What Does It Mean to Ground Yourself? + 31 Grounding Techniques

I’ve taken many performing arts classes, and my teachers used to say, “Okay, everyone, get grounded; ground your energy,” and I confess I never knew what they meant. 

I’d peep at the other students to see if I was doing it correctly. Am I grounded? What the heck does grounding actually mean? 

If you’re wondering what grounded means, then this article is for you. 

We’ll explore what it means to ground yourself and conclude with 31 practical grounding techniques and tools for daily life.

What Does It Mean To Ground Yourself?

Grounded means centered, calm, balanced, and stable, but it also has the quality of being anchored in, rooted, or planted down.

You feel connected to your true self (love and peace), present and settled in your body.

It is the opposite of stress, anxiety, worry, overthinking, overwhelm, reactiveness, frazzled, discombobulated, or panicking. 

You can ground yourself physically, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. 

What Does It Mean to Ground Yourself Spiritually (or Energetically)? 

Spiritually grounding yourself can mean different things, depending on the context.

But it typically means having a balanced ego and living in the present moment. You do not worry about the future or dwell on the past. 

You are in the here and now, living in the moment and flow of your life. People who work on their spiritual development generally love and want to be in the present. 

Common Examples of Being Spiritually Ungrounded:

• Excessive fantasizing
• Having a savior complex
• Having a spiritual ego
• Wanting only to experience love and joy without accepting denser emotions 

✨ Related: Energy Levels of Consciousness for Manifesting and Spiritual Growth

What Does It Mean to Ground Your Emotions?

Grounding your emotions means finding emotional calm, stability, and peace. 

It involves understanding how to free your emotions while developing emotional resilience and regulation. You also have a deep inner knowing that you can emotionally handle what is before you.

Emotional grounding generally occurs when a person realizes they are the soul and have emotions; they are not the emotions.

• I am a soul, and I have anger vs. I am an angry person. 
• I am the ocean and have waves and ripples; I am not the waves and ripples. 
• I am the sky and have a storm, and the storm passes through me; I am not the storm. 

When you know you are the soul, which is love, you know how to find your way back home to love internally. Love is your home temperature and is always there for you. 

Common Examples of Being Emotionally Ungrounded:

• Emotional overwhelm
• Chronic stress
• You feel like you’re drowning
• Panic attacks
• Excessive fear and worry
• Hypervigilance

✨ Related: Abraham-Hicks’s Emotional Guidance Scale + How to Use it

What Does It Mean to Ground Yourself Mentally?

Mentally grounding yourself means having a calm and tranquil mind. You have mental clarity, feel and trust that you can make decisions, and carry out your daily responsibilities and tasks. 

Common Examples of Being Mentally Ungrounded:

• Rumination
• Obsessive cyclical thinking patterns
• Overthinking and overanalyzing
• Racing thoughts
• Rageful thoughts
• Hypervigilance
• Dissociation (e.g., memory loss due to trauma)
• A sense that your mind is overcrowded

These are ways in which your mind can take over, and a sure signal that your nervous system is overactive.  

What Does It Mean to Ground Yourself Physically?

Physically grounding yourself means feeling connected and present in your body.

Your breath flows to the belly, and you feel at home in your body because it vibrates with love, safety, and peace. 

There is no need to escape the body or take shallow breaths because the body feels good to be in.

Yoga and Qigong are movement systems that can help you use the physical vessel to ground your energy.

Benefits of Grounding Yourself

Grounding your energy has numerous benefits for your mental health and well-being. It can bring confidence, improved clarity, and a deep connection to yourself. 

I’ve personally suffered from anxiety, depression, self-isolation, loneliness, panic attacks, suicidal ideation, stress, worry, overwhelm, and more, but the big whammy that forced me to make some serious inner changes and find inner peace was complex PTSD. 

I did not know how bad, triggered, and wounded a person’s emotional and nervous system could get. My body felt like a minefield. It was not easy, so I understand if you are currently suffering. 

Before suffering from complex PTSD, I thought I would have to live with depression and anxiety for the rest of my life, and that my mood was my personality and just who I was. 

I figured it was inescapable because it was a part of my temperament, so I had to deal with it and learn how to cope. This is a common misconception.

Your emotions are not you! They are a part of you. You do not have to live with depression and anxiety. You can heal and heal fully!

31 Practical Grounding Techniques and Tools for Wellbeing 

Before we get into the 31 grounding techniques and tools, it’s important to distinguish between coping, soothing, and healing.

Coping and soothing techniques provide temporary relief. These strategies are essential and equally needed as you navigate your daily life experience.

However, they suggest that you continue to live with distressing symptoms.

Depending on your situation, you may want to consider healing, which will yield long-term effects. 

Healing is getting to the root cause of a symptom—for example, anxiety. 

Anxiety is a symptom of what’s really going on. 

So, to cope with and soothe anxiety, we may take a bath, go for a walk, drink alcohol, or emotionally eat. You would agree that all four are coping strategies; some are helpful, while others are not, especially when taken to the extreme. 

But healing anxiety is getting to the root cause, therefore releasing a lifetime of anxiety. When you get to the root cause of anxiety and heal it, anxiety will no longer be present in your body. 

So, you will unlikely spend time and energy coping or soothing, and instead focus your life force on your deepest dreams and personal fulfillment. 

Below are 31 grounding techniques and tools to help you feel more grounded. 

1. Repeat Your Name and Location

Repeating your name and location to remind yourself and bring you back to the present is a simple and quick method to focus your mind when you feel unbalanced and unstable. Say or repeat in your mind, “I am [name], and I am at “address or building.”

2. Breathwork / Pranayama  

Your breath is your best friend—literally. And it controls the quality of your life. Deep belly breathing and alternate nostril breathing (also known as Nadi Shodhana) are two techniques that help calm the nervous system. 

Both are suitable for beginners and handy when you are in distress. Technically, deep belly breathing is how we should all be breathing, and alternate nostril breathing balances both airway channels and the autonomic nervous system. 

3. Calming and Soothing Affirmations

Calming affirmations are another valuable tool to have in your back pocket when you feel ungrounded. You can repeat affirmations aloud, in your mind, or even write affirmations in a journal.

Find affirmations that affirm the opposite of how you are feeling. For instance, if you feel insecure and anxious, you might affirm, “I feel safe and secure in my body, or I am strong enough to handle my situation.”

4. Take a Relaxing Salt Bath

Epson bath salt baths are a fantastic way to rest, relax, and rejuvenate.

Epson helps to release toxins from the body, and you can add essential oils and herbs to your mix to make it a quiet self-care evening. 

5. Be Gentle and Kind to Yourself

Another simple way to ground yourself is to practice compassion when you feel ungrounded. Don’t fight or resist it. Let it be there without judgment.

Instead, observe, become curious about the arising sensations, and reflect on them when you get home. Sometimes, our secondary judgments about our experiences weigh us down more and can further lead to mental and emotional exhaustion. 

6. Positive Mantras

Mantras are another powerful way to focus and calm the mind. Gently repeat “aum or om” or any word you prefer at the third eye or heart center. Repeat it 20 times or as long as you like.

Additionally, you can try personal mantras. Personal mantras are similar to affirmations, but with a slight difference. With affirmations, you take a negative thought and affirm the positive. A personal mantra is a short phrase that embodies your personal philosophy and guides your life. 

For example, “focus on progress, not perfection,” “the universe has my back,” or “mind over matter.”

7. Do a Calming Prayer

Prayers are like long-form affirmations. They are the old-school way, but they remain the most potent and effective tool for alleviating distress and bringing one’s mind back to a calm and stable state. There are many prayers for any manifestation you want, from safety and protection to gratitude and more. 

8. Visualize and Imagine the Grounded Version of You 

Another powerful way to feel grounded is to try Neville Goddard’s manifesting technique—living in the state of the wish fulfilled. To manifest the grounded version of yourself, release the old version of yourself and assume the grounded version of yourself. 

For instance, if you get anxious in social settings in the evening, imagine what the grounded and confident version of you would be like. For a more thorough explanation, read more about Neville’s techniques here.

9. Listen to Uplifting and Meditative Music

Binaural beats, spiritual music, sound healing, and meditative sounds have a powerful effect on our being and can provide healing.

They are a fantastic way to uplift your spirit, calm your nervous system, and raise your vibration. I like Good Vibes for their binaural beats. 

10. Watch Cute Animals 

Baby animals are so cute! Watching baby animals online can help nourish the soul if you can’t find real-life animals around.

Baby elephants, bunnies, cubs, otters, monkeys, and kittens are all so adorable. Focusing on them will bring inner joy and help you connect with the cuteness of life. 

11. Practice Compassionate, Positive Self Talk 

Our inner conversations dictate our state of being. When in distress, use a compassionate and encouraging inner voice to be a supportive friend or loving parent to yourself.

12. Bring Your Attention Back to Your Heart Space

When you feel that you are moving away from yourself, for instance, if your mind ruminates and returns to a past hurtful event or your focus goes onto someone else, simply bring your attention back to your heart space. Remind yourself that you are right here, not somewhere in the past or on the other side of the room.

13. Develop a Consistent Spiritual Practice 

Developing a consistent spiritual practice gives your day structure and helps you live more intentionally. It allows you to take a moment to reflect on your day, week, and month and connect to your higher self and a higher power.

A spiritual practice can include reading spiritual texts or uplifting books, practicing yoga, engaging in meditation, and engaging in self-reflection, among other activities.

14. EFT Tapping 

EFT tapping is an effective healing technique that combines positive affirmations and our bodies’ meridian points to release stress, emotional pain, and suffering. Try out EFT’s classic tapping sequence to see if you resonate with their technique. 

15. Get Adequate Sleep

You’ve heard this before. It’s nothing new, but sometimes, it is really about focusing on the basics: getting enough rest, drinking water, taking care of your hygiene, and eating a balanced meal.

When we don’t get adequate sleep, our well-being and overall reactivity can be compromised. We wake up agitated and grumpy, depleted throughout the day.

16. Work with a Healing Professional

Working with a therapeutic healing professional, such as a mental health professional, energy healer, or spiritual teacher, can have a profoundly positive impact on your life. 

They can help you dig in and get to the root causes, offer different perspectives, shine a light on your blind spots, and hold space for immense healing. It’s worth it. Taking care of your mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being will lead to greater satisfaction and help you manifest a fulfilling life that aligns with your soul.

17. Allow Enough Time to Work on Daily Activities

Allowing extra time for your daily tasks instead of jam-packing the day is a simple shift, but it can dramatically improve the overall quality of your life.

If we operate under the mindset that there’s never enough time, we can create a negative internal cycle that makes us feel like we’re living in a rat race.

We feel overwhelmed, unbalanced, and not good enough, which causes a lot of mental and emotional stress. Remind yourself that there is plenty. You are enough. 

18. Slow Down Your Life 

If you are going through a tough time, consider slowing down your life to focus on your well-being and what truly matters. It can ultimately enhance the overall quality of your life for the long term.

It can be scary to release your grip on the external world as you care for yourself for FOMO, but everything will be as it is, waiting for your return. 

19. Go for a Walk or Drive

Old, tried-and-true methods will never let you down. Going for a stroll, a bike ride, or driving can help relieve stress and bring you to a calm and meditative state. Gentle movement releases blocked, stagnant, and pent-up energy.

20. Surrender: Focus on What You Can Control

Esther Abraham-Hicks provides a great exercise to help you focus on what you can control: the placemat process.

In this exercise, you write down on paper everything that is within your control and what is not. This exercise can help you offload the extra burden we sometimes unnecessarily carry.

21. Practice Mindfulness

Implementing mindfulness practices can help you slow down and become more aware of your internal reality from a place of non-judgment and non-attachment. 

You align with the observer of your sensations and experiences, creating a little space between you and your internal reality. That way, you neither judge the painful experience by resisting it, causing more of it, nor do you become too attached to it by indulging in it. 

22. Earthing 

Earthing, also known as grounding, is a technique in which you walk barefoot on the Earth. The documentary Earthing popularized it. Earthing has been known to lower inflammation, improve sleep, enhance overall well-being, and more. 

23. Connect with Nature

Connecting with nature is another way to help you feel more connected and return to the basics. Nature is healing, comforting, and relaxing to some.

If you cannot be in nature, you can bring natural elements into your home. Listening to natural sounds, such as the songs of songbirds and the sounds of water, can be profoundly healing and therapeutic. 

24. Start a Meditation Practice

Meditation and guided practices are powerful tools for calming the nervous system, balancing emotions, and bringing clarity to the mind. There are many ways to meditate, and many reasons why people choose to practice.

Through meditation, you can become more aware of your thoughts, gently release unwanted energy, and create space for peace and focus. Even starting with just five minutes a day can bring noticeable benefits and lasting effects.

25. Hang Out with Supportive Friends

Finding like-minded friends or a support group that empathizes with your experience can help. For instance, if you have performance anxiety, finding a peer group that focuses on that particular niche can help you feel connected and less alone. 

26. Listen to Spiritual Leaders

Listening to spiritual teachers and leaders can powerfully impact your mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. 

They have a high-vibrational spiritual frequency that is transmitted through their being and voices, which can help promote healing and personal growth. 

They offer a different perspective on life, and over time, simply by listening to them, even if you have them in the background, your vibration will gradually rise.

27. Go Directly into Your Fear

Our natural inclination is to analyze our fears, which often leads to merely skirting the surface of our fears without truly resolving them.

Instead of analyzing, resisting, suppressing, or ignoring them, go deeper and experience the fear directly.

Feeling it and conversing with it will have a thawing and purging effect. We then realize that some fears are irrational or from an old trauma that is no longer present. 

28. Try Journaling or Morning Pages 

Journaling is a powerful meditative and therapeutic tool for introspection and self-reflection. There are many ways to journal, but one that comes to mind is the morning pages method. Morning pages are a fantastic way to start your day, release negative thoughts, and settle your mind. 

29. Set Daily Intentions

Setting daily intentions is another powerful way to start your day and give it a focus. You can set an intention for anything, such as cultivating gratitude, smiling more, or saying thank you. 

For the purpose of this article, try starting your day by intending to be grounded throughout your day. 

For example, “I intend to prioritize my well-being today” or “I intend to stay grounded today.”

30. Self-Love and Healing Work

Any form of inner work, such as self-love, shadow work, inner child work, healing, and integration, will profoundly benefit your overall life, bringing joy, wholeness, and well-being. Inner work gets to the root cause of any personal issue, freeing you from a lifetime of misery and suffering. I promise 😉

💖 Related: 99 Self-Love Affirmations for Healing and Confidence

31. Uncover Limiting Beliefs

Uncovering limiting beliefs is another way to help you identify the root cause of any personal issue, and it also significantly impacts your manifestations. 

For instance, realizing that you suffer from low self-esteem and knowing that you don’t have to live that way will drastically change how you navigate life, bringing an inner sense of joy, peace, and well-being to your system.

Closing Thoughts on What It Means to Ground Yourself

Now you know what ‘grounded’ means and have 31 grounding techniques and tools to use when you are in distress. There will always be moments or seasons when we feel ungrounded, and that’s okay. 

So, don’t feel that you need to be grounded all the time, but if you are suffering, I hope this article helps you on your path. Enjoy!

May this article assist you in your manifestation journey and bring your desired outcome one step closer to you. May you live well, and I wish you many blessings, filled with so much love and joy. Happy manifesting!

You might also enjoy: Law of Attraction for Beginners: Manifestation Guide 2024