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What is grounding

Grounding is a set of techniques that help you stay present in the here and now—especially when you’re feeling overwhelmed, triggered, anxious, or craving during recovery. It's about reconnecting to your body, your senses, and your immediate environment so you don’t get swept away by difficult thoughts, urges, or emotions. Grounding:

• Helps you manage cravings without acting on them
• Calms anxiety, panic, or emotional flashbacks
• Breaks the cycle of automatic reactions
• Strengthens self-awareness and self-control

Examples of grounding techniques include:

Sensory Grounding (5-4-3-2-1 method)

• 5 things you can see
• 4 things you can touch
• 3 things you can hear
• 2 things you can smell
• 1 thing you can taste

Physical grounding

• Take slow, deep breaths
• Stamp your feet on the ground
• Hold a cold object (like an ice cube)

Mental grounding

• Count backwards from 100 in threes
• Name all the colours you can see
• Recite a poem, mantra, or song you know by heart

Grounding is not

• Pretending bad feelings don't exist
• Forcing yourself to be happy"
• A magic fix. It’s a tool for managing tough moments safely