What are Grounding Techniques and why should I have some in my toolkit?

Grounding techniques are exercises that usually activate some or all of your senses of sight, sound, smell, taste, and body awareness or touch. They can be incorporated into your daily life as tools to fall back on when you experience distress, anxiety, numbness, withdrawal, flashbacks, intrusive memories, negative thought patterns and painful emotions such as anger, sadness or shame. They enable you to refocus on the present moment and turn off the ‘fight, flight, freeze or appease’ part of your brain which can get activated and take over the driving seat when you are triggered.

While grounding doesn’t solve the underlying issue(s) that has led to you feeling triggered, it can provide an effective way to manage your mental health and help you to feel more in control.

Here are some effective grounding exercises that I have used to help clients in my private practice, together with suggestions of when they may be useful and brief descriptions of how to use each one.

Remember that not all techniques work for every person and in every situation, but you may find it useful to print out this blog to remind yourself of different things to try when you are feeling overwhelmed so that you can hopefully find at least one that works for you.

When might Grounding Techniques be useful and what do I do?

1. Drop the anchor

When we are triggered, we can feel like we have ‘flipped our lid’, leading us to feel disconnected from the here and now. By drawing our attention down through our bodies, into our feet and the ground beneath us we are literally grounding our minds and bodies to the earth or floor or ‘dropping the anchor’.

• Shift your attention down into your body, then specifically into your legs and/or feet.
• Become curious to notice where you feel your physical body make contact with the ground or chair – whatever is beneath you.
• Stay with the experience of your feet or legs making contact with the ground. Play around with different sensations, for example, move your feet, wiggle your toes, step from side to side, flex your ankles, point your toes, jump up and down, then stay still – all the time just noticing any physical sensations through this contact with the ground.
• You might even like to imagine and visualise your feet growing roots deep down into the earth, much like a tree. Visualise roots from your feet growing and just like a tree, stabilising and strengthening the trunk and the rest of your body.

2. Tense and release

Whenever you become anxious, your body tenses which can, in turn, lead to feeling pain in the shoulders, neck or back, or tension in the jaw, arms or legs. You can train yourself to release this tension by intentionally tensing and then relaxing specific groups of muscles. 

• Start by focusing on your hands. Make a fist, hold it for 5 seconds, release for 10. Notice the difference between the tense and released states. Do it once more.
• Move the focus to your arms. Pull your forearms towards your shoulder. Feel the tension in your upper arms. Hold for 5 seconds, release for 10. Notice the difference, Do it once more.
• Stretch your arm out, and lock the elbow. Feel the tension in the triceps. Hold for 5 seconds, release for 10. Notice the difference. Repeat. When your arms are relaxed, let them rest in your lap.
• Focus on your face. Increase the tension in your forehead, lift your eyebrows. Notice the tension. Hold for 5 seconds, release for 10. Notice the difference. Repeat.
• Increase the tension in your jaw. Hold. Release. Repeat.
• Focus on the muscles in your neck. Bend your neck so that your chin touches your chest, turn your head slowly to the left, bring it back to the centre, bend it back, bring it back to the centre, turn it to the right, bring it back to the centre. Repeat slowly since there is often a lot of tension in this area.
• Focus on your shoulders. Lift them. Hold and notice the tension. Release. Notice the difference. Repeat.
• Focus on the shoulder blades. Pull them back. Increase the tension. Relax. Notice the difference and repeat.
• Stretch your back by sitting in a very upright position. Hold the tension and relax, notice the difference and repeat.
• Increase the tension in your buttocks. Hold for 5 seconds and release, notice the difference, repeat.
• Hold your breath. Pull your stomach in, tighten it, and relax. Notice the difference, repeat.
• Focus on your legs. Stretch them out, feel the tension in your thighs, hold and relax.
• Straighten your legs again; this time make your toes point towards you. Notice the tension in the back of your legs, and the feeling of relaxation when you release. Repeat.
• Focus on your toes, make them point downwards as far as you can. Feel the tension and release.
• Scan your whole body. Does any part still feel tense? Repeat the exercise for this part.
• Imagine that a relaxed feeling is spreading through your whole body. Your body feels warm, perhaps a little heavier, relaxed.

3. Squeeze Hug

This is a mini version of ‘Tense and Release’ described above. It is a simple yet effective technique to use when you are feeling agitated and can be easily performed in public without anyone being the wiser!

• Cross your arms in front of you and draw them towards your chest.
• With your right hand, hold your left upper arm. With your left hand, hold your right upper arm.
• Squeeze gently, and pull your arms inwards. Hold the squeeze for a little while. Find the right amount of squeeze for you right now. Hold the tension and release.
• Then squeeze for a little while again and release. Stay like that for a moment.
• Repeat until you feel calmer and more relaxed, remembering to take slow, deep breaths while you do so.

4. Butterfly Hug

A technique known as bilateral stimulation (the use of alternating eye movements, sounds and/or taps) is commonly used in EMDR therapy and can be immensely helpful in releasing distressing memories that may have become stuck in your brain. You can use this method on yourself via the ‘Butterfly Hug’ in order to calm yourself when triggered and bring yourself back to the present. When combined with positive self-speak, this exercise can help you regulate difficult emotions and increase your confidence and motivation.

• Put your right hand palm down on your left shoulder. Put your left hand palm down on your right shoulder.
• Close your eyes fully or partially.
• Choose a sentence that will strengthen you. For example, ‘I am…’ enough, brave, strong, resilient, a survivor, worthy, safe… whatever word truly resonates with you!
• Say the sentence (either aloud or in your head) and pat your right hand on your left shoulder, then your left hand on your right shoulder as if you’re imitating the movements of a butterfly.
• Alternate the patting. Take slow, deep, and intentional breaths while repeating your sentence.

5. Safe Place

Another method commonly used within EMDR to help turn off the ‘fight, flight, freeze or appease’ part of your brain and help you feel more balanced is ‘Safe Place’.

• Make yourself comfortable, with your feet on the ground. Feel and relax your body, your head, your face, your arms, spine, stomach, buttocks, thighs, legs.
• Think of a place where you feel calm, confident and safe. It may be indoors or outdoors; real or imagined. It can be a place that you have visited only once or many times before. It can be somewhere that you read about in a book, saw in a film or heard described. Ideally it should be somewhere where you are calm and content being alone, soaking up the solitude and tranquility.
• Imagine this place. Imagine you are there. Take time to absorb it in detail: its colours, shapes, smells and sound. Imagine sunshine, feel the wind and the temperature. Notice how it feels to stand, sit or lie there, how your skin and your body feel in contact with it.
• In your safe place you can see, hear, smell and feel exactly what you need to feel safe. Perhaps you take off your shoes and feel what it is like to walk barefoot in the grass or in the sand.
• You can go to this place whenever you want and as often as you want. Just thinking about it will cause you to feel calmer and more confident.

6. 5-4-3-2-1  

This method is useful when you are feeling panicky or disconnected as it helps ground you in the present by focussing your attention on your surroundings, using each of your 5 senses.

• What are 5 things you see right now?
  • Search the area for items that you can zoom in on such as patterns on the furniture, a bird in the tree, or an object on a bookshelf
• What are 4 things that you can feel?
  • Focus on weight, texture, and other tactile qualities. Feel the chair on the back of your legs, the floor under your feet, or the movement of air as you exhale
• What are 3 things that you can hear?
  • Can you hear bird song outside; the voices of people in the street; the gentle hum of electrical appliances? Notice the sounds that you can hear, both near and far.
• What are 2 things that you can smell?
  • Pay attention to smells in the air such as air freshener, fabric softener, deodorant or freshly brewed coffee. If nothing comes to mind, focus on something that has a smell such as a scented candle or an item of food.
• What is 1 thing you can taste?
  • Notice the taste in your mouth. Can you taste the after taste of your toothpaste or the last drink you consumed or item of food you ate? You could carry a boiled sweet or mint with you to use during this exercise and pay close attention to the flavour as it is released into your mouth.

7. Breathing exercises

The following techniques can help regulate your nervous system when you are experiencing stress, anxiety and overwhelm. When you become stressed, your brain releases cortisol, aka ‘stress hormones’. Deep breaths lower your heart rate, lets more oxygen into the blood stream, and combats the cortisol by sending endorphins, aka ‘feel good hormones’, to your brain, allowing it to relax.

Square breathing

• Sit comfortably. Lower your shoulders.
• Look at a square form, or visualise one with your eyes closed.
• Breathe in while counting to 4. Let your eyes wander up the left side of the square.
• Hold your breath while counting to 4. Let your eyes run across the top of the square.
• Breathe out while counting to 4. Let your eyes run down the right side of the square.
• Hold your breath while counting to 4. Let your eyes run along the bottom of the square.
• Repeat 4 times.

Breath counting

• Sit in a comfortable position with your back straight and your head inclined slightly forward. Gently close your eyes and take a few deep breaths.
• To begin the exercise, count ‘one’ to yourself as you exhale.
• The next time you exhale, count ‘two’, and so on up to ‘five’.
• Then begin a new cycle, counting ‘one’ on the next exhalation.
• Repeat 5 times.

Belly breathing

• Placing one hand on your belly, feel your hand move as you take a deep breath in through your nose while noticing your belly expand.
• As you exhale through your mouth, imagine that your breath is your anxiety being released from your body.
• Repeat until you feel calmer and more relaxed.

8. Mental Grounding

These techniques are used to focus your mind and help calm you down when you are having racing thoughts, flashbacks or are feeling disconnected, numb or withdrawn. Examples include:

• Playing a categories game – Picking a topic and listing all the names or categories in that topic. An example here could be naming all the animals in a zoo, listing as many different colours as you can think of, or listing all the TV shows you’ve watched 
• Counting backward from 10 or even 100 (you can play around with what number you need to go to until you feel calmer)
• Singing or saying the lyrics of your favourite song
• Reciting a favourite story or poem
• Talking yourself through an enjoyable daily activity in very descriptive detail

Final thoughts…

Try to begin doing a grounding exercise when you first start to feel bad rather than wait until you feel very elevated. If the technique doesn’t work at first, stick with it for a bit before moving on to another.

It may take some time to find the techniques that work for you as an individual, and the same technique may not work in every situation. You may need to practice a few different exercises – ideally on a regular basis and even when you are not feeling particularly distressed or elevated – paying special attention to how your body responds and which sensations feel good. This can help you evaluate which ones work best for you and help you feel more in control.

You may find it helpful to make a note of the techniques that you find most useful on your phone or in a notebook so you can refer to it when you need to and/or share the techniques with those closest to you so that they can remind you what helps you when you are triggered.

Practising grounding techniques regularly will mean that their use becomes second nature. However, whilst it is a great start, grounding doesn’t eliminate your problems or solve the underlying issues that have led to you feeling triggered in the first place.

If you find that anxiety, panic or overwhelm are a regular feature in your life, you may wish to contact me so that we can work together to relieve overwhelming or intense emotions, thoughts and sensations so that you experience them less frequently and have greater skills to cope when you do. Face to face sessions are available in Heaton Chapel and online sessions are available via Zoom.

Finally, if you have found this blog useful, other people you know may do too. Please feel free to share the link and let those you care about learn how to use these helpful techniques.