Feeling Anxious? 15 Simple Ways To Calm Your Senses In 3 Minutes Or Less

Grounding techniques are ways of calming yourself down by creating a connection to the here and now. It literally means to “ground” and anchor yourself to the concreteness of the present.

Before we can talk about the value of grounding techniques, we need to understand anxiety and its role in our lives. According to marriage and family therapist Emily Maynard, LMFT, “Anxiety is an adaptive process in our nervous systems necessary for human survival. Your anxiety triggers are unique to you based on your upbringing, experiences, personality, and physicality, but often anxiety comes in a moment of risk or fear.” When anxiety becomes disordered, the frantic emotions can pull you towards upsetting flashbacks, dissociation, rumination, and distress.

Although the experience can’t be eliminated altogether, it can be managed. That’s where grounding techniques come in.

“Grounding techniques are exercises that help us stay in the present moment and are designed to return our bodies back to our baseline,” Ernesto Lira de la Rosa, Ph.D., a psychologist and media advisor for the Hope for Depression Research Foundation, tells mbg. By gently turning away from your worries and focusing your attention back to the present, grounding allows you to decrease the intensity of the emotion and reduce bodily stress. 

Anxiety happens through a cascading physiological response. A grounding technique is a natural coping strategy that tells your brain you’re safe and OK. “Just as your body knows how to activate panic, it also knows how to return to a state of calm through your parasympathetic nervous system,” de la Rosa says.

Below, experts share some mindful and holistic grounding techniques to try out whenever you’re stressed, worried, or nervous. 

A note: While you’re working on grounding yourself, shine an empathetic light over your anxiety. As Maynard puts it, anxiety is a natural byproduct of being human, so try not to be too harsh or judge yourself for experiencing these emotions in the first place. “Anxiety is your body trying to protect you; it's just too eager, and so many of the pressures of modern life activate it. Your goal isn't to eliminate anxiety, but to live in harmony with this powerful part of your nervous system,” she says.

Advertisement

Conscious breathing can wash away unwanted stresses and balance the nervous system. It’s a useful tool to promote peace and relaxation in the body. “You start by exhaling all of your breath through your mouth,” de la Rosa advises. Then you take an inhale through your nose for 4 seconds, hold the breath for 7 seconds, and then exhale the breath through your mouth for 8 seconds. You repeat this cycle of breath at least 4 times.”

He says what makes 4-7-8 breathing (and breathing techniques like box breathing) so effective is how it can help you regulate your breathing. “It essentially helps your body feel safe and relaxed and can quell anxious thoughts,” he explains. “After doing this exercise, you will notice that your breathing patterns changed, and you may notice less tension in your body.”

Advertisement

“Try tensing your hands-–like making fists-–for several seconds and then releasing the tension. You can do this with your legs, arms, feet, etc,” de la Rosa says. Clenching your fists allows you to channel the energy of the emotion in your hands, then release it. 

“When you do these tense and release exercises, you are helping your body notice sensations of tension and relaxation,” de la Rosa says. “It can help distract you from some intense anxious thoughts or physiological experiences in your body.” 

Advertisement

When you stretch your body, you are redirecting your attention to any tense muscles. Notice if your neck or shoulders are stiff. If they are, take a moment to relax them. 

As you’re stretching your muscles, feel how your muscles contract when you activate different parts. How does it feel in the areas where you store stress, like your shoulders and neck? Take a beat to observe your muscle groups in between your tense and relaxed state. After a while, you should experience some relief from any agitating thoughts. 

Shifting a position may sound small, but this tiny action can have a mighty effect. Maynard shares that anxiety often involves looping thoughts, so engaging in a movement can help divert your attention away from the same thinking. “Stand and stretch your arms up and let them float back down slowly. Or if you’re sitting, press your feet firmly into the floor then release. Pay attention to the subtle shift in sensations,” she says. 

As you move, bring awareness to the earth beneath your feet and how the chair feels underneath your body. Paying attention to your body parts can be a reminder that the space around you is solid, unlike your thoughts which are whim to the shifting tides of your transient emotions. 

Advertisement

Maynard recommends using objects with unique textures or weight for extra sensation. This is a somatosensory technique that can remind you of what’s really happening in the moment. You can touch anything–this can look like a knit blanket, a fuzzy pillow, a textured ball, a weighted squeeze ball, or a smooth stone. If you want to go further, you can pay attention to the colors, its weight, and how it feels in your hand. 

“Pick up the item and put all your attention towards noticing the sensation of touching it,” she says. Keep your perception focused on your sensations and current surroundings.

Maynard advises using this method if you want to quickly move your attention away from anxiety. Put your hands under cold running water, touch an ice cube, drink ice water, sip a warm beverage, step outside into the cold air—whatever it is, just notice how your body responds to these new sensations. 

“When you turn your attention to the physical reality rather than anxiety’s fearful predictions, you’ll feel your body calm down within a minute or two,” she explains. 

“The 3-3-3 rule for anxiety is simple. When you are feeling anxious, it can be helpful to name three things you see, three things you hear, and then move three parts of your body,” de la Rosa says. “When you engage in this exercise, you are bringing your attention back to the room/setting you are in and also bringing attention to your body.”

If you enjoy the exercise, look for more nuance. Can you name that particular shade of color of the object? How does the noise sound to your ears? Are your joints stiff when you stretch? 

Maynard explains you can interrupt anxious thought spirals by simply turning your brain in another direction. Anxiety is adaptive and useful in certain situations, but when it takes up too much space, tame it by filling your mind with other things. Try not to force your perception and just bring curiosity to what’s around you. “It’s a little bit like trying to walk upstream in a rushing, anxious river at first, but just start, and it will begin to work,” she says.

One practical method to try: “Name objects you see around you, in increasing detail, like, ‘I see a chair, it’s a blue chair, it’s a blue velvet chair, it’s a blue velvet chair with brown legs and a white pillow, etc,’” Maynard explains. 

Close your eyes and connect to your breath. Imagine your breath traveling down the base of your spine and going past your feet, like you are a tree growing roots. Visualize the roots growing with the soil underneath, and the strength of the earth. As you continue breathing, imagine your breath blooming past your head and how it feels.

When you’re doing a visualization exercise, you can imagine anything that brings you peace. Perhaps it’s a beach, forest, or bonfire. What do the waves feel like? How do the trees sound when the wind plays with the leaves? Does the bonfire smell like s’mores? 

Look at the time. What’s around you right now? What’s in the room you’re in? If you’re thinking about a past event, remembering your surroundings will steer you away from experiencing flashbacks over a past event.

It doesn’t have to be what’s around you either. If you’re stuck, get creative with your thoughts. “You can think of lists: name all the flowers you can think of, cartoons, or the names of characters in your favorite book,” Maynard suggests. She recommends saying it out loud so you can further connect to the moment instead of what’s happening in your head. 

Sometimes, anxiety can saturate your reality so much that you feel like it’s a part of you instead of something that you’re temporarily experiencing.

In those instances, Maynard recommends imagining your anxiety as something separate from yourself. “Draw or describe it as a little gremlin puppet, an animal, or a cartoonish ghost. Then you can mentally narrate the story of your interactions with anxiety,” she says. By externalizing your anxious behaviors, you can take back the creative control of how anxiety impacts your life. 

Journaling evokes a deeper relationship with yourself and your emotions. As a grounding technique, sitting with your reflections may help you understand that your anxious thoughts are really just thoughts that come and go–like passing trains or fluffy clouds that float away into the distance. 

“You can begin to write all of the thoughts that come to your mind as a way to release those anxious thoughts. It can be helpful to read these thoughts after you finish with the exercises and remind yourself that these are anxious thoughts that are normal responses to anxiety,” de la Rosa says.

3.

Adapt any technique as needed to make it work for you.

Using ground techniques may help reduce your anxiety quickly, but it’s not a catchall solution. To optimize relief, maintaining a healthy lifestyle and taking care of yourself should run parallel to these coping strategies. 

If you see that your anxiety is becoming more intense and beginning to interfere with your daily life, de la Rosa advises seeing a professional or therapist at that point.

“Anxiety impacts many areas of our lives and can take a toll on our well-being. Talking to a professional can provide some short-term relief, but the process of therapy is different for everyone,” he adds. “It can be helpful to know that you are working with someone who will help guide you in understanding your anxiety.”

It’s impossible to avoid stress–we can’t always avoid fearful situations or difficult experiences–so finding tools to bring ourselves back into the moment are key. 

If you’re anxious often, Maynard recommends using grounding throughout the day. You can start small with just a few seconds and do more if you have time. What matters more is doing it as often as possible since it’s not just a one-time activity, but the beginning of a lifelong practice of being able to regulate yourself in a heart-forward way. Anxiety is a natural part of life, so it should be accepted without any shame.