4 Simple Grounding & Regulation Tools You Can Use Right Now (When You Feel Overwhelmed)

Would you like to move from feeling overwhelmed to feeling calm? We all have moments when coping with everything around us becomes too much - and even a simple task such as focusing on the breath feels like a huge task. 

There are also times when a therapy session is not very accessible, maybe even friends and family aren't around, and you need something immediate. 

If you've been feeling like this lately, here are the 4 simplest ways to help your body remember that you're safe. Use these techniques whenever you feel anxious, depressed, stressed, dysregulated, triggered, dissociated, overwhelmed or heavy.

1. Anchor in the body
   

Take a moment to feel your feet on the floor. Notice the texture, the temperature of the surface your feet are touching. Gently inquire how it feels to feel your feet on the ground.

Notice your sit bones, the base of your seat, your entire body weight sinking into the seat. How does it feel to receive this holding and support from your environment?

Notice the touch of your palms, the sensations of that point of contact that your palms are making with the surface they're touching. The texture, the temperature... really tuning into the feeling of it.

And finally, move your attention to the natural flow of your breath.... feeling the touch of the breath at the entrance of your nostrils. Ensure that you do not try to change your breathing. 

2. The 5-4-3-2-1 sensory check
   

Take a slow breath in… and out.

Now, gently notice and look around

• 5 things you can see

• 4 things you can touch

• 3 things you can hear

• 2 things you can smell

• 1 thing you can taste
  

Pause, breathe, reflect and feel your body in the present moment.

3. Belly Breathing / Diaphragmatic Breathing
   

Take a moment to ground your feet on the floor.

Keep one hand on your chest, and one hand on your belly. As you breathe, make sure the hand on your chest doesn't move much. This will ensure that the inhalation is deep, from the belly - making only the hand on your belly, moving up and down. The movement of the belly stimulates the vagus nerve in our diaphragm, which in-turn starts the relaxation response/parasympathetic response in the body.

Now, take a deep inhalation for 5 counts.

Hold the breath for 5 counts.

Exhale for 8 counts, by blowing the air out from your mouth.

Make sure the exhalation is full and complete.

Repeat this breathing technique for as long as needed and see if your shoulders drop, your jaw loosens or your heartbeat steadies. 

4. Safe place visualization
   

When the body feels unsafe and when the mind is racing with negative thoughts, it helps to touch into an imaginary/real safe place or a person.

So take a moment to ground, and think of a place, person, memory, pet or even an object that gives you a sense of safety.

As you visualize it, sense into your body and notice how this safety shows up in the body. Allow yourself to stay here and feel it, while breathing with it.

When can you use these tools?

You don’t have to wait for an anxiety attack or breakdown to try these simple techniques. In fact, the more you practice them when you’re calm and grounded, the easier it becomes for your body to remember them when you truly need them. Consistency is key, even here! 

How these small tools support deeper therapy?

When a client is experiencing trauma imprints coming out, it often leads to a brain-body disconnect. As if the increasing overwhelm and lack of safety results in a fuse, numbness and dissociation. This is our nervous system's mechanism to keep us safe. In therapy, as we're trying to access these traumatic memory imprints to process and heal them, it is hence important to reconnect with the body. To remind ourselves to gently come back to the present moment.

Many clients often find it very difficult to even stay with the body, because of how unsafe it feels. These tools also establish that sense of safety in the body.

They are helpful tools in regulating the nervous system and bringing in a sense of calm and presence, from where deeper insight, processing and healing can emerge.

If you’d like to explore this deeper, you can book a free 15-minute discover call here.