Conversing Care

Tag: Grounding

  • Sensory Walking

    Sensory Walking

    Location is Motepark, Maidstone. Grassy fields with river running through.

    Overview

    Sensory Walking is a simple exercise to begin getting in touch with nature and taking notice of different surfaces your walking on.

    This strategy is great for anyone who wants to feel a little more “down-to-earth” and wants to begin getting in touch with the environment and feel a little more grounded.

    Requirements

    Make sure you can trust what you are walking on. There is nothing worse walking barefoot outside and then standing on something which can hurt or damage to the underside of the foot.

    Avoid hard surfaces like concrete paths or tarmac.

    If you have a grassy patch in your garden, that’s perfect to start off with.

    If you don’t have green space of your own, find a local park or field with grass footpaths which is clear of litter and dog poo. No one likes stepping on dog poop with shoes on, let alone barefoot!

    If you have any medical problems with your feet, please ask a medical professional before performing this exercise.

    ✋ Are you struggling right now?

    If you or someone else is feeling unsafe or experiencing suicidal thinking, please visit the Urgent Help page now to find what actions you need to take.

    How to

    • When you go out for your walk and your on a safe surface, take your shoes and socks off and continue walking.
    • Take notice of how it feels to walk on the earth. Can you feel temperature changes? Is the ground wet? How do your feet feel before, during and after?
    • When you have finished your walk or your feet begin to feel uncomfortable, pop your footwear back on after brushing any dirt off of them.
    • Make sure to wash your feet when you get home and make sure your feet are okay.

    Find better ways of coping

    Explore our wellbeing guides and coping strategies to find alternative and healthier ways of coping.

    Visit Coping Tools

    Additional

    We highly recommending walking as a good way to get in your weekly exercise as well as giving your mind that much needed environment change.

    If you are a frequent walker, we highly recommend this strategy because it can enhance your overall experience.

    If this feels uncomfortable to do in public, that’s perfectly normal.

    If you have concerns, begin with taking your shoes off but keeping your socks on. Don’t ruin a decent pair of socks!

    We recommend walking with others you trust.

  • Elephant Breathing

    Elephant Breathing

    Overview

    Elephant Breathing is an exercise to reduce anxiety levels and to make you feel relaxed anyone can try.

    Requirements

    You will want to be sitting down on a comfy sofa or bed in a quiet environment so you can take notice of your breathing.

    If you have a medical condition which affects your routine breathing pattern, we advise you seek medical advice before trying new breathing exercises.

    ✋ Are you struggling right now?

    If you or someone else is feeling unsafe or experiencing suicidal thinking, please visit the Urgent Help page now to find what actions you need to take.

    How to

    Sit of lay in a comfortable position, making sure your chest and stomach can expand with little resistance while breathing. Laying on your side is also fine.

    When your ready:

    1. Take in a smooth deep breath for the length it takes you to say “Elephant” to yourself twice.
    2. Now pause and hold your breath for 1 Elephant.
    3. Slowly breath out for 3 Elephants.

    Repeat this pattern of breathing 3 to 5 times in a single sitting.

    Additional

    Saying ‘elephant’ gives you a sense of time while breathing, regulating each individual breath.

    This technique can be used once a day, before bedtime or napping.

    It may take a couple of weeks before you begin to notice its benefits of relaxing your body and regulating your breathing. This is perfectly normal.

  • Basic Body Scan

    Overview

    A Basic Body Scan is to check-in and relax each part of your body in a structured way to make sure all of the body becomes relaxed.

    Requirements

    You need somewhere you are most comfortable laying down.

    This can take up to 10 – 20 minutes for beginners. If well practised only takes 5 minutes.

    ✋ Are you struggling right now?

    If you or someone else is feeling unsafe or experiencing suicidal thinking, please visit the Urgent Help page now to find what actions you need to take.

    How to

    Firstly, lay down in a comfortable position which supports all of your body. When you are as comfy as can be:

    1. Take notice of your breathing. Find a gentle, repetitive rhythm, allowing breaths to become deeper as time goes on.
    2. As you are doing this, notice how your body becomes heavier, picking up sensations within your body like weight, temperature, stiffness and even pain. Don’t be alarmed if new sensations appear out of the blue, this is completely natural.
    3. Now pay attention to your toes. Allow them to become heavier and more relaxed as time goes on. (If you are struggling to relax your toes, crunch them up as hard as you can for 5 seconds and then release. This will allow you to notice a change in sensation which is the feeling you want to achieve.)
    4. Now bring that relaxed sensation from your toes and pull that feeling into the whole of your feet, again allowing them to relax and become heavier.
    5. Continue this pattern of relaxing each part of your body one bit at a time, up to your knees, then hips, shoulders, down through the aims to the fingertips, neck and head.

    Additional

    If you’re struggling to complete all of these steps in a single sitting, that’s okay. Instead, go at your own pace, just focusing the body scan in your feet. As this becomes easier, progress into more regions of the body, one step at a time.

    A body scan can be done as frequently as necessary but every day, before you go to sleep, is a healthy way to get to sleep quicker or more deeply.

    This technique if well practised only takes 5 minutes.

  • 1-2-3 Breathing

    Overview

    1-2-3 Breathing is a simple breathing exercise when you notice feeling overwhelmed or want to begin relaxation.

    Requirements

    If you have medical issues to do with breathing, ask a health professional if this breathing exercise is right for you.

    ✋ Are you struggling right now?

    If you or someone else is feeling unsafe or experiencing suicidal thinking, please visit the Urgent Help page now to find what actions you need to take.

    How to

    Find a comfy space to sit or lay down, preferably bring your hand together and rest them on your stomach or chest.

    Notice how your body feels heavy and like it wants to settle into a relaxed position. Allow that to happen in your own time.

    The sequence goes as follows:

    1. Breath in to the count of 1, filling all of your lungs.
    2. Hold your breath for 2.
    3. Release to the count of 3, emptying your lungs.

    The 1-2-3 in the breathing exercise helps you perform ‘structured breathing’, giving yourself some self-regulation.

    Additional

    To get the most benefit from 1-2-3 breathing is to perform it daily, deploying it during moments of feeling overwhelming or that ‘sudden shift in feeling’.

  • Sensory Countdown

    Sensory Countdown

    Green trees and shrubs with red flowers in the middle.

    Overview

    Great as a grounding exercise to help be more present with your emotions and environment.

    When you are noticing you’re becoming overwhelmed with emotion or distracted by sudden thought processes, this coping strategy can be used immediately to ground you and offset anymore distress.

    Requirements

    This exercise can be done anywhere but is most effective in busy environments as you have lots of stimulation around you.

    If you are currently experiencing psychosis or dissociation caused by mental ill health, please don’t perform this exercise as this could flare your symptoms. Make sure to check with a mental health professional what ground exercises will be best for you.

    ✋ Are you struggling right now?

    If you or someone else is feeling unsafe or experiencing suicidal thinking, please visit the Urgent Help page now to find what actions you need to take.

    How to

    You should deploy this coping tool straight away when you notice you are becoming overwhelmed with emotion or negative inward looking thought processes.

    Ask yourself in the following order and identify:

    • 5 things you can see
    • 4 things you can touch
    • 3 things you can hear
    • 2 things you can smell
    • 1 thing you can taste

    When you have asked and identified all your senses, check-in with yourself.

    How are your emotions now? Is your state of overwhelming feeling increasing, decreasing or about the same?

    Getting a solid answer after that can help you navigate the next upcoming moments.

    Do you need to change environment? Can you do something else to distract yourself?

    Additional

    Performing a Sensory Countdown 2 to 3 times a day throughout the week is ideal if you find it difficult to get in touch with your emotions and connect with your environment.

    If you have Autism Spectrum Disorder, this technique can be really effective, even if you do it 2 to 3 times a week.

    We wouldn’t recommend doing this exercise anymore than 3 times a day, as it can become exhausting.

    Find the right balance for you and ask trusted people like family or health professionals how frequently you should perform this strategy. Do what is comfortable and manageable for your weekly routine.

  • Grain of sand

    Grain of sand

    Close up photo of sand with larger pebbles.

    Overview

    Grain of Sand is a mindfulness technique involving textures which can help pull you back to the present moment.

    If you’re more of a sensory person and appreciate textures, this is for you.

    Requirements

    Ideally, small grains of sand or rice can be used but not necessary.

    You can imagine a small piece of something between your fingertips and that works perfectly too.

    ✋ Are you struggling right now?

    If you or someone else is feeling unsafe or experiencing suicidal thinking, please visit the Urgent Help page now to find what actions you need to take.

    How to

    • We want to imagine or hold our makeshift sand between our fingertips. Ideally, using your thumb and index (middle) finger.
    • Begin small, repetitive rotations with your fingertips to roll the ‘sand’ around.
    • As you start to take notice of the feeling, close your eyes as you continue.
    • Do this for 2 of minutes.
    • If your mind begins to wonder, that’s perfectly normal. Just bring your mind back to the sensation during this time.
    • When your finished, slowly take notice of your environment as you open your eyes.
    • Carry on with your day.

    Additional

    This can be a handy strategy because you can do it on the go.

    There is no strict time limits on this strategy. You don’t have to have your eye closed either.

    Instead, use it as you need too but make sure you have breaks in between as otherwise it can lose its effectiveness.

    This strategy should go alongside other coping techniques which don’t involve textures so you utilise other areas of the brain.