Grounding Techniques for Anxiety
Deep Breathing
The first technique to lessen anxiety most people learn is to take three full slow breaths. It is pretty easy to remember when you are in an anxious state. On the first breath, you focus on filling the very bottom of your lungs in such a way that your belly pushes out. You breath in slowly through your nose and when you exhale, you control you breath to take slightly longer than the inhale and through your mouth. On the second breath, you think about filling the middle part of your lungs, so you feel your ribs expanding and again, exhale slowly through you lips as if you were blowing bubbles. Finally on the third breath, you think about filling the top of your lungs and suck in a few more times at the top of your breath than you normally would at the end of the inhale, and again exhale slowly through your lips. The amygdala detects stress in the environment, stores memories of past stressful events and emotions, to help us react in the future. When we breath quickly, it signals the amygdala there is danger and when breathing slowly, the amygdala knows danger has passed. Imagine running from a sabertooth tiger, and then getting to safety. Once safe, you slow your breathing, and your body knows it does not need any more adrenaline. So, if you are feeling anxious, try three breaths.
The Dive Response / TIP Skill
Activating the dive response is another way to help calm your system. You’ve seen movies where someone goes into a bathroom and splashes water on their face. Well, it’s a thing. When a person dives, their head is lower than their heart and their face is in water. The heart slows down to help conserve oxygen in the blood. When your heart slows down, you begin to calm down. The act of bending over the sink and splashing water on your face has the same effect. This is the first part of the TIP skill from DBT’s distress tolerance skills. The T stands for temperature. Taking a hot or cold shower, stepping outside in the winter, holding or chewing on ice, or running cold water over your wrists all have the effect of calming you down.
The I in TIP stands for intense exercise and everyone knows exercise is good for mental and physical health, but a short burst of intense exercise has the effect of calming an intense emotion. The P stands for paced breathing. It also stands for paired muscle relaxation, where you tense muscle groups and the relax them, noticing how you feel when you allow your muscles to relax and let gravity help you sink into your chair.
Body Scan
The fuzzy hand technique is my favorite. Hold your attention on your hands until you begin to feel something. The first time might take a few moments, but eventually you will feel a soft tingling, hum, or vibration, perhaps warmth and cold at the same time. Some people describe it as a heaviness, but you definitely did not feel it before you put your attention there. Then focus on your forearms until you feel the same thing and lastly your biceps and triceps. For me to feel the buzzing in my upper arm, takes longer to arrive and I almost have to pretend I can feel it, before I actually do feel it. You can do the same thing with your feet, then your shins and calves and finally your hamstrings and quadriceps. Once you have done your extremities, you focus on your trunk and in your imagination describe with words what you feel. Finally you focus on your scalp, forehead, eye lids, cheeks and jaw. Allowing each part to relax with every exhale. This body scan technique is very calming.
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