Grounding techniques

These techniques help you focus on what you are feeling and sensing in the moment without judgement. This can help relax tension in your body and mind. It can involve techniques that focus your mind like mindfulness and guided meditation or more physical techniques like progressive muscle relaxation and deep breathing. 

How could it be helpful?

These techniques help to pull you out of your head and ground you back into what is truly happening around you. It can help reduce stress and anxiety in your day-to-day life. It’s quick, convenient and can fit into your day easily. 

In treatment services, these techniques can be called sensory modulation. Some services provide sensory modulation training, which helps you identify when alerting strategies could be helpful and when calming strategies could be helpful. If you want to do a deeper dive into sensory modulation, read more on Te Pou’s website. 

How to access?

You can do this by yourself, or with the help of someone who can guide you through the techniques. There are many different ways to do these techniques, but here’s some examples you can try: 

Mindfulness 

There are many different ways to do mindfulness, but here is a suggestion for one you can try now:   

1. Choose 5 things you can see. Focus on their shape, colour and texture. 
2. Choose 4 things you can feel (e.g. feet on the ground, back against your chair). Focus on how it feels. 
3. Choose 3 things you can hear. Focus on distant sounds that you hadn't noticed before. 
4. Choose 2 things you can smell.
5. Take one deep breath. 

Guided meditation 

Healthify has a list of meditation and mindfulness apps they have reviewed. Download these apps and follow their instructions to practice mindfulness and meditation. 

Progressive muscle relaxation 

This technique involves tensing and releasing different muscles, which helps release tension and stress in your body. 

1. Get into a comfortable position and slow down your breathing. 
2. Clench your hands into a fist. 
3. Hold the fist for a few seconds then let it go and feel your hand muscles relax. 
4. Next, tense your arms and hold the tension in each one for a few seconds before letting go and moving further up your body. 
5. You can start anywhere on your body, but if you would like a step-by-step method, use this order to help you along – fists, forearms, biceps, shoulders, face, abs, glutes, thighs, feet. 
6. As you let go of the tension in your feet, let your whole body relax. 

Deep breathing 

1. Get comfortable. 
2. Breathe in through your nose for four seconds and let your belly fill with air. 
3. Hold your breath for four seconds. 
4. Breathe out through your nose for four seconds. 
5. Repeat. 

Real experiences

"I felt balanced enough to actually be a present proper parent."

- Dylan

“Whenever the anxiety gets too much, I often end up using mindfulness to get myself out of it. Sometimes it takes me a while to remember that it’s an option, but as soon as I start my 5,4,3,2,1 exercise I feel better. Sometimes I only have to do it a few times, and sometimes I need to keep doing it for a while, but either way I eventually start feeling better.”

- Phil