You Need These Grounding Techniques to Help Your Anxiety

Grounding can be a huge asset to those suffering with anxiety.

So yes grounding helps tremendously with anxiety. You will be able to recognize when your anxiety is getting out of hand. With some practice, you can stop your anxiety in it's tracks with a few techniques. The key to success is practice, practice, practice.

Let's start with the basics, and then move on to how you can take these steps and ground yourself with anxiety.

What is Grounding

Put simply, grounding is a way for your to step away from emotional pain or triggers that are stopping you from living your life.

Grounding helps distract you from the difficulties you're facing right now, so you can come back to them later if you wish.

Practicing grounding doesn't solve the problem for you, that's not what it's meant for. But it will help you regain control over your feelings and stay composed, and keep you from reacting in a way that will make things worse.

There are three recognized techniques for grounding. You may find that one works better for you, or you might benefit from each of them.

Related: How to Manage Mommy Rage

Physical Techniques

These techniques focus on your five senses. You'll benefit the most from these when your brain is fried.

run cool water over your hands	clench and release your fists
touch things around you	strestch
jump up and down	rub your fingers together
fiddle with a bracelet	wiggle your toes
focus on breathing	notice the textures of the floor
notice how your pants feel	draw a circle in your palm

Mental Techniques

Mental techniques are focusing your mind, this is best when you're NOT doing something requiring your full attention. So not while driving.

Mental grounding is all about focusing your mind on something else.

When you're in the moment it can be very hard to focus on ANYTHING else, so I write down a few things to focus on beforehand, and keep it readily available. Your wallet is a great place to put something like this.

Here are a few techniques you can try.

Describe Your Environment– in great detail. How man chairs are around you, what color are the walls, what is the decoration on the wall, what color are the curtains? If this is too much, start on the right, and sweep your eyes across the room as you count things and notice what you can see.

Play Scattergories– Think of a letter, and then try to think of as many different objects that begin with that letter. Or pick a category and name as many things as you can, such as dogs, desserts, superheroes, or colors.

Think of Someplace Happy – Maybe this is a beach for you, or your best friend's couch, or Target. Think about how it sounds, smells, feels, and looks. What do those pillows feel like under your fingers, or how does the sunscreen smell on your skin when you go to the beach?

Related: Daily Habits to Reduce Anxiety

Soothing Techniques

Think about soothing techniques like this, sometimes you need to be pumped back up.

The world can deflate your self-esteem, your happiness, or your ability to maintain your composure.

So what can you do? Talk kindly to yourself. Because talking down to yourself when you're already in a low place has never helped, and will never help you.

Say kind things to yourself

Visualize people you care about

Think of something inspiring

What are you looking forward to next week?

Does Grounding Help Anxiety?

YES. So much yes.

Grounding helps you get away from the bad thoughts in your brain. Once you back up a step, you'll be able to handle those feelings better.

This isn't to say anxiety is all in your head and you can merely “wish it away”, because we all know that's not true.

But you CAN practice these techniques, pick a favorite or three, and see results.

Grounding does not solve the problem you're facing. It helps you regain enough composure to get a handle of your emotions to get to a safe place, or to get away from your trigger.

What Are the Five Steps to Ground Yourself?

There is a common technique known in the mental health world for grounding, this is called the 5-4-3-2-1 technique.

5-4-3-2-1 Technique

This technique encourages you to focus on your surroundings and find the small details your mind would normally tune out, such as the color of someone's socks, a distant sound or the texture of something around you.

Five Things You Can See – look for things you don't normally notice, like the color of the chair cushions, or how many blades on on a fan.

Four Things You Can Feel – your shoes on your feet, an object close to you, rain on your skin, or the tablecloth in front of you.

Three Things You Can Hear – Sounds in the distance you may not think about, such as farm animals, trains, lawnmowers, or a ticking clock.

Two Things You Can Smell – Morning coffee, fresh mowed grass, or the smell of fresh towels. If you can't smell anything around you, look at things and think about their scent, like a fireplace, flower, or fruit.

One Thing You Can Taste – Try to carry gum around with you for things. If you can't focus on actual flavors, like the last step, you can look at an object and imagine it's taste, such as those fruits.

Grounding to Help Anxiety – Action Steps

Need to know what to do right now?

Select three grounding techniques you are committed to learning and practicing.
Put gum in your purse to have available when you need it.
Write down the mental techniques you'd like to try and put them in y our wallet so you can have them.
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You Need These Grounding Techniques to Help Your Anxiety