Four Techniques for Easing Anxiety

Anxiety has energy. It can feel like a chaotic electrical current coursing through your body with nowhere to go. These four calming techniques treat anxious energy as if it is an electrical current, and transform that energy by directing, grounding, and regulating it. 

Lightning Rod

Extend your arms upward in a Y position. Imagine all of the anxious energy is being captured by your arms like an antenna. Next, imagine that your torso and legs are a rod extending down deep into the ground. Visualize sending the energy in your arms down through your body and into the Earth, breathing deeply until you feel the anxiety has subsided.

Full Body Grounding

Find a comfortable place on the ground outside and lay down on your back. Close your eyes and notice the vibration of the anxious energy moving through your body. Now bring your awareness to the vibration of the Earth beneath you. Continue lying down, breathing deeply, until you feel your vibration sync up with the Earth’s vibration.

 

Energy Spiral

Close your eyes and notice if the anxious energy has a spin to it. What direction is it rotating? Clockwise, counterclockwise, forward or backward? Now visualize slowing down the speed of the spin gradually until it comes to a complete stop. Take a few deep breaths, and then visualize you are spinning the energy in the opposite direction, slowly until you find a rate that feels steady and controlled.

5 Points of Contact

This exercise uses the five senses to ground you in your body. First, identify 5 things you can see. Then follow by noticing 4 things you can hear, 3 things you can touch, 2 things you can smell, and one thing you can taste. Take as much time as you need. Sometimes taking a bite of something sweet or salty, like a piece of chocolate or pretzel, can be very grounding.