Calming Grounding Techniques For Anxiety & Dissociation (De-Personalisation + De-Realisation)

This is a soft-spoken ASMR practice for anxiety, dissociation (de-personalisation and de-realisation) including grounding techniques such as box breathing and focusing on the five senses to feel calm. A safe space to relax and feel calm when you are feeling disconnected. You are safe and you are real.

This practice is meant to help you to relax, relieve stress or anxiety, stop insomnia and sleep.

Transcript

Hey!

We will be talking about dissociation as well as depersonalization and derealization and anxiety and I just want to say that this is a really serious topic and so I just want to make it clear that I personally am not a therapist okay so if you relate to this video and you feel as though you may need some help then please seek some professional advice from a doctor or a professional so I just want to make that clear do not use this instead of therapy okay.

Talk therapy is a treatment for dissociation and it was actually when I was studying cognitive behavioral therapy that I learned the techniques to ground myself there are different grounding techniques that we will go over in this video and talk therapy is a really big help for that and it really helped me to teach myself how to ground myself and reconnect so I'm hoping that in this video I can help some of you with these techniques to just feel safe and to know that everything will be okay and also help you to help yourself reconnect okay.

So really quickly I wanted to just explain what dissociation is and I mean really quickly because I know it's stressful to hear these things over and over but I have the actual website the mind website to read off of so that I don't say anything that may be the wrong the wrong phrase etc so basically I'm just gonna read a little couple of little points so dissociation is one way that the mind copes with too much stress during a traumatic event you may feel disconnected from yourself or the world around you for example you may feel detached from your body or feel as though everything is unreal and some of the things that are joint with that is amnesia so dissociative amnesia which is having gaps in your life where you cannot remember things happening there's also fugue so dissociative fugue which is if you are traveling to a different location and you're taking on a new identity for a short time there's also derealization which is feeling as though the world around you is unreal depersonalization which is feeling as though you are watching yourself in a film that you are looking from the outside at yourself identity alteration so feeling as if your identity has shifted and changed speaking in different voices things like that and then identity confusion which is finding it difficult to define who you are as a person just wanted to quickly explain it for anyone who wasn't a hundred percent with dissociation it is completely normal to feel a bit numb and to feel cold in myself I always have cold hands and cold feet all the time and in these times it just gets a little bit worse so people have actually pointed out before when I've been in the the moments that my hands are ridiculously cold also if you have gaps in your memory as I said it's completely normal feeling as though you're watching yourself feeling as though you just cannot connect all of these things are completely normal must that you know that in case you're thinking that it's not is normal dissociation is something that we do to protect ourselves protect ourselves from moments that may feel as though you are in danger even if it's not dangerous it may just be your weight your body's way of reacting to a certain feeling but it is just a defense mechanism that your body uses to protect you from an overwhelming situation so yeah do not worry if you are feeling the ways I've just explained it is okay everything is okay and I just want to remind you that whatever has happened in your past whatever you may have been through in your past just know that your past does not define you you are not your past you are strong and you have got through enough stuff to know that you can get through these moments it's really important that you know that speaking to people as I said talk therapy but also just speaking to people about any different events in your life really really helps with dissociation and in the long run that talking to people and allowing yourself to open up and almost find out for yourself why it is that you disconnect yourself in certain situations that is really how you can help yourself in the long run by understanding yourself and speaking to others to get them to help you understand as well but in this moment right now I just want you to know that you are safe whatever is going on if you feel disconnected from anything you are safe and you are real whatever you may feel you may feel as though things are not real you are real and you can clap your hands together you can move them together you are real and you are safe and everything is okay we're going to do some grounding techniques to help us to relax and bring ourselves back into the present moment but I just want to say first of all if you have been feeling this for a while like myself and you don't know what to do journaling or writing in a diary I would highly highly suggest to start doing that it can help you understand why you had those gaps in your memory for that moment what was it that you was feeling honestly my own self my whole teenage years I kept diaries and now when I think back to my younger years my teenage years there are so many gaps so many gaps so every now and then I will get all these diaries and I will read through them and there are so many gaps that I read and I just I kind of understand like I said our body is trying to protect us and we are protecting ourselves so we disconnect from reality so that can be events even if you're grieving so my past when I've been grieving I have completely disconnected and to this day in my actual memory there aren't there's memories that just do not live there anymore but when I read my diaries it helps me understand why what it was I was feeling to put me in that place I highly suggest you to start journaling writing a diary also sleep so important eight hours a night I also have insomnia at the moment and on and off as well as that for the last decade so whenever I'm going through the insomnia times such as I am at the moment it gets worse and it becomes harder to control so eight hours a night of sleep if you if you can fall asleep I would say go to sleep do not stay up late until the early hours watching Netflix or whatever if you know it will impact you later on so okay there's my little mum bit out of the way so grounding techniques first of all just to explain that mindful techniques mindful breathing is a massive massive thing that can help in these moments because mindfulness revolves around being in the present being aware of all your surroundings and not judging okay so if you are taking a mindful walk it's highly suggested that you do that multiple times a week if you dissociate and so if you can then do some mindfulness breathing go for a walk you just look at things touch the leaves as you walk past stroke the dogs you can though you know just taking the smells listen to the sounds fill the air all of that so that is highly suggested and in this moment we're gonna do some mindful breathing so box breathing it's one of my favorite techniques and that is where you breathe for four hold for four breathe out for four and then hold for four let's just try that let's just do three rounds I'll count you just do the breathing and just relax let yourself feel relaxed and calm let go of any of these feelings of panic or anything just remember that you are safe right now you were real everything is okay and you're just gonna take this time to relax so if you're ready we're gonna breathe in for four okay and I will count so breathe in one two three four hold one two three four breathe out one two three four and hold one two three okay now again breathing in one two three four hold one two three four breathing out one two three four hold one two three four and again breathing in one two three four hold one two three four breathing out one two three four and hold one two three four okay allow your breathing to just return to a relaxed state and just feel calm and now wherever you are right now in a comfortable position if you are laying down sitting down just notice the feeling of whatever there is the surface below you okay feel the surface below you if you are sitting down then feel your feet in the floor you are grounded and just feel the fact that you are here and the surface below you is there and we're going to focus on some grounding techniques as well to do with senses so we are now going to just focus on each of our senses our five senses and you can do this if you are anywhere so when you are doing a mindful walk if you do your five senses something you can see something you can smell something you can taste something you can hear something you can touch if you're out just notice these things and it can ground you bring you back to your center make you feel connected again connected to your body connected to your surroundings and the world so right now something that you can see that could be something in your room just notice something and point it out and say that you can see it and then something you can smell so that could be the washing powder you use or just a general smell in your in your home or wherever you are right now what can you smell I like candles all the time so I can often smell them okay and then we have something that you can hear that could of course be my voice it could be something outside it could be if you live with people other people just notice it you can hear my voice whatever it may be and point it out okay now something that you can feel so that could be touch something you could touch so that could be your screen or your clothing or whatever the surface below you is whatever you can feel and then finally something that you can taste so wherever you've brushed your teeth and it's minty or you have lip balm on you just had a drink just notice your five senses notice how they all feel around your body okay remember to do this whenever you feel out of control and always remember to tell yourself you are safe because you are you are safe this is a safe space to be everything is okay this feeling will not last forever and you were real you are here this is real it's just for a moment you may feel this way but you'll get through this and whatever happens do not let this temporary feeling stop you from doing the things you enjoy going to school or going to work or college try to just bring yourself ground yourself and bring yourself back to your center being mindful and hopefully within time if you talk to people as well then these feelings will pass and you will learn to just ground yourself naturally so I really hope that this video could help you and please take my advice and do try these techniques as it really does help trust me bye

Reviews

Such a beautiful calming voice really relaxed me ❤️😊

very calming and helped ground me a lot. your voice is calming and easy to focus on through my dissociative fogginess lol

Awesome guided meditation, I felt like all the weight lifted off of me!

Thank you for sharing your grounding techniques and for pointing out that dissociation in any form is quite a normal reaction to cope with certain circumstances.

Thank you for pointing out to realize, with everything you can sense in the present moment, that you are safe - you’re having an experience. This is, of course, related to dissociation happening in a safe place and if you’re not and you’re able to, please find a place where you can feel safe and do these or other grounding techniques.

I think it’s so important to address that this is a normal reaction to abnormal or intense situations - even when you’re going through this in times that are physically safe, yet triggering - and anyone going through this; you are far from alone.

Posts or publications like this are so important in the process of depathologizing this and to turn our attention more to the people who are dealing with this - instead of only or mainly focusing on circumstances or people who caused us to have these issues.

So thank you once again for sharing this. It’s so much in line with a mindset that perhaps everyone can use; “carry me and I’ll carry you””

Have a wonderful day!

Thank you for your great advice, the grounding techniques, AND your beautiful, soothing voice

I really appreciate this track. The length is good for mellowing out long enough that the feelings didn't return once it ended. Thank you for sharing those techniques and affirming the experience.

Thank you so much for this❤️ these techniques were so helpful

Really brought me down from a bad dissociation episode. Thank you so much. This will be my go to audio.