5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Practice

Use your five senses and breath to return to presence with the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique. This science-based practice gently regulates the nervous system, eases anxiety, and brings you back to center.

Transcript

Welcome to Day 17 of the Mid-Year Reset here on Insight Timer,

Your daily moment to pause,

Reflect,

And return to yourself.

Consistency is where real change begins.

Enjoy today's session.

Hi,

I'm Dr.

Diana Hill.

I am a clinical psychologist and the author of Wise Effort.

In this grounding practice,

We're going to move from our head,

From the spinning of the future and the past to the present moment here and now with your five senses.

So let's get started.

Go ahead and take in one long,

Slow breath.

And with your eyes open,

Notice five things that you can see.

Look around and name five things.

Try to pick out the details,

The texture on the wall,

Shadow,

Color variation.

See them with fresh eyes.

Five things that you can see that are here and now.

And then notice four things that you can feel.

Tune into your body and notice four physical sensations,

Your feet on the ground,

The air against your skin,

Your hands on your lap,

The air against your face.

Four things that you can feel.

Then notice three things that you can hear.

Listen closely.

Name three sounds.

Background noise,

The hum of a machine,

A bird chirping.

Maybe it's your own breathing.

And then notice two things that you can smell.

If nothing comes to mind,

Take a deeper breath.

You can even move towards a nearby object,

A cup of coffee,

A book,

Your shirt,

The back of your hand.

Two things that you can smell.

And finally,

One thing that you can taste.

Swallow and notice any lingering taste or take a sip of a drink or just note the neutral taste in your mouth.

Five things you can see.

Four things you can feel.

Three things you can hear.

Two things you can smell.

One thing you can taste.

This practice engages your senses,

Interrupts anxious thoughts.

And brings your attention to the here and now.

And here's a question for you as we leave this practice.

When would it be helpful for you to ground in the here and now today?

When do you want to show up fully and be present?

You can use this 5,

4,

3,

2,

1 practice to help.

Grounding in your five senses.

And may you carry this practice into your day so that you can feel more alive,

More embodied,

More engaged,

And more present in your life.

Thank you.

Reviews

I see this as a good and effective practice to turn off the ‘noises’ and be present. Thank you! 🙏

I enjoyed this tool for bringing me back to presence when I was starting to get overwhelmed from a number of challenges. It has helped me come back to calm.

Thank you, helps interrupt a rough head space and ground back to depressing. Appreciate it

Simple and effective exercise to ground in the senses and let go of anxious thoughts

I love a “noticing” meditation - definitely helps me focus my mind and keep it from wandering. Thank you 🙏

I really liked this practice and found it very helpful and grounding. I will listen to this often to return to the present moment. Thank you!☀️

This is a great practice and I’m going to need to practice to be able to utilize it fully!! Thank you for sharing!

A simple and really effective practice, led with clarity and calm. Thank you.

I keep coming back to this great meditation! Truly amazing, never tried anything like this before. Highly recommended :)

Excellently positively uplifting soothing short session thanks 😊 🙏🏼

That was so refreshing to think of the things around me and to take an inventory of everything

Great meditation. Good to practise this when anxious or stressed. Thank you 🙏