Grounding

Grounding - You have likely heard  of it before, but why does it matter and how can it help you? 

Grounding Is an amazing skill for those that struggle with anxiety, depression or trauma related thought pattern. Grounding  is about getting reconnected with your body and with the present moment, so that you have a way out of those negative thoughts and feelings associated with anxiety or traumatic stress. When you are having an anxious moment, or you are experiencing a memory or thought pattern from past trauma, in most cases people are very much focused on those thoughts or are overwhelmed by the feelings of that moment. In these moments you are likely quite disconnected from the present circumstances and environment. This is where grounding comes into play. 

Think of grounding  as a bridge between the stress response and to coping skills that you need to reengage in life. 

At any given moment, you are oriented to your surroundings through your five senses. This means that  you know where you are at the current moment based off of what you see in your surrounding, what you hear, what you smell, touch, etc. You can use the fact that humans orient based off of our senses in those moment when you may be overwhelmed by an anxious thought or trauma response.

54321 grounding is a very common technique that people use to help themselves reorient when they are feeling overwhelmed. In this exercise the individual note 5 things that they see, four things that they can touch, three things that they can hear, etc. This works for a number of people; however, there are times that this exercise may not be effective for more intense symptoms. When these symptoms get intense, an exercise  like this, may not cut it.  In these cases, it can be helpful to introduce sensory stimulation as an intentional act of getting in touch with your body and orienting to the present circumstances. This could literally be anything that engages our senses, But here are a few examples. 

Sight- Trace the pattern with your eyes that you see, noticed details in a picture, notice colors-noting details of shades, etc.

Sound - Search for the sound of air conditioning or traffic outside, listen to music and search for different instruments or qualities to the music, attempt to make out words from a conversation down the hallway

Smell- Essential oils, use a scented lotion, even cooking spices can be a great way to introduce the sense of smell 

Touch- Fidgets or other small toys that you can rub in your hands, weighted blankets or weighted lap pillows, feeling the texture of clothing or other fabrics nearby, keeping a rough texture like sandpaper, or a jagged stone nearby, even holding some ice

Taste- This is one of my favorite tools that is often ignored  but has some really powerful connections to your brain. If you can implement a strong sense of taste it will have some really big impacts in pulling you back into your body. Strong mints, Lemonheads, sour candies, cinnamon disks— Think strong powerful tasting flavors. These can be highly engaging to bringing you back into the moment.

Think about it. It’s really hard to ignore the fact that you have a strong sour candy in your mouth because of the way that your mouth and body engage with that flavor.

Side note: Many  of my clients in the midst of trauma recovery find that they are drawn to vaping or smoking in times of traumatic of anxious responses. (There is research that indicates this as well.) While the biological components of nicotine is a real factor, many find that this connection with the sense of taste is actually a part of their grounding experience. 

These are just a few common examples. The reason that this model and way thinking about grounding is so helpful that it is highly adaptable to all sorts of work situations or school life or lifestyle variations. Get as creative as needed in order to implement these basic ideas in a way that is going to be most effective and helpful for you in your life.

Are you interested in leaning more about developing healthy emotional regulation skills for yourself, child or teen? Is anxiety therapy something that you have considered? Are located in the DFW, Dallas, Arlington, Mansfield, Grand Prairie or surrounding Texas Areas? Or are you a Texas resident interested in learning more about online therapy services. Learn more about our options our Arlington, TX based counseling group offers for for affordable counseling services both in office and virtually.