Iris Plants Her Roots Into Grounding

As some may already know, I am very fond of grounding exercises. Here on 7 Cups when you say the words grounding exercise many will immediately think of the 5 senses or ‘5-4-3-2-1’ grounding method. Today I want to give a bit more information and options when it comes to grounding.

What is Grounding?

Grounding is a self-soothing technique that helps you refocus on being present in the moment using a variety of exercises to direct your focus to something other than anxious thoughts and feelings you may be experiencing. Grounding exercises can be used to cultivate distance from upsetting or distressing emotions, and can be particularly useful when you are experiencing anxiety, stress, depression, PTSD, dissociation, but are also good for improving your overall well-being and mood.

Types of Grounding Techniques and Exercises

There are lots of different grounding exercises available, there are three categories of grounding exercises I will touch on quickly, physical grounding, mental grounding, and soothing, or what I like to think of as emotional grounding.

Physical grounding exercises focus on being aware of your senses and body. Many of the most well-known grounding exercises fall into this category and include things like the five senses grounding, breathing exercises, or even taking a walk or exercising.

Mental grounding exercises instead use mental distractions to draw your thoughts and feelings away from the distressing ones. Some popular mental grounding exercises include solving a bunch of simple math problems, counting by threes (or any number that requires focus so I don’t recommend twos, fives, or tens), alphabetically listing as many objects of a category (for example colors, animals, etc) as you can, or even reciting a favorite poem or passage.

Soothing grounding exercises are ones where you try to comfort yourself, they often seek to promote good feelings to help balance against the distressing ones, may help them fade, and can help you feel less overwhelmed. A few soothing grounding exercises include listening to music (put on a favorite song and listen to it like it’s that first time again, hear the words, and the melody, and focus on the emotions you feel when listening), spending time with a pet, picture a loved one, make a list of favorites or positives, and practicing self-kindness.

You may find one type of grounding exercise works best for you, but each type has its benefits.

Tips and Things to Remember

• Start sooner, grounding exercises work best when we use them early. Don’t wait to be overwhelmed before you consider using them, if you start to feel upset you can immediately start to work on grounding as well.
• Slow down, grounding exercises take time. While we often want to rush through and feel better faster, grounding exercises often require that we slow down, really focus and give them our attention.
• Grounding exercises don’t always make you feel better. Grounding exercises can help us refocus and feel better, but sometimes they just help us to cope and not feel worse instead, which is still beneficial.
• Grounding exercises require practice. Like any skill, self-soothing with grounding exercises is something we can practice and get better at, learning not only what types work for us, but seeing the early signs when we should start using them, and understanding what makes them effective for us.
• Not every grounding exercise will work for everyone or in every situation. Exploring different types and methods can help you find the ones that work best for you, but remember that when trying a new method it may take time to feel any benefit.
• You don’t have to pick just one. You may find that looking at some of the examples I’ve given you already often use more than one type of grounding exercise at the same time, although I wouldn’t try to do 5 senses grounding while also counting by threes.
• Grounding is something you can do by yourself or with others. It can be good to learn to use grounding exercises on our own, but having support and encouragement when trying a grounding exercise can help us to stick with it.
  
  

Looking for more ideas or information?:

https://www.healthline.com/health/grounding-techniques#when-to-use

https://www.verywellmind.com/grounding-techniques-for-ptsd-2797300

https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/click-here-for-happiness/202208/what-are-grounding-techniques

Now I want to hear from you!

• What are some grounding exercises you have tried?
• What is your favorite grounding exercise, if any?
• What do you find helps when you are trying a grounding exercise?

Please feel free to share your thoughts and experiences, including what has and hasn’t worked for you!