Grounding Tools for Anxiety and PTSD-And How EMDR Therapy Phoenix Resourcing Can Help
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***POTENTIAL TRIGGER WARNING*** This post contains wording identifying what it can feel like to deal with a trauma trigger. Please take care of yourself and your nervous system. If you are experiencing an immediate emergency, please call 911. For crisis support, you can call or text 988 for free confidential help 24/7.
It's happened again. You wake up in a cold sweat from a dream you can't quite remember, but your body feels on edge, like your heart might beat out of your chest. You try to force your body and brain into a space where you can think and breathe again, but no matter what you try, that feeling of fear is still caught in your throat. This can make it damn near impossible to sleep and even more difficult to handle the demands you have to deal with daily. During the day, you may even feel triggered by a smell, sound, image, or situation that "logically" doesn't seem inherently bad but floods you with emotions and a displaced sense of being. If this feels all too familiar, read on for several of my favorite grounding techniques and learn how EMDR Therapy Phoenix can help you find the resources you need and get unstuck from your past trauma.
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When the body and brain go into a state of trauma response, losing all connection with time and space and reacting from survival mode is easy. If you're tired of trying to force your body and brain back into submission when facing a trigger, a grounding technique may help you remind yourself that you are not in the past. Grounding techniques are helpful when you need a quick second to return to the present moment. They are beneficial for trauma, PTSD, and anxiety and can be used anytime, practically anywhere. Grounding skills help the brain and body re-orientate to the present moment because, essentially, when dealing with a trigger, your body and brain feel like they are reliving that moment, even if your mind doesn't actively remember the memory. If you're looking to understand more about traumatic reactions, click here.
Below are some of my favorite grounding techniques, and they can be used practically anywhere to pull you out of a trauma response.
4 Great Grounding Techniques to Help Re-orientate Your Brain and Body
Ice Cube Method
Grab an ice cube out of the freezer and hold it in the palm of your hand for 10-15 seconds. Splashing cold water on your face can also get a similar effect. Doing this shocks the system back into the present moment since trauma often makes it feel like we lose touch with the present and are in the past trauma.
Kick those shoes off!
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It's helpful to do this outside if the weather allows, but it can be done anywhere you can take a moment and kick off your shoes. Take your shoes and socks off, and let yourself walk around in the grass, concrete, carpet, or hardwood floors. And tune into how it feels, shifting the weight from foot to foot and what the surface feels underneath the feet. This helps to orientate the body back into the present moment but is not quite as shocking as the first.
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4 Count Breath
Inhale for a slow count of four, hold your breath for a count of four, exhale for a count of four, and inhale again for a count of four. Repeat this pattern until you feel grounded. If the hold feels too restricting, you can omit it and focus on inhaling and exhaling for a slow, even count of four. This helps to regulate the body and the breathing since when we feel triggered, our body reacts like it is back when the trauma happened. This is communicating to the body that you are safe at this moment.
Tune Into Your Sense of Smell
Finding a soap, lotion, essential oil, or another aroma you enjoy carrying around your pocket is an excellent technique when you need something "under the radar." Using this helps the body return to the present moment by regulating breathing and using a scent in the present moment.
How EMDR Therapy Phoenix Can Help With Resourcing
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EMDR therapy is different than traditional talk therapy. It follows a specific set of rules and procedures that leave many people wondering how it applies to them and how it works. In this article, I will focus on answering the question "What Is EMDR Therapy Resourcing" and how it applies to the bigger picture of processing trauma with EMDR Therapy. For a more thorough breakdown of the complete 8 phases of EMDR therapy, check out this blog article.
Trauma can undoubtedly throw our bodies and our brains out of wack. When someone goes through a traumatic event or perceives something as traumatic, the brain signals to the body that it is unsafe through a rush of different hormones. At that moment, our body goes into survival mode and is not concerned with anything but just surviving to the next moment. For this reason, our brain doesn't file the memory correctly, which is why significant trauma reactions can happen when we are triggered in our day-to-day life because we feel like the trauma is happening all over again.
Resourcing focuses on learning all coping skills to regulate the body and communicate to the brain that it is safe. There are a lot of methods to how we can do this, including grounding techniques, meditations, mindfulness, breathing techniques, and noticing the resources someone already has in their life. This could be times they have felt safe, loved, strong, or cared for or instances in their life when they have felt connected to their community, faith, or something else that is important to them. All of these help the body understand that it's safe and that the traumatic memory is just that, a memory. When we have found something that works as a resource, we can use bilateral stimulation to help the left and right hemispheres of the brain understand that the body is safe with slow short taps or eye movements.
The bottom line is that resourcing can look different for everyone, and not every person will enjoy and gravitate to every resource. And that is more than OKAY. Working through various resources is crucial until you find what feels good. The point is that you find what works to help you stay within your window of tolerance. This helps in day-to-day life but also when processing traumatic memories.
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Use grounding skills often so the skill will come more easily amid a trauma reaction.
Keep a list of grounding techniques on your phone or somewhere else accessible so you can quickly look at the list for the next step when you are in a trauma reaction. This way, you don't have to think about what to do since the logical thinking brain is typically not "online" when our bodies are in a trauma response.
When looking for an EMDR therapist, ask them how long they focus on the resourcing phase of EMDR therapy. It's essential to take your time with this phase and go into processing too early. It is equally important to avoid staying in resourcing so long that processing doesn't take place or gets put on hold for too long out of avoidance. There needs to be a balance.
If you're looking for tools and techniques to feel on solid ground and ready to start working on past trauma, contact me for a free 15-minute consultation to determine if EMDR therapy is right for you.
My specialties include EMDR Therapy Phoenix, Online EMDR therapy, EMDR Therapy Tampa, Sexual Abuse Therapy and Anxiety Therapy,
