Dissociation can be a common fight or flight reaction when you get triggered by past memories. This article offers 20 grounding techniques for dissociation using your 5 senses. Grounding is used to help pull you out of flashbacks, triggers, difficult memories, and intense emotions. These techniques are meant to distract your mind from what you’re experiencing to help you reset your intention on what’s happening in the present moment.
Grounding techniques help create space from the distress and dissociation you are feeling in nearly any situation in the moment, but they’re especially helpful if you’re dealing with:
- Anxiety
- Panic
- Dissociation
- Traumatic memories
- Distressing thoughts
Grounding uses your five senses to bring your mind back to the present. It helps the brain to stop firing the fight or flight messaging. In this blog post, we will cover specific things you can do to ground yourself using each of the five senses, in order to stop reactions when a trigger response is ignited. See Article How to Handle Triggers When They Get Sparked.
Grounding with Physical Touch
These are things you can touch to bring yourself back to the present.
1. Hold something in your hand
A rock, a leaf, a soft blanket, anything that feels soothing. Ask yourself questions about the item. Is it soft or hard? What is it’s texture like? Is it light or heavy? Look at it’s color. Where did it come from? Imagine feelings being absorbed by the item you are holding.
2. Take a shower
Focus on the water on your body. What temperature is it? Imagine all the feelings washing off of you and into the drain as the water rinses over your body.
3. Go for a walk
The rhythm of walking can help to naturally soothe your body and mind. Notice your footsteps. Vary the way your walking. Tap each of your legs with your hands as you are walking. Send the message to the brain that you are here. Now.
4. Butterfly Tapping
The Butterfly Hug is an easy relaxation technique that helps the body to calm. It is one of the easiest grounding techniques to use for dissociation. Start by crossing your hands and placing them on your chest so each middle finger rests right below your collarbone. Fan out your fingers, resting them on your chest with your thumbs pointed towards your chin.
Interlock your thumbs so it looks like a butterfly’s body and your hands are its wings. Now, alternate tapping your hands on your chest, slowly and rhythmically for up to 10 times. Remember to breath deeply. Evaluate your level of stress from 1 to 10. Repeat the butterfly tapping until your level of stress has significantly reduced.
5. Move your body
Get up and stretch, dance or do yoga poses. This movement stops the signals of alert going to the brain and can produce a sense of calm and control.
6. Earthing
Take off your socks and shoes then walk with bare feet on the grass or earth. When you make this connection with the earth, all the excess electrical charge in the body disappears into the ground. It causes a momentary current to pass from the body to the earth and allows the body to naturally calm.
7. Meridian Tracing
Tracing the triple warmer meridian backward can reduce excess electrical charges and help you to relax and calm the body.
- Take a deep breath in then, using the opposite hand, start at the temple and trace down over the ear. Trace around to the shoulder, down to the elbow, then around to the 4th “ring” finger.
- Pull all the excess energy off your finger.
- Trace the meridian slowly 3 times.
- Repeat on the opposite side.
8. Bring attention to your breath
Breathing exercises help you take control of your heart rate and your muscle tension. Breathe in for four seconds, hold it for four seconds, and let it out for four seconds. Repeat this until you feel calm. This is one of the fastest grounding techniques for dissociation.
Sight Grounding technique for dissociation
9. Use the 5-4-3-2-1 Method
Start at 5 counting backward and look around you to see five things you notice around you. What color is it? Does it have other colors? What are the details on the item? Do you notice any textures on it? What is it made of? Take time to really concentrate and look at it carefully.
You can then continue noticing things for each of the numbers. Find 4 things that are red, 3 things that have lines or stripes, 2 objects made from wood and 1 item that is gold.
You can also alter this exercise by finding 5 things with your sight, 4 things you can hear, 3 items to touch, 2 items to smell and 1 item to taste.
The idea with this exercise is to practice mindfulness, turn off the fight or flight buzzer and get yourself calmed down.
10. Look at a Picture
Find a picture that has several details. Notice everything you can about the picture for a few seconds. Then set the picture down and try to recreate the photograph in your mind. Try to write down or remember as many details as possible.
11. Notice and describe the details around you
Coming back to the present moment is one of the best grounding techniques for dissociation. Noticing the details around you in your environment can help you come out of the fog. Noticing that the chair in the room is yellow. It has a textured blue pillow on it. The carpet I am standing on is tan. It has a pattern that looks like it has little squares. Try to see as many details as possible.
12. Use Art
Drawing or coloring with just a pencil or crayons incorporates both touch and sight. It also helps you to “get it out”. Don’t worry about what it looks like, scribbles can be highly therapeutic. Just focus on getting the feelings out on paper. Tear them up when you’re finished.
Using Sounds as grounding techniques for dissociation
13. Counting
Counting can help your mind to focus. You can do it rthymically, like you would when counting the beats of a song or in orders such as doing math problems. The following are some examples:
- Try counting backwards from 10.
- Count to a rhythm 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, etc
- Repeat times tables
- Adding a number to itself 5+5=10, 10+10=20, 20+20=40, etc
14. Recite Out Loud
Recite out loud something you know by heart from a poem or a quote from a book. As you say the words outloud focus on the words. Visualize the words in your mind and what it’s meaning is
15. Sing or Listen to Music
Sing a song you know out loud or listen to music that calms you down or has a message that helps your brain to soothe. See also article “The Power of Music“.
Think of a poem, song, or book passage you know by heart. Recite it quietly to yourself or in your head. If you say the words aloud, focus on the shape of each word on your lips and in your mouth. If you say the words in your head, visualize each word as you’d see it on a page.
16. Repeat Positive Statements
Repeating positive statements about yourself or the situation can be an effective way to help yourself to ground. Reminding yourself that this moment will not last and that there are good things too can be helpful. This technique is most effective when done in conjunction with the butterfly tap. See tip #4.
Grounding techniques for dissociation using Taste and Smell
17. Savor Something
First take a small bite of something. Next, notice its texture in your mouth. Then ask yourself questions about it’s flavor; is it spicy? Does it taste salty or sour? Lastly allow yourself to slow down and really notice all of the qualities of the item you have chosen to savor.
18. Drink Water or Tea
Again, practice mindfulness as you drink something. Allow yourself to notice all the subtleties of the water such as the sound it makes as it goes into the glass. Next, notice the swirling motion as you put it in the tea bag. Then try to taste the different herbs in the tea or the temperature of the water.
19. Smell something familiar
Smells are powerful sensations, , especially familiar ones. Smell can help you come back to the present moment quickly and is one of the quickest grounding techniques for dissociation. Pick a scent you enjoy whether it be a candle, lotion, perfume, or a hot beverage/food item to smell when you need to ground yourself.
20. Use Essential Oils or a Strong Scent
A quick way to bring yourself out of a difficult emotion or trigger is to smell a strong smell. Essential oils* are a great way to send a new signal to your brain that you are in the present.
Conclusion
Grounding takes some time to learn and put into practice. However, as you put in this effort the techniques will work better and better for you as your brain expects you to react with a ground technique to help you soothe.
Here are some additional tips to help you get the most out of these techniques:
- Practice. Take the time to practice grounding even when you don’t feel stressed or overwhelming emotions. As you get use to doing these practices, you’ll be able to use them with less effort when you really need them. exercise before you need to use it, it may take less effort when you want to use it to cope in the moment.
- Start early. Don’t wait for the triggered emotions to reach a level that will be difficult to handle. Start using the grounding techniques when you first feel it coming on. Try to stick with one technique as long as possible before moving on to another one. For additional help with triggers see “How to Handle Triggers When They Get Sparked“.
- Rate your level of distress. When the emotion first starts, rate the intensity between 1 and 10. Try the grounding technique and then rate your distress again from 1 to 10. See if it’s intensity reduces. This will help you see if that particular way of grounding is working for you.
Grounding techniques can be powerful tools to help in moments when you feel overwhelmed by anxiety and distressing thoughts in the moment. The relief they provide is usually a temporary fix to a deeper issue, though. To reduce the symptoms you feel long term, finding the root of the issue will give long lasting relief. Integrative processing Benefits of IPT is a solution that will reduce triggers and alleviate the distress associated with them.