5 Great Parks in the DC Area to Practice Grounding to Reduce Stress & Anxiety
Written By: Emma Cook, LICSW, LCSW
With the changing seasons, we are starting to experience the shift into cooler weather, beautiful leaves, and the excitement of the holiday season. Autumn can be an excellent time to recenter on personal goals after a long summer. I hope to continue prioritizing time with friends, getting outside, and trying my best to hold off the seasonal depression and anxiety that naturally comes along with winter.
Mindfulness and Grounding Through Exploration
As a therapist in DC at The Sterling Group, one of my favorite ways to improve my overall mental well-being is by exploring and playing in the parks around the DC area. I like to practice mindfulness and grounding in various ways to become well-versed in practicing mindfulness and give myself a healthy dose of dopamine when my routine feels monotonous. Below are some of the parks and grounding techniques available to us when we feel overwhelmed.
Rock Creek Park (DC & MD)
Rock Creek Park is one of the most well-known parks in DC and provides various opportunities to practice grounding. Getting in touch with your body is one of the ways I enjoy mindful grounding at Rock Creek Park. There are hiking trails, walking paths, running or cycling, and plenty of nature to observe. Just getting away from the busy streets of DC and taking that first breath of fresh air is an act of grounding.
Feel how your lungs fill up, your eyes adjust to the natural light, and your feet feel on the path in front of you are a few ways to practice grounding. At most hours of the day, people are getting out into nature. Observing others engaging with their bodies is a helpful reminder to get in touch with how your body feels.
Malcolm X Park (DC)
Malcolm X Park is another favorite inside DC. This park is excellent for practicing grounding by listening to your surroundings. There is a steady stream of people walking their dogs, reading books, talking on the phone, people watching, groups of friends picnicking after a long work day, and musicians playing in the drum circle on Sunday.
Recharging alone by being near other people can be a fantastic way to feel connected to others while taking care of yourself. Listening to conversations, laughter, music, and the noises of the city can create a sense of stability when overwhelmed by the world.
Centennial Park (Ellicott City, MD)
Centennial Park is a hidden gem that surrounds a beautiful lake. This park feels like a true escape from the city. There are sports fields for volleyball, tennis, baseball, and soccer, to name a few. Walking, running, and biking trails surround the lake, and boating is also available. This park makes it especially easy to practice grounding through the sensation of touch.
You can practice tactile grounding by dipping your hands in the cold water, feeling the texture of leaves, bark, and grass, picking up different rocks, and noticing the sensation of the breeze on your skin. This tactile grounding can take you out of your head and bring you into the present moment.
Roosevelt Island Park (VA)
This small island outside of DC is perfect for a quick hike that allows you to observe nature up close. A simple mental grounding technique that brings nature into focus is describing what is around you. You can make the mundane a tool by giving language to the smell of dirt, the various shades of green, and the texture of plants around you. There are so many opportunities on this island to be in the midst of the forest. On the shore, you are then overlooking different parts of the surrounding cities. Giving your brain this kind of task is a helpful break from stress.
Gravelly Point Park (VA)
Gravelly Point is a unique park because of its proximity to the local airport. On any given day, observers watch the planes take off and land. Moving your eyes up towards the sky is an excellent start to mindfulness and grounding because we don’t often do this. Many therapists teach a common grounding technique, the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 technique.
Five things you can see, four things you can touch, three things you can hear, two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste. Gravelly Point is a prime spot for this technique because of the sights. Planes, sporting events, families and friends picnicking, hammocking, and boating are all observable from this area.
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Other Services at The Sterling Group
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