Grounding to Reduce Anxiety
Grounding isn't just sinking your feet into dirt like they'd have you to believe. Read on for four constructive and easy ways to ground yourself to reduce anxious feelings. Grounding has helped me in more ways and more times than I could ever count or describe.
It takes me from a place of feeling like chaos is consuming me to a place where steady streams of peace flow through me.
Do you practice it? It’s not all barefoot and dirt my friends. Grounding is an effective way to calm anxious thoughts and feelings. Using your senses, you can effectively relax your impending survial response by creating a sense of normalcy and control over your situation. You can choose to respond to what is happening in life instead of react. Here are four constructive and easy ways to ground yourself to prevent and respond to anxiety.
FOUR WAYS TO GROUND YOURSELF
Using your five senses, identify: Five things you can see. Four things you can feel. Three things you can hear. Two things you can smell. One thing you can touch. Doing this allows you to bring and center your thoughts to what is physically surrounding you instead of taking inventory of the thoughts circling your mind.
Walk barefoot on natural ground (grass, dirt, sand, etc.) Grounding is a therapeutic technique that involves activities that "ground" or electrically reconnect you to the earth. This can reduce inflammation (which can contribute to anxiety) along with a multitude of other responses. According to a study, "the logical explanation for the anti-inflammatory effects is that grounding the body allows negatively charged antioxidant electrons from the Earth to enter the body and neutralize positively charged free radicals at sites of inflammation" https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.gov/25748085/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3265077/pdf/JEPH2012-291541.pdf
Aromatherapy Using tree or shrub oils, inhale the essential oil directly from the bottle and engage in box breathing (breathing in for four seconds, holding for four seconds, breathing out for four seconds, and then repeating three more times to equal four cycles). Be sure to inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. According to Healthline, "Breathing through your nose can help filter out dust and allergens, boost your oxygen uptake, and humidify the air you breathe in. Mouth breathing, on the other hand, can dry out your mouth. This may increase your risk of bad breath and gum inflammation. Mouth breathing may also make you more prone to allergies, asthma, and coughing." Using essential oils with this breathing practice may further oxygenate your brain, in turn, calming your body down. (https://www.healthline.com/health/nose-breathing#benefits)
Meditation/Prayer Choose a quiet, distraction free space to sit or lay comfortably in. Quiet your mind and pay attention to your breathing. Tune into your body. Look inward. If you have a challenging time doing this, start small and celebrate your successes. Look for a guided meditation app that will guide you through a meditation for 3-7 minutes before you begin doing them on your own. My favorite app to use is the SoulSpace app (https://soulspace.co/).
Just a reminder, in case you need it:
Joy is not wrong.
Peace is not wrong.
It’s not wrong to want more joy + peace in your life. You are worthy of those things and more.
