How Do I Feel Less Anxious?
Grounding Techniques to Ease Your Anxiety
Anxiety can be a challenging experience that can cause feelings of overwhelm, panic, and stress. Anxiety often comes without warning and can leave you feeling out of control. During times of anxiety you may have an out of body experience where time stops and your mind and body are taken over with anxious thoughts and feelings. When anxiety hits it is important that you have a toolbox of strategies at hand to decrease your anxiety and bring relief.
Grounding strategies are exercises to help you return to the present moment and feel safe. Oftentimes, we ground ourselves by connecting with our environment, or our actual physical surroundings. Rooting into the present moment can be really helpful, especially when your anxiety wants to take you into what could happen in the future or what has already happened that you can’t change.
Here are some practical, actionable ways to ground yourself when you’re feeling anxious. The key is to practice these strategies often. As with everything, practice makes perfect.
5-4-3-2-1 technique: This technique involves naming five things you can see, four things you can touch, three things you can hear, two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste. This helps you focus on your senses and the present moment.
Belly breathing: Take slow, deep breaths into your belly. As you breathe in, imagine your belly filling up like a balloon. As you breathe out, imagine the air leaving your belly. You should try to do belly breathing for at least 4 minutes in order to get the full effect. It can sometimes help to close your eyes to avoid distractions.
Body scan: Close your eyes and focus your attention on your body. Starting at your toes, tense each muscle group for a few seconds and then release. Move up your body, tensing and releasing each muscle group until you reach your head.
Visualization: Imagine a peaceful scene, such as a beach or a forest. Focus on the details of the scene, such as the sound of the waves or the rustling of the leaves. The more detail you can visualize the better.
Engage your senses: Engage your senses by smelling a calming scent, such as lavender, or listening to soothing music. Some people like to have sour candy at hand when anxiety hits.
Grounding objects: Carry a grounding object, such as a small stone or a worry stone, in your pocket. When you feel anxious, hold the object, and focus your attention on its texture and weight.
Soothing self-talk and self-affirmations: When we are feeling anxious, it can be helpful to intentionally speak to ourselves kindly and calmly. Communicating to ourselves that it’s okay to experience our feelings. We can also use soothing self-talk to communicate to ourselves that our feelings are real and that they will pass.
Remember, grounding techniques can be effective for managing anxiety, but they may be difficult to master. Working on your “grounding toolkit” with a therapist can also be helpful. If you’d like support while finding your strategies for dealing with anxiety, please reach out to Ascend Counseling at (708) 713-5894 or www.ascendcounselingil.com. We are here to help.
