How To Ground Yourself During An Anxiety Attack

Especially with the craziness of the world right now, I’m sure a lot of you are feeling heightened anxiety. Over the years, I have read many ways to ground yourself while having a panic/anxiety attack. Below are the ways I have found most beneficial in helping me through these periods. Let me know some of your favorite techniques in the comments.

Breathe

Take slow, deep breathes and focus on the feeling of the air in your body. These slow breaths will calm down your body and focusing on the feeling will distract your mind from the panic you are feeling.

Take A Walk

I find that taking a short walk can help. The fresh air and getting the anxious energy out through exercise can do wonders.

Stretch

Stretching helps to relieve the tension from the anxiety and the feeling of stretching helps to bring you back into reality. If you do this coupled with breathing, it can help you to quickly calm down.

Touch Items Around You

Find a few items around you- things with different textures seem to work best. Think about how these different things feel, and it should start to distract you and calm you down. This especially helps when you feel dissociated from your own body- it shows that your body is still yours and you have control.

Listen To Music or a Podcast

Listening to something can really help. Making a playlist with songs that will calm you down is a great way to control your anxiety. I also find that, for myself, listening to my favorite podcasts helps a lot because I find that hearing another person talk makes me feel like I’m not alone.