Grounding Techniques for Anxiety

Our bodies are hard-wired for survival.  Imagine for a moment that you are walking in the woods and, all of a sudden, you see a rattlesnake on the path.

Hypothalamus (shown in red). Courtesy of Wikipedia.

As soon as you see and hear the snake, the hypothalamus, a tiny region at the base of your brain, sets off an alarm system in your body.

This alarm system signals the adrenal glands to release adrenaline and cortisol (aka: the stress hormones), which then work to increase your heart rate, give you a boost in energy, heighten your perception and awareness and increase body tension. They also put a pause on body functions that aren’t necessary in threatening situations such as digestion, reproduction and the immune system.

In the situation with the rattlesnake, this stress response would help you to respond in the most appropriate way, by either fighting, fleeing, or freezing, which may literally save your life.

Now, I want you to imagine walking down this same path in the woods.  The day is beautiful and the birds are chirping.  All of a sudden, the same alarm system goes off in your body, but this time there is no rattlesnake.

While this stress response, or anxiety, can be a normal and healthy response to a dangerous situation, it can also arise seemingly out of nowhere.  Perhaps the sound of the bird chirping invoked a traumatic memory from the past, or a thought about some potential future threat had arisen in the mind. Whatever the case, while this fight, flight or flee response might have been necessary and life-saving in the past, sometimes it just isn’t required.

When anxiety arises when it’s not necessary, we can learn to actively calm our stress response, ground our awareness in the present moment as it is now, not as we fear it to be, and train the brain to respond in a way that is appropriate for the situation.

Tools rooted in mindfulness can help you to do that.

One tool to stop that feeling of spinning out of control is to imagine a feeling of physical support.  Plant your feet firmly on the floor and imagine roots coming out of your feet like a tree.  Or, sink into a chair, lie down on a couch or bed, and let your weight drop into the furniture and feel it support you.

Another tool is to engage one of your senses to bring yourself into the present moment.  Sit with a pet and focus on the feeling of their fur as you pet them. Put your hand on your chest and feel the movement of your breath or heartbeat.  Focus on the sounds around you, or put on some music and really listen.  Really focus on a particular object as if seeing it for the first time.

The objective of these exercises is to bring you back to the present moment, where there is no danger.  By feeling the support available to you right now, your body can begin to relax and dial back the alarm system.

These are just a few many tools that can help you if you’re experiencing anxiety. If any of them increase your anxiety, stop and try something else. If anxiety is impairing your everyday functioning, I encourage you to seek professional support. For more information on these tools and professional services available, visit http://cmhahkpr.ca.  For immediate help call Four County Crisis . If you are actually in a dangerous situation, call 911.

By Tanya Kowalenko, Educator & Event Planner for the Canadian Mental Health Association, Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge Branch

 

Tagged . Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.