What is Grounding? 7 Simple Strategies to Overcome Anxiety
Have you ever felt so overwhelmed that you felt out of your body or lost in your head, deeply distracted by your thoughts?
Grounding techniques can be great tools to help bring you back into the present moment and combat anxiety.
What is grounding?
Grounding essentially means to direct your attention to the here and now. It helps take you out of your head and back into your body in a more sensation-oriented way, or distracts you from intrusive thoughts through cognitive strategies. Grounding can also help disrupt the cycle of self-perpetuating anxiety and thought ruminations.
When we feel anxious or triggered by a perceived threat (this may just be in our mind, for example the belief that someone is judging us can feel like a threat), our nervous system sends signals to our body to go into a stress response (fight, flight, or freeze). Grounding creates a feedback loop that calms our body, telling our nervous system that we’re safe.
While grounding may not fix the issue at hand (perhaps you’re overwhelmed with anxiety or sadness), it does provide a sense of temporary relief and allows you to regain control of your emotions in the moment. Grounding gives you an opportunity to calm down, notice what’s going on, develop insight, and implement further changes.
For example, if you feel overcome with social anxiety when starting a team meeting, you may experience the common symptoms of anxiety like racing thoughts (typically negative, fearful, or critical in nature), difficulty focusing, sweating, and increased heart rate. Grounding yourself can help you gain the clarity and confidence to take a step back (psychologically), move away from those distracting and distressing thoughts, and perform better during the meeting.
Grounding can help with:
Anxiety
Harsh self-criticism
Panic attacks
Flashbacks or intrusive thoughts
Overwhelming emotions
Intense rage or reactivity
There are 2 main ways to ground yourself:
Physically – tapping into the world around you and noticing the physical sensations you’re experiencing.
Mentally – focusing your thoughts, using soothing affirmations or reassuring self-talk, or distracting your mind.
Building your grounding toolkit –
Different grounding exercises work better for different people. In fact, some people may actually feel more triggered by certain grounding exercises, so it’s important to work with a professional and understand what resonates for you.
Here are 7 ways to ground yourself in the present by tapping into your physical sensory experience.
I recommend that clients practice these grounding strategies when they are not feeling activated so that they can feel more comfortable with using the skills when they are triggered. These strategies come from a framework developed by the Trauma Resiliency Model.
Walk - Take a walk. Feel the sensations in your body as you take each step. Notice the feeling of your feet pressing on the ground.
Push - Place your hands on the wall and push against it. Focus your attention on the sensations of your muscles pushing.
Temperature - Tune in to the temperatures of different parts of your body. What do you notice in your ears, chest, legs, or toes?
Look - Look around the room and name the colors that you see. Try to list at least 6. You can also try naming as many shapes as you can see as you look around.
Drink - Take a drink of a beverage. Notice the sensations of the cool liquid traveling through your mouth, down your throat and into your stomach.
Touch - Touch objects and surfaces nearby. Notice the textures and the sensations on your skin. Is it hard, soft, rough, bumpy, cold, smooth?
Listen - Notice all of the sounds that you can hear and try to name the individual sources of the sounds.
You can also try this quick grounding exercise, referred to as 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding, which guides you in engaging your senses to bring you into the present moment.
If you’re interested in addressing your anxiety in therapy, reach out to set up a free 15-minute phone consultation to see if I’m the right therapist to help you.
About the Author: Sage Grazer, LCSW
I am a licensed psychotherapist providing online therapy to young professionals struggling with anxiety, burnout, trauma, loss, and relationship issues. I work with adults to help them develop the insight, skills, and resilience to cope with whatever life stresses come their way. I specialize in helping high-achieving women overcome anxiety and burnout to feel more confident, empowered, and effective in their lives. If you’re a resident of California or Hawaii, schedule a free consultation to learn more.