4 Grounding Techniques You Can Practice Now To Feel Calm Again

A healthy lifestyle is a key to living with a greater state of calm. This includes a healthy diet, exercise, good sleep, engaging in enriching relationships, and rest. However, in the real world where circumstances and responsibilities don’t always allow for these things, at times we can feel the opposite of calm.

Even with a healthy lifestyle, we are bound to feel emotionally disturbed or overwhelmed from time to time. Life can be hard and we are only human! When we are in a state of alarm, practicing grounding techniques can help us regain a state of calm. 

What Is Grounding?

Grounding, in the field of mindfulness, is coming back to the present moment. It is calming the mind and body down. Grounding techniques help ease uncomfortable or disturbing symptoms by pulling our focus away from the thoughts, memories, or worries causing distress and putting it on the present moment.  

When To Practice Grounding 

Grounding techniques are helpful when you are experiencing a disturbing feeling or symptom. Practicing grounding can help you when you are feeling any of the following:

• Anxiety or worry

• Panic attack

• Dissociation

• Urges to self-harm or harm others

• Flashbacks of traumatic memories 

• Intrusive thoughts 

• A general sense of overwhelm 

You can practice grounding techniques when you’re calm and composed, too. This can help you be more prepared to tackle challenges when they arise. 

Grounding Techniques

1. Focus On Your Breath

Our breath is medicine. Focusing on our breath is one of the simplest and most profound ways of grounding. And you can access it anytime, anywhere. Most of the time we don’t think of our breathing, we just do it. We often use a fraction of our lung capacity and miss out on the full benefits of breathing. 

Try breathing slowly and deeply. The exhale specifically activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which sends a message to your brain to calm down and relax. Long, deep breaths can help manage our stress response and ease anxiety, fear, and other intense disturbing emotions. 

Here are a few tips to practice mindful breathing: 

• Inhale through your nose, exhale through your mouth with pursed lips. 

• Practice belly breathing instead of chest breathing by engaging your diaphragm to fully fill your lungs with air all the way down. 

• Picture your lungs filling up with air as you inhale and releasing the air as you exhale.

• Count as you inhale and exhale. Make exhales twice as long. 

• Notice the chest rise and fall as you breathe. 

2. Move Your Body

Physical movement impacts our hormones and our nervous system. Bilateral movement is particularly beneficial in grounding, for the same reasons EMDR therapy is effective. Bilateral movement helps reconnect the right and left hemispheres of the brain, integrating our thoughts and feelings so that we can make better sense of our experiences. 

Try going on a walk (indoors or outdoors) and tune into the feeling of your body moving. Notice the feeling of your legs, how one foot steps in front of the other rhythmically, the sensation of your feet hitting the ground, and your arms resting by your body. 

If your body is feeling too pumped and full of emotion for a mindful walk, try engaging in a different kind of physical activity. You can try running up and down the stairs, running outside or on a treadmill, doing yard work, or doing your favorite kind of exercise. After letting out pent-up energy, you may feel more ready to practice other calming techniques. 

3. Engage Your Senses: The 5-4-3-2-1 Technique 

The 5-4-3-2-1 technique is an easy-to-remember way of engaging your senses. The point is to turn your attention away from the distressing thoughts and feelings and focus on the present moment. Try to notice details that your brain normally tunes out. Follow these steps:

• What are 5 things you can see?

E.g., the details on the flooring or rug underneath you, the pattern on the ceiling, the reflection of light on an object.  

• What are 4 things you can feel?

E.g., the texture of your hair, the smoothness or roughness of your skin, the firmness of the ground your feet are resting on. 

• What are 3 things you can hear?

E.g., traffic noise, birds chirping outside your window, the sound of air moving in and out of your lungs. 

• What are 2 things you can smell?

E.g., A candle burning, wet soil, freshly mowed grass. 

• What is 1 thing you can taste? 

If you can, pop a small piece of food in your mouth, like candy or gum. Focus on the layers of flavor.

4. Practice Kind Self-Talk

What would you say to a good friend who is experiencing what you are experiencing? Chances are you would be kind and try to comfort them. Extending that same kindness and understanding to yourself can be powerful.

Talking to yourself may feel strange, but think about how much you already do it without realizing it. Do you ever tell yourself to “focus” or “get over” something? 

Practicing self-compassion talk isn’t any different. You can do it out loud or in your head. Try repeating phrases like: 

• “Of course you’re overwhelmed, this is really rough.”

• “Life is hard right now, and you’re doing your best.”

• “You can do hard things, you have before.”

• “This feels really big right now, but it will pass.”

Validate the difficulty of what you are experiencing and be kind to the part of you that is doing its best. 

The Importance Of Grounding In EMDR Therapy

Grounding is an important part of EMDR therapy. An EMDR therapist will likely incorporate grounding techniques into sessions. In fact, one focus of the first few phases of EMDR therapy is for the client to learn and practice grounding techniques. 

EMDR can bring up unpleasant feelings, thoughts, and memories, which is where grounding techniques come in handy. If and when a client becomes very disturbed by focusing on a traumatic or stressful memory, the therapist will help the person come back to the present moment through grounding techniques.

Commonly used techniques during EMDR are imagining a safe or happy place, breathwork, and engaging the senses. Learning to practice grounding techniques in and outside EMDR sessions can greatly increase the effectiveness of therapy.  

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