Grounding Exercises for Anxiety & Trauma
- Dr. M. Sophia Aguirre, Ph.D., CGP, FAGPA
- Jul 15, 2022
- 12 min read
Grounding exercises are powerful strategies you can draw upon to re-orient you to the present, particularly for those times when you are becoming overwhelmed with panic, distressing memories, difficult thoughts and feelings. These techniques may help distract you from what you’re experiencing and refocus on what’s happening in the present moment. Specifically, grounding exercises help you anchor yourself in the here-and-now by using your senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch) and/or your cognitions (thoughts) to build and mind and body connection in the present moment.
Grounding exercises can be particularly helpful to manage the following:
Panic or Anxiety Attacks
Trauma-related symptoms such as flashbacks or intrusive memories
Struggles with dissociation or numbing
Urges to self-harm
Urges to use substances during recovery
Grounding can be especially helpful when trauma shows up in subtle but persistent ways like emotional numbness, hypervigilance, chronic exhaustion, or difficulty feeling safe in your body. Our article on what trauma actually feels like in daily life explores these experiences more deeply.
When Anxiety Keeps Your Nervous System on High Alert
Many people who rely on grounding regularly are living in a chronic state of hypervigilance without realizing it. Hypervigilance can feel like constantly scanning for danger, overthinking conversations, bracing for worst-case scenarios, or feeling unable to fully relax—even when nothing is immediately wrong. For trauma survivors, this state of “always being on” is often the nervous system’s way of staying prepared for threat based on past experiences of unpredictability, emotional harm, or chronic stress.
Over time, living in this state can become exhausting. It can impact sleep, concentration, relationships, and the ability to feel present or safe in your own body. Grounding exercises can help interrupt this cycle by gently bringing your attention back to the present moment and signaling to your nervous system that you are here, now, and safe enough. Our article on hypervigilance as a trauma response explores why the nervous system can remain stuck in survival mode—and how healing can begin.
How Trauma Lives in the Body
Grounding is often most effective when we understand that trauma does not only live in our thoughts or memories—it also lives in the body.
For many trauma survivors, the body learns to hold stress long after difficult experiences have passed. This can show up as chronic muscle tension, shallow breathing, digestive issues, difficulty sleeping, racing heart, feeling easily startled, or a persistent sense of unease that is hard to explain. Even when there is no immediate danger, the nervous system may still respond as if threat is nearby. This is because trauma can shape the body’s stress response over time, making it harder to fully relax, feel present, or access a sense of safety. Many people blame themselves for these reactions, not realizing their body may simply be doing what it learned to do in order to survive.
Grounding exercises can help interrupt this cycle by reconnecting you to the present moment and gently reminding your nervous system that you are here, now, and safe enough. Over time, grounding can become an important tool for helping the body come out of survival mode and into greater regulation.
Our article on how trauma lives in the body explores more deeply why trauma affects tension, breathing, sleep, and emotional regulation—and why healing often requires working with the body, not just the mind.
Using Grounding Exercises
Grounding exercises while helpful aren't always an immediate fix, but they can become more and more effective with time. For this reason, it is important to practice the exercises again and again until the skill becomes automatic and can be called on even during moments of distress. Grounding exercises can be most effective when used at the onset of the difficult feelings/urges...don’t wait for distress to reach a level that’s harder to handle. If the technique doesn’t work at first, try to stick with it for a bit before moving on to another.
Below you will find a detailed list of grounding strategies, and it may be helpful to practice different ones to find out which will be the best for your and your unique situation. We have also created this infographic that you can save on your phone for easy access to 5 techniques to ground yourself.
Sensory Grounding Exercises
The “54321 technique” is a common sensory awareness grounding exercise that many find a helpful tool to relax or get through difficult moments.
Describe 5 things you see in the room.
Name 4 things you can feel (“my feet on the floor” or “the air in my nose”)
Name 3 things you hear right now (“traffic outside”)
Name 2 things you can smell right now (or 2 smells you like)
Name 1 good things about yourself
3-3-3 Grounding Exercise.
Name one thing you hear.
Name one thing you see.
Name one thing you feel/touch.
Repeat this 2 more times.
Cognitive Ground Exercises
Cognitive Reorientation. Re-orient yourself in place and time by asking yourself some or all of these questions:
Where am I?
What is today?
What is the date?
What is the month?
What is the year?
How old am I?
What season is it?
If you awake during the night from a disturbing dream or nightmare, remind yourself who you are, and where you are. Tell yourself who you are and where you are. What age are you now? Look around the room and notice familiar objects and name them. Feel the bed your are lying on, the warmth or coldness of the air, and notice any sounds you hear.
Creating a safe place. (10-12 minutes.) Make yourself comfortable, with your feet on the ground. Feel and relax your body, your head, your face, your arms, spine, stomach, buttocks, thighs, legs. Choose whether you want to close your eyes or keep them open during this exercise.
Think of a place in which in the past you were calm and confident and safe. It may be outdoors, at home, or somewhere else. It can be a place to which you have been once or many times, which you saw in a film or heard about, or imagine. You can be there by yourself or with someone you know. It can be private, unknown to others, somewhere that no one can find without your permission. Or you can decide to share it with others.
This place must suit you and meet your needs. You can constantly recreate or adapt it. It is comfortable and richly equipped for all your wants. Everything you need to be comfortable is present. It is somewhere that fits you. It shuts out every stimulus that might be overwhelming.
Imagine this place. Imagine you are there. Take time to absorb it in detail: its colors, shapes, smells and sound. Imagine sunshine, feel the wind and the temperature. Notice how it feels to stand, sit or lie there, how your skin and your body feel in contact with it.
How does your body feel when everyone is safe, and everything is fine? In your safe place you can see, hear, smell and feel exactly what you need to feel safe. Perhaps you take off your shoes and feel what it is like to walk barefoot in the grass or in the sand.
You can go to this place whenever you want and as often as you want. Just thinking about it will cause you to feel calmer and more confident.
Remain there for five more seconds. Then prepare to return to this room, open your eyes, stretch yourself, do what you need to return to the present.
Breath Counting. (4 minutes.)
Sit in a comfortable position with the spine straight and the head inclined slightly forward. Gently close your eyes and take a few deep breaths.
To begin the exercise, count “one” to yourself as you exhale.
The next time you exhale, count “two,” and so on up to “five”
Then begin a new cycle, counting “one” on the next exhalation.
Repeat 5 times.
Never count higher than five, and count only when you exhale. You will know your attention has wandered when you find yourself counting up to eight, twelve, etc.
Physical Grounding Exercises
Tracing Hand Exercise.
Begin by tracing your hand on a piece of paper and label each finger as one of the five senses. Then take each finger and identify something special and safe representing each of those five senses. For example: Thumb represents sight and a label for sight might be butterflies or my middle finger represents the smell sense and it could be represented by lilacs.
After writing and drawing all this on paper, post it on your refrigerator or other safe places in the home where it could be easily seen and memorize it.
Whenever you get triggered, breathe deeply and slowly, and put your hand in front of your face where you can really see it – stare at your hand and then look at each finger and try to do the five senses exercise from memory.
Grounding the Body. (10-15 minutes.)
Sit on your chair. Feel your feet touching the ground. Stamp your left foot into the ground, then your right. Do it slowly: left, right, left. Do this several times. Feel your thighs and buttocks in contact with the seat of your chair (5 seconds). Notice if your legs and buttocks now feel more present or less present than when you started focusing on your legs.
Now move your focus to your spine. Feel your spine as your midline. Slowly lengthen your spine and notice if it affects your breath (10 seconds). Move your focus toward your hands and arms. Put your hands together. Do it in a way that feels comfortable for you. Push your hands together and feel your strength and temperature. Release and pause, then push your hands together again. Release and rest your arms.
Now move your focus to your eyes. Look around the room. Find something that tells you that you are here. Remind yourself that you are here, now, and that you are safe. Notice how this exercise affects your breathing, your presence, your mood, and your strength.
The Hug. (5-8 minutes.)This exercise deepens and anchors positive feelings and messages. It is taken from EMDR (Eye movement desensitization reprocessing), a trauma processing method. The method employs bilateral physical stimulation (in this case tapping), which, combined with positive spoken messages, can deepen and anchor positive feelings. The sentence can also be spoken silently.
Put your right hand palm down on your left shoulder. Put your left hand palm down on your right shoulder.
Choose a sentence that will strengthen you. For example: “I’m a good enough helper”.
Say the sentence out loud first and pat your right hand on your left shoulder, then your left hand on your right shoulder.
Alternate the
Feeling the weight of your body. (5 minutes.)
The exercise activates muscles in the torso and legs, which gives a feeling of physical structure. When we are overwhelmed, our muscles often change from extreme tension to collapse; they shift from a state of active defense (fight and flight) to submission and become more than ordinarily relaxed (hypotonic). When we are in touch with our strength and structure, it is easier to bear feelings. We can contain our experience and manage feelings of fragmentation (of being overwhelmed) better.
Feel your feet on the ground. Pause for five seconds.
Feel the weight of your legs. Hold for five seconds.
Try stamping your feet carefully and slowly from left to right, left, right, left, right. Feel your buttocks and thighs touching the seat of the chair. Hold that for five seconds.
Feel your back against the back of the chair.
Stay like that and notice if you feel any difference?
Additional simple physical strategies:
Take a deep breath and smell an essential oil/scent.
Splash water on our face.
Stamp your feet notice the sensation and sound as you connect with the ground.
Hold a cold can or bottle of soft drink in your hands. Feel the coldness, and the wetness on the outside. Note the bubbles and taste as you drink
Clap and rub your hands together, hear the noise and feel the sensation in your hands and arms.
Stretch your body
Take a shower or bath
When Nervous System Overwhelm Turns Into Burnout
For some adults, grounding can also be an important tool for managing the kind of nervous system overload that comes with chronic burnout and executive functioning exhaustion.
When the brain is overwhelmed—whether from trauma, anxiety, ADHD, or simply carrying too much for too long—even small tasks can start to feel impossibly heavy. Things like responding to an email, starting a project, making a phone call, or even deciding what to eat can feel mentally and emotionally draining. This often leads people to feel stuck, frozen, or frustrated with themselves.
Many people assume this means they are lazy, unmotivated, or “bad at life.” But often, it is a sign that the nervous system is overloaded. Grounding can help by slowing things down and bringing you back into the present moment. Instead of getting lost in the pressure of everything that needs to happen, grounding helps your brain focus on what is happening right now. This can reduce overwhelm, improve regulation, and make the next small step feel more accessible.
For many adults—especially those navigating ADHD, trauma, or chronic stress—burnout can quietly build over time until even basic functioning feels hard. Our article on ADHD burnout in adults explores this overlap more deeply and helps explain why nervous system exhaustion can make everyday life feel so much harder.
When Grounding Isn’t Enough
Grounding exercises can be incredibly helpful in moments of anxiety, panic, dissociation, or emotional overwhelm. They can help bring you back into the present moment, regulate your nervous system, and create enough stability to get through difficult moments.
But grounding is often only one part of the healing process.
While grounding can help manage symptoms in the moment, it does not address the deeper roots of chronic anxiety, trauma, or nervous system dysregulation. Many people find that even when grounding helps temporarily, they still feel stuck in recurring patterns of hypervigilance, emotional shutdown, panic, or overwhelm.
This is because healing often requires more than symptom management—it often requires understanding the underlying experiences, relationships, and survival strategies that shaped your nervous system in the first place.
Grounding can help you stay present. Therapy can help you understand why your nervous system keeps pulling you out of the present.
And because so much trauma happens in relationship, healing often happens in relationship too. Safe, attuned connection can be one of the most powerful ways the nervous system learns that it no longer has to stay in survival mode. Our article on healing in community explores why connection can be such an important part of recovery.
If grounding helps but you still feel caught in patterns of anxiety, panic, trauma, or chronic overwhelm, our anxiety therapy services and trauma therapy services can help you explore the deeper roots of what your nervous system has been carrying.
Trauma and Anxiety Therapy in Atlanta
At Aguirre Center for Inclusive Psychotherapy, we provide trauma-informed, culturally responsive therapy in Atlanta and virtually throughout Georgia for adults navigating anxiety, trauma, hypervigilance, emotional exhaustion, and nervous system overwhelm. Many of our clients use grounding skills as one part of their healing while also exploring the deeper patterns beneath chronic stress, relational wounds, and survival-mode coping.
We serve clients across Midtown, Decatur, Buckhead, Virginia-Highland, Inman Park, East Atlanta, Sandy Springs, and surrounding communities.
Taking the Next Step
Grounding exercises can be powerful tools—but they were never meant to carry the full weight of your healing alone.
If you find yourself repeatedly overwhelmed, anxious, emotionally numb, dissociating, or stuck in survival mode, therapy can help you better understand what your nervous system has been holding and begin building deeper, more sustainable support.
At Aguirre Center for Inclusive Psychotherapy, we offer a free 15-minute phone consultation to help you explore whether our practice feels like the right fit for your needs.
You can visit our Getting Started page to request an appointment or explore our Clinical Team page to learn more about our therapists and find someone whose approach feels aligned with your needs.
Common Questions About Grounding Exercises for Anxiety & Trauma
What are grounding exercises for anxiety?
Grounding exercises are practical techniques that help bring your attention back to the present moment when anxiety feels overwhelming. They can help regulate racing thoughts, calm the nervous system, and reduce feelings of panic by reconnecting you to your body and surroundings.
Do grounding exercises help with trauma?
Yes. Grounding exercises can be especially helpful for trauma survivors because they support nervous system regulation during moments of hypervigilance, dissociation, emotional flooding, or overwhelm. While grounding is not a replacement for trauma therapy, it can be an important part of trauma recovery.
Why do grounding exercises help the nervous system?
Grounding helps interrupt the body’s stress response by bringing attention away from perceived danger and back into the present. This can help reduce nervous system activation, slow breathing, lower heart rate, and create a greater sense of safety in the body.
What if grounding exercises don’t work for me?
Not every grounding exercise works for every person. Some people may need to try different techniques to find what feels most supportive. In some cases, if grounding feels difficult or ineffective, it may be a sign that deeper trauma work or additional therapeutic support is needed.
Can grounding exercises help with panic attacks?
Yes. Grounding can be a helpful tool during panic attacks because it can interrupt spiraling thoughts and bring focus back to the present moment. Techniques like naming objects in the room, feeling your feet on the floor, or using sensory awareness can help reduce panic intensity.
What are the best grounding exercises for trauma survivors?
The best grounding exercises often involve the senses or body, such as deep breathing, holding ice, noticing physical sensations, orienting to your environment, or using the 5-4-3-2-1 method. The most effective grounding practice is the one that helps you feel safer and more present.
Can grounding help with dissociation?
Yes. Grounding exercises are commonly used to help interrupt dissociation by reconnecting you to the present moment, your body, and your environment. This can be especially helpful for people who feel numb, disconnected, or “spaced out” during stress.
When should I seek therapy for anxiety or trauma?
If anxiety, panic, emotional overwhelm, trauma symptoms, or nervous system dysregulation are interfering with your daily life, relationships, work, or ability to feel safe, therapy can help. Grounding tools can be helpful, but deeper healing often requires understanding the underlying causes of distress.