The pressure in your chest and fast-paced breathing are feelings that many of us associate with anxiety. When anxiety builds up, there is a way to help ourselves calm down through grounding. Read on as we explain grounding and how it helps you deal with anxiety.
What Is Grounding?
Grounding is a technique geared toward helping you refocus your mind and shift thoughts away from troubling thinking. These techniques distract you from the triggering event and help you find a neutral point in your mind where you may have a better perspective on the situation.
Some items can help with grounding, such as worry stones that you could carry around when you expect to encounter an anxiety-inducing situation. Grounding is often one of the first steps to take when you experience an anxiety attack, and it helps you stop the persistent feeling of stress.
How Does Grounding Help Anxiety?
Using grounding techniques mitigates anxiety and helps people feel more calm. During an anxiety attack, your sense of your surroundings diminishes, and you can’t focus on what’s happening around you. Your mind needs a way to slow down and process the mental storm in your head, and grounding creates that space to help you weather the storm.
Grounding can help with anxiety by creating a point at which people may stand and assess. Thoughts become clear, and you realize how to solve your problem and get back to your full capacity.
Grounding Techniques
There are many grounding techniques that help people with anxiety. Holding ice is a simple method to focus the senses on a single sensation: the cold in your hand. As the ice melts, the additional feeling of moisture in your hand or the drops of water falling may allow you to focus on what’s happening.
A common grounding technique is the 5-4-3-2-1 technique. It requires you to list five things you see, four things you can feel, three things you hear, two things you smell, and one thing you taste. You’ll calm down and reshift your focus as you focus on these sensations.
Most grounding techniques involve using the senses to shift your attention away from the rising anxiety. If you ever feel an anxiety attack coming on, find something strong to smell or taste to help you refocus. Combating anxiety is challenging, but grounding gives you a better chance of feeling yourself. Use grounding techniques when necessary to help you feel less flighty and more at ease with the world around you.
Check out: 5 Ways How Anxiety Negatively Affects Your Overall Health
