Our brains are wired to protect us. For our ancestors, the fight-or-flight response was essential for surviving life-threatening dangers. Today, that same survival instinct still kicks in—but instead of protecting us from predators, it can be triggered by stress, anxiety, or overwhelming emotions, often at moments when we need to stay calm and present.
For people who experience panic attacks or intense emotional distress, regaining a sense of control can feel incredibly difficult. Grounding techniques can help interrupt the body’s stress response, making it easier to manage overwhelming emotions and return to the present moment.
At Cottonwood, in Tucson, Arizona, we think it’s important for people to have the tools they need to ground themselves during difficult moments or to help their loved ones learn how to ground themselves.
What Is Grounding?
Grounding is the process of focusing on the present moment to help your body and emotions become regulated, so that you no longer feel distressed. Grounding exercises involve steering your mind away from something scary and toward something calming.
These are coping skills you can use, even in public places, to manage symptoms such as:
- Racing heart
- Sweating
- Shaking
- Shortness of breath
- Chest pains
- Nausea
- Stomach pain
- Shame
- Out-of-control emotions
- Feeling detached from your body
- Feeling like you’re going to die
Grounding exercises are most effective if you practice them when you are not having feelings of distress, so that they are familiar enough for you to do automatically in a difficult moment.
Examples of Grounding Exercises
There are many different types of grounding exercises. You can find free video demonstrations online for some techniques. A few options include:
- Breath Observation: Wrap your arms around your chest in a big hug and focus on how your torso expands and contracts with your breaths.
- Body Scans: Working from your head to your toes, notice all of the sensations you are experiencing in each part of your body, one at a time.
- 5-4-3-2-1 Technique: In your immediate vicinity, list five things you can see, four you can feel, three you can hear, two you can smell, and one you can taste.
- Mindful Walks: Go for a walk and focus on the various things you can observe with each of your senses.
- The Rainbow Game: Locate things around you that correspond to the colors of the rainbow. Start with red and work your way to violet. You can skip colors if there is nothing around in that shade, and you can repeat the exercise multiple times if needed.
- List-making: Choose a category you’re familiar with and that contains many items. Write down as many things in that category as you can think of. Once you stop thinking of items within one category, you can repeat again with a different category. Some ideas for categories include cities, animals, sports teams, types of cars, or Broadway musicals.
- Music: Whether you are a musician who can play an instrument or just a fan who likes to listen, music can be a very powerful way to regulate your emotions.
- Guide Yourself Through a Familiar Process: Pick something you know how to do and visualize yourself completing each step the task involves, whether that is playing a song, preparing your favorite meal, repairing a broken item, or something else you know how to do that involves multiple steps.
- Describe a Nearby Object to Yourself: For example, you can describe color, size, shape, function, texture, weight, composition, or smell.
Why You Should Try Grounding Techniques
There are numerous benefits to grounding exercises, such as:
- Quick relief
- No risk of drug interaction
- Minimal risk of unwanted side effects
- Can be used at any age
- Is portable and requires no equipment
- Could be helpful for co-occurring medical issues
- Being able to help people you meet who also struggle with emotional distress
Preventative Measures
Grounding is a way to respond to distress you’re already feeling, but you may be able to limit how frequently you’re having those feelings by:
- Avoiding exercise routines that are too intense, instead choosing more moderate options
- Reducing your caffeine intake
- Avoiding alcohol
- Attending therapy regularly
- Making sure that you are properly medicated for any mental health disorders you may have, especially anxiety, depression, and PTSD.
At Cottonwood, we know that emotional distress is best handled through a whole-person, multi-faceted approach. Medication and therapy work best when a person also has solid coping skills and support.
