shanaye that you can do subtly without calling attention to them. This practice uses the tongue to activate the vagus nerve, which can soothe the nervous system in a time of acute stress.
Washing it off
| after action, 9 min
from adrienne maree brown, author and somatics practitioner
This practice from adrienne maree brown is a ritual of letting things flow off your body when you get home. It is one of three shared in this toolkit that adrienne created for and with folks organizing against ICE in Minneapolis in January 2026.
How to practice in your daily life and with others
In this section are tools for incorporating practice into your daily life and for yourself or with a group. We’ve included principles on how to practice, a group self-faciliation guide, questions for an individual or a group to make a practice plan, and a video of Damon Azali (Coaching for Healing, Justice and Liberation) talking – and singing! We hope this inspires you to build practice into organizing and life.
How to build it in
| incorporating practice into your life and with others, 17 min
From Damon Azali, Coaching for Healing, Justice, and Liberation
In this video, Damon Azali tells some stories - and does some singing! - about his favorite practices. He shares some tips on how you can figure out what works for you and your nervous system. He encourages identifying and putting intention on what you already do while incorporating practice into your daily life, with a group, or into your organization.
Principles for practice
Learn from your body and what you need. Experiment and figure out which somatic practices work for you.
Practice regularly! Get your reps in to make practice part of your regular life and routine. Use the practices in this toolkit for inspiration and guidance, and also identify and put intention on what you are already doing to resource and regulate your nervous system.
Practice together! Just as our work is collective, our healing is too. Bring practice and learning into your groups. Make space for it in the flow of your work together. When you are preparing and planning, build knowledge, skill, and familiarity together so that you can call on these practices in times of crisis. You can use this self-facilitation guide.
Be awkward! It takes risk to do new things, show up differently with each other, and reveal more of ourselves. Give yourselves permission to be awkward and brave.
Connect and play! Break isolation and build connection by gathering community to share food, socialize, and play. Bring fun into your practice!
Be in tune. Make it a ritual to check in with each other to see how everyone is doing and what they need – at the beginning of a meeting, at the start of each week, etc.
Make agreements. Discuss and set intentions for how you as a group want to use these practices with each other, and how you can incorporate them into your work together.
Be on the path. Don’t make these practices the whole journey. They are opening to a broader healing journey. Seek out resources and practice partners to support you in your path.
Tell us how it’s going
Leave us a voicemail with how you’re practicing, what you’re learning, what you’re wondering, what this makes possible.
Or write your reflections.
Partners
Being the Ground was created in partnership with Latinx Therapists Action Network, Coaching for Healing, Justice, and Liberation, and network of practitioners. Individual contributors include:
Prentis Hemphill
The Embodiment Institute
adrienne maree brown
author & embodiment practitioner
Francisca Porchas-Coronado
Latinx Therapists Action Network
Sandra Olarte-Hayes
Latinx Therapists Action Network
Susan Raffo
embodiment practitioner
from Minneapolis
Marie Michael
embodiment practitioner
from Minneapolis
Damon Azali
Coaching for Healing, Justice
and Liberation
tayla shanaye
Coaching for Healing, Justice
and Liberation
