Vishen Lakhiani explores grounding techniques that use touch to ease anxiety. Holding ice water, petting animals, or wrapping yourself in a soft blanket anchors your attention and calms your nervous system when stress hits.
Chapters
Often people find something to hold and that will ground them. A photographer said that his subjects are nervous getting their picture taken, and so he'll give them, like, a wine glass or a bunch of grapes. And he said once they have that, they ground it. A lot of actors want to have a prop that they hold. Some don't like it, but then some feel like it releases it. I had a habit that I never understood. I always want to hold a pen, even if I'm at, like, a cocktail party. When you're like, Gretchen, you don't need to take notes here. Why do you have a pen in your hand? You just feels right to me. I feel better when I have a pen in my hand. Somebody said that she gets kind of hot when she's anxious and she feels like she's floating out of her body. So she holds a very cold water bottle with ice water in it, and the coldness and just the weight of it gives her something to hold. There's something very.
Grounding that's so interesting. I never even realized I was doing this, but I stroke my beard a lot.
There you go.
Stroking my beard. Calms me down. Calms me down. And if I'm working, I need a hot cup of tea or coffee.
And do you curve your spirit?
Exactly. Exactly. I need. When I'm holding a cup. When I'm holding a cup, there's something grounding about it.
Yes.
And now I understand why.
Yes. Kind of along the same lines as petting a cat or a dog.
Right.
Somebody was telling me that at hospice, they'll often have, like, very, like, soft, fluffy blankets because people just like something comforting to hold, something warm and soft.
