Okay, so let’s try one.
This exercise can help you come down from hyperarousal and find a more balanced emotional state. It can also be used to help ground people who are in freeze mode.
Write down your anxiety on a scale of 0-10.
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.
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 warmth. 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.
Go ahead and rate your anxiety on a scale from 0-10 again. It’s not necessarily going to drop every time you do one of these activities, but if you practice them over and over you’ll notice a change over time.
The more you practice grounding, the better you will get at inviting feelings of calm and moving through feelings of anxiety.
This is part of a 30-section course, How to Process Emotions. Check out the full course with added bonuses below.
When people are looking to treat their anxiety without medication, what they usually mean is that they want to know what herbs and supplements will work for them. And because I get asked about this a lot, I did a ton of research last year on the topic.
So in this video I am going to go over 15 of the research-backed natural treatments for anxiety that have been shown to have an impact on anxiety. I am also going to talk about a much more holistic approach to mental health. At the end of this video I’ll list 7 other effective treatments for anxiety, but this video is mostly about supplements. So let’s talk about a couple of ways to combat anxiety, other than medication
