Anxiety has a way of pulling you out of yourself. Your mind runs ahead. Your breath shortens. Your body feels like it’s floating two inches above the ground — or buzzing so hard you can’t find stillness. Survivors of childhood trauma often live here, in this constant hum of unease, as if something might collapse at any moment.
Daoist healing offers a simple truth: if you want to quiet the storm, come back to the ground. Not as an idea, but as a practice. Here are three ways to begin, each from a different discipline.
From Contemplative Studies: Abdominal Breathing
When the breath is trapped in the chest, the body reads it as alarm. To calm the system, let the breath drop.
- Sit or lie down. Place one hand on your belly.
- Inhale to your hand, and let it rise gently.
- Exhale and let it fall.
- Stay with five slow breaths.
Each belly breath is a reminder: the ground is here, and you belong to it.
From Movement: Walking Awareness
An anxious body wants to run, but often it just paces — restless, unfocused. Turn that restlessness into presence.
- Step outside if you can.
- Walk very slowly, paying attention to each step and your feet touching the earth.
- Match your steps with your breath.
- Bring your attention to the air, the sounds, the textures around you.
Anxiety pulls you into what-if. Walking grounds you in what-is.
From Nutrition: A Warm Meal
Anxiety scatters energy upward. Warm food brings it back down.
- Trade the quick snack or coffee for a simple warm meal — a bowl of soup, congee, or lightly cooked grains.
- Notice how warmth settles differently than cold, raw foods.
It’s not a cure-all, but a way of telling your body: settle down, you are safe enough to digest.
Closing Thoughts
There isn’t only one way to ground. Some days breath works. Other days you need your feet, or the steady warmth of food. Though appearing quite simple, each of these practices is a doorway. Try one, see what happens. Then return tomorrow, and try again.
