Bay Area CBT Center · Somatic and nervous-system work
Grounding and Orienting Menu
Everyone gets handed the same three grounding techniques and then quietly concludes grounding doesn't work for them. The truth is that these are not interchangeable — some work by slowing a revved system down, others by bringing an offline one back up, and using the wrong direction makes things worse. This is a menu you test, with a before and after number, until you know which two are yours.
How this works
- Rate yourself before and after, every time. Without the numbers you'll default to whichever one you've heard of most, which is usually not the one that works for you.
- Match the direction to the state. If you're revved up, you want something slowing or discharging. If you're shut down and flat, you want something activating — deep slow breathing there often takes you further under.
- Test them on ordinary days first, at a 3 or 4 out of 10. A technique you've only ever tried at a 9 hasn't really been tested, and won't be available at a 9 either.
- Do them for long enough. Most need sixty to ninety seconds. Ten seconds of anything proves nothing.
- Two reliable ones beat twelve you sort of know. The summary at the bottom picks yours out for you.
Orienting is the one most people skip
Slowly turning your head and letting your eyes actually land on the objects in the room — unhurried, with the neck genuinely moving — is the oldest safety signal the nervous system has, and it works from the outside in. It looks like nothing. Try it properly before deciding it's too simple.
Before you start
Go slowly and take less than you think you can. Somatic work gets its results from small doses, not from pushing through. If you find yourself flooded, dizzy, numb, very far away, or panicky, that is a signal to stop — not a sign that you should try harder.
If you need to stop: open your eyes, put both feet flat on the floor, look slowly around the room and name five things you can see, and let your out-breath be longer than your in-breath. You do not have to finish the exercise. Stopping early is a skill, not a failure.
If you have a trauma history, this is best done alongside a therapist rather than alone. A worksheet cannot track how you're doing while you do it, and that tracking is a large part of what makes this work safe. Take it to your therapist, or use it to notice what you want to bring to a session.
How to do each one properly
Slowing and discharging — for when you're revved, braced, racing, or panicky.
- Orienting — Turn your head slowly, letting your eyes rest on real objects. Move the neck, don't just flick the eyes. Take a full minute. Notice when a breath arrives on its own.
- Physiological sigh — Two in-breaths through the nose, the second short on top of the first, then one long slow out-breath through the mouth. Three to five rounds. Fastest reliable down-shift there is.
- Long exhale — Out-breath roughly twice as long as the in-breath. Count if it helps: in for four, out for eight. Two minutes.
- Humming or VOO — Hum, or make a low “voo” on the out-breath, low enough to feel it vibrate in your chest. Six to eight rounds. The vibration is the point.
- Cold — Cold water on the face or wrists, or something cold held in the hands. Thirty seconds.
- Push against a wall — Both hands flat, push steadily and hard for ten seconds, release. Repeat three times. Gives mobilised energy somewhere to go.
- Shake it out — Shake hands, arms, then legs, for thirty to sixty seconds. Looks ridiculous, works.
Activating and re-engaging — for when you're numb, flat, foggy, heavy, or far away.
- Feet and floor — Press both feet down and feel the floor push back. Add a slow rock forward and back.
- Name what you see — Out loud: five things you can see, four you can touch, three you can hear, two you can smell, one you can taste. Out loud matters — silently it stays in your head, which is where you're stuck.
- Temperature and texture — Hold something with a strong texture. Run hands under warm then cool water. Sharp sensory input, not soothing input.
- Stand and move — Stand up. Walk to another room. Change your posture entirely. Shutdown is held in place by stillness.
- Talk out loud — Say what you're doing, plainly: “I'm standing in the kitchen. It's Tuesday. The light is on.” Speech re-engages a part of the brain that goes quiet in shutdown.
- Sour or strong taste — Something sharp. A strong mint, lemon, cold water.
- Reach out — Text one person, or step outside where other people are. Shutdown deepens alone.
Step 1Test them
Rate before and afterTry each one on a day when you're at a 3 or 4 out of 10, not a crisis. Rate how activated or shut down you feel before, do it properly for a full minute, and rate again. Leave blank anything you haven't tried yet.
Orienting to the room
Slow head turns, eyes landing on real objects. One full minute.
Worth recording. The same technique often helps one direction and not the other.
Physiological sigh
Double in-breath through the nose, long out through the mouth. Three to five rounds.
Worth recording. The same technique often helps one direction and not the other.
Long exhale breathing
Out-breath twice as long as the in-breath. Two minutes.
Worth recording. The same technique often helps one direction and not the other.
Humming or VOO
Low enough to feel it in your chest. Six to eight rounds.
Worth recording. The same technique often helps one direction and not the other.
Cold water or cold object
Face, wrists, or held in the hands. Thirty seconds.
Worth recording. The same technique often helps one direction and not the other.
Pushing against a wall
Ten seconds hard, release, three times.
Worth recording. The same technique often helps one direction and not the other.
Shaking it out
Hands, arms, legs. Thirty to sixty seconds.
Worth recording. The same technique often helps one direction and not the other.
Feet and floor
Press down, feel the push back, rock slowly.
Worth recording. The same technique often helps one direction and not the other.
Naming what you see, out loud
Five, four, three, two, one. Out loud, not silently.
Worth recording. The same technique often helps one direction and not the other.
Temperature and texture
Strong sensory input rather than soothing input.
Worth recording. The same technique often helps one direction and not the other.
Standing up and moving
Change rooms. Change posture entirely.
Worth recording. The same technique often helps one direction and not the other.
Talking out loud
Plain description of where you are and what day it is.
Worth recording. The same technique often helps one direction and not the other.
What actually works for you
Your six biggest drops, ranked. These are your techniques — not the ones you've been told about most. Write the top two somewhere you'll see them.
What actually works for you
Your six biggest drops, ranked. These are your techniques — not the ones you've been told about most. Write the top two somewhere you'll see them.
Rate a few before and after and your top techniques rank themselves here.
Step 3Your card
Photograph thisFill this in from the ranking above, then take a photo of it on your phone. In a real moment you will not open a worksheet.
Two techniques maximum, in order.
Activating, not soothing.
At least one that's invisible in a meeting or on a bus. Otherwise you'll have nothing exactly when you need it.
Just as useful as the list of what works, and it stops you concluding that nothing helps.
Your privacy. Everything you enter stays in your own browser. Nothing is sent to Bay Area CBT Center and nothing is stored on our servers. Your answers are saved on this device only — use Clear all to erase them. This worksheet is an educational tool and is not therapy, a diagnosis, or a substitute for care. If you're having thoughts of harming yourself, please reach out to a professional or a crisis line rather than working through this alone.