Wellness Minutes
Designed by an Indian Clinical-Community Psychologist in the US, this podcast is designed by -and- for people who know stress, burnout and overwhelm but also long for sustainable ways to cope and be well.
Short episodes, full of guided practices and short descriptions of why these wellness strategies work.
This podcast is designed to get you thinking about ways to make wellness strategies a part of your everyday life. Each episode is an invitation to pause and take a deep breath.
Wellness Minutes
Sensory Scavenger Hunt for Your Stressed-Out Mind
Finding yourself caught in a loop of worries or overwhelm? Pause and take a breath. Our bodies have an incredible built-in system for returning to calm, and this episode reveals how to activate it through simple grounding techniques.
We begin by briefly reviewing how your nervous system works—the interplay between your sympathetic "fight or flight" response and the parasympathetic "rest and digest" state. Building on our previous episode about deep breathing, we explore grounding as another powerful tool for nervous system regulation. The beauty of grounding lies in its fundamental premise: only the present moment is real. By anchoring your awareness in what's happening right now through your five senses, you can break free from rumination about the past or anxiety about the future.
The heart of this episode is a guided grounding practice you can follow along with immediately. Whether you're out walking, driving, or sitting at home, I'll lead you through noticing five things you can see, four things you can hear, and sensations related to smell, taste, and touch. This sensory scavenger hunt isn't just calming—it's a skill that strengthens with practice. The recommendation is simple yet powerful: engage your five senses, five times a day, for just one minute at a time. This small investment can transform your relationship with stress and anxiety.
Try this practice whenever you feel disconnected or overwhelmed. Your nervous system will thank you, and you'll discover that groundedness isn't just a state of mind—it's a skill you can develop and call upon whenever needed. Share your experience with grounding in the comments, and subscribe for more simple wellness techniques to incorporate into your daily life.
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Opening Music by Jeremiah Alves from Pixabay
Closing Music by Aleksandr Karabanov from Pixabay
Thank you for listening,
much metta,
Dr G
Welcome to the Wellness Minutes episode on grounding techniques. Like I was telling you the last time, the brain is broadly divided into the parasympathetic nervous system and the sympathetic nervous system, and we, through Wellness Minutes, are going to learn different techniques to strengthen nervous system and the sympathetic nervous system and we, through wellness minutes, are going to learn different techniques to strengthen our parasympathetic nervous system. So we talked about breathing, just deep breathing the last time, helping our lungs and our belly fill up with fresh air, and then breathing out to help that fresh air leave the body. Today, we are going to talk about grounding techniques. Grounding is one very simple way of getting your mind and body to focus on the present moment, because only the present moment is real. Letting go of the past and pausing all thoughts about the future, focusing purely on the present moment by tuning into your senses, listening with your ears, watching with your eyes, smelling and breathing with your nose, feeling the air around you with your skin and tasting with your mouth. Come along with me and let's ground into the present moment. Perhaps you're outside on a walk, or perhaps you're driving, perhaps you're at home. Wherever you are, you can take a few minutes to ground into the present moment.
Speaker 1:Notice five things you see with your eyes. If you're able to close your eyes, imagine one thing to look at in your mind's eye, five things that you notice about it Its color, its shape, its size. I'm thinking of a tree, a green tree with long leaves. I'm imagining the shape of the tree and the leaves. I'm noticing how things move because of the air. Four things I can hear in my mind's eye or in reality Right now.
Speaker 1:You're listening to my voice. Perhaps there's a sound around you. Notice it without judgment. It's there. I can hear crickets. There's always a sound of crickets. I can hear the clock ticking and with my nose I take a deep breath and notice just the air and the smell of the candle near me. And then I try to sense if there's anything I can taste, taste. Just touching your tongue to the roof of your mouth is in itself a very concrete way to help yourself ground and finally just feel the air around you. Is it cold, is it warm? If you're driving perhaps, notice what your hands are touching. Just ground into the present moment using your senses. Hope you were able to follow along while grounding right now and hope you take the time to ground on your own throughout the week. You can either listen to this podcast again to encourage you to ground, or do it on your own. Five senses, five times a day, one minute at a time. Surely you can do that. Take care until next time.