5 grounding techniques to quiet a busy mind

The day is over, your head hits the pillow and you can finally relax… and right on cue, your brain decides now is a great time to go over everything you’re anxious about, from the time you said the wrong thing to your boss to the year you forgot your partner’s birthday. 

Anxious, racing thoughts can interrupt your day at any time, but they are most common in moments of stillness.

“When everything is quiet your brain says ‘A-ha! Now is my time’. Sometimes a creative or positive idea will surface, but often it’s negative thoughts that are jostling for attention.

Erratic, racing thoughts can increase feelings of anxiety, create physical pain (like headaches), and generally make it feel impossible to concentrate, enjoy the moment or switch off. 

Next time you’re struggling to be present, try these techniques.

1. Address the alarm

When you’re in a stressful situation, your amygdala – the part of your brain responsible for emotions and memories –sends rapid signals to the rest of your body to prepare you to act. You might know this as your fight-or-flight response. 

Just like a smoke alarm goes off whether you’ve burned the toast or set your house on fire, your amygdala will kick off at the first whiff of a threat – even if it’s not something that’s actually going to hurt you. 

“Your brain races from thought to thought and back again because it thinks those thoughts are important to your safety.”

The next time your amygdala starts firing before an important moment like your performance review at work or a conversation you’ve been anxious to have with a friend, let it know that you appreciate the message but you can take it from here. 

“Interrupting the fight-or-flight response can be as easy as telling your amygdala something like ‘Thanks for the signal, but I’m safe and I’ve got this’,”

2. Offload your thoughts

A brain dump is a simple mind-clearing tool that can be incredibly effective, and you can do it anywhere. 

Simply grab a piece of paper or open the notes app on your phone, and jot down every racing thought or worry that you’re dealing with. Don’t hold back or censor yourself, just let it all out. 

“Your brain will relax because it knows it doesn’t have to hang onto the racing thoughts now that they’re on a piece of paper,” Jacqui says. 

Worry and stress can eat into your body budget, but research shows that dumping these worries in the form of writing can free up your cognitive resources so you can focus when you need to. 

3. Time your breathing 

“Remember to breathe”. Breathing in a particular way can help your body activate your brain’s ‘relaxation response’. It is physically impossible to have the stress response and relaxation response simultaneously. 

Give 4-7-8 breathing a try. Breathe in through your nose for four seconds, hold for seven seconds, then breathe out for eight seconds. Repeat for a few minutes, or until you feel yourself calming down. 

4. Take a mindful moment 

There are many types of meditation, but to address racing thoughts you want the kind that will bring your attention to your body and ground you in the present. 

A guided meditation that encourages you to focus on your breath and body can work rapidly to bring you back to earth. It doesn’t have to last for hours, either.

Studies have shown that meditation can reduce anxiety and help you to sleep better. 

5. Tap it out 

You’ve heard of acupuncture, right? Well, tapping is kind of like that, except you can do it yourself and there are no needles necessary. 

It involves tapping certain parts of your body with your fingertips, the aim of which is to stimulate so-called ‘meridian’ points that form the basis of traditional Chinese medicine. 

People who love tapping claim it calms the body and the mind quickly and effectively. While scientific research hasn’t conclusively proven the existence of meridian points, tapping is free, painless, and easy to try yourself. 

Simply take two fingers and gently tap the following parts of your body for a few seconds each before moving on to the next: 

·         Where your eyebrow meets your eye

·         The outer side of your eye

·         Under your eye

·         Under your nose (on the indentation in your upper lip)

·         The middle of your chin

·         Your collarbone point

·         Under your arm (below your armpit)

·         The top of your head

Continue this tapping circuit for as long as it takes for your mind to feel at ease.