Jennie Lannette, LCSWAnxiety rocks can help you calm nerves immediately. Here's how they're used and how they can help you.
Did you ever play with rocks as a kid? Maybe you skipped pebbles on a lake or kept a pet rock? Adults can benefit from this natural treasure as well.
Grounding stones are a tool to practice mindfulness in a tangible way. Sometimes they’re called worry stones, anxiety stones, or healing rocks. They're often used to help with high anxiety, panic, or PTSD.
Article Highlights
Steps to Use Your Anxiety Stone
How to Use Grounding Stones: Graphic
History of Rocks
Healing Stones
Decorate Your Own Anxiety Stones
What are Grounding Stones?
The idea of using rocks for soothing anxiety and stress has been around for many decades, if not centuries. They work to stop anxiety by:
Helping you focus on your senses
Distracting you from worries about the past or future
Providing a tangible item to focus on
Reminding you to practice mindfulness
How Mindfulness Calms Anxiety Quickly
Grounding stones are a great way to practice awareness, the essential element of mindfulness practice. I first learned about awareness of the present moment in meditation class, and then later as a DBT (dialectical behavioral therapy) therapist. Calming through sensory awareness is a staple in DBT, a popular therapy for a variety of mental health issues.
Mindfulness is proven to help with depression symptoms, pain management, and anxiety. MRI studies by Harvard researchers show that mindfulness activities calm the amygdala, which activates during times of stress or worry.
More recent research in Denmark has shown that daily practice of mindfulness, in this case use of the Headspace app, helped change brain focus. Those who used the app had an easier time forgetting their fears, compared to those who would continue to focus on them (who didn’t use the app).
As I began teaching mindfulness to my own clients, I would run into a specific problem. Many people were suffering from high anxiety and trauma and PTSD symptoms. When your mind is in a constant state of anxiety, rumination, or stress, it’s pretty hard to focus on breathing.
In the DBT program we would often use lotions to notice physical sensations and smells. This was a great introduction to mindfulness, and helped those who had trouble concentrating to notice their physical sensations. We would look for colors, or even hold cubes of ice. All of these were helpful at times.
At some point, we started holding rocks to help with this sensory focusing. Perhaps I learned the rock technique from another therapist in DBT, as it expands on this process of using real items. In any case, the idea of using, teaching, and decorating grounding stones was born. It became a staple of my practice.
You might have heard of kindness rocks, inspiration stones, or healing crystals. Any and all of these can be used as grounding stones.
Steps to Use Your Anxiety Stone
Here’s how I teach grounding with stones in my office (or these days via telehealth).
Choose a stone if one is available. It can be one like this, polished for this purpose, or a plain stone from your driveway. (If you can't find one, simply choose a nearby small object and modify the instructions for the alternative object.)
Close your eyes. Simply notice the stone in your hand. Be aware of the feeling, texture, and weight of the stone. Notice what your hand feels like holding it. Notice its temperature. Spend about one minute on this step.
Next, continue to hold the stone. Now, notice any sounds around you (not necessarily related to the stone). Often we tune out sounds. Bring back any sound inside the room, or outside the room. Just be aware of them.
Now, open your eyes and look at the stone. Look for any strange lines, imperfections, colors, textures, etc. We often see things but don’t look at details. Bring all of that into your awareness.
Finally, bring your attention back to the physical sensation of the stone. Notice the feelings in your palm and fingers.
Notice what it was like to bring your attention to the stone. Do you feel any different?
Around 50 to 75% of my clients find this activity helpful as a soothing tool. For many, it offers a tangible alternative to the usual mindfulness process, which often involves visualizing or focusing for long periods of time. Grounding stones are sometimes easier to use, and the physical sensations are easier to focus on.
There’s an added bonus to using an anxiety rock. If you use it enough, and practice calming while you do, then pretty soon it will trigger a calming response. Your nervous system will become conditioned to calm down simply by holding the rock.
Grounding rocks are also an easy tool to carry with you. You can keep them in your pocket, your office area, or car, and use them when needed.
Thinking of the history of rocks makes them all the more meaningful to me. I often gather rocks at a childhood creek where I used to visit. The creek is my “safe space,” in real life and in my imagination.
The Grounded History of Rocks
Millions of years ago the creek was a seabed (known due to fossils in this part of the world). I imagine these rocks being there, in one form or another, for all of that time. They’ve made it through dinosaurs, meteors, changing climates, civilizations, and more.
The oldest rocks in the world are around 4 billion years old. My creek rocks might be that old, or might be just a mere 2 billion years old. Holding something that old in your hand brings a whole new meaning to the term grounding!
Healing Stones
Some believe certain rocks and gems have healing properties. While science hasn’t proven this, it seems like a fairly harmless practice. Many people find specific gems carry certain meanings. Others might find that using a specific rock as a grounding stone adds additional comfort for them, making it work even better.
You can often find these gems, in all sorts of shapes and colors, at local mystical and alternative spirituality stores. They can be as inexpensive as these common stones, or as fancy as this opal necklace. Common stones used for healing purposes include:
Even if you don’t believe in the energy theories about stones, simply choosing a stone that’s appealing, attractive, and pleasing to the touch can be helpful. Wearing them as a piece of jewelry can be a discreet way to keep your precious rocks close. This can also add an interesting element to your noticing during the mindfulness practice.
Decorate Your Own Anxiety Stones
Another way to increase the fun and appeal of grounding stones is to start with basic stones like these river rocks and decorate them. My clients often add words, images, or abstract decorations to their rocks. This can help remind them of a specific practice, or the purpose of the exercise. Common phrases used include:
Breathe
Calm
Be
Believe
Soothe
All is Okay
Notice
Fortunately, there are never ending ways to decorate rocks. You might have seen the kindness rocks movement of the last several years. Local towns decorate and leave rocks throughout the community. Those who find the stones can re-hide or keep them. Many communities require finders to replace their kept rocks with new ones.
Those who participate in kindness rocks, or who otherwise decorate stones, have developed unique artistic methods. One of my favorites is the mandala drawing or dotting techniques.
Mandalas have a surprisingly long history in psychology and mental health. Carl Jung, an early pioneer in psychology and dream interpretation, loved mandalas. He believed they were a manifestation of the inner self. No two created were alike, much like snowflakes.
Many artists use pens, markers, paint, or dotting tools to create rock mandalas. The result is often quite beautiful and awe-provoking. These are frequently offered on crafting sites like Etsy, or you can create your own.
I often use simple writing tools to add words and decorations to my stones. Fingernail polish also works quite well. You can simply paint patterns and words, or you can drop the polish into a bowl of water and dip in your rock. If it works, a fun abstract pattern will stick to your rock.
Other ways to decorate rocks include simply painting them, using stencils or engraving tools, or specialized pens and markers.
I also once had a client who used a tumbler machine to smooth out rocks. This gave them a particularly comforting and soothing texture.
Alternatively, rocks themselves can be pieces of art. They might be used to create the mandala (like in the photo below), or as stacks or designs on the beach. These activities can also be grounding and help calm anxiety.
Alternatives to Anxiety Stones
If rocks aren’t your thing, or you don’t have one with you, here are some alternatives that can work as a substitute.
Keychains
Small stuffed toys
Stress balls
A favorite pen
A piece of hard candy
Small figurines
You can repeat the mindfulness exercise from earlier in this article, simply using the alternative object. If you have a comfort item you use already, you can also apply the same principle to it.
Grounding stones are just one of many options to calm high anxiety symptoms. They offer a concrete, tangible way to practice mindfulness and calm the nervous system. Fortunately, there are a variety of ways you can use anxiety rocks to soothe mental health symptoms. The ultimate question is, will anxiety stones work for you? There’s one simple way to find out.
Struggling with Trauma, Anxiety, or PTSD?
If you believe you may be struggling with an ongoing mental health issue, here are some resources that can help.
Find professional services. A good starting point is SAMHSA, which will help you connect to local therapists.
Take the PTSD Self-Assessment. This quiz will help you gather information you can take to your therapist. Start your self-assessment here.
Check out my self-care resources, kits, and worksheets. I designed these based on scientific research and my own experiencing in helping clients heal from PTSD. Learn more here.
Jennie Lannette, LCSW, is a licensed, practicing therapist in Missouri, specializing in trauma, anxiety, and related mental health issues. This blog post includes affiliate links. If you click on and purchase a product a small commission will be returned to fund this site.