Using your five senses to calm down

When you fill your attention with the colour of a mug, the sound of rain or the feel of your feet on the floor, there is less room left for the worry loop.

Grounding redirects your attention from imagined futures and past events to what is happening now.

Instead of just “a bag”, notice its colour, the stitching, the scuff on one corner. Noticing specific details, like the texture of your shirt, keeps your mind more fully in the moment.

It is easier to calm down at the start of a stressful moment than at its peak. When it comes to grounding, the sooner the better.

A few minutes of practice a day, even when you feel fine, can make these skills feel more natural.

Proprioception is your body’s ability to sense its own position and movements. It’s why you can scratch an itch without looking, or touch your nose with your eyes closed.

Calming ideas

• Carry something a little heavy, like groceries
• Give yourself a firm hug, arms crossed
• Press your palms together hard, then release
• Push against a wall for a few seconds

Small organs in your inner ear sense posture, position and movement, and send that information to your brain to help you keep your balance.

Calming ideas

• Gently rock in a chair
• Stand on one foot and notice how your body steadies itself
• Sway slowly from side to side
• Walk slowly and feel each step

Interoception is how your nervous system senses and makes sense of signals from inside your body, giving a moment-by-moment map of how your body is doing.

Researchers increasingly see differences in this inner sense as part of anxiety, mood, eating and other conditions. For example, a racing heart can be read as danger even when you are safe.

Choose one colour, like blue. Find as many blue things around you as you can, then switch to another colour. It’s simple, quiet and works well in waiting rooms.

Look around and find something starting with A, then B, and so on. When you get stuck, use another sense: something you hear or feel that starts with that letter.

Instead of moving through all five, stay with one. For example, listen for a full minute and count every different sound you hear. Going deep on one sense can be more calming than rushing through all of them.

Quietly narrate what is around you in detail: “There’s a green lamp with a dusty shade. The window is open a crack. I can smell coffee.” Describing calmly in full sentences can slow racing thoughts.

Try it

1. Pick something nearby: a plant, a cup, a cloud.
2. Notice its shape and edges.
3. Notice its colours. How many shades can you see?
4. Notice light and shadow on it.
5. If your mind wanders, gently bring your eyes back.

Try it

1. Close your eyes if that feels OK.
2. Notice the closest sound, maybe your own breath.
3. Notice sounds in the room.
4. Notice sounds outside the room, then the farthest sound you can hear.
5. Slowly come back to the nearest sound again.

Try it

1. Hold something nearby, like keys, a stone or a sleeve.
2. Is it warm or cool? Heavy or light?
3. Run a fingertip over it. Is it smooth, rough, bumpy?
4. Notice where it touches your skin.

Try it

1. Find a scent: a piece of fruit, a tea bag, hand cream.
2. Breathe in slowly through your nose.
3. Is the smell sweet, sharp, fresh, earthy?
4. Does it remind you of anything? Notice without judging.

Try it

1. Take a small bite of something you enjoy.
2. Notice the first taste before you chew.
3. Chew slowly. How does the flavour and texture change?
4. Notice the taste that lingers after you swallow.

Choose a scent you like, such as a hand cream, a citrus peel or a tea bag. Smell it during calm, happy moments, like after a walk or at bedtime. Later, that scent can help remind your mind and body of those moments.

Smells from home, like a family dish, a loved one’s soap or a favourite spice, can be a gentle comfort when you are homesick, grieving or in a new place.

Cooking a familiar recipe uses every sense at once: the sound of sizzling, the smell, the colours and the taste.

Because smell connects so closely to memory and emotion, a scent can also bring back difficult memories without warning.

If that happens, try switching to a sense that feels safer, like naming colours you can see or pressing your feet into the floor. If certain smells often bring up trauma memories, a trauma-informed therapist can help.

Play slowly. “I spy something soft… something round… something that makes a sound.” Slowing the pace turns the game into a calming practice.

Put a few safe objects in a bag, like a sponge, a spoon or a pine cone. Kids reach in without looking and describe what they feel before guessing.

Indoors or outside, everyone closes their eyes for one minute and counts sounds. Then compare lists. Who heard the bird? The fridge humming?

Look at it, smell it, listen to the crunch, and describe the taste together. It’s a fun way to practice noticing.

If you notice sounds, smells and textures more than most people, calming may mean turning things down: quieter rooms, softer light, fewer layers of noise.

Every exercise in this guide can be adapted to the senses you use most. Vision loss is linked to higher rates of anxiety and depression, and the CDC recommends that people with vision loss be screened for both.

Swap listening exercises for sight, touch or vibration. Hearing loss that isn’t supported can lead to social isolation and loneliness, and is linked to higher rates of depression.

The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline connects you with a trained crisis counselor by call, text or chat (988lifeline.org), any time.

Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741 from anywhere in the U.S. to reach a trained counselor by text, 24/7.

Grounding is a common part of therapy. A therapist can help you find what works for you and use it alongside other approaches.

Find A Helpline is a free directory of crisis and support lines in more than 175 countries, by phone, text or chat.