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How To Calm Your Mind With The 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Exercise

The 5-4-3-2-1 grounding exercise can be a really useful tool to keep in your back pocket for when you feel anxious, unsafe, or are having a flashback. Read more to find out how to do it.

[Read time: 1-2 mins]

What is grounding & why is it helpful?

Grounding exercises are used to help to calm the mind by bringing your focus away from negative thoughts and back to your body in the here and now. They can help survivors to cope with difficult situations, including: Feeling unsafe, anxiety and flashbacks.

What is 5-4-3-2-1 exercise?

This technique gently brings you back to the present by drawing your attention to your senses and grounding you in your body. With each step of the technique, you will name something that you can sense, e.g., I can feel the grass under my legs. You can do this exercise alone, or with someone guiding you through it. If you can, list each sensation out loud, and repeat them after every step. 

Before you start...

Remember that the aim of the exercise is not to do it perfectly but to focus on your body and being present in the moment. If you don’t have all five senses, or if you’re struggling to name all the sensations, don’t worry. You can skip them and still connect to your other senses. Take some slow, deep breaths.

5 things you can see.

Focus on each object in turn. Notice it’s size, shape and colour. When you have named all five (or as many as you can), read the list back to yourself.

4 things you can touch/feel.

Think about what you’re already touching, what part of you is connected to the ground? What can you feel on your skin? Pick up small objects and feel their weight. Notice how each sensation feels. Is it soft or hard? Warm or cold? List and repeat back.

3 things you can hear.

Tune in to the sounds around you. Listen for the background noise you don’t normally hear, like the white noise fridges and washing machines make. Spend a moment focusing on each sound, is there a pattern or beat to the sound? List and repeat back.

2 things you can smell.

Continuing with your deep breaths, try to notice smells around you. If you can’t smell anything in particular, try something nearby that might have a faint or calming smell, like your own clothes or a cup of tea. List and repeat back.

1 thing you can taste.

If you can’t taste anything, try taking a small bite of food or a sip of water and focus on the taste sensation. When you’ve finished, it can help to go back to the start and repeat the things you can see, touch, hear, smell and taste together. Repeat the exercise as many times as you need. 10.

Remember:

There are lots of different grounding exercises so it might take some trial and error to figure out what works for you. Our support staff can help you with grounding and other useful coping techniques.