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Writer's pictureArielle Karoub

Grounding Techniques

Grounding techniques are helpful to stay present in the moment. We can become so distracted in our every day life that we sometimes forget to stop for a minute to just breath. Grounding techniques will shift your focus away from intrusive thoughts, emotions, or sensations and shift you more into the present moment. When you're overwhelmed with emotions, you can often drift away into an inner world of thoughts. One way to deal with these emotions is to ground yourself back into the present.

Before we get into instructions, it's important to identify our thoughts and what we are trying to avoid. We can sometimes use distractions as a way to avoid reality because it is perhaps too painful, so we can choose to do these ground techniques to support us through it.

We will start with dialectical behavioral therapy and use their grounding technique by utilizing our five senses. Our five senses is what we can see, hear, touch, taste, and smell.


Step One: Describe What You See

First, we will focus our attention to the present environment. Look around you and think about what you can see. Start observing the objects around you. What is their color? What is their shape? Start to describe the things quietly. Stay with each object long enough to observe what it looks like, and then move to the next. Spend a couple of minutes in this step.


Step Two: Breathing

Spend about five minutes focusing on your breath. Become mindful of how your body fills with air as you breath in and how it relaxes as you breathe out. Start counting your breaths from one to five on the exhale. Breathe deeply and slowly, then settle into your normal rhythm of breathing.


Step Three: Mindfulness of the Body

Next, start to observe your body. Notice how your body makes contact with the chair or object that you're sitting on. Feel the weight of your legs pressing on the chair or object. Observe whether you feel tension in certain parts of your body. Do you feel pain in any part of the body or are you comfortable? Notice how your feet make contact with the floor. Feel the contact of your soles on the floor beneath you. Observe how your arms rest in your lap or on the chair. Feel their weight. Spend a few minutes on this step.


Step Four: Observing with Our Senses

Last but not least, it's time to engage with your five senses. Can you notice a certain smell in the room? Try to be observant. Then, become mindful of the sounds around you. What sounds can you hear? Try to notice the distant sounds from the street to your room. Be open to whatever you might hear. Spend a few minutes in this step.


If you're looking for specific grounding techniques to meet your specific needs, please reach out and I would be happy to customize a plan with you.

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