A trick that I often use when I feel that my mind is racing, is placing awareness on my feet. I might, for instance, pay very close attention to each step that I take while walking down the stairs of my house. I can usually feel an immediate relaxation of the mind. There is a sense of moving back into the body.
This sense of moving back into my body is pleasant but not without discomfort. When I do this, I also become more aware of the emotional discomfort that was hiding behind the mental loops. The trick is to not immediately run away from that feeling by retreating back into the mind. The trick is to investigate the feeling.