5 4 3 2 1 Present Moment Calming

The 5 4 3 2 1 calming awareness exercise is a very simple practice. The recording guides you in using the 5 senses to bring a curious calming attitude to the present moment. You will notice 5 things you see, 4 things you feel, 3 things you hear, 2 things you smell, and one thing you can taste. This practice can be especially helpful if you are feeling spacey, distracted, or disturbed by unhelpful thoughts.

Transcript

This practice uses naming of different things that you notice in your five senses to help you come to more awareness in the present moment.

In the first step we'll start with seeing.

So take a moment to look around in the space that you're in and notice five different things that you can see and name them to yourself.

Notice the qualities of them,

The color,

The texture,

The shape,

Five things that you can see.

Next notice four things that you can feel and go ahead and touch those things.

Four things that you could feel might be an article of clothing or something of the surface that you're sitting on,

Piece of furniture or another object.

Notice the textures and qualities of what you feel,

The temperature,

The smoothness or roughness,

Softness or hardness.

And now moving into hearing.

Notice three things that you can hear,

Maybe starting with what's most obvious or loudest to what's quieter.

Maybe it's something that's more constant sound or maybe it's more intermittent,

Sound of a fan or breeze.

And now moving into the realm of smell.

Notice two things that you can smell.

Maybe it's a piece of food,

Plant,

Maybe you can smell your hand lotion or the laundry soap on your clothing.

Two things that you can smell,

Name them and notice the scent.

And lastly,

Hopefully you have something present that you can taste.

Maybe it's a beverage that you have handy or gum or candy or you might just imagine something you can taste,

Like maybe imagining an orange or a lemon or a piece of chocolate.

Noticing one thing that you can taste and then just taking a moment at the end of this practice.

Maybe you can just reflect on whether one of the senses helps you come more fully into the present moment.

You can come back to this practice at any time.

I hope it serves you well.