When anxiety spikes, your body's alarm system is doing its job a little too well. Grounding is a way of gently telling that alarm it can quiet down. None of this is a cure — it's a way to get enough footing to take the next small step.
Start with your breath
A few slow breaths signal safety to your nervous system. Try breathing out for longer than you breathe in — it's the out-breath that does the calming.
- Breathe in for a count of four
- Breathe out, slowly, for a count of six
- Repeat until your shoulders drop a little
Does this sound familiar? Chap can help you sort through what is coming up and choose one small next step.
Come back to your senses
When your mind is racing ahead, your senses live only in the present. Naming what's around you pulls you out of the spiral.
- Five things you can see
- Four things you can feel
- Three things you can hear
- Two things you can smell
- One slow breath
Say it out loud
Worry tends to shrink when it leaves your head. Telling a trusted person — or a trained Peer Coach — what's on your mind often takes some of the charge out of it. You don't have to have the words sorted first.