7 Grounding Techniques for When Deep Breathing Isn’t Cutting It
Quick Tools for a Nervous System in Crisis
Don’t get me wrong, I love a breathing technique. But I know from experience that we’re not always in the mental space to focus on a combination of counting, deep breaths, and maybe even a visualization, especially when you’re not being guided through it. Below are a few focus-free ways to get grounded when you just literally can’t even.
My unofficial challenge to you is to practice one of these every day for a week. Pick a good time of day. Set a reminder on your phone. Take a couple minutes to get grounded (Literally, one of these includes getting on the ground). See which of these tools vibes best with you and keep it in your life moving forward. I always say to practice when it’s easy because you’re installing this pathway into your brain, into your muscle memory. When you’re already activated, you don’t want to be scrolling through your bookmarks to find your grounding skills. You want your body memory to take over, get you grounded, no added mental stress.
EFT Tapping
If you’ve ever worked with me, you know this one is my favorite. EFT stands for Emotional Freedom Technique. The full version is actually pretty long, so I use an abbreviated version that seems to work just as well. And like I said, we’re looking for focus-free here, so short and sweet does it.
This little number uses a combination of psychology and acupressure to soothe different endpoints of meridians and tap in a new belief. The good news with this one is that even if you skip steps, do them out of order, or mess up the general phrase, it still works! Check out the video below for a quick easy tutorial.
Lying on the ground. Yes, really.
When you lay flat on your back, it opens up your posture and relaxes muscles that have been working hard for you all day. You know I love that mind-body connection. When your body feels better, your mind feels better too (and vice versa). Lying on the ground is comfortable-ish but just uncomfortable enough to prevent you from your go-to ruminating thoughts and lets you tune more into your physical experience. It becomes necessary for your body to relax the muscles to actually get comfortable and decompress.
If you want to take it one step further, you can even go outside and lay in the grass (or sit in a chair with bare feet in the grass if mobility is limited). There is evidence that suggests connection with the ground, and especially the earth, can decrease stress and inflammation in the body.
The Earlobe Polyvagal Massage
No, this isn’t a reference to that hilariously awkward scene in, “Meet the Fockers,” but there might be a similar through line here. Our outer ears connect to our vagus nerve, a major nerve of your parasympathetic (rest and digest) nervous system. Giving a little TLC to your outer ear can help calm you down in a tense moment. Here is a little tutorial video!
The Tongue Slide
Props to my physical therapist for this technique. The tongue slide gives a quick and easy reset if you don’t mind touching your tongue (maybe give those hands a wash for some peace of mind).
Just like the earlobe, the tongue, throat, and jaw also connect to the vagus nerve. For example, you might notice that you unconsciously clench your jaw when you feel stressed, which can inadvertently send signals to your nervous system to stay in “fight/flight/freeze/fawn” mode. You’ll see how easy this one is after you do it!
Step 1: Lay flat on your back without a pillow (this technique can also include our favorite grounding zone again: the ground!)
Step 2: Stick out your tongue, but keep it loosey goosey.
Step 3: Using your pointer finger and thumb, gently hold your tongue right around the middle (don’t worry about being exact).
Step 4: Let the weight of your tongue slowly retract itself back into your mouth, sliding through the gentle pressure of your fingers. You can repeat another time or two if you’d like.
Step 5: Take a moment and notice what feels different.
Humming
We’re building our vagal nerve knowledge here. Humming also stimulates the vagal nerve in your parasympathetic system, signalling to the body that you are safe and you can relax.
When we hum, it’s not only whimsical and fun, it also sends vibrations into the throat and chest directly touching the vagal nerve. If that wasn’t enough, humming also requires you to breathe deeper, which lowers blood pressure, increases blood flow, and reduces your resting heart rate. Incredible!
Cheers to another reason we can thank Taylor Swift for making such catchy songs.
Shake and Release
I think you know this Taylor Swift reference too. The need to shake is wired into our biology more than social norms would allow. When animals survive an attack in the wild, their body literally shakes afterwards until it has released the trauma. We need that too, even though it can feel a little silly. Shaking helps your muscles release tension and excess adrenaline, as well as calm your nervous system.
This is probably self-explanatory, but there isn’t a wrong way to do this! Sit or stand, let your arms hang, bounce a little on your toes and let your body go where it wants to go. You can get as into this as your body and embarrassment meter allows. And laugh! It’s a little silly, and laughing is good for your nervous system too.
So shake it off!
Color Vision
I’ve saved this one for last because admittedly, it does require a tiny bit of visualization and breathing, but the main thing is the eye position.
Step 1: Sit or lay in a comfortable place.
Step 2: Look around your environment until your eyes land somewhere comfortable (or even pleasing) to look.
Step 3: Pick a color that feels grounding to you.
Step 4: Imagine that a laser beam of that color is shooting from that point in your environment and into your body.
Step 5: Take deep breaths, imagining that with each breath the color spreads through your body more and more, putting each cell at rest.
Step 6: Breathe the color in until you feel more calm. Remember to breathe out all the way.
If you aren’t able to meet with me for whatever reason, I hope these self-guided, focus-free tools bring you and your body some peace. Feel free to reach out to let me know how your seven day challenge goes and which tool is your favorite!
Happy grounding!