5+ Best Grounding Techniques For You To Feel In Control Of Reality

Have you seen a gas balloon? When you don’t tie it flies away in the air and there is no way to get it back!

Well, our thoughts are nothing less than this balloon. If you don’t have them grounded they will fly away in all directions. While taking a turn into imagination can offer happiness, taking a turn into the worry zone can make you feel overwhelmed at a snap. So, it becomes important that you make sure that your thoughts don’t drift

Basically, if your thoughts drift on the pleasant road, enjoy it! But, if the road is uncomfortable grounding techniques are here for your rescue.

Best Grounding Techniques:

Grounding Technique 1: Creating Awareness

Your monkey mind starts to hop when you don’t pay attention to it. So, the first grounding technique focuses on bringing attention to the hopping mind and thoughts. Here are the three golden rules for you to abide by to make this grounding technique work:

• Observe your thoughts when they are drifting.
• Do not judge them, let them flow in.
• Now ask yourself why this question came, is it trying to remind you of something or providing you with suggestions to a problem. If these thoughts are helpful make a note of them, they are giving you important messages. However, if these thoughts are unhelpful or overwhelming, just take the message they are delivering and replace it with a positive one.

Creating awareness as a grounding technique works like a filtration process. You pick the helpful thoughts, you strain out the important messages from the unhelpful ones, and finally replace them with positive thoughts. Calming your monkey mind.

You may journal it all down to amplify this grounding technique.

Grounding Technique 2: The Feet and the Ground

I bet some of us might be using this grounding technique knowingly or unknowingly in our lives. But, this time we will be doing it with more focus and in a way that helps us feel grounded. I also like to call it to swing where you are!

• Press your heels towards the ground. Let the feeling of you being connected to the ground swing in.
• Release
• Next, press your toes against the ground (equal pressure from big to small toe).
• Release
• Now, do it back and forth. You will feel like your entire body is swinging while you are standing at the same place.

It is better practiced with your shoes and socks off!

You can choose your time limit to do it. And please don’t shy off from singing some kind words to yourself while practicing it.

Grounding Technique 3: Welcome External Stimuli

If you have a special place in your heart for the environment this grounding technique is definitely perfect for you. Just follow these instructions:

• Think of any element from the environment that makes you happy or you adore it. Say for example it’s a leaf.
• Now imagine that you are holding that leaf in your hand.
• Bring your focus on the texture of it. Is it a smooth, spikey, or rough leaf?
• What is the shape of the leaf that you are? Is it round, long, and straight or heart-shaped?
• Focus on different aspects of the leaf-like its length, smell (if any).

This way you will shift your attention to something external and calm your thoughts too. It is a great mental grounding technique.

You may close your eyes or practice this grounding technique with open eyes (the choice is yours).

Grounding Technique 4: Clench and Release

This grounding technique might sound little of the track at first. But, trust me at that moment when your thoughts can’t stop dancing, it is a great way to show them the red flag. So, how to practice this grounding technique?

• Just take a deep breath… inhale count till 4… hold count till 6… slowly exhale by counting till 8.
• Now clench your fists (make sure you don’t hurt yourself, be gentle).
• Slowly release them.

You can make this physical grounding technique work even more effectively by merging it with a mental grounding technique of using a mantra.

• When you clench your fist say a kind and powerful mantra to yourself. You may pick one from our pool of positive affirmations or create on your own. Just make sure it makes you feel happy and powerful.
• Then, slowly release your clenched fists.
• Repeat it 5 times (minimum) or as long as you want to feel grounded.

Grounding Technique 5: Just Breathe

When your thoughts take you to a stressful or panic zone your body gives your minds a fire alarm message and all your body system gets over-activated to protect you from the possible threat. But, if it continues it might do more harm than good! So, creating harmony and balance you have to cool your body down by turning on its very personal air conditioner. That my friend is deep belly breaths. You can find various breathing templates that work well for adults and kids here. You may also take a print out of these templates and place them in your kid’s study area, change them on a weekly basis and help them along with yourself.

Other Useful Grounding Techniques:

Grounding Techniques For All:

These are my personal favorite go-to grounding techniques.

1. The 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Technique

5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique as it gives you a sense of being in the here and now. All you have to do is re-orient yourself by bringing your senses and hence your focus on the moment. The technique is simple:

1. Acknowledge the 5 things that you can see around you.
2. Acknowledge the 4 things in your surroundings that you can touch.
3. Acknowledge the 3 things around you that you can hear.
4. Acknowledge two things in your current environment that you can smell.
5. Acknowledge 1 thing that you can taste.

And let the mindfulness trick work!

2. Full Body Scan Grounding Technique

Body scanning is a way to intentionally bring your focus on your body, all parts of it. It is a comparatively more systematic grounding technique involving your entire body and following the sensations. There are different body scan mindfulness techniques. To find the best body scan grounding technique for yourself read the full blog here.

Grounding Techniques For Kids:

Although generally, the grounding techniques mentioned above works well for kids as well but, to meet their creative minds we have a special section devoted to them.

The 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Technique Kids Version

Kids might not be able to think of lots of things to smell, taste, or hear. So, we can alternatively collaborate with the 5-4-3-2-1 mindfulness tool with their learning and activities book. So the instructions for kids will be:

• Think of 5 shapes that you can draw and call them out.
• Think of 4 colors that you know and call them out.
• Think of 3 animals that are your favorite and call their name out.
• Think of 2 family members and tell their names.
• Think of your favorite flower and share its name.

You may use other aspects or jumble the given ideas. Ultimately the focus is to bring all the senses to the moment.

Imitation for Awareness Grounding Technique

Kids love imitating! In fact, it is an important checkpoint in their development. We are going to use this developmental benchmark in calming their anxiety and putting horses to their unhelpful thoughts.

• Ask your child to think of anything, a superhero flying in the air, a tree, or a cat.
• Now ask them to imitate the creature they picked.
• Guide them through the process.

They will have a fun time on one hand and feel grounded on the other. Additionally, it will involve their whole body in this grounding technique.

Why practice these best grounding techniques?

The grounding techniques mentioned above are practical, easy to implement, and most importantly backed with science! Then why not give them a shot and make sure that our drifting thoughts don’t temper our mental peace. Additionally, it will help you be in control of your reality, telling your mind, body, and soul that things are under control.

How to Practice these Best Grounding Techniques?

Honestly, there is no 101 guide on how to practice grounding techniques. It is quite simple, whenever your thoughts drift or your monkey mind goes into an agitated state just pick any of these grounding techniques and practice them. However, if you wish to practice them as a tool for mindfulness, you may use effective ways to clear your mind and then mediate with these grounding techniques in your meditation space.

I hope you are going to implement some if not all of these grounding techniques and welcome peace in your life.

Time to put anxiety, negative sensations, panic, and stress at bay! Hooray!

May you be invincible!

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