Anxiety can come up for anyone, and I think it’s fair to say that all of us deal with anxiety from time to time. While it can feel frustrating, anxiety is actually a completely normal response to uncertainty. When we’re faced with a problem, anxiety helps kick our bodies into high gear to solve that problem, and the anxiety often fades away when the problem is resolved. If you read our earlier post, you may remember the distinction between Content and Process Anxiety. When we kick into high gear and solve problems in order to make the uncertain certain, that is Content Anxiety.
But you may also remember Process Anxiety. This kind of anxiety happens when we can’t predict when or how a worrisome situation is going to resolve. And so our bodies don’t know how to turn down that anxiety response without a little extra help. That’s where grounding comes in.
Grounding is essentially a process that can help you reconnect to your body and the present moment. So often when we’re feeling anxious, our brains are off worrying about the future. We’re stuck in our heads, and not in the moment. Grounding can help bring us back to the present. These are a few favorites from the psychologists in the collective!
A note before you start: these are optional exercises, not a required step before you can do things. Anxiety doesn’t have to disappear for an exercise to be useful, and you can carry on with your day, or face a hard situation, while some anxiety is still there. In fact, for many anxiety problems, treatment involves learning to approach situations while allowing some anxiety to remain. Go gently, and adapt or stop any exercise if it makes you dizzy, lightheaded or uncomfortable. This is especially important if you live with a vestibular condition, migraine or POTS. These are general grounding exercises, not a replacement for vestibular rehabilitation or other exercises your medical team has prescribed.
Abdominal Breathing
Abdominal, or Diaphragmatic, Breathing is a simple breathing technique to try when you’re anxious. Your diaphragm is the muscle under your lungs; when it moves down as you breathe in, your belly gently rises.
Sit or lie down comfortably and rest one hand on your belly. Breathe in slowly and gently through your nose, letting your belly rise under your hand without forcing a big breath. Then breathe out slowly, letting your belly fall. A comfortable rhythm is fine; there is no need to fill your lungs as much as possible or hold your breath. Keep going for a few minutes.
How did that feel? Slowing down and paying attention to your breath helps many people feel calmer and more settled. If it makes you feel lightheaded, return to your normal breathing.
5-4-3-2-1 Mindfulness Exercise
5-4-3-2-1 is an easy grounding practice for your 5 senses. First, look around and name 5 things you can see. Give yourself a couple seconds to notice each item you choose, observing their colors, shapes, and sizes. This is called mindful noticing!
Then, name 4 things you can touch, and get up to touch them if needed. Notice their textures, temperatures, hardness or softness, and other details. Maybe your dog or cat is nearby to pet (that’s always my favorite!).
Next, name 3 things you can hear. What else can you notice about the sounds? Where are they coming from? Are they loud or quiet? Pleasant or annoying? If you think you’re in a pretty quiet room, this may take a minute. But I bet if you really tune in, you can hear sounds like air conditioning or fans, cars outside, or maybe a dog barking down the street. Do your best to tune into even those faint sounds.
Now, name 2 things you can smell. If they’re not immediately obvious, feel free to look around a bit and find things. Perhaps there’s a candle in the room with you, or you can kneel down and smell grass outside. Maybe it’s a faint smell of paper, or the laundry detergent in your clothes. Notice if these smells bring up any emotions or sensations for you.
Finally, name 1 thing you can taste, and taste it! Again, you may need to go find something, and that’s completely ok. Even water counts! And if you recently finished a meal, perhaps you can still taste that.
If it helps, you can do a second round with new items, or slow down and pay close attention to each one. If it isn’t helping, it’s fine to stop. The point is to reconnect with the present, not to force the anxiety to go away.
Peripheral Eye Movements
Have you ever noticed an almost tunnel-vision-like sensation when you’ve been really anxious? If so, you’re not making it up. That’s actually part of your body’s fight or flight response, which often occurs when we’re anxious or highly stressed. When your body goes into fight or flight mode, it’s literally preparing you to fight a threat or run away (like a cave person running from a bear). If you have to focus on a threat right in front of you, why would you need to look anywhere else? That’s where the tunnel vision phenomenon comes from.
Some people find that gently widening their gaze, instead of staying locked in that tunnel vision, helps them feel more present and less on edge. One optional exercise to try is what I call Moving Around the Clock. It’s a simple grounding suggestion, not a clinical treatment.
Picture a big, round clock in front of you. We’re going to move our eyes to different points on the clock, without moving our heads. Start by moving your eyes from the center to where 1:00 would be, then move back to center. Then go to 3:00, and back to the center. Continue doing this with 5:00, 7:00, 9:00, and 11:00. You can do this multiple times if it helps. Move slowly, and skip this one or stop if eye movements make you dizzy or bring on symptoms.
Bilateral Stimulation
Bilateral stimulation (BLS) is a fancy word for a pretty simple concept. It simply means doing a gentle, rhythmic movement that alternates between the left and right sides of your body. BLS can be as simple as walking! You’re moving (activating) each leg back and forth. That’s it! Going on a walk can be surprisingly helpful for anxiety. But what if you’re in a situation where you can’t just get up and take a walk, or your mobility doesn’t allow for walking?
One way you can practice BLS is by tapping your hands on your legs back and forth. Try this at a gentle, relaxed pace for at least 30 seconds. Some people find it calming, or notice they can think a little more clearly during or after. Researchers are still studying how and why bilateral stimulation affects people, so treat it as something to try and see how it feels for you.
Another way to practice it is with the Butterfly Hug. Cross your arms in front of your body so that your hands can tap on opposite shoulders. Then simply tap back and forth. The Butterfly Hug can feel especially soothing.
If the term BLS sounds familiar, it could be because it’s used in EMDR therapy for trauma. In EMDR it is one part of a structured treatment with a trained therapist, which is different from using it on your own as a grounding exercise.
Try them for yourself!
Try these for yourself to see which, if any, feel helpful. Every person is different, so you may enjoy some more than others, and that’s completely okay. Grounding can help you feel more present, but if anxiety is regularly keeping you from things that matter to you, therapy approaches like CBT, which often include gradually facing feared situations, can help more than grounding on its own.
More resources for managing anxiety
If you’re looking for more support for your anxiety than these tips can offer, all of the psychologists at Telegraph Psychology Collective (formerly North Berkeley Counseling Collective) specialize in anxiety and can give you much more support. Therapists in the collective offer in-person therapy for anxiety in Berkeley, as well as online therapy for adults in California, New York, Florida, Hawaii, and Virginia. You can even book an appointment here!