Exercise - Regular exercise is one of the best ways to combat anxiety. It lowers stress hormones and helps you sleep. Not to mention is gets you out of the house for a few moments!
Smell something good- lavender and chamomile are both calming scents. (Plus chamomile comes in tea! Also calming)
Reduce caffeine intake - caffeine can make you jittery, and right now, how awake does your student need to be anyway?
Write down a journal of how you are feeling
Laugh - find a funny comedy show to watch as a family, or look up some favorite memes.
Friends & Family - right now spending time with your social network is hard. Find some way to connect with the support network you can't access in person
Sometimes you may need some techniques for calming down when your anxiety has already escalated. While we encourage you to use any techniques you may have already worked on with a professional counselor first, here are a few grounding exercises you can do at home that might help.
Almost any breathing exercise is helpful. When we get anxious our breathing frequently becomes irregular; either short, panting breaths or holding them too long and not taking in enough air. Both of these cause physical responses that make our anxiety continue. Stopping that cycle is a good way to keep anxiety from escalating more.
Try breathing in for 5 counts, hold for 7, breath out for 8. Continue or 5 to 7 breaths, patting out the counts on your knees.
Sit down and close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths, counting to 4 as you breath in, hold for 4 and then breath out for 4.
Then open your eyes and look around you. Name out loud: 5 things you can see, 4 things you can feel, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, 1 thing you can taste (I like to put something yummy close to me so when I get to that stage, I can pop it in my mouth!)
Take a few more deep breaths and you're done!
"Sit down in a comfortable chair, one where your feet reach the floor. Close your eyes and focus on your breath. Breathe in slowly for the count of three, then out slowly. Bring your mind’s focus to your body. How does your body feel sitting in that chair? Scooch your bum right into the back of the seat so the whole length of your back is pressing into the back of the chair. Can you feel the contact between your body and the chair’s surface? If the chair has arms, touch it, is the material smooth or textured? Press your arms down the length of the chair arm, notice how your hands hang off the end. If your chair doesn’t have arms, touch the material on the seat, how does that feel?
Next push your feet into the ground, imagine the energy draining down from your mind, down through your body and out through your feet into the ground. I picture it as a color filling my body as it goes from top to toe, but this is your image so choose whatever you want your energy to look like. As the energy drains from your head, feel how heavy each body part becomes, your torso feels heavy and now your arms as you relax those muscles. Lastly, feel the heaviness go down your legs, through your feet and down into the ground."