18 Grounding Techniques To Support a Clearer Mind

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by stress and anxiety, grounding techniques can help. Below, we’ve gathered 18 of our favorite ways to feel more grounded, find balance in the midst of stressful situations, and get more connected with yourself.

What Are Grounding Techniques?

Grounding techniques are practices you can use to stay connected to yourself and the world around you when you feel stressed, anxious, disassociated, or overwhelmed. These practices can be either physical, engaging your body, or mental, engaging your mind. 

When using grounding techniques, you’re helping your nervous system disengage its fight-or-flight response. This response is what your body uses to help you react quickly in a crisis, but it sometimes gets engaged at the wrong times. 

When you’re feeling stressed and overwhelmed but not in a crisis situation, grounding techniques can help you remind your body and mind that it’s okay.

Why Are Grounding Techniques Helpful?

Grounding techniques can be helpful in quite a few ways, including:

• Helping to overcome a panic attack
• Dealing with extreme stress
• Re-emerging from a dissociative episode
• Dealing with sensory overload
• Stopping a meltdown or outburst

In general, grounding techniques work best when you feel yourself getting overwhelmed by strong negative emotions. They help by getting us “out of our heads” when thoughts are swirling and stirring up distressing emotions. 

If you find that you need to use these techniques multiple times daily to self-regulate, consider getting support from a licensed mental health professional who can help you get to the root cause of your struggle.

How Often Should You Practice Grounding Exercises?

Grounding exercises aren’t everyday stress management techniques or emotional regulation strategies. Instead, they’re stop-gap measures to use when you need to keep things from going off the rails. 

That means that grounding techniques should be your last line of defense during an extremely stressful situation, and shouldn’t become daily habits that you use for stress prevention. One easy way to tell if you’re using grounding techniques too much is by assessing the need for stress management in your life. 

For example, if you find yourself needing to feel a soothing texture or take a relaxing bath multiple times per day to manage stress, it’s time to find some emotion regulation strategies that you can use to build up your resilience over the long term. That way, you won’t need to turn to your last-resort measures so often.

Physical Grounding Techniques

Let’s take a look at some physical grounding exercises that you can use during a stressful situation. These grounding techniques help you engage both your body and mind through your five senses: touch, taste, smell, hearing, and sight. 

1. Use Stress-Relieving Breathing Techniques

Simple breathing exercises can change how you feel quickly; you can use them in just about any circumstances. If you deal with anxiety or panic attacks, breathing slowly and making sure to take deep breaths is one of the best ways to relax.

2. Touch a Familiar Object

Something as simple as a familiar texture can be a valuable coping strategy you can turn to to stay in the present moment. When distressing thoughts hit you, you can keep something comforting with a soothing texture in your pocket to keep feelings of anxiety at bay.

3. Go for a Walk

Getting some light exercise is a helpful way to process strong emotions and manage stress. When symptoms of anxiety and stress start to feel overwhelming, this simple grounding method can quickly help your nervous system regulate.

4. Listen to the Sounds Around You

Focusing on your environment is one of the best ways to respond to anxious thoughts and stay grounded. Next time negative thoughts start to overwhelm you, try grounding yourself by simply listening to the sounds you notice around you.

5. Smell a Calming Scent

Just like sound and touch, engaging your sense of smell can help your body feel more grounded. Relaxing scents like lavender and mint can play big roles in your self-care routine, and they’re also helpful when you need to slow your heart rate down a bit and feel a little more calm during stressful moments in daily life.

6. Practice Mindful Eating

How you eat can have a big positive or negative impact on your stress levels. If you deal with chronic stress or have an anxiety disorder, we encourage you to try mindful eating. 

This simple habit involves taking small bites and sips, savoring them, and paying close attention to how you feel as you eat. By slowing down and being mindful of the food, you’ll find that eating becomes a less stressful experience, and you’ll feel better before, during, and after your meals.

7. Take a Shower or Bath

The relaxing physical sensations you feel during a shower or bath can help you calm down when life gets overwhelming. You can even try practicing grounding techniques in the shower or bath, including breathing exercises or aromatherapy.

8. Give Yourself a Hug

One of the best ways to support your mental health is by having a compassionate relationship with yourself. Something as simple as giving yourself a hug can help you connect with yourself, relax your mind and body, and make you a valuable part of your own support system.

9. The 5-4-3-2-1 Method (The “Rule of Five”)

This method is an easy way to practice multiple physical grounding techniques at once. When you’re feeling stressed, try identifying 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 grounding exercise helps your mind slow down and can be especially helpful when dealing with anxiety.

Mental Grounding Techniques

Now, let’s explore a few mental grounding techniques that don’t require engaging any of your five senses. These grounding techniques help you calm your mind by focusing your thoughts on something positive and constructive.

10. Imagine Someone You Love

One simple way to help yourself feel calmer and safer is to picture someone you love in your mind. Even if that person isn’t physically near you, you can bring them to mind and feel the love and support they bring into your life.

11. Visualize a Calming Place

Focusing your thoughts on a place (real or imaginary) that makes you feel relaxed is another fantastic way to ground yourself. This technique can be especially helpful when your real-world environment is anything but calm.

When you’re feeling stressed or anxious, a guided visualization can be a helpful resource to turn to. If you’re in a safe place, you can listen to audio that helps you visualize a calm, relaxing environment, giving you a way to regulate and find peace in the midst of a stressful situation. You can find guided visualizations for free online or ask your therapist to record one for you.

12. List Items in Categories

Sometimes, all your mind needs is a healthy distraction for you to feel a little bit less anxious and overwhelmed. If your thoughts are racing, try shifting gears by listing every fruit, vegetable, animal, action movie, or anything else you can think of. 

13. Solve Mental Math

Just like listing items, solving some math problems gives you a grounding distraction you can focus on instead of fear. Try thinking of as many multiples of a number as you can or coming up with the square root of a random number to get your mind off of stress and anxious thoughts.

14. Count Backward

Counting backward gives your brain a break from stress and helps you reorient your thoughts to something neutral rather than negative. This technique can be especially helpful when you’re having a severe bout of anxiety or panic and need a simple task to focus on. 

15. Recite an Anchor Statement

Saying something to yourself like, “I am safe,” “My anxiety can’t hurt me,” “These are just thoughts,” or “I am strong” can help you stay grounded in the midst of an overwhelming situation. Your anchor statement doesn’t have to be something that specific, either. 

You could also recite song lyrics to give your brain a helpful distraction or, if you’re a person of faith, recite a specific scripture that gives you comfort. 

16. Practice Mental Drawing

Drawing in your mind is another helpful way to reorient your thoughts away from stress and anxiety. Even if you don’t think of yourself as much of an artist, try painting a picture in your mind as a means of relaxing and focusing on something creative. Your picture doesn’t have to be of something specific, either — abstract art is fine, too.

17. Make a Gratitude List

Thinking about what you’re most thankful for is one of the best ways to stay positive when you’re in a stressful situation. Focusing on everything in your life that deserves gratitude can also be a helpful distraction when anxiety and strong emotions start to feel overwhelming. You can write down your gratitude list on a piece paper, type it out on your phone, or just list off items in your head. 

18. Play a Game

Gaming is an incredible emotional outlet and can be especially helpful in times of stress and anxiety. Taking care of your farm in Stardew Valley or working on your castle in Minecraft can give you a positive and constructive distraction when you’re feeling overcome by anxiety and negative thoughts. You can even enjoy these games online in co-op mode to connect with others and get out of your head.

How Can Hero Journey Club Help?

Everyone needs support and encouragement when anxiety and negative thoughts hit. That’s where Hero Journey Club comes in. 

By combining a supportive community with the immersive virtual worlds of games like Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing, we give you a place where you can relax, be your real self, and learn new healthy ways to deal with stress and anxiety. Our weekly groups are facilitated by licensed therapists and pair gaming with constructive, encouraging discussion. Expect to form new relationships and build your confidence. 

Sign up for Hero Journey Club today and let us help you get set up with a group that’s the perfect fit for you.

Sources:

What is dissociation? | Mind

Grounding Techniques for Anxiety | Meridian University

Effect of breathwork on stress and mental health: A meta-analysis of randomised-controlled trials | Scientific Reports

Guided Visualization: Dealing with Stress | National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)