Grounding
These will not fix anything, and they are not meant to. What they can do is take the top off a feeling so that the next ten minutes are survivable — which is often all that is needed, because very few crises last as long as they feel like they will.
Breathe with something
Follow the count. The out-breath is longer than the in-breath on purpose — that is the part that actually slows your body down.
Ready
4
Four rounds is plenty. You do not have to finish.
5-4-3-2-1
Works by giving your attention something ordinary and external to do. Say the answers out loud if you can — it occupies more of you.
5 things you can see
The lamp. A mug. A crack in the ceiling. Anything, however dull.
4 things you can feel
The chair. Your feet in your socks. The seam of your sleeve.
3 things you can hear
Traffic. A fridge. Your own breathing.
2 things you can smell
If nothing, name two smells you like.
1 thing you can taste
Or one thing you would like to taste.
Cold water
Hold your wrists under a cold tap, or splash cold water on your face, or hold something from the freezer. Cold on the face and hands triggers a physical reflex that slows your heart rate — it is one of the few things on this page with an immediate, physical effect rather than a psychological one.
It is particularly useful when you are too far gone to concentrate on breathing, because it needs no concentration at all.
Move something
Walk to the end of the road and back. Go up and down the stairs twice. Stand outside the front door for two minutes. The point is not exercise — it is that changing your physical position and your surroundings interrupts a loop that is otherwise self-feeding.
Doing it badly, slowly, in yesterday's clothes, still counts.
If none of this is touching it
That is not a failure of yours, and it does not mean nothing will help. It means this is bigger than a technique, and the right next step is a person rather than a page.
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