As a toddler, Josh Patner grew to become accustomed to stepping over his mother, who used to lie down within the kitchen every time her mother-in-law would name.

“My grandmother would speak her ear off,” Mr. Patner, 61, recalled. To manage, his mom would “lie on the ground and maintain the telephone away from her head.” Mr. Patner’s father, additionally a fan of the ground, took a 20-minute nap beneath 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 pal’s locations — partially to stretch and soothe his again (he has scoliosis), but additionally, 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 observe: Posts with the hashtag #floortime have garnered tens of millions of views on TikTok.

Lily Bishop, a graduate scholar in Chicago, made a video exhibiting herself supine on her beige carpet, silently staring on the ceiling, arms unfold vast. “I’m a flooring individual to my core,” learn the phrases emblazoned over the clip. “Assembly simply ended? Flooring. Dwelling from the fitness center? Flooring. Need to take a nap? Flooring.”

“I discover it makes me extra relaxed and current, and sort of, like, slows down the anxious ideas,” Ms. Bishop, 27, mentioned when reached by telephone.

For her, the feeling feels just like watching ocean waves wash ashore — however with out the journey to the seashore.

“You don’t need to have a serene, pure surroundings,” 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.

While you lie flat in your again, your posture is open and relaxed, which can have a relaxing impact, mentioned Ellen Hendriksen, a scientific psychologist in Boston.

“Your physique and temper need to align,” she mentioned. That is why it’s tough to really feel hopeful and optimistic in the event you’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 additionally assist us keep away from ruminating, defined Alan Fogel, a professor emeritus of psychology on the College of Utah and the writer of “Restorative Embodiment and Resilience.”

“In our Western tradition, we don’t have plenty of areas for restoration,” Dr. Fogel mentioned. “There’s no timeouts. There’s no recess.”

Chances are you’ll 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 throughout the day. We take into consideration what we might have carried out or ought to have carried out.”

When mendacity on a tougher floor like the ground, nonetheless, you might develop into 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 groups, Dr. Fogel added. The deal with 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 may 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 individuals slowly loosen up every a part of the physique whereas mendacity on their backs; Zen meditation or tea ceremonies that always happen on the ground; and the radiant flooring heating system in Korean properties, which makes the bottom much more engaging for sleeping, learning or consuming.

Is mendacity on the ground for you?

Not everybody will discover reduction on the ground. Some could have bodily challenges, as an illustration, that make it uncomfortable or painful to decrease themselves to the bottom.

If you’ll be able to attempt it and need to give flooring time a go, “focus in your breath, actually flip inward,” mentioned Rachel Goldman, a psychologist and scientific 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 further technique that you should utilize if you really feel like you should.”

Ms. Lennon acknowledged that “it may appear foolish,” however in her case, taking a flooring break for even only a few minutes every day permits her to be extra productive whereas working from house.

“It’s urgent the reset button for a second,” she mentioned.