Calming and Grounding

Soothe Intense Emotions With the 5 Senses

Learn to manage trauma and intense emotions using a 5-senses grounding toolkit with therapist Emma McAdam.

Container Exercise

A tool for compartmentalising intrusive or troublesome thoughts, so that you can focus more on the things you need to do to get through the day more effectively. Don't forget to click subscribe, so you can learn more useful tips and tricks for mental health.

Mindful Breathing Cards (Printable)

Print off these mindful breathing cards (up to 9 on an A4 sheet of paper) and carry them around with you as a helpful reminder of breathing techniques to help you calm down when you are experiencing stress or anxiety.

Grounding & Breathing Exercises

When you accidentally remember a distressing experience, your brain instinctively and involuntarily engages the “fight or flight” response. In a genuinely dangerous situation, this response keeps you safe by preparing you to escape from danger or to fight it. Grounding and breathing exercises help to bring online your parasympathetic (rest and digest) system so that …

Releasing suppressed emotions

Any feelings you choose not to experience (perhaps because you have to focus on getting through the day) don’t just disappear, but are held in your body and can manifest in unpleasant physical symptoms. Releasing suppressed emotions, can alleviate these symptoms. This 15 minute meditation written by Mollie Raymond and read by Sara Raymond, allows …

EMDR “Paper boats” guided meditation

Grounding Techniques

Grounding techniques help you to distance yourself from an emotional experience. When you accidentally remember a distressing experience, your brain instinctively and involuntarily engages the “fight or flight” response. In a genuinely dangerous situation, this response keeps you safe by preparing you to escape from danger or to fight it; however, sometimes, as with upsetting …

Compassionate Presence

A Guided audio meditation from EMDR Wizard

The Flash Technique

The Flash Technique – by Philip Manfield PhD – a ten minute exercise designed to reduce the negative impact of upsetting memories.

Bilateral Music

Bilateral music has a beat which pans between the left and right ears. It has successfully been used to relieve anxiety, stress, PTSD, and insomnia. Remember to wear headphones or earphones while listening to get the full bilateral effect.

Stop Nightmares

If you are suffering from bad dreams, whether they result from traumatic experiences, stress, anxiety or medication, Justin Havens’ Dream Completion Technique should help.

Grounding

In this video, Emma McAdam teaches a grounding exercise for managing anxiety and triggering the parasympathetic (rest and digest) response. This simple activity can help you feel calm by giving you a practical way to use your five senses to remind your brain that you are actually safe here and now.

Square Breathing

Square breathing helps you to manage stress, PTSD, anxiety disorders, and panic attacks. Square breathing recruits our body to tell our brain to calm down. When used regularly, it increases your distress tolerance and retrains your nervous system to be dominated by the parasympathetic (rest and digest) nervous system.

4-7-8 Breathing Technique

The 4-7-8 breathing technique is a core part of many meditation and yoga practices. It promotes relaxation by calming the sympathetic nervous system, which controls the fight-or-flight response. If you are generally a shallow breather, you may initially feel a little lightheaded when you start taking deeper breaths. This sensation will pass as your body …

Vagus Nerve Reset

This exercise uses specific, strategic positioning of the eyes and head to send body messages of safety to the brain. Once the brain receives and believes that you are truly safe, it will relax in the form of a yawn, sigh or swallow – leaving you feeling more calm, centred and grounded.