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Grounding Exercises to Soothe Yourself During a Trauma Response
When you’ve experienced trauma, your body and mind sometimes respond to seemingly routine activities as if the danger is happening all over again. This can feel overwhelming, frustrating, and even frightening. Trauma responses such as flashbacks, intrusive memories, panic, or dissociation, are not signs of weakness. They are your nervous system’s way of trying to protect you and are adaptations your body has made over time. Still, these responses can be painful and disruptive.
As a therapist, I often talk with clients about something called the “window of tolerance.” This concept, introduced by Dr. Dan Siegel, describes the range of arousal (the body’s level of alertness and awareness) in which we can function most effectively. When we’re inside our window of tolerance, we can think clearly, manage emotions, and stay connected to ourselves and others. Life doesn’t feel perfectly calm in this space, but we can navigate challenges without becoming overwhelmed.
When trauma has been a part of your life, that window can become narrower (your tolerance can become lower). Stressors of any size and severity can push you outside of it. If you move above your window, you might feel anxious, panicky, or flooded with memories. If you drop below it, you might feel numb, disconnected, or frozen. This can affect how you present in your relationships (literally, how you relate to people in your life) and can contribute to conflict as well. These shifts are trauma responses, and while they are your body’s way of protecting you, they can feel confusing and frightening.
Grounding exercises are tools that help bring you back into your window of tolerance. They can steady your nervous system, reconnect you to the present, and remind your body that you are safe in this moment. While they aren’t a cure-all and are ways to manage these responses as they come up, they are powerful supports you can use both in moments of distress and in your everyday life. Below are several evidence-informed practices you can try. These aren’t a substitute for therapy, but they can be practical supports for managing moments when traumatic memories or a body response surface.
1. Orienting to the Present Through Your Senses
One of the simplest ways to interrupt a trauma response is to anchor yourself in the present moment by engaging your five senses. A classic exercise is the “5-4-3-2-1” technique:
Name five things you can see.
Name four things you can touch.
Name three things you can hear.
Name two things you can smell.
Name one thing you can taste.
Some other ways to come back into your body through attention to the senses might include:
- Feel the fabric of your clothing or smell a lotion or a lit candle
- Take a walk outside and list the natural world things you see around you. Movement also helps us process and work through trauma responses
- Sit in a chair and feel the chair’s support of your body under you. Focus on this while doing breathing and tuning in to any tension in your body
- Focus on another person in the area and what they are doing and saying. Listen to each word, or mentally narrate the things they are doing
These practices pull your attention out of your internal experience and into your current surroundings. When your brain is replaying a traumatic memory and/or your body is feeling frozen, scared, or otherwise activated, grounding exercises that focus on your sensory world can gently remind you that you are here, in this moment and not back in the past.
2. Breathing Exercises
When the nervous system senses danger, it often shifts into fight, flight, or freeze. Breathing becomes shallow, the heart races, and muscles tense. By intentionally slowing your breath, you send a signal of safety back to the body. Grounding exercises help bring the nervous system back to its calm state.
Lengthening Exhales
- Place one hand on your belly and one on your chest.
- Inhale slowly through your nose, letting your belly rise (not your chest).
- Count to four as you breathe in.
- Hold for a brief moment.
- Exhale gently through your mouth for a count of six.
Even a few cycles can help bring down your heart rate and ease tension. If deep breathing feels overwhelming, focus simply on making your exhale longer, which most activates the calming part of the nervous system.
Imaginary Ring
- Put one or both hands on your belly.
- Imagine a ring of any color of your choosing in front of you.
- When you breathe in, the ring lights up slowly with that color. When you breathe out, imagine it slowly going dark again.
- Do this for as long as you feel you need.
3. Grounding Exercises to Bring You Back Into the Body
Trauma responses often make you feel detached from your body or environment. Some use the word dissociation to describe the sensation that you are detached from what is happening around you, almost like you are watching yourself from the outside. Derealization is another term that refers to a sense that things are not real, as though you are walking through a dream. Grounding exercises using physical touch and gentle movement can help you reestablish a sense of safety in your body and return to full presence.
Some options include:
- Press your feet firmly into the ground. Wiggle your toes. Notice the support beneath you. If sitting in a chair, you might feel how the chair supports you.
- Hold a grounding object. This could be a smooth stone, a piece of fabric, or anything with texture. Focus on how it feels in your hand. Some carry “fidget toys” to bring themselves back to the present moment.
- Shake it out. Stand up and shake your hands, arms, and legs for a few moments. This mimics the way animals discharge stress after a threat.
- Vigorous exercise. Jumping jacks, running in place, etc. can help come back into the body.
- Water. When other skills fail, some report that splashing cold water on their face or taking a cold shower helps bring them back into their body and a sense of reality.
These simple grounding exercises can help restore a sense of agency and connection to the present moment when you feel overwhelmed.
4. Visualization and Safe Place Exercises
The imagination can be a powerful ally in regulating the nervous system. Grounding exercises that utilize visualization can redirect your brain away from the traumatic memory and body response toward a place of comfort and safety.
Close your eyes (if that feels safe) and picture a place where you feel calm and secure. It might be a beach, a cozy room, a forest path, or anywhere that feels nurturing. Imagine the sights, sounds, textures, and even scents of this place. Let yourself stay there for a few breaths.
You can even create a symbolic “container” in your mind, such as a box or a vault up on a shelf, where you imagine placing painful memories until you’re ready to process them with support. This compartmentalization can give you a sense of control over when and how you engage with the past and empower you to have more choice.
5. Other Gentle Movement Practices
Sometimes sitting still isn’t the answer. Trauma responses can leave the body full of excess energy. Mindful movement can help discharge this energy and restore equilibrium.
Walking: Take a slow, intentional walk, paying attention to the feeling of your feet on the ground.
Stretching: Reach your arms overhead, roll your shoulders, or bend forward.
Try some gentle yoga or tai chi. Simply moving your body slowly while breathing, feeling the relaxation of the stretch, and reconnecting with your body can help the nervous system come back to balance. There are yoga classes specifically tailored for trauma recovery in some areas, and you can check to see if your community offers these. Otherwise, the great Internet is a resource for videos.
Choose movements that feel safe and manageable. The goal isn’t to exercise intensely, but to help the body regulate itself.
6. Mantras and Self-Compassion Statements
When trauma memories arise or your body experiences an activation response that is uncomfortable, it’s common to feel ashamed, frightened, confused, or alone. Speaking gentle words to yourself can provide comfort and counter the critical inner voice that often accompanies trauma. There is also research that the practice of self compassion is an important aspect of working through trauma and reducing trauma symptoms.
Some grounding exercises involving mantras and self compassion might include sitting with your eyes closed (if that feels safe) and thinking to yourself or saying out loud:
“I am safe in this moment.”
“This is a memory. It cannot hurt me now.”
“My body is remembering, but I am in control.”
“I deserve compassion and care.”
You might also place a hand over your heart as you say these words, to add the soothing power of touch.
Finally, there are specific mindful self compassion meditations and resources available to learn more about exercises, as well as how mindful self compassion can help you.
A Few Final Thoughts
Healing from trauma is not about erasing the past—it’s about learning to support yourself in the present. Grounding exercises are tools to help you regulate your body and emotions so you can feel steady enough to move through your day. If you find that these grounding exercises aren’t enough, or if traumatic memories and body responses are interfering significantly with your life, it may be time to seek support from a trauma-informed therapist.
Healing from trauma takes time, patience, and kindness toward yourself. Over time, practicing grounding exercises regularly (even when you’re not activated) can make them more accessible when you need them most. Think about training for a marathon. You wouldn’t go into it with no practice and expect your body to know what to do. You practice, and when the day comes your body has prepared and slips into running mode more easily.
Your nervous system has worked hard to protect you. These exercises are a way of telling yourself: I am here. I am safe. I can take care of myself now.
Dr. Abigail R Hitchen, PsyD
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