Grounding Skills

Use your senses

5-4-3-2-1 Technique

Observe your environment and name:

• 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

Mental Vacation

Is the beach your happy place? Imagine the feel of the sand under your feet and the sun on your skin, the sound of the waves, the smell of the saltwater, the sight of the ocean

Temperature

Cold helps to activate a calming response in our nervous system.

• Run your hands under cold water

• Hold an ice cube

• Splash cold water on your face

• Dunk your head in a bowl of cold water

Intense Exercise

Brief bursts of intense exercise (sprinting, jumping jacks, running up stairs) that leave you out of breath can help to rest your nervous system.

Breathing exercises

• Box breathing: breathe in for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, breathe out for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, repeat

• 4-7-8 breathing: breathe in through your nose for 4 seconds, hold for 7 seconds, exhale through your mouth for 8 seconds, making a whooshing sound

• Focus on exhaling. Often when we’re tense, we hold our breath. Let it out!

Distraction

Categories

Choose a category (animals, songs, actors, roads in your town, or come up with your own) and list items from A to Z

Animals: antelope, bear, cat…zebra

Towns: Ambridge, Baden, Coraopolis…Zelienople

Self-soothing

• take a bath or shower

• do some light stretching

• cuddle with a pet

• hold a comfort object

• listen to comforting music

• watch a favorite TV show